Whilst attending school is a positive and rewarding experience for most children and young people, concerns surrounding school attendance problems are increasing both in Ireland and internationally. The term School Attendance Problems (SAPs) is used internationally to refer to difficulties labelled as school refusal, and more recently termed school avoidance or emotionally-based school avoidance; as well as other types of school absenteeism, such as truancy, school withdrawal or school exclusion (Heyne, Gren-Landell, Melvin & Gentle-Genitty, 2019). The reasons for SAPs are complex and multifaceted and they have been made more challenging by the COVID-19 pandemic (McDonald, Lester & Michelson, 2023). It is increasingly clear that the world is changing, students’ needs are more diverse, and as a result, our approach to school attendance and each student’s relationship with education must be different too (Heyne, Gentle-Genitty, Melvin, et al., 2024).