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In reality, however, the causes of truancy and non-attendance are diverse and multi-faceted. There are as many causes of non-attendance as there are non-attenders. Each child has his/her own story, and whilst there may often be certain identifiable factors in common, each non-attending child demands and an individual response, tailored to meet his/her individual needs. This applies to the 14-year-old who fails to attend school because a parent is terminally ill, the overweight 11-year-old who fails to attend because he is about changing for PE in front of peers, the 15-year-old who is ‘bored’ by lessons, and to the seven-year-old who is teased in the playground because she does not wear the latest designer-label clothes.