Children who are persistently absent from school need more understanding and help to return to the classroom, argues one reader

As a teacher and lawyer who has represented children at special educational needs tribunals, but chiefly as a parent with children who have experienced mental health crises, it is hard not to feel disempowered by the lack of appropriate support given to children who are in crisis and therefore struggling to go to school (Government to fund school ‘attendance mentors’ in worst-hit areas of England, 5 January).

In older children, poor attendance is often linked to depression and anxiety. This is not wilful non-attendance and cannot be simply rectified by sanctions for non-compliance. This so often results in students’ low mood sinking even lower.