红桃影视

鈥淎 crisis of lost learning is sweeping across schools in England,鈥� a report by the education charity The Difference said this week.

Children lost a total of 11.5 million days鈥� worth of learning in the autumn term of 2023 鈥� a huge rise from pre-Covid 鈥� as suspensions, exclusions and home education soar.

Children not in school are more likely to be those in poverty, with special education needs or in social care.

To 鈥渢urn the tide鈥�, the report said that schools must become more inclusive, and children must be made to feel they belong there. But how? 

Schools Week spoke to the schools leading on the four key inclusion principles outlined by …

Principle 1: Inclusion built from the universal up

At Heritage High School, a secondary in Chesterfield, suspensions have halved and persistent absence has fallen by 4 per cent after the school introduced 鈥渦niversal inclusion鈥� policies. 

Changes such as free breakfasts and 鈥渃ommunity lunches鈥� which ensure that no child eats alone mean youngsters 鈥渇eel really positive about coming in鈥�, said headteacher Deb Elsdon.

After noticing a peak in absences on Fridays, the school now offers incentive-led treats and rewards at the end of the week. A 鈥渃ulture of appreciation鈥� between staff and pupils encourages praise for positive actions.

鈥淲hat we’re trying to do is really [ensure] that sense of belonging,鈥� said Wes Davies, CEO of The Two Counties Trust, which runs the school. 鈥淭hat genuine inclusion 鈥� that 鈥業 belong in any classroom, on any corridor in any assembly鈥�.鈥�

This extends to excluded pupils. Heritage High鈥檚 intervention centre is led by senior leaders and subject specialists 鈥渢o give a very clear message that our priority children have the most senior staff鈥�, Elsdon added.

‘Low sensory environments’

Xavier Catholic Education Trust, a MAT with 19 schools in Surrey, has turned classrooms into 鈥渓ow sensory environments鈥� to make it easier for all children, not just those with SEND, to learn.

SEND lead Charlie Allison said: 鈥淲e have nothing on the windows, nothing hanging from the ceilings鈥� we have clear desks so that, actually, every single child can learn better in that environment. The teachers give the children a huge part of the room.鈥�

The Difference鈥檚 report urges the government to boost whole-school inclusion across the country by providing 拢850m over the next five years, which could pay for itself.

Analysis suggested the funding would mean quicker support for 100,000 children per year, reducing the need for 35,000 education, health and care plans (EHCPs). 

Currently most support is often funnelled into specialist interventions, while funding for 鈥渦niversal, preventative鈥� support has fallen.

Principle 2: Inclusive culture led from the top

All school staff should 鈥渟ee inclusion as central to what they do and the everyday interactions they have with children鈥�, The Difference said.

Davies has invested in sending leaders across his trust on courses to help boost their understanding of inclusion, helping them to build a 鈥渟hared vision鈥� of how to solve it.

鈥淚f I’m saying as a CEO, 鈥榚very school is going to have a senior leader who has done [inclusion training], that really signals what is important to me, to the organisation, to children,鈥� Davies said.

Principle 3. Inclusion is community collaboration

The report said that schools should 鈥渒now their students鈥�, families鈥�, staff and wider communities鈥� strengths鈥�.

Headteachers鈥� standards specify leaders should forge constructive relationships beyond the school. But Teacher Tapp polling has found that more than half of teachers had never received training on parent communication.

The report urged the government to add skills around working with families and local communities into its suite of professional qualifications.

Xavier Catholic Education Trust has an 鈥渆very day is an open day鈥� policy, meaning that visitors are always welcome. Outreach also includes parental workshops on sleeping patterns, healthy living and stress management.

鈥淲e want to be a lighthouse,鈥� said director of inclusion Zelia Munnik. 鈥淲e want to open our doors, and we want to be able to change cycles. And the only way in which we are going [to do that is to] get the children in school.

鈥淲e had to reach out to the families鈥� those hard-to-reach parents鈥� It’s leaving no stone unturned and being relentless in terms of our positivity鈥� in order to build relationships with our families.鈥�

‘Radically improve’ mental health support

The report also said the government should publish a plan to 鈥渞adically improve鈥� access to children鈥檚 mental health and speech and language support.

