Emotionally Based School Avoidance: It’s Not What You Think

Emotionally Based School Avoidance is one of the most rapidly growing issues affecting children and young people today. In some regions of the UK, the number of children thought to be experiencing EBSA has more than doubled since the pre-pandemic era. Meanwhile, the overall number of children and young people who are classed as “Severely Absent” from England’s schools has trebled over the last six years.

Emotionally Based School Avoidance is also one of the most misunderstood issues affecting children and young people today. As more and more children are given this label, I see more and more judgement, ignorance and confusion. We are truly facing a crisis with a generation of children, but the response – on a very wide scale – is often misguided. In many instances, children’s already fragile situations are being made far worse because of the way their situation is perceived.

As a family, we’re in our fourth year of navigating the world of EBSA. My goodness, it’s been a relentlessly tough journey. It still is. Our daughter’s struggles became apparent at the beginning of Year 7. Now here we are, rapidly approaching the end of Year 10.

This is what I’ve learned over the last four years.

The Name is Problematic

Of course, that name really doesn’t help. The term “school avoidance” grabs people’s attention and promptly distorts the narrative. “Avoidance” implies choice. “Avoidance” implies negative behaviour. “Avoidance” often attracts an emotive and judgemental response. “Avoidance” misdirects people to focus on a consequence of a child’s difficulties (their absence from school/classroom lessons) rather than to be curious about the root causes of a child’s difficulties.

EBSA is also known as Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance. But really this phrase is no kinder than “…School Avoidance”. It’s the “Non-Attendance” that grabs attention. It’s “Non-Attendance” that people have very strong opinions about, in a climate of “Attendance at all Costs”. It’s the “Non-Attendance” that can result in parents receiving a penalty notice from their local authority, even when a child is clearly in the midst of a crisis.

(Incidentally, I often wonder how we reached a point where the state punishes families for their child’s suffering.)

So, What is Emotionally Based School Avoidance?

Emotionally Based School Avoidance is a consequence of fear and distress. It’s a brain sending out signals of danger and it’s a body responding to the threat of harm or perceived harm.

It can affect any child. It emerges when a child’s sense of safety is compromised. As it develops, getting in to school, being in school and thoughts of school, trigger physiological responses. To adults, what pans out can seem irrational. “You’ll be ok!” they say, trying to offer reasurance. But this misses the point. The child doesn’t feel ok at all. Quite the opposite. They feel vulnerable. They feel at risk. Their amygdala is sending warning messages and the response is biological.

What might seem to adults like a matter of  “just” going to school – and therefore seem like a disproportionate emotional response – is not “just” anything. The child isn’t actually trying to avoid school or education. They’re trying to avoid harm. It’s self-preservation:

“School made me vomit yesterday. If I go again today, I could be sick again.”

When you’ve been burnt by fire, you don’t want to return to the burning building every day.

The reality of EBSA is that the child’s attendance/engagement difficulties are, typically, just one symptom and one dimension of an all-consuming affliction. It can have many root causes and it can throw a child’s life into turmoil and turn a family’s world upside down.

Anxiety and EBSA

When EBSA emerges, it can often take parents, schools and children themselves by surprise. Attendance issues might seemingly come out of the blue. Emotional dysregulation and physical illness might come as an unexpected change. But there’s always a root cause to the child’s difficulties and changing state. Sometimes, there are multiple factors which trigger and feed a child’s Emotionally Based School Avoidance.

In our daughter’s case, behind the EBSA and fuelling the EBSA, there’s anxiety, affecting her every day, there’s emetophobia, affecting her spontaneously, and there’s neurodivergence, which is still being explored. These things are interconnected. Each of these things is nuanced and complex. Each of these things can make school – and life itself – feel harder and more frightening than it should feel. It’s taken us nearly four years to understand as much as we do about our daughter. We’ve still more to learn.

A great many children who are experiencing EBSA are living with heightened anxiety and anxiety disorders. In a significant proportion of cases, heightened anxiety is linked to sensory processing needs or neurodivergence (which might or might not have been previously recognised).

Anxiety is much bigger than the crying scene at the school entrance. It’s much bigger than not being in lessons or school. It’s much bigger than an absence mark in the register. It’s a level of fear which can debilitate a child and throw their life and their family’s life into turmoil. It can present as vomiting, migraines, palpitations and panic attacks. It can profoundly affect eating, sleeping and socialising. The symptoms can very quickly escalate: facial tics, self-harm, suicidal ideation. When anxiety strikes, it can turn an outgoing and popular child into somebody who can’t even leave their bedroom or house.

And it’s not *just* a school day thing or a start of the morning thing. When a child is suffering from this condition, it can affect them 24/7. Anxiety doesn’t distinguish between day and night. It doesn’t disappear at weekends or in school holidays. The sickness…the pain…the tears…they can come at any time. This all leaves the child utterly exhausted, while having an immeasurable impact on parents and siblings too.

Some Other Common Triggers and Issues behind EBSA

It would be impossible here to explore all of the triggers and reasons commonly cited for EBSA in children and young people. However, there are some common themes which I’ll touch upon briefly. (This is by no means exhaustive.)

School and Education

For some children, school itself is a cause of heightened anxiety. It could be triggered by something specific, for example a particular lesson, event or member of staff. It could be fuelled by something much broader, for example school culture and ethos. It could be the pressure which a child feels or a fear of failure. It could be environmental factors (rooms, lighting, sounds, busy-ness). It could be a social trigger: friendship difficulties, loneliness or bullying, or a lack of a sense of belonging.

Family Changes and Difficulties

It’s not at all unusual for a child to develop heightened anxiety and EBSA in the wake of changes at home or in the face of ongoing family dificulties. Illness. Bereavement. Divorce. Being a Young Carer. Each of these situations affects children profoundly. Their sense of security can be rocked in an instant. In cases like these, it’s not that school is problematic; rather, it’s that the child is fearful of what might happen if they are away from their parent or home situation.

Illness

Illness and new health conditions can trigger anxiety, and that in turn can become the catalyst for a child’s difficulties associated with school. For example, sudden onset mental health challenges are a characteristic symptom of the conditions PANS/PANDAS, conditions which themselves develop after viral infections.

Expelling Some Common Myths about EBSA

Over the last few years, I’ve been astonished by many of the things I’ve been told and the things I’ve read and heard about children who are labelled “EBSA”. I can just about understand the ignorance and the judgement when it comes from journalists, politicians and anonymous keyboard warriors. But it particularly hurts and troubles me when I see high profile, influential educators expressing views which fundamentally misunderstand what EBSA is about.

If you want to understand what is happening – and therefore how you can help – when a child is labelled EBSA, you have to understand what they are experiencing.

Remember, Emotionally Based School Avoidance is a consequence of fear and distress.

I’m going to dispel some myths now.

Emotionally Based School Avoidance is NOT a behaviour.
It’s not willful defiance.
It’s not belligerence.

It is NOT a choice.
It is NOT choosing not to go to school.

It is NOT laziness.

It is NOT immaturity.

It is NOT a lack of resilience.

It is NOT poor parenting.

It is NOT overly anxious mums. (It is NOT overly anxious dads either, but it’s generally mums who face criticism).

It is NOT about parents or children not valuing school, nor is it apathy towards the education system.

It is NOT a trivial matter nor something that will just go away by itself.

It is NOT something that a child can overcome by *just* pushing through.

Absence caused by EBSA is not truancy.

It is NOT something that can be improved by pressuring a child or threatening their parents.

It is NOT something which can be changed with a penalty notice, a court appearance or an interview under caution.

Fortune in Unfortunate Circumstances

Over the last few years, compared to a great many families in our situation, we’ve been lucky. We’ve worked closely with our daughter’s school from the outset. The school staff have listened and made adjustments. Their expectations, provision and adjustments have evolved over time. We’ve done things differently. For example, we have benefitted from a reduced timetable which spanned several years – something which many local authorities won’t entertain even as an idea.

We’ve accessed NHS mental health support twice and, for three years now, our daughter has been under the wing of the local EBSA service. She’s been supported consistently by a practitioner who has been one of her biggest champions. A great many families in situations like ours endure long, agonising battles to access the services and support we have benefited from. (Some LAs don’t even have an EBSA service.)

We’ve been lucky, if you can call it that, for a few other reasons too.

Firstly, I’ve been blessed with the time to support my daughter, to research and understand what she’s going through, and to advocate for her. This has only been possible because I happen to have left my job due to my own chronic illness. My wife and I are absolutely certain about this next point: had I not left my job when I did, our situation would have cost one of us our job.

