MissingSchool CEO, Megan Gilmour, was featured in an article from The Bugle News. To view the original article click here.
At Minnamurra Public School assemblies, a giant spinning wheel appears on a screen. Inside it are the names of students who have attended school every day since the last assembly — each automatically entered into a prize draw for a canteen voucher.
The room fills with anticipation as the wheel spins before finally landing on a name.
It’s a simple incentive, but a powerful one. For some students, the chance of a reward is enough to get them through the school gates on mornings when they would rather stay under their doonahs.
Across New South Wales, however, keeping students in classrooms has become an ongoing concern.
In Australia in 2025, the attendance rate for students in Years 1–10 was 88.8 per cent, up slightly from 88.3 per cent in 2024. But nationally, attendance levels have not returned to pre-covid levels, highlighting a persistent challenge for schools.
For decades, one of the state’s key responses has been the Home School Liaison Program, established in 1986 by the NSW Department of Education. The program supports students at risk of chronic absenteeism through a casework model, with trained teachers working directly with families to address barriers to attendance.
But that approach is now facing a significant shake-up.
In early March, the department made almost 100 teachers working in the program redundant, in a major restructure of the State’s truancy intervention strategy.
A source told The Bugle the decision came as a shock to schools across the Illawarra.
“I’ve heard they’re moving the roles to clerks who will contact families and send letters,” the source said. “Our concern is it won’t provide the same level of support and engagement for families. It was a big shock to all our schools.”
For some families, the attendance battle is deeply personal.
Rebecca Bishop says her son has struggled with school attendance for years after traumatic experiences in the classroom.
“My son has struggled to attend school since Year 2, when he was horribly bullied,” she said. “Then in Year 6 a teacher behaved inappropriately with the class and it caused him significant trauma. He didn’t attend school consistently again until Year 9.”
Now in Year 10, she says her son is “persisting” but still finds the experience of schooling exhausting.
“My advice to parents is that you know your child better than anyone,” she said. “Work with them, work with their strengths, reward them for even trying and showing up. Punishment for non-attendance doesn’t work. People really don’t understand how hard it is for them.”
Experts say attendance problems are rarely straightforward.
Carly Dober, a clinical psychologist and owner of Enriching Lives Psychology, says it’s important to recognise the difference between truancy and what is often called school refusal.
“School refusal is not the same as truancy,” she said. “It’s rarely about defiance or lack of interest. More often it’s the outward expression of deep distress.”
For some children, she says, separation anxiety makes it nearly impossible to leave home. Others struggle with social fears, performance pressure, or the sensory overwhelm of a busy classroom environment that isn’t meeting their needs.
Dober says the most effective response requires collaboration.
“Caregivers, teachers and mental health professionals need to work together to identify the underlying issues,” she said.
“Behavioural approaches such as gradual exposure can be highly effective — starting with very short school visits and slowly increasing the time as the child’s tolerance builds.”
For some students, however, even that pathway can be difficult.
Megan Gilmour, CEO of the charity MissingSchool, works with children who cannot attend school because of physical or mental health challenges. She believes the term “school refusal” is often used too loosely.
“When a student cannot physically attend school, our education system typically pauses service until the student is back in the classroom,” she said.
“This one-size-fits-all approach leaves some of our most vulnerable students disconnected from their education and social connections at precisely the time they need more support. No amount of school funding or quality teaching is reaching them.”
The consequences extend well beyond the classroom.
“Research shows that school non-completion costs Australia nearly $1 million per student in lost opportunity,” Gilmour said.
“That leaves a multi-billion-dollar economic gap and liability for young people that we simply cannot afford to ignore.”
