The response to Ofsted鈥檚 new inclusion judgment has by and large focused on SEND. But there鈥檚 another group that new inspections will zero in on. And having grown up as a looked-after child, it鈥檚 a group with which ASDAN CEO Melissa Farnham is very personally acquainted. 聽 鈥淚f I was starting school now, my education health and care plan would be worth a good old bomb,鈥 she laughs. 鈥淒yslexic apparently, I’m still not sure about that one myself, epilepsy, looked-after child, ward of court, some interesting layers of trauma鈥︹ We joke that if there was an inclusion bingo card, the young Farnham would鈥檝e had a full house. In reality though, few children in care tick only one box in the life chances lottery. According to , looked-after children are more than three times more likely to have a special educational need (SEN) than all children, and almost seven times more likely to have an education, health and care plan (EHCP). For those with EHCPs, social, emotional and mental health needs are the most common types of primary need.聽 鈥淭en years ago, the term 鈥榗omorbid needs鈥 was used all the time. When you think of what morbid means, it鈥檚 a horrible way to talk about young people,鈥 Farnham adds. 鈥淏ut I often talk about us having comorbid layers of education. Curriculum, regulators, a cohort of young people who are massively influenced by social media. We鈥檝e made education comorbid, basically. We鈥檙e killing it.鈥 As CEO of ASDAN, an education charity that provides courses mostly for pupils who face barriers to learning in traditional education settings, Farnham is not only uniquely experienced to diagnose the disease; she is uniquely placed to administer the remedy. Achieving and thriving On paper, she was highly unlikely to get to her current position. 鈥淎mbition for me was potentially capped very early on,鈥 she says. 鈥淒ad left. Mum was quite unwell. She had quite a complex personality, and she just wasn鈥檛 able to cope. That presentation could be quite physical, sometimes towards us.鈥 Age 2 heading to her first care placement When Farnham was two, her older brother (then five) used the letters on the underside of Smarties lids to leave a message for the kindly neighbour who used to regularly give them the treats. Ostensibly a cry for help, the neighbour called the police, and it wasn鈥檛 long before the pair were taken into care. There followed a sequence of short placements and they bounced around from home to home until, when Farnham was just five, they were picked up from a water park by their grandparents, who they鈥檇 never met. 鈥淲e were supposed to just go for six months while mum could get sorted out. Court hearings and all sorts happened, but she never came, so we became wards of court because our grandparents didn’t want to have full ownership of us. They had just retired.鈥 Her brother鈥檚 behaviour was challenging, 鈥渂ecause he’d had to witness so much, I think, and felt quite helpless 鈥 and I basically became an elective mute for about the first 18 months of school鈥. Farnham holds her grandfather up as a model of 鈥榓chieving and thriving鈥. He rose to run the site operations of an entire hospital in spite of being functionally illiterate. Eventually, though, he was diagnosed with asbestos poisoning contracted on the job. The grandparents moved to South Africa, and the siblings moved back into care. Then followed a whole new series of placements. 鈥淭he shortest was three weeks. The longest spanned Years 7 and 8, and nearly half of Year 9. That was the closest I came to continuity in education.鈥 Farnham made good progress at school. Her brother, she says, 鈥渇ollowed a very different path鈥. She鈥檚 keen to protect his privacy, but she shares that 鈥渉e didn’t get GCSEs or A-levels. The system was more difficult for him to navigate. But he runs huge projects in Antarctica now.鈥 Breaking down barriers Today, continue to lag behind their peers. In 2018-19, 37 per cent met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at the end of key stage 2, compared with 65 per cent for all pupils. Last year, it was 34 per cent, compared with 61 per cent for all pupils. With her grandfather age 5 Their average Attainment 8 score is also just 18.3, compared to 45.9 for all children. And all this while attending what are nominally the country鈥檚 best schools. tells local authorities to prioritise 鈥渟chools judged by Ofsted to be 鈥榞ood鈥 or 鈥榦utstanding鈥欌 when placing looked-after children in a new school鈥 and, barring exceptional circumstances, never to place them in one judged 鈥榠nadequate鈥.