(Incidentally, I could write a separate article about how EBSA leads to profound changes in family circumstances: lost jobs; prematurely ending careers; financial difficulties and relationship pressures caused by those changes. I could write another article about how EBSA – as with so many other challenges affecting children – has a disproportionate impact on women, on caring mothers who are erroneously labelled “soft”, “a nuisance” or “overly anxious”.)

Secondly, my wife and I are both education professionals. I had a 24 year career in primary schools, serving as a class teacher and a headteacher. My wife, a qualified teacher for over 20 years, has served in primary and secondary schools, she’s supported children with complex needs and she’s worked for our local hospital school.

Our professional backgrounds have equipped us with knowledge, skills and experience which have proved absolutely vital. Our backgrounds have also meant that we have generally been treated with respect. Nobody can tell us that we don’t value education or that we don’t understand the challenges faced by schools. Nobody can tell me I don’t understand the pressure on school leaders to improve attendance levels. But I’m conflicted by this privilege. Shouldn’t everybody be treated with respect? I could share dozens of stories of families whose children are struggling terribly but who have been treated with contempt…treated as serial complainers, rather than as loving parents who are desperate for support.

An Attendance Crisis and a Human Crisis

It’s 2026.

There’s an attendance crisis in England’s schools. Unprecedented numbers of children of all ages are struggling to attend school regularly.

There’s are complex issues affecting the development, health and well-being of children of all ages and backgrounds. It’s a story which, in the mainstream media and on social media, is often reduced to judgement, blame and parent-bashing.

But the attendance crisis isn’t about numbers. It’s about human lives in a changing world. It’s a health crisis; mental and physical health are not what they used to be. And we must be honest; our education system isn’t what it used to be.

Shouldn’t we be curious about why so many children are struggling?

Shouldn’t we be on a mission to understand better and to do things differently?

Another Day

Our oldest daughter didn’t sleep well last night – she often doesn’t. Subsequently, none of us slept well last night. We saw every hour until 5am.

Mondays are always the hardest. Still, our daughter got up, got dressed and packed her bag, just as her siblings did. She fed her pets, though she didn’t have breakfast herself. She can’t eat before school. Or during the school day.

I took my daughter to school this morning. As I dropped her off, I told her I’m proud of her. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath.

We go again.

This is our life.

THIS is so-called Emotionally Based School Avoidance.

Post Script

Our family recently received some very welcome news. Our daugher’s EHCP has been approved. Of course, an EHCP isn’t a silver bullet. But what the Plan does, in black and white, is acknowledge the significance of her difficulties, and the complexity and the breadth of her needs. It affirms her struggles and our lived experience. It will afford her school additional resource. It gives us all a little more hope.

As part of the EHCP assessment, some months ago, our daughter was asked about the things she finds difficult. This was her response:

“Going to school and being in school make me feel poorly a lot of the time. When I have to do things at home that are to do with school, like homework and projects, they make me feel ill too, even though I’m not at school. Every day, I have to make myself go somewhere that frightens me”.

She was also asked about the immediate future. What does she want to be different?

“I’d like to not be worried…I’d like to go into more lessons.”

There’s one final thing. What about the longer term? What does she want to do for work?

“I’d like to help children who are struggling to go to school” she says…

“…And Breathe…”

Dear School Leaders, System Leaders and Politicians,

I know you have a million priorities right now but I would urge you to read this. You can’t afford not to.

It’s about attendance. It’s about health.

Much more than that, it’s about the state we’re in.

And it’s about a way forward.

The Attendance Crisis

We’ve heard much about the school attendance crisis over the last few years.

Attendance has shifted from being headteacher business to, seemingly, being everyone’s business.

New attendance targets. Holidays in term time. The “broken social contract”. Unauthorised absence. Penalty notices. These things grab the headlines. They make for emotive discourse. But let’s be honest…

THE FUNDAMENTAL DRIVER OF ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL IS ILLNESS.

This is the case for pupils.

This is the case for teachers.

This has always been the case.

But since the emergence of the pandemic, illness absence has soared.

Six years on from the arrival of Covid-19 in the UK, illness absence remains significantly higher than in the prepandemic era.

The attendance crisis is a health crisis. 

Illness Absence Levels

PUPILS:

The illness absence rate for all pupils in the Autumn term 2018/19 was 2.4%. In Autumn 2024 it was 3.3%.

By Autumn 2025 it was 3.4%.

In the final four weeks of autumn term 2025, pupil illness absence was 4.5%. (Source: DfE)

For several years now, pupil illness absence in England has been more than 30% higher than in the prepandemic era.

TEACHERS:

In the four years prior to the pandemic, an average of around 2 million teacher days were lost each year due to illness.

In 2023/24, 2.8 million teacher days were lost in England due to illness.

Teacher illness is currently almost 40% higher than in the prepandemic era.

In short, amongst both the pupil population and the teacher workforce, there is:

Increased physical illness.

Increased mental illness.

Increased chronic illness.

Increased recurring illness.

As I write this, there’s a measles outbreak in north London.

Already this academic year, schools have been significantly disrupted by outbreaks of Covid, flu and so called “super flu”.

When Attendance Strategies Ignore Health

Over the last few years, in the interest of improving pupil attendance, politicians, LAs, MATs and settings across the country have tried all sorts of things, including:

High profile national media campaigns;

Bigger and more frequent attendance rewards;

Stricter attendance policies;

Tougher sanctions for absence
(Eg more “unauthorised” coding; more penalty notices for unauthorised absence…);

Increased pressure on families (Eg, more home visits; greater insistence on “medical evidence”…);

In some settings, there has even been the relaxing of long established health management policies (eg removing the 48 hour sickness rule);

But there has, crucially, been no strategy which seeks to improve health, the root cause of over half of all pupil absence.

A Reality Check

Let’s take a reality check: these strategies haven’t worked in the way that is needed. (Some have actually been counter-productive.)

Illness absence remains extraordinarily high.

1. Illness is a fundamental problem in our school communities.

Huge numbers of children and their teachers are persistently ill.

Persistent absence levels remain very high.

2. Moreover, the harm caused by illness is a fundamental problem in our school communities.

Repeated physical illness is impacting children’s development. It’s affecting their behaviour. It’s changing adults too. Mental health is deteriorating.

It’s harm compounding harm.

The consequences of all this illness and harm, and the associated absence are wide-reaching. Disruption has become the norm. The cost is profound.

Prioritising Health

To improve attendance levels in school, you have to improve health.

You have to prioritise health.

You have to invest in health.

You have to address the causes of illness. You certainly can’t just ignore them.

The Cost of a Reactive Approach

In the last few years, supply teacher costs in England have risen to over £200 per pupil. Illness cover isn’t the only reason why schools spend on supply teachers but it is the biggest reason. And it continues to rise.

Most schools can ill afford these significantly rising supply costs but here we are.

The Savings of a Proactive Approach

Compare that supply teacher cost with this fact:

For less than £10 per pupil, it’s possible to install and run air purifiers with HEPA filters in classrooms.

While supply costs have soared in recent years, the cost of air purifiers has reduced enormously.

Our children and teachers spend six and a half hours a day (or more), five days a week, often in crowded classrooms. They breathe the same air.

For 38 weeks a year, in rooms of 50 to 60 square metres, pupils and staff share the same germs.

In 2022, the Building Engineering Services Association described the state of indoor air quality in UK classrooms as “scandalous” and “a direct threat to the health and well-being of children and teachers”. (BESA, Sept 2022)

Cleaning the Air

Air purifiers remove pathogens, allergens and pollutants from the air.

I’ve been advocating for clean air in classrooms for a few years now.

I’ve been trying to prevent the unnecessary spread of harmful illness for a few years now.

In doing so, I’ve been called a hypochondriac, a scaremongerer, a freak and plenty worse.

I’ve been told that “we can’t wrap children in cotton wool” even though safeguarding means:

“Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development” 

(“Keeping Children Safe in Education” Sept 2025, DfE)

In the time since I started advocating for clean air, we’ve had the resurgence of chicken pox, measles and whooping cough. We’ve had the ongoing transmission of Covid-19, multiple strains of flu, as well as increased outbreaks of norovirus. Additionally, mental illness has risen exponentially in both the pupil population and the school workforce.

This is where we are at in 2026.

We have a school system which is strained by persistent health issues, which is a key driver in the transmission of airborne ilnneses in society and which – in some instances – even punishes for illness absence.

We have spiralling financial costs which are pushing schools and leaders to breaking point and which are restricting schools’ abilities to meet children’s rapidly changing needs.

We have people mocking and villifying those of us who are trying to keep children, teachers and school communities safe and healthy.

