Is Messy Church church?

We had a challenging email through recently regarding school attendance:
I am hoping you might be able to help with a quick question: does Messy Church count as a ‘church attendance’?
I have attended a Sunday service for many years as well as a midweek home group. Since my local church started a Messy Church service (which is amazing by the way) and my son has started rugby, I have now changed to attending the Messy Church and my regular midweek group and not going to so many Sunday services.
I have since been told that my local school does not accept Messy Church as an ‘attendance’ and even though I have been a Christian for years and been to church regularly, it is not in the prior three years before application and so I do not meet the criteria!
I am obviously really distressed by this as I had always planned for my children to go to school with like-minded parents of children they have made friends with at church.
BRF obviously needs to do some work with Diocesan Boards of Education so that at least they can help schools make decisions based on the facts.