聽 (The guidance has yet to be updated to reflect Ofsted鈥檚 jettisoning of headline grades.) But this wasn鈥檛 the case when Farnham was at school, making her progress even more of an outlier 鈥 especially as schools themselves erected more barriers. At 16, living alone in supported accommodation, she won the election for the role of head girl 鈥 but her school kyboshed it. The headteacher called her into his office and told her simply that 鈥渋t wouldn鈥檛 be appropriate because you鈥檙e a ward of court鈥. 鈥淭he school also made me take child development instead of French at GCSE. 鈥業t鈥檒l help you cope when you鈥檙e a mum. It鈥檚 more realistic for someone like you鈥.鈥 Age 15 living alone in supported accommodation You can tell, when she recounts this, that she still carries a healthy amount of her teenage fury at the injustice. She went on to complete her A-levels while living independently, 鈥渢hanks to the support of two teachers who believed in me鈥. She later did a teaching degree 鈥減artly to get out of a bedsit and into student halls, but also because I wanted to emulate those teachers鈥. And emulate them she did, pursuing a career that has included being headteacher in special schools for 14 years, 鈥渟erving some of the most vulnerable (and most resilient) young people鈥, many of whom 鈥渄idn’t belong in those SEN schools. They were absolutely young people I would have been in a classroom with when I was at school鈥. A promise of change Established by the University of the West of England in 1991 as a curriculum project, ASDAN, which Farnham has been running since last June, became an independent charity in 1997. Today with, Lord Jim Knight as its patron, the Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network continues to pursue that project鈥檚 original aims: to provide young people with opportunities to develop skills for learning, life and work. 鈥淚t was always there for those who have barriers to engagement,鈥 Farnham explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all built around seven very core poverties: societal, cultural, political, spiritual, physiological and cognitive, as well as economic, of course.鈥 Last year, more than 42,000 learners (here and in 30 other countries) completed one of its programmes, some 7,500 of them receiving Ofqual-certified qualifications. That鈥檚 a remarkable performance, given that Farnham says the organisation鈥檚 hay day was some twenty years ago, before 鈥減erformance tables鈥 incentivised schools away from the broader curriculum content ASDAN caters for. She鈥檚 clearly hopeful this could be the dawn of new golden age. She took up her role just a month before Labour came to office on a promise of 鈥榗hange鈥, and Farnham sees opportunity in the government鈥檚 reform programme to make that happen. But she does offer Bridget Phillipson a word of warning. 鈥淚 can see what the ambition around her using the word 鈥榖elonging鈥. She’s trying to get rid of the word 鈥榠nclusion鈥 and hone in on equity, but to belong somewhere you need identity. With her brother ages 6 and 9 鈥淗ow are Ofsted going to judge if a headteacher makes sure every learner belongs? As an executive headteacher, I could quantify equity with proxy data like attendance, or hard assessment data. I can’t do that if I’m trying to make them feel they belong in an environment that I know doesn’t quite work for them. That’s not solving the problem.鈥 For Farnham then, belonging is largely determined by how young people experience their environment, and in turn, that is largely determined by what that environment enables them to do. Drawing on her grandfather鈥檚 and her brother鈥檚 experiences, she says: 鈥淚f we want all young people to thrive and achieve, what we mean is that we want them to be capable. So, what does capable look like?鈥 Brewing rebellion Which brings us to where Farnham really thinks the opportunity lies for Labour. Ofsted鈥檚 framework directs schools towards the areas where improvement is needed, but as with looked-after children, so too with headteachers: success depends on the environment enabling them to meet Ofsted鈥檚 expectations. And that can鈥檛 happen without reforming curriculum and performance measures. 鈥淚 talk to MAT CEOs, and what I hear a lot is 鈥榳e might think about rebelling鈥. You know, 鈥榮hould we just say we’ll do Progress 5 and we can put qualifications like ASDAN back in, because we know it works?鈥.鈥 She says the charity鈥檚 courses offer schools 鈥減ortfolio learning [鈥 that reflects progression, that the learner’s got agency over and can see happening and can recover from and then try again.聽 鈥淥ur courses were built to develop executive function. Let’s get back on that track, because that’s what鈥檚 missing from education right now.鈥澛