And we have affordable solutions which are proven to be transformative.

The Way Forward

Clean air.

Clean air in our schools.

Clean indoor air is the way forward.

There should be nothing controversial about this.

We make sure the water is safe in schools. (Imagine if we knowingly let school children and staff drink/wash with contaminated water.)

We make sure the food is safe in schools.(Imagine if we knowingly let school children and staff eat contaminated food.)

Why wouldn’t we want the air to be safe too?

If you are are sceptical about the benefits of clean indoor air, consider this…

At The Hayling College, a secondary school in Hampshire, classrooms have now had HEPA filters for two years.

Clean air is part of the school’s attendance strategy.

The school’s leaders have prioritised health. They have invested in health.

They’ve spent the equivalent of 5p per pupil per day, to keep everyone safer.

What has been the result of this strategy? 

Well, their pupil illness absence has reduced from 4.3% to 3.4%.

Moreover, their staff report:

“…fewer winter illnesses…”

“…improved learning consistency…”

“…and particular benefits for pupils who are most vulnerable to poor air quality…”

Perhaps this example of one educational setting isn’t enough to convince you of the benefits of clean air.

It’s not unique though.

Clean Air Trials and Studies

In 2023, a research project, funded by the Department for Health and Social Care, took place in 30 schools across Bradford.

The results from the Class-ACT Study were very impressive.

The trial concluded that the schools with low cost air cleaning technologies had “significantly” reduced absence rates.

The illness absence rate of pupils reduced by more than 20% in the schools with HEPA filters.

Internationally, studies in California and central Italy have had similarly positive findings.

A New Way Forward

It’s 2026.

We have a choice.

We can keep allowing illness to wreak havoc in our school communities.

We can keep scratching our heads about absence levels.

We can keep reacting to absence and to all those challenges which are being exacerbated by illness (child development; behaviour; increased additional needs; deteriorating mental health…)

Or we could, finally, do something proactive.

We could do something that will make a real difference to everyone.

We could invest in clean air infrastructure.

We could actually do something about the allergens, pathogens and pollutants which are causing so much harm.

It’s time to clean the air.

We simply can’t afford not to.

Steve Bladon, February 2026

#cleantheair

Two Futures

Our children are facing two alternative futures.

Their families and teachers are facing two alternative futures.

Their school communities and leaders are facing two alternative futures.

The first future will be shaped by apathy, ignorance and inaction.

The second future will be shaped by concern, knowledge and action.

Where Are We Now?

We’re currently well on the road to the first future. There have been nearly six years of apathy, ignorance and inaction. Illness has been normalised. Harm has been normalised. The associated absence from work and school has been normalised. Disruption has been normalised.

A dangerous virus persists in the air. Our children are being repeatedly infected with airborne pathogens proven to cause significant harm. Their teachers are being repeatedly infected too. And their families.

Politicians decided long ago that there was no need to mitigate against all of this. Politicians stopped talking about this long ago.

Unprecedented numbers of children have developed chronic health conditions.

Unprecedented numbers of school employees have developed chronic health conditions.

Still, if we do nothing and if we don’t talk about it, perhaps it will all just go away and right itself. We can’t wrap children up in cotton wool, right? That’s still the thinking in 2025.

So what does the future look like?

Fast forward ten years…

–

Vision 1: The Future’s Bleak

The year is 2035

It’s fifteen years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the UK.

They said it was just a cold.

Schools aren’t what they used to be.

The education workforce has been depleted by illness.

The pupil population has been depleted by illness.

Child development is not what it used to be.

Behaviour and emotional regulation are not what they used to be.

Communication and language are not what they used to be.

The number of children with additional needs, with chronic health issues and mental illness has grown every year for a decade and a half.

They said it was just a cold.

The range of needs in the average class is so vast now that whole class teaching is all but impossible.

Attainment has been in steady decline for years now.

Schools haven’t had the resources or capacity to support these needs appropriately for years.

For a long time, politicians blamed lockdowns for changes in children’s behaviour, well-being and development. But the last lockdown was fourteen years ago. The majority of school pupils hadn’t even been born then.

The Cost of Inaction

As a consequence of political inaction, ilness became almost unavoidable in school. Risk became an unwelcome characteristic of daily life.

Some people spoke up about the risks and the harm. They believed that there should be some protection from hazards. They believed that harm shouldn’t be inevitable. Those people campaigned tirelessly, for a safer, healthier alternative. They were largely dismissed and mocked.

Many people told themselves that this illness wasn’t harmful. People told themselves that their immune systems would do what they’re supposed to do. People told themselves they’d be fine, as long as they had their windows open and washed their hands.

Children would be fine, they said.

They said it was just a cold.

The Price of Apathy

It’s 2035.

Everybody’s immune systems work differently now. They’ve been suppressed by repeated intection of a virus which was proven long ago to do exactly that.

Apathy replaced compassion.

Inaction replaced mitigation.

The young teachers don’t remember a time before all this illness.

The older teachers…have mostly gone.

They said it was just a cold.

It’s now become much more commonplace for pupils to attend part-time or to attend flexibly.

Huge numbers of children can no longer cope with full-time schooling.

Huge numbers of teachers can no longer cope with full-time work.

Many schools are no longer viable.
The numbers don’t add up.
Nothing adds up.

Ignorance isn’t Bliss

Politicians are still scratching their heads about the attendance crisis. They’ve put up the price of penalty notices every year and it hasn’t helped.

They’ve been berating parents publicly for their poor attitudes, but it hasn’t helped.

If only there was a way they could get out of this mess.

If only they could think of a way of making schools safer and healthier.

If only.

They said it was just a cold.
So they acted like it was just a cold.
But it wasn’t just a cold.
And the acting didnt help.

It’s 2035.

There’s been 15 years of harm and disruption.

Over the course of 15 years, children’s health, development and needs have changed profoundly.

Everything that was a big challenge for schools in the pre-pandemic world has become a seismic, existential challenge now.

The SEND crisis? It didn’t get fixed, it simply got bigger.

The mental health crisis? It didn’t get fixed, it simply got bigger.

The teacher recruitment and retention crisis? It didn’t get fixed, it simply got bigger.

The school funding crisis? It didn’t get fixed. Of course it didn’t. It simply got bigger.

They said it was just a cold but it changed everything.

And it’s not getting any better.

Our children will not thank us for this future.

But this future is not inevitable. It’s late, but it’s not too late, to change direction.

–

Vision 2: The Future’s Brighter

The year is 2035.

It’s fifteen years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the UK.

They said it was just a cold.

So for many years, the world acted like it was just a cold.

But in the second half of the 2020s, something changed.

A Time for Action

After six years of Covid, people were sick of being sick.

People grew tired of being tired.

Parents became increasingly concerned about how repeated illness was affecting their children’s health, development and wellbeing.

Hundreds of thousands of children had developed chronic health issues.

Teachers became increasingly concerned by how repeated illness was affecting their lives.

Tens of thousands of teachers, leaders and other educators had developed chronic health issues. A great many had left the profession.

The Government remained silent about the nature of Covid, about the prevalence of Covid and about the harm it caused.

But many people came to understand that it wasn’t just a cold.

Many people came to understand that repeated infections were causing them harm.

There was no great epiphany; the mood just changed and the consensus changed.

Ignoring Covid hadn’t worked.

Playing down harm hadn’t worked.

Failing to mitigate against a known hazard hadn’t worked.

So things began to change.

Breathing Clean Air

People began to take more notice of the campaigns for clean indoor air.

The London Mayor’s initiative to put clean air in 200 schools drew attention from around the world. Even the mainstream media reported on it. Suddenly, the idea of wanting children to breathe clean air wasn’t so absurd after all. The initiative for change in the capital was a catalyst for change all around the country.

Responsible Attendance Policies

At the same time, the culture of presenteeism began to weaken. In the early years of the pandemic, politicians had decided that children should attend school at all costs. They had much to catch up on! Many schools, LAs and trusts adopted a tougher stance on school absence. In many instances, children (and their teachers too) were encouraged to attend when unwell, even with a contagious virus. This, they said, was resilience. This was strength of character.

Of course, they were wrong. Going to school or work when ill, especially with viruses, didn’t make anybody more resilient. It just made them more vulnerable. It made everybody else vulnerable too. And so, gradually, school leaders and system leaders began to shun the harsh attendance policies and the counter-productive practices which they had been encouraged to enforce. They resorted to old world policies, like advising families to keep pupils off school when they had contagious illnesses.

Taking Back Control

Slowly but surely, they began to take back control of the spread of illness in the classroom.

