Mental Health-related School Provision and Hospital Contacts among Pupils enrolled in Alternative Provision

Among 1.7m English state-school pupils born 2000–2002 who enrolled in Alternative Provision, 62.4% had recorded mental health need, peaking at 74.0% in Mixed White-Black Caribbean pupils.

• Why it matters: Pupils in Alternative Provision are highly vulnerable, and gaps between school support records and hospital contacts could hinder early identification of unmet mental health need.
• What they did: Using linked school and hospital administrative data, the study compared rates and recording patterns of mental health-related school provision and hospital contacts across racial-ethnic groups and gender among pupils with AP enrolment.
• The result: Among AP pupils with a mental health-related hospital contact, school provision was recorded for 52.0% of girls versus 67.3% of boys, and for Mixed White-Asian pupils 17.5% of boys and 36.2% of girls had hospital contact without school provision.

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