"He was grabbing my arm and screaming and crying. He just did not want to go in," Mrs Mahanidis recalls.

Now, the 10-year-old is thriving after switching to home school for two years.

James is not alone. A senate inquiry is examining a national trend of students struggling to attend school regularly.

The senate committee received over 70 submissions about primary and secondary school aged children with the final report to be released in June 2023.

READ MORE: Inquiry to examine rise in school refusal

"[It's not about not] wanting to go to school because it's boring or you've got more exciting things to do. It is this real anxiety or worry about going to school," Professor Penny Van Bergen said.

The professor of educational psychology is researching 'school refusal' at the University of Wollongong.

School refusal is the term being used for students having trouble going to school due to emotional distress. The term 'school can't' is also used to emphasise the distinction from truancy.

Mrs Mahanidis said before COVID-19 her son James loved school.

"He loved the social aspects of school, he loved the learning aspects of school. He really enjoyed school," she said.

James has autism and became anxious in 2021. Mrs Mahanidis suspects it was due to the multiple routine changes with COVID-19 lockdowns and rules.

While the school was very supportive, with a teacher meeting the pair at the school gate, the situation went from bad to worse.

"[It] turned into physical issues, waking up having nightmares, and then the mouth ulcers."

READ MORE: Toddler dies in horror South Coast ride-on mower accident

The turning point was a telehealth meeting with James' paediatrician.

"She took one look at James and he had big black marks from sleep deprivation under his eyes, he was pale, he wasn't eating at school either, which is another sign of severe anxiety and he had these mouth ulcers, and she said to me 'Shana you need to pull him out of school'," she said.

The paediatrician wrote a certification for a two-week break from school.

"At the end of the two weeks. We were starting to recover our son again. He was eating, he didn't have mouth ulcerations."

Once he returned back to school things went downhill again. The Cordeaux Heights family decided to home-school James.

The mum-of-four noticed during the COVID-19 lockdown her son thrived with the student-led learning style that allowed him to dig deep into topics.

"I think before he didn't know any difference - he loved school. He knew that you went to school from nine till three, and you did x-y-z, and this is how it was. Then once COVID happened these students didn't go to school for months," she said.

Mrs Mahanidis has been home-schooling James for two years with the view to return to school in the future.

Professor Van Bergen believes the effects of the pandemic may be driving an increase in school refusal.

"It's hard to quantify exactly what that looks like, but there has been increased reports of school refusal when you compare data from pre-COVID to post-COVID," Professor Van Bergen said.

"We also know that COVID-19 has had an impact on young people's mental health, so it has driven for example increased rates of anxiety, and that could be wrapped up in school refusal."

READ MORE: My 7-year-old doesn't want to go to school how can I help?

Dr Kimberley O'Brien, a principal child psychologist at Austinmer's Quirky Kids, said while their number one reason for referral is anxiety, there are other factors involved.

"Other issues that are coming up around [school refusal] are like sensory avoidance," Dr O'Brien said.

"Playgrounds are noisy and kids are more mindful of wanting to work in a quiet environment. So sometimes the classroom doesn't really fit that description."

Students' attendance levels nationally have declined across all school sectors. In 2015 around eight out of every 10 students were attending school for more than 90 per cent of the time. In 2022 it was just five in 10 students, according to Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

A spokesperson for NSW Department of Education told the Mercury school refusal is a challenging issue affecting schools across the country.

"Ministers from across the country [in the first week of March] agreed more needs to be done to address school attendance, including school refusal, so that we can take more evidence-based approaches," the spokesperson said.

"School refusal is also one of the initial priorities for NSW's new Chief Behaviour Advisor, Emeritus Professor Donna Cross OAM, who will be working closely with all three school sectors to address this challenging issue."

Professor Van Bergen said if children are reluctant or refusing to go to school, the most important thing to do is to figure out why. She also said parents should let the classroom teacher and principal know about the situation.

"It means that they can pull in strategies that they know might be effective. It means they can be aware of the problem in the classroom as well," Professor Van Bergen said.

"It also means they might be able to connect parents up with the school counsellor."

Mrs Mahanidis echoes the advice to inform the school and seek external support.

"Everyone at some point goes through something. Every child needs some form of support at some point in their life," she said.

"There's lots of programs, and there's lots of supports that schools can tap into and I think as a parent you need to ask and not be afraid to ask."

Mrs Mahanidis said while homeschooling has worked for James, she empathises not all parents are in a situation to do that.

"Home schooling is a very demanding thing on parents - particularly parents that work a lot. My husband, and I have businesses, so we just we work our businesses around our son."

UOW researcher Professor Van Bergen also calls for employers in the Illawarra to be patient as a rising number of parents tackle this issue.

"I think for employers to be aware that parents themselves maybe working really hard to help get kids into school, but they do have this other thing going on in their life and to be compassionate and understanding of that is going to really help parents to manage the problem," Professor Van Bergen said.

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