Slowly but surely, the level of illness began to settle.

Slowly but surely, as children and teachers felt healthier and safer, attendance began to pick up.

Slowly but surely, as health and attendance improved, the disruptions to school life slowed down.

Slowly but surely, the cost of the illness, the harm and the disruption began to diminish.

Slowly but surely, these things began to make a difference.

Slowly but surely.

The year is 2035.

Schools are different places now. The Covid-19 pandemic took a huge toll on children, families, schools and educators. A virus changed everything. Viruses can do that.

But there is hope now.

Now, most people view clean indoor air as a basic right, not a frivolous or absurd concept. They view clean air just like they view clean water. Of course parents don’t want their children to spend their school days breathing in pathogens, pollutants or allergens. Teachers don’t want to breathe those things in either.

Keeping Children Safe in Education

Now, all schools have air cleaning systems. What was once regarded as unnecessary and unaffordable is now just part of the fabric, like fire alarm systems and CCTV. Of course schools invest in keeping everyone safe.

In the curriculum, children learn about clean air. It’s not just about mitigating against viruses either. It’s about pollutants and allergens too. Even the youngest children are taught about the importance and health benefits of clean air. Children are taught about preserving health – theirs and everyone elses.

The year is 2035.

They said it was just a cold. They were wrong.  We all know that now. We learned the hard way.

It took a long time to get here and the journey was painful. But we prioritise health now. We prize health now. It’s just how it should be.

Our children are facing two alternative futures. One is bleak, the other brighter...

–

Dear Bridget Phillipson, Please Can We Talk About Health?

Dear Bridget Phillipson,

Please can we talk about health?

It’s autumn 2025.

We’re one month into the school year, in England.

Two of my children are ill, again.
With Covid, again.
It’s their third and fourth times in four years.

They tell me lots of their friends and classmates have been coughing and sneezing recently.

In three different schools, my four children are perenially surrounded by illness, with almost no option but to contract it.

Covid is airborne, as well you know.

Covid is rife in my children’s schools.

Covid is rife in all schools.

It’s almost impossible for pupils and staff to avoid it.

It’s been this way for years.

More widely, we’re in another huge Covid wave across England.

Covid hospitalisations are up by 37%.

I’m sure you know that.

There are no mitigations in most schools.

You know that too.

Worse than having no mitigations, in many schools, pupils and staff are encouraged – and in some instances pressured – into attending when ill. Attending when contagious.

–

It’s not the fault of school leaders. They’re under enormous pressure. The stakes are so high for them. They know that children need to be healthy and to feel safe if they are to thrive. But school leaders can’t swim against the political tide.

The Government’s over-arching policy – against the prized backdrop of presenteeism – is to pretend Covid doesn’t exist.

It’s not working.

Repeated infections aren’t making people immune to SARS-CoV-2. They’re damaging immune systems. We know this from health studies, we know this from human stories and we can see this in school attendance data.

Teacher and pupil illness absence remains around 40% higher than in the prepandemic era.

–

I remember when children were sent home from school with headlice. Now, they’re encouraged to attend school with a dangerous virus.

That’s how far we’ve come with health management.

What a contrast.

It’s inexplicable. It’s indefensible.

I also remember when you were the Shadow Education Secretary.

You spoke publicly about the need for ventilation in schools. You condemned the Conservative Government for “letting down our children” and “failing our country”. This was three and a half years ago:

We used to say “Every Child Matters”. That was, in fact, a Labour maxim and initiative.

Now it seems it’s just Every Attendance Mark that Matters.

Ill children and teachers go to school and more children and teachers go home ill.

Illness and harm have become an almost inevitable consequence of going to school.

It didn’t used to be like this.

Some illness? Yes, of course.

Occasional, more serious illness? Yes, sadly.

Repeated, persistent illness causing long term damage? No.

–

Just a month or so ago, schools all over the country started the year with their annual safeguarding training.

But “Keeping Children Safe in Education” has become a misnomer.

It’s “Keeping Children Safe in Education (Except from Immediate Health Hazards)”.

Safeguarding means, amongst other things:

“Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development” 

(“Keeping Children Safe in Education”, DfE, September 2025, Part 1, paragraph 3, page 7)

Foe the avoidance of doubt, there are now 400,000 plus research papers confirming how SARS-CoV-2 impairs health.

–

This is the seventh school year of living with Covid.

We’ve had seven Education Secretaries since Covid hit UK shores.

What has been learned in all that time?

What has been implemented to keep our children safe?

The answer is nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

There’s clean air in Westminster but not in schools

And so our children keep getting ill.

And their immune systems are being supressed.

And so they become more susceptible to the many other airborne viruses and illnesses which are also prevalent in schools.

And each new Covid-19 infection is like Russian roulette.

And loving parents assume and hope their children are better once the sneezing and coughing and aches and pains stop. But they can’t see the damage to the heart, to other organs, to the frontal lobe, to blood vessels, to their central nervous system or immune system. That will become apparent later.

Because Covid isn’t just a cold. It was never just a cold.

Every week, more children in England join the 100,000+ who have already developed Long Covid.

And every week, politicians bemoan parental attitudes to education whilst failing in their duty to protect children in education.

–

You were right, in 2022, to say that the Government was letting down our children.

It was.

This very week, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard that the previous Government had a policy of allowing children to acquire Covid and Long Covid.

But nothing has changed.

So now it’s the Labour Government letting down our children.

It’s a travesty that children routinely go to school well and come home ill.

It’s a travesty because this outcome is not inevitable.

It’s a travesty because we know what’s causing it, we know what the potential harm is and we do nothing to stop it.

And we know there are things we could easily do to reduce transmission and mitigate the risk.

It’s the very definition of “negligence”.

It’s a betrayal.

So much for safeguarding.

So much for duty of care.

Imagine if we allowed children to repeatedly get run over in school car parks or to repeatedly get burned in school fires or to repeatedly get harmed in any other manner on school premises.

That would be unthinkable, wouldn’t it?

–

When we know about risks, when we identity hazards, when we know about harm, the only thing we can do is act.

Inaction is a failing.

Our ethical duty is to mitigate the risks in order to prevent harm.

Because Safeguarding means:

“Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development” 

–

Today, many children in England will catch Covid in school. For some, life will change today.

Today, many teachers in England will catch Covid in school. For some, life will change today.

And some will never go back to school again. And that’s heart-breaking.

Today, children and teachers with Covid will unwittingly spread the virus around their families and school communities.

And some people will recover.
And some will become disabled.
And some won’t make it.

And it could all be so different.

A New Way Forward:

We need a new way forward in education, a way which values, prioritises and preserves health. Our children deserve to be healthier and safer than they currently are in schools.

Our society needs that too.

If you want children’s school attendance to improve, you fundamentally have to address the biggest root cause of absence: illness.

And if you want to reduce illness, you have to address what’s fuelling the illness: the ongoing transmision of Covid-19.

There are two things which would make an enormous difference to pupils, educators and school communities all across the country.

1. We urgently need sensible attendance policies in every school, which are rooted in public health protection.

Quite simply, children and school staff with contagious illnesses should be directed to stay at home until they are no longer contagious.

2. We need air purifiers with HEPA filters in every classroom, in every school.

Quite simply, children and adults should have clean air in school, just like they have clean water. It should be a basic right for children in school to breathe air that won’t harm them.

Those two things should be mandated and the latter should be fully funded by Government.

Those two things aren’t controversial. They don’t affect anybody’s liberties. They will reduce the risk of harm and improve life chances. They will strengthen everybody’s future. They will save schools an inordinate amount of money.

They’ll save lives too.

I implore you, in your role as Secretary of State for Education, to take action now.

Our children’s health, safety and development depend on it.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Bladon

Concerned Dad

Former Headteacher

PS

My other two children are coughing and sneezing now…

PPS

My children, like many all over the country, have been catching Covid pretty much once a year. My youngest still has ten more years of compulsory education ahead. Unless things change, she could well catch Covid ten more times before she reaches adulthood. The cumulative risks are unthinkable. We can’t just let that happen, can we?

There’s Something in the Air

Imagine every school in the country was found to have Legionella in its water supply.

Imagine that the bacteria in the water was making pupils and staff ill….in every single school….every single day.

Imagine that children and adults in every school were routinely developing a cough, high temperature, shortness of breath, chest pain, and other flu-like symptoms.

(You don’t need to imagine this; the bacteria causes Legionnaires’ Disease and Pontiac Fever.)

–

Imagine that the water kept making people ill, day after day, week after week, year after year.

Imagine that many adults working in schools and many pupils were repeatedly falling ill.