Forty thousand children are waiting over two years for mental health support, according to 2024 NHS England figures, while 6,000 children are waiting longer than a year for speech and language therapy.

Early intervention services have been slashed by half since 2010 and the number of school nurses has dropped by a third since 2009.

Gerry Robinson is executive headteacher at Haringey Learning Partnership, a local authority-run pupil referral unit (PRU) in north London. The school is bucking national trends.

Nationally, 4 per cent of children attending alternative provision (AP) achieve a pass in GCSE English and maths. At HLP, it is 40 per cent.

It is also successful at reintegrating children into local secondary schools.

Robinson attributes much of this success to a suite of specialist support on offer. The school has a team of targeted support staff, including a mentor, counsellor, social worker, educational psychologist and speech and language therapist. 

However, part of this is due to extra funding from the DfE鈥檚 AP specialist taskforce.

鈥淭hrough that resource…we鈥檙e able to do speech and language screenings, we鈥檙e able for the children to see EPs (education psychologists) really quickly, to access mental health support really quickly,鈥� Robinson told Schools Week.

鈥淭hose routes into services mean that we can identify what the needs are, and then put a support package in place鈥� [ensuring] progress on to the next steps, which for many of our children is reintegration to mainstream.鈥�

Principle 4. Inclusion is measurable

The report defined whole-school inclusion as 鈥渁ll staff supporting the learning, wellbeing and safety needs of all children, so that they belong, achieve and thrive鈥�.

Inclusion can be measured by 鈥渦nderstanding the wellbeing, safety and belonging of children鈥� and by the amount of 鈥渓ost learning鈥� (which also includes managed moves, internal isolation and truancy).

The Education Alliance Multi-academy Trust (TEAL) surveys pupils on how they feel about various aspects of student life to understand their feelings about safety, belonging and wellbeing.

Jonny Uttley, the trust鈥檚 CEO, said: 鈥淲here a pupil鈥檚 attendance starts to drop鈥� where their behaviour deteriorates, often the engagement score will have dropped first.鈥�

Uttley believes the approach allows schools 鈥渢o see every child on a really individual level鈥� and 鈥渋s potentially transformational for schools across the country鈥�.

Similar work is underway at The Two Counties Trust, which has begun piloting a new system in which it emails pupils, parents and staff questions every half-term, to garner feedback on how included they feel.

Elsewhere, The Ted Wragg Trust has developed a centralised dashboard, bringing together live data from the trusts鈥� 17 academies. Data on exclusions and lost learning is shared with school leaders weekly.

The dashboards show headline measures like suspension and persistent absence at trust level. At school level, they show the outcomes which 鈥渇eed鈥� these, such as absence and lesson removal, and give breakdowns for specific cohorts including pupils with SEND.

Data helps identify patterns

The data is helping leaders to 鈥減roactively identify patterns and develop the strategy for the term ahead鈥� and measure impacts of interventions.

鈥淲hen we understand our communities better, we can help foster a true sense of belonging 鈥� one that inspires more children to engage with their education, feel connected to their school, and thrive within it,鈥� said trust director of performance Jon Lunn.

The Difference鈥檚 report said most schools, trusts and the government currently collect only 鈥渓imited and patchy鈥� data on inclusion, and are often 鈥渇lying blind鈥�.

While exclusion data is collected, practices such as off-site direction, managed moves or internal inclusion are 鈥渓ess visible鈥�.

For every excluded pupil, 10 more are 鈥渕oved around the school system鈥� under these practices, the report added. It said schools should improve data collection in these areas, and Ofsted should inspect it.

Researchers said the DfE should introduce legislation that provides oversight of pupil movements off-site and off-roll.

The DfE鈥檚 regional teams should also examine schools鈥� intakes, identify those that are least representative of their local community and ban them from growing.

The report did not provide a methodology on how to identify such schools, but pointed to the Education Policy Institute鈥檚 benchmarking tool. 

It also said school performance measures should be based on multi-year averages and include long-term data on child outcomes such as employment and earnings data.

Kiran Gill, CEO of , said: 鈥淥ur education system is failing the children who need it most. Despite school leaders鈥� efforts, the system works against them. 

鈥淭his is the new frontier in education鈥� It is in everyone鈥檚 interest to find solutions to the crisis of lost learning.鈥