Some of them became seriously ill.

Imagine that, while many pupils and staff went on to recover (or seemingly to recover) from their initial illness, many others developed long term symptoms, significantly impacting on their quality of life:

Teachers. Pupils. Leaders. Support staff.  Visitors.

–

Imagine that all of this illness was impacting severely on pupil and staff attendance.

Imagine that all of this absence had significant consequences on school budgets, on the smooth running of schools, on staff workload, on children’s learning, on families’ circumstances and on everybody’s well-being.

Imagine that, curiously, hardly anybody wanted to talk about the water, even though everybody knew that the water was causing the illness and the absence.

Not politicians. Not trade unions. Not the media.

So everyone just kept using the same water…the same air conditioners…

–

Imagine that those people who did talk about the water – concerned parents; concerned school staff; concerned medical professionals and scientists, people harmed by the water – were seen as a nuisance.

They were ignored, silenced and ridiculed.

Imagine that international scientific research – published in 400,000+ studies – showed the correlation between contaminated water and ill health, and proved the danger of ongoing exposure.

The risks were undeniable.

–

Now here’s the curveball.

Imagine that, instead of spending money fixing the water supplies, the Government and DfE instead spent their money on… strategies for improving attendance.

They ramped up pressure on pupil attendance.

They ramped up rhetoric about missing school.

They ignored the water.

They focused on parents.

–

Imagine knowing that ten million children and young people, and a million education professionals, were using contaminated water supplies every day.

Imagine knowing this but doing nothing.

Imagine this went on for five years.

Imagine the repeated illness was proven to be affecting people’s immune systems and central nervous systems…and their mental health…and their behaviour…and their mood…and their cognitive ability. And children’s development.

Imagine all the illness left hundreds of thousands of pupils and school staff with chronic illness and new onset conditions.

Imagine there was no treatment available for those people.

Imagine that many educators lost their careers and many pupils lost their childhood.

Imagine knowing the contaminated water was doing this but doing nothing to fix it. Not even trying to mitigate the risks.

Wouldn’t that be unthinkable?

Wouldn’t it be irresponsible?

Wouldn’t it be negligent?

Wouldn’t it be a scandal?

Wouldn’t “doing nothing to prevent harm” be incompatible with employment law (eg the Health and Safety at Work Act) and with statutory safeguarding duties (eg Keeping Children Safe in Education)?

Wouldn’t it?

–

Now imagine it wasn’t bacteria in the water causing illness.

Imagine it was droplets and particles containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in the very air that children and staff were breathing.

It was even worse than the bacteria from the water because this virus kept spreading through the air, passing from person to person.

Imagine that everyone knew this was causing the illness and the absence.

Imagine knowing this but doing nothing.

–

You don’t have to imagine this.

This is how it is.

This is how it’s been for five years now.

A known hazard, with proven risks, quietly wreaking havoc, in every school in the land.

Illness, the biggest cause of absence, driven by a virus, that we pretend doesn’t exist.

An airborne virus causing perpetual harm to the education workforce, the pupil population and wider school communities.

–

It needn’t be like this.

Schools could have clean air.

School pupils and staff and visitors could breathe clean air.

Clean air would mean reduced transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

It would also mean reduced transmission of other airborne viruses, and allergens and pollutants.

–

By choosing to ignore a known hazard, successive Governments have allowed illness and harm to become an almost inevitable consequence of going to school.

It’s a situation which is, surely, the very definition of negligence.

Harm should never be an inevitable consequence of going to school. Not for pupils and not for staff.

Of course it shouldn’t.

END

Ps

Our politicians have clean air in Westminster.

They know all about the risks from Covid and the benefits of clean air.

Five Years to Learn Nothing

This time five years ago, schools in England were tentatively preparing to re-open to all pupils. It was a summer and a September I’ll never forget…

PART ONE: SCHOOL IN A NEW ERA

In the late summer of 2020, we still didn’t know a huge amount about the risks of Covid-19 or about how we could do “school” in the midst of a pandemic. So we re-opened with some nervousness and an abundance of caution.

We re-opened with barriers and one way systems and face masks. We had windows wide open and doors ajar. We kept our coats on, as the temperature dropped inside and out.

We re-opened with staggered start and finish times. with new markings on the ground and signs saying “Keep 2 Metres Apart!”

Parents were discouraged from socialising on the playground, before and after school. Staff were encouraged to go home as soon as the school day was over.

We had enhanced site cleaning. Children and staff had regular hand-washing, separate breaks and lunch times. We had meticulous protocols for dealing with every single case of Covid.

We kept classes and year groups and key stages in separate “bubbles”. We came together, in a sense, for virtual assemblies. We restricted visitor access. We moved to online parents’ evenings. In-person meetings were replaced with calls on Zoom and Teams and GoogleMeet. We cancelled some annual events and we reimagined others. At Christmas-time, we posted our Early Years Nativity on YouTube.

Some of those changes were logistically difficult. Some of them weren’t initially popular. But they were all painstakingly considered. We did those things to protect one another. To try to stay safe.

Back in 2020, it was my duty as a headteacher to try to keep my staff, our pupils and our school community safe. That duty was on me: contractually, morally and legally. That duty had been on me for the previous nine years too, though it had never felt more tangible… or more vital.

For a while, back then, it was even decided (well beyond our school gates) that safety and health were more important than Ofsted inspections and SATs and public exams.

All of this was a matter of safeguarding.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means, amongst other things:

“Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development” (Keeping Children Safe in Education, July 2025, Part 1, paragraph 3, page 7)

–

PART TWO: WHAT WE NOW KNOW

Five years have passed since those uncertain times. Five years have passed since we began school in a new era, with the threat of Covid influencing every decision. Five years on, we know a lot more:

What we now know about Covid-19

A child is not “more likely to be hit by a bus on the way to school than catch Covid in school“.
Covid is not rare in children. Quite the opposite. Data suggests that most children in the UK had had one or more infection by mid-2022.

Covid is not just like a cold. It never was.

Covid is an airborne virus, caused by SARS-CoV-2. It has short term and long term effects.
Covid affects the central nervous system. It damages the immune system. It’s cardiovascular. It can affect every major organ. It causes neurological damage; it affects the frontal lobe.

Covid can damage your blood vessels and change the way your mitochondria work.

Covid causes long term damage and induces new conditions. Even a seemingly mild case of the virus can cause irrepairable, lasting damage. Covid causes blood clots. It increases the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and many more conditions.
It can leave people debilitated and disabled.
It can be fatal.
Every time you contract Covid-19, it’s like pulling the trigger in a game of roulette.

What we know about schools:

Schools are a breeding ground for Covid (as they always have been for all sorts ot illness).

What we know about absence:

Staff absence in schools, colleges and childcare settings is significantly higher than it ever was in the pre-pandemic era.

Pupil absence in schools, colleges and childcare settings is significantly higher than it ever was in the pre-pandemic era.

The key driver of both pupil absence and staff absence is illness.

What we know about health in our schools:

We have a much less healthy education workforce and a much less healthy pupil population than we had pre-Covid.

We have more short term illness and more chronic illness and more mental ilness, in both staff and pupils.

In very recent years, there’s also been a resurgence of dangerous conditions such as measles (eliminated in the UK in 2017 but with 3000 cases in 2024) and whooping cough (over 10,000 reported cases in the first half of 2024).

What we know about long term damage:

Around two million people in the UK now live with Long Covid. They’re the long haulers.

Amongst them, there are teachers and leaders and school support staff who have lost their health and their jobs and careers. Some have gone on to lose their homes.

Teachers and education professionals have one of the highest prevalence rates of Long Covid of all professions. It’s been this way for five years.

Amongst the two million, there are at least one hundred thousand children whose lives have been put on hold or turned upside down. One hundred thousand previously healthy, energetic children, now held captive by chronic fatigue, autonomic dysfunction and breathing problems.

Covid isn’t going away:

Successive Secretaries of State for Education talk about “stubborn absence figures”. What they mean is that we are much less healthy than we once were. It’s not the numbers that are stubborn. It’s the virus. It’s going nowhere.

Those are the things we know.

–

PART THREE: OLD HABITS

Five years on, what are we doing to protect our children, their families, our teachers, their families, and our school communities from Covid-19?

What are we doing to “Keep Children Safe in Education” in light of all the proven risks?

It’s a depressing answer.

In 2025, schools are essentially operating in the same way as they were in the prepandemic era.

We have children in cramped classrooms which are often poorly ventilated. Children mix freely. Hygiene habits have reverted to how they used to be. The face masks and regular testing are long gone. Many schools have air quality monitors but most don’t have air cleaning systems. There is nothing in place nationally to reduce the transmision of Covid-19 in schools and childcare settings. Nothing.

None of that is a criticism of school leaders. It’s the path that was decided for our country, not just our education settings.

So what has changed?

Well, we do have tougher attendance policies and stricter protocols for absence management than we used to have.

Some settings and organisations instruct ill children and staff to still attend school/work. Some overtly tell staff and parents that they/their children should “still attend with Covid“.

In some settings, colleagues get berated for testing for Covid. “You shouldn’t be testing anymore!” they say, to the employee who is unwell, displaying symptoms of the latest variant, and keen to protect others.

In some schools, you get a home visit from a senior leader or an attendance officer, if your child is at home with Covid. Think about that for a moment. Somebody visits your home when you’ve reported that you have Covid in the household.

Distrust is replacing compassion. Intelligent, professional people don’t stay away from those who have Covid; they knowingly put themselves in harm’s way.

Penalty notice fees have been increased in England.. In the last two years, there’s been a huge surge in the number of penalty notices issued by local authorities. They’re not all for unauthorised holidays in term time…

All of these developments have evolved from, and been compounded by, political rhetoric. The “Attendance at all Costs” agenda – with its dystopian messaging and expensive media campaign – is one of the most appalling, counter-productive things to ever happen in education.

Remember Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs?

This is how far we’ve come in five years:

We’ve all but abandoned attempts to keep school communities safe (see also: hospitals: care homes; public transport….)

This virus continues to wreak havoc every single day, five years on, but we pretend it isn’t there. Every new Covid infection poses a risk. Every repeat infection increases the risk of long term harm. But we pretend that isn’t the case.

We’ve basically disregarded all we know about the dangers of a virus, and about how that virus spreads.

We’ve abandoned science, logic, common sense and responsibility towards public health.

We’ve decided that we don’t want to isolate those who are ill, to aid their recovery and prevent the perpetual spreading. Sometimes, we pressurise people into school when they are known to have a highly contagious illness.

Perhaps most disturbingly of all, five years on, it’s not uncommon to punish those who are persistently ill and absent. Parents are threatened with legal sanctions: children are excluded from attendance rewards and warned about their lost future earnings.

Over the course of five gruelling years, we’ve switched from compelling one another to stay safe to punishing those who are trying to stay safe.

Politicians have put presenteeism over common sense.

They’ve put attendance data above people’s health. They’ve put future earnings above future health and wellbeing. They’re gambling on a better future for those who are broken today.

Everybody working in education knows that pupil absence and staff absence remain incredibly high, five years on. Everybody knows the disruption and cost. Everybody can see how children are changing:
attention, behaviour, attitude, development, physical and mental health, speech and language….and much more besides. But what’s accelerating the changes? How did all the challenges become so big?

It’s easier to blame mobile phones or poverty or the digital age or parenting or “the broken social bond” or the Tories or Labour than it is to talk about the elephant in the room.

–

PART FOUR: WHAT WE COULD DO (ABOUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM)

I’m not saying we should revert to all the mitigations of 2020. I don’t think we should and I don’t think we need to. Many of those early protocols were simply unsustainable.

But, my goodness, now we’re doing nothing!

We’ve gone from doing everything to doing nothing. There’s surely some middle ground.

Doing nothing is an absolute travesty. It’s a failing. Doing nothing means that our schools remain breeding grounds. Doing nothing means that our teachers and school leaders and support staff and pupils keep falling ill. Their families keep falling ill too. Perpetual illness. Perpetual absence. Perpetual disruption. Perpetual risk.

Two Things We Could Do in Schools:

1. We could put clean air in classrooms, to reduce the transmision of viruses (and remove allergens). It would cost less than £20 per pupil. The average school is currently spending TEN TIMES that amount on supply costs…mostly to cover teacher illness…teacher Covid illness which remains exponentially higher since…the emergence of Covid.

2. We could have pragmatic, compassionate attendance policies, underpinned by a responsibility to public health.

We should be instructing poorly pupils to stay at home, especially when they have contagious illness. We should compell them to stay away, both to aid their recovery and to prevent the needless spreading of illness in our schools. We should be instructing unwell school employees to stay at home, for the very same reasons.

We could be doing those things to try to reduce transmission, to mitigate the risks from Covid-19 in our school communities and to improve health overall. We could easily be doing those things, to prevent harm. But we’re not.

Five years ago, we set out to keep our school communities safe, in the face of new and unknown risks. Nothing was more important than keeping people safe.

Five years have passed. We should have learned so much. We could have done things so differently.

We could have been proactive. We could have taken some control. If only we weren’t so busy fighting fires.

We could have reduced the risks and prevented immeasurable harm. But we didn’t.

So much for Keeping Children Safe in Education.

Steve Bladon,

August 2025

A Brief Guide to Post Exertional Malaise

I’ve been suffering from post-exertional malaise for nearly four years now.

I have debilitating crashes every couple of months.

They usually last one to two weeks, but I’m in the sixth week with this spell.

It’s absolutely brutal and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

I’m not looking for sympathy.

I’m simply writing this because I’m keen to raise awareness of something which affects millions, which can be frightening and excruciating, and which is massively misuderstood (and often derided).

What is Post Exertional Malaise?

Post-exertional malaise is a hallmark symptom of ME/CFS.

A great many people have been navigating life with PEM for decades.

Many will experience it for the first time tomorrow.

Over the last five years, the number of people regularly experiencing PEM has soared. It is, as I know only too well, a defining characteristic of Long Covid.

(Nb: Long Covid and ME/CFS have much in common, though that’s for another blog.)

The Exertional Triggers

You might assume from the word “exertional” that PEM is triggered by physical activity. It is, absolutely, but it has many more triggers too.

Post-exertional malaise can be triggered by physical exertion,  mental exertion and emotional exertion.

Post-exertional malaise is triggered by the normal activities and conditions of everyday life.

It’s thinking and doing.
It’s socialising.
It’s employment.
It’s studying.
It’s housework.
It’s hobbies.
It’s playing.
It’s family life.

It’s standing.
It’s walking.
It’s driving.
It’s worrying.
It’s talking.
It’s cooking.
It’s hoovering,
It’s going upstairs.
It’s gardening.
It’s reading.
It’s concentrating.

PEM is characterised by symptoms that are completely disproportionate to the triggering activity.

Other Triggers

Other things can trigger or exacerbate PEM too.

In my case, it’s environmenal factors, like heat, and it’s diet (I have to avoid caffeine, alcohol and spicy food).

Other illnesses have triggered or extended my PEM too – colds, chest infections and stomach bugs.

Post-exertional malaise comes from tipping your body past the point it can tolerate, with the jeopardy of not always knowing what your body can tolerate (because it can tolerate different amounts and different things at different times).

What’s Post Exertional Malaise Like?

Well, this is what it’s like for me:

My entire body feels poisoned.
I feel profoundly heavy.
My legs don’t want to stand.
My arms are like lead.
My muscles ache and my joints throb.
I’m light-headed.

The fatigue is utterly brutal.

The nights don’t bring respite.
My sleep is disrupted and unreplenishing.
I’m restless and I have vivid dreams.

In the mornings, I step out of bed, cautiously, feeling like I’ve just finished a marathon and been hit by a bus.

(It’s all a world away from my old life, when I would jump out of bed and run 5km before work.)

During periods of post-exertional malaise:

My eyes sting all day long.
My vision is blurry.

Everything sounds too loud.

I lose my voice.

It’s hard to concentrate and follow conversations.

I become clumsy and forgetful.

Then there’s my autonomic system, which goes haywire (more than normal!).

My breathing becomes more dysfunctional.

My blood pressure goes all over the place.

My thermostat doesn’t work properly: if I get too hot, I can’t cool down.
if I get too cold, I can’t warm up.

Delayed Onset

One of the key aspects of post-exertional malaise is that there is a delay between the trigger and the onset of symptoms.

The delay can be hours or days.

In my case, when I’ve known the trigger, the PEM has typically started two to three days later.

It usually begins with me waking in the night, feeling unbearably hot. Then, after the initial warning, everything else starts to misfire…

Navigating a Spell of P.E.M.

It’s very hard indeed to navigate a spell of post exertional malaise. There’s no map, no medication and no “one size fits all” strategy. It’s about listening to your body, it’s about self preservation and it’s about patience.

I tend to lie low, pull back from commitments and to avoid anything that can be avoided. But that’s always easier said than done: I’m a dad, a husband and a son. I’m trying to still have a quality of life.

During a period of post-exertional malaise, every aspect of every day requires careful consideration.

Pacing. Micro-pacing.

What’s the least I can do here?
How can I conserve energy there?
What can I do to rest?
Can I risk doing this?
Do I need to do this?

But it’s tough. It’s really tough.

—-

If you know someone who suffers from post-exertional malaise, look out for them.

There will likely be times when they might be lying low. Perhaps they might seem quieter than normal. They might look fine but be feeling completely crushed.

They might not be able to chat.

They might not have the strength or energy or bandwidth for a catch up.

But they’ll be glad to know you’re thinking of them.

I know I would be.

Steve Bladon,

August 2025

For the Love of Heaton

“Don’t whisper love and dream of wedding bells; Don’t do all the talking, let love speak up itself...”

It’s June 2024. I’m sitting at home, watching Glastonbury on the iplayer. Paul Heaton is performing on the Pyramid Stage. He delivers a joyous, career-spanning set. It’s well received by the crowd and I’m not surprised. I’ve been enjoying this man’s music and going to his gigs for decades. His songs have been the soundtrack to my life.

It’s early 1989. 14 year old me is watching Top of the Pops.

The charts are filled with Stock, Aitken and Waterman tunes, Adult Oriented Rock and Europop. A new band is introduced; they’re called The Beautiful South. The presenter tells us they’ve emerged from The Housemartins. They don’t look like typical pop stars. They could be my neighbours. Their debut single mentions a pencil case and lots of girls names. It’s rather catchy.

I’m hooked.

It’s autumn 1994. The Beautiful South have just released the brilliantly titled “best of” compilation – “Carry On Up the Charts”. They’ve had 14 superb hit singles (from 4 sublime albums) in just 5 years. They’ve made quite a few appearances on Top of the Pops now. Their songs speak to people, with their catchy melodies and singalong-able yet ascerbic lyrics.

Everyone is hooked. The album becomes one of the fastest selling of all time in the UK.

It’s November 1995. My girlfriend and I are in our first term at university. We live on opposite sides of the country and we meet up at the G-Mex in Manchester, to attend our first ever gig together. The Beautiful South are touring arenas after the massive success of Carry On Up the Charts.

During the Lightning Seeds’ hit-packed support set, the young man next to me faints. I catch him. His girlfriend thanks me. He’s ok. Just a bit hot. There’s already been a lot of jumping up and down. “Things could be marvellous…” Ian Broudie sings, “…soon”. When the Beautiful South take to the stage, the atmosphere is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

When the band performs Song for Whoever, we experience our first real concert moment. The music in the G-Mex, a former train depot, now rings out like we’re in a cathedral. The crowd sings the refrain of girls’ names like it’s a hymn. We’re all hooked.

It’s 1997. Cooler people than me are listening to Oasis, The Verve, Radiohead and The Prodigy. I’ve been listening to “Blue is the Colour” on repeat for about six months. A 5ftx3ft album cover poster adorns the living room wall of our student house. My housemates humour me; it covers up the woodchip. This could be Rotterdam or anywhere.
It’s Lancaster.

On a hot summer’s day, my fiance and I head off with friends to Huddersfield’s Alfred McAlpine Stadium. The Beautiful South are at the top of their game. They’re headlining their own mini-festival, “The South Meets North”. Support comes Cast, Lightning Seeds and Teenage Fanclub.

Our beloved band is now so popular that they can fill outdoor stadiums. They’re joined on stage by a gospel choir and a colliery band. It makes for a very special occasion. When Jacqui Abbott sings “Loving Arms” the crowd is stunned into silence. It’s mesmerising.

It’s September 10th, 2001. Paul Heaton has just released his first solo album, “Fat Chance“.

The song “Poems” is beautiful. “The Perfect Couple”  is a gem.

But this, as it turns out, isn’t the week to release new music.

This is the week when the world will change.

–

It’s August 2006. My wife, my sister, some friends and I have travelled to Castle Howard, near York. The Beautiful South are promoting their latest album, Superbi. We’ve seen our favourite band countless times and in all sorts of venues over the last eleven years. This will, sadly, turn out to be the last time. The Beautiful South will soon be splitting up due to “musical simiarities”...It’s a characteristically wry reason for calling it a day.

It’s August 2017.

In a couple of weeks, my family and I will be leaving the North West, moving to a new home and new jobs.  But first, I have a night out in Leeds, with one of my best mates. We’ve managed to get tickets to an intimate Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott gig. We’re in a tiny venue with just a couple of hundred other fans.

We stand directly in front of the stage (close enough to take the set list at the end!). Paul, Jacqui and the band are in fine form. Their new album has come out this week and they play some songs for the very first time. We stand about three feet away from our heroes. The set closes with “Build“. I’m a little choked by the lyrics. Our house sale fell through a couple of weeks ago.

It’s July 2023. My wife and I are standing in the grounds of Tynemouth Priory. We’ve headed to the North East, to watch Paul Heaton. We were due to see him in Newcastle a couple of years previously, but then the pandemic came. I’m not quite the person I was. I’ve been battling chronic illness for a year and a half. Being here is a big deal. I’m so glad to be here.

On this grey night,  Paul Heaton will brighten our spirits by performing the songs that have been the soundtrack to our lives. Happy Hour is simply jubilant. Prettiest Eyes might just have been written about us. My wife and I have been following this man and singing his songs for all our adult lives.

“Take a good look at these crows feet, sitting on the prettiest eyes…”

It’s June 2024.

I’m at home, watching Glastonbury on iplayer. Paul Heaton is on the Pyramid Stage. With his tight band and exuberant guest singer, Rianne Downey, he’s leading the unsuspecting festival crowd through the Heaton hymn book. They’re songs about life and love and growing old. They’re songs about our lives.

Half way through his set, there’s a moment. Paul jokes about having been in the first boy band. He surprises us all by bringing a certain Norman Cook on stage. It’s the half Housemartins reunion we never knew we needed. It really is Happy Hour again.

When the set closes with the a capella version of Caravan of Love, it’s another moment. There’s a big message here and everybody feels it.

It’s December 7th, 2024

My wife and I have ventured to Nottingham. Our Christmas present to each other is a night out together, watching the man whose music has soundtracked our 30 year relationship.

These days, being out is a big deal.

This year, I’ve had to miss two other gigs which I had tickets for but which I wasn’t well enough to attend. My health is very unpredictable. I’ve wondered whether I should really just give up on going to gigs,  but then I remind myself that music has always been my medicine.

And my goodness, this night out provides medicine you can’t get from any chemist. The old songs are timeless. The new songs sound classic. Paul’s voice is impeccable. The band members look to be having a great time. The atmosphere is electric and the singalongs are almost spiritual. And then there’s Rianne Downey – effervescent, energetic and absurdly talented. A star in her own right. She’s changed the dynamic of the Heaton live experience. It’s even more fun, fun, fun now.

Thank goodness for nights like this.

Thank goodness for music.

And thank goodness for Paul Heaton: man of the people, bringer of joy and purveyor of the finest songs. The Last King of Pop.

Attendance Management: Illness, Numbers & Lives

Last week, I saw two different examples of schools managing situations in which young pupils with chronic health issues and complex additional needs were absent.

In both situations, the children’s absence was completely legitimate, due to illness. Both children are prone to health issues.

In both situations, the parents are desperate for their children to have better health, and for them to be well enough to attend school more regularly.

In both situations, the schools were following their attendance policies, both of which are said to be based on DFE statutory guidance.

The ways in which the two situations are being managed couldn’t be more different.

The way the two situations are panning out will have profound consequences for the children and their families.

In the first situation, the child’s absences are being authorised. The school has not requested “medical evidence”. Everybody who works in the school knows the child and their family really well. The parents feel like the school really cares.

Compassion and empathy are felt in every exchange. Sometimes, the headteacher personally calls the parents. They don’t do this to apply pressure of guilt; rather, they do it to offer support, to say that they understand. When times are hard – which they often are – this means the world.

In the second situation, the child’s absences are being recorded as unauthorised. The parents are honest and in regular communication with school. They engage well and provide timely medical updates. The child is ill and lives with complex health issues which can’t suddenly be cured.

The school is also insisting that the parent provides medical evidence. The parent has provided copious amounts of medical evidence but none of it satisfies the school. The school effectively wants the family GP to say the child is not fit to attend school on every occasion when they are absent. But there is no provision for a doctor to sign a child off, There is no pupil equivalent of a fit note for employees. It’s a stalemate position.

In the second situation, the parents are not permitted to speak to the headteacher. They may only liaise through the school office. The parents feel like they are being treated like complainants or criminals, rather than  people needing compassion and support.

In the first situation, the school’s compassionate approach makes the parents feel supported. It comes as a huge relief. Taking a hard line could not improve the child’s underlying issues anyway. Taking a hard line on absence could not benefit the child’s health, wellbeing or overall development.

In the second situation, the parents feel judged by the schools stance. By refusing to authorise the child’s absences, the school either doubts the authenticity of the child’s illness or doesn’t feel the illness warrants being absent from school. Whatever the thinking, the overall situation has become adversarial.

In the first situation, the parents are so grateful of the care and understanding shown. “School feels like an extension of the family” the mother said to me affectionately.  “What a blessing, to have found this school!”

When your child has additional needs, life can be hard enough at the best of times.

In the second situation, the family is in turmoil. Everything feels like a battle. Threats of penalty notices and other sanctions are making the parents feel helpless. Their child has chronic health issues. What could they do differently?

“It feels like they don’t want us here” the mother says. distraught. “We don’t know what to do!”

The second situation has now become untenable for the family in question. The child’s chronic illness is hard enough to manage. The pressure/approach of the school is too much to take. The parents’ only options now are to send their child to school, when they really aren’t well enough, or to face the sanctions relating to unauthorised absence.

The child in the first situation has recovered enough to be back in school this week. This school, and all it offers, is an important part of this child’s life. It will be key in shaping their future.

The child in the second situation will not be going back to school this week. With huge regret, they will not be going back at all. This child will be deregistered this week. For now, at least, the child will receive home education. But it’s not elective home education. It’s self preservation. It’s a last resort.

These are real situations, an ongoing part of people’s lives. Two families. Two children with complex health issues and additional needs. Two very different outcomes. The situations aren’t unusual. There are hundreds of thousands of families in similar situations, where children’s physical and/or mental health is the underlying barrier to regular school attendance.

These two stories reflect the vastly different ways in which schools are approaching attendance in 2024. They show how political  rhetoric, combined with high stakes accountability for school leaders is, in some instances, leading to counter-productive policy.

I’m not writing this for the sake of school bashing. I know exactly how hard it is to be a headteacher. I know how much pressure heads are currently under to raise attendance, and I know how difficult that task is.

However, I also know as a parent exactly how hard life can be when one of your children develops health issues and when their school attendance is affected.

On their mission to raise attendance figures per se, it seems that some schools/academies/LAs/Trusts are taking such a hard line on attendance management that they are losing compassion. Many settings are also not applying the discretion they are afforded. Current DfE guidance is very clear in that all schools should take a “support first” approach to absence management.

Over the last few years, unprecedented numbers of children have been deregistered from school. Increasingly, this is not a philosophical or ideological choice for elective home education. Rather, it’s  because parents feel they have no other choice. A huge proportion of these deregistered children have vulnerabilities, including chronic health issues, poor mental health and/or additional needs and disability.

Attendance management didn’t used to be like this, especially when it comes to health related absence. When families find themselves in adverse circumstances, they shouldn’t also find themselves in a lottery.

Authorised or unauthorised?

Met with care or met with scepticism?

Helped or penalised?

Support means care, compassion, empathy, understanding, kindness.

Support first means caring first about people and second about numbers.

The right support can make a family feel blessed to have found a school. And what a difference that makes…

The Crater in the Playground (or The Elephant in the Room)

The year is 2024.

The place is wherever you are.
It’s your village, town or city.

There’s a massive crater in the middle of the local school playground.

The crater appeared from nowhere about five years ago.

At first it was a small crater, though everyone recognised the danger.

At first, people took action to protect one another from the dangers of the crater.

They told each other to stay away from the crater.

They cordoned off the crater.

Eventually, they closed the playground, and then the entire school.

The people took the crater very seriously. Nobody wanted to fall in.

Sadly, some people did fall in the crater, despite the efforts to keep them safe.

Some were injured.

Some of the injured seemed to bounce back.

Some were badly injured. Naturally, it took time for them to recover.

Others never recovered from their injuries.

For some, it was the last time they ever went on the playground.

Tragically, some were even fatally injured.

—

Over the years, the crater changed.
It got wider.
It got deeper.
The edges became harder to see.
It became more dangerous.

But as the crater grew and the hazard grew, something very strange happened:
people stopped talking about the crater, and of the hazards of falling in.

By the fifth year, it was almost as though the crater didn’t exist at all.

Yet there it was, bigger than ever, bang in the middle of the playground.

By the fifth year, the safety fencing was long gone.
The warning signs had been taken down.
Nobody instructed anyone to stay away from the crater anymore. In fact, some people even spoke gleefully about how they had fallen in the crater countless times, and how it had done them no harm.

By the fifth year, people were still falling in the crater every single day.

Pupils fell in at playtime, lunchtimes and during PE lessons.

Staff fell in when they were on break duty, when they were crossing to get to other classrooms, and when they were teaching PE outside.

Parents and siblings fell in the crater when they collected their children from the playground at hometime.

By the fifth year, almost everybody had fallen in the crater at least once or twice. Many had fallen three times, four times and even more. For some, falling in the crater had become an annual event.

But falling in the crater was like playing Russian roulette…

For some people, the fall wasn’t too bad. They got away with a few cuts and bruises – just some minor, superficial injuries. At least, that’s what they thought.

For others, the fall was life-changing. They suffered multiple injuries. They became disabled. They acquired complications. They found they had health issues that couldn’t be treated. It was disastrous.

—

By the fifth year, many of those who had fallen were finding that they were now much more prone to injury. They didn’t seem to recover like they used to.

By the fifth year, everybody knew that the crater was an ongoing nightmare. The school staff knew it. The pupils knew it. The whole community knew it. And yes, the Government knew it.

There it was, in the middle of the playground.

There it was, in the middle of so many problems.

By the fifth year, the school was struggling with staff morale. They were still struggling to cover staff absence. They were struggling to meet attendance targets. Attainment and progress measures were down. The budget was shot. Pupil numbers were down.

Many pupils fell in the crater. Then they weren’t well enough for school.

School staff were constantly falling in the crater, getting injured and needing to take time off work.

Some staff were absent from work because their own children were at home needing care, after falling in the craters at their own schools.

The crater had other consequences too:

Some people lost their confidence in the fall. Some felt less safe around the crater. Some felt anxious.

Some people had seen their lives changed profoundly by the crater; they now felt differently about school and work.

Some were confused by the adults who told them they were safe in school, when they didn’t feel safe in school.

The school was stuck in a constant cycle of people falling in the crater, then dealing with the cost and disruption and impact of people falling in the crater.

The headteacher was exasperated by the crater problems. The headteacher longed for a crater-free school. But even headteachers couldn’t speak up about craters. It just wasn’t the done thing.

—

As time passed, attitudes to the crater changed. The crater grew, but apathy grew too. Politicians and policy makers – the people who could help the most – decided they simply would not talk about the crater. They didn’t want to find solutions to the problems caused by the crater.

For politicians and the DfE, the biggest problem in education was attendance, not some innocuous hole in the ground.

Some citizens were tired of the crater though. They didn’t think it was wise for everyone to keep falling in. Some of those who had been badly injured were desperately keen to stop others suffering the same fate.

Those people kept coming up with ideas to help.

If the crater couldn’t be completely filled in, it should at least be fenced off.

If the crater couldn’t be completely filled in, it should at least be surrounded by warning signs.

If it was still impossible to stop people falling in, at least the injured should be given time to recover.

If it was still impossible to stop people falling in, at least the school could lead some assemblies about staying safe around the crater or about protecting one another from falling in.

Injury and serious harm and disability didn’t need to be inevitable.

But those who came up with the ideas to help were mostly ignored and sometimes ridiculed.

Crater? What crater?

The year is 2030.

It’s now ten years since the crater first appeared.

At the local school, a vast crater covers the entire area where the playground used to be.

At every school, a vast crater covers the entire area where the playground used to be.

The people didn’t ever stop falling in.

It was decided long ago that it was far too hard to do anything about the crater.

Everyone just works around the crater, watching as children and colleagues, friends and loved ones keep falling in.

Only one or two members of staff remain from the pre-crater times. Occasionally, they reminisce about those halcyon days, when being constantly injured and exhausted, and feeling battered and broken wasn’t the norm.

None of the pupils remember those times.

At the bottom of the crater, two injured children are lying in pain. They’ve just fallen in, again.

They wonder why there’s no fence around the crater or no crash mats at the bottom.

In another lifetime, children would have gone to hospital after suffering a fall like this. But not now.

Now, there’s an even bigger crater at the hospital.

And that’s another story altogether…