Admission: Possible Reading your investigation into pupils being refused places felt painfully familiar. (Shut out: How schools are turning away vulnerable pupils, 19 September). As a secondary headteacher I sat in meetings where a child needed a place urgently and every local option was already stretched. Families can wait weeks while councils and schools debate responsibility, and the families with least influence often wait the longest. Meanwhile, confidence ebbs away, routine disappears and work piles up. By the time a place is found, the child is behind, anxious, less trusting of adults. The damage can take years to repair. That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 so passionate about leading Queen鈥檚 Online School. That experience has convinced me that well-run online schools should be part of the admissions safety net. I鈥檓 not arguing for sending large numbers of children out of mainstream schools to learn online. But we need to use every tool in our armoury to keep young people learning. Online schooling is a particularly rapid and powerful one, and we can no longer afford to ignore it. Lisa Boorman, Headteacher, Queen鈥檚 Online School Briefs leave us exposed It is deeply disappointing to see that no minister has been assigned oversight of our commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Again.) (Children鈥檚 minister gets beefed-up schools brief as portfolios revealed, 22 September). We became a ratifying state party to the convention in 1991, yet there is not even a token mention of it in ministerial briefs. And no, the fact that the children鈥檚 commissioner鈥檚 primary statutory function is the promotion and protection of the rights of the child doesn鈥檛 count. That role exists to hold ministers to account for the rights we have signed up to. Before the end of the decade, we will (again) be examined by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. And regardless of children鈥檚 commissioners鈥� best efforts, we will no doubt (again) be found wanting on poverty, wellbeing and mental health, SEN/D, citizenship, youth justice, the voice of the child in just about anything to do with what power does in their lives, and indeed the presence of children in any thinking about policy and its implementation. Maggie Atkinson, Former children鈥檚 commissioner (2010 – 2015) A surer start Since the removal of funding for Sure Start centres, there’s been a huge gap in local community provision for supporting children and families. Surely, now is the time to think creatively rather than simply repeat the previous approach? (SEND funding must align with the government鈥檚 inclusive vision, 21 September) How about introducing a community premium of ring-fenced funds to provide a programme of support and nurture for children and families from an early stage, hosted in schools which are already at centre of their locality? This proactive approach could cross-link funds from education, health and social care to give children the best possible start, rather than the current reactive method, which costs far more. Early support and intervention wouldn鈥檛 just bring cost-savings to the system by delivering programmes in an already-established location; it would also ensure the longer-term benefits of reinforcing community cohesion and creating positive associations with school from an early age. Al Kingsley, Chair, Hampton Academies Trust Gone to the dogs On a five-point scale from cat鈥檚 whiskers to dog鈥檚 breakfast, I don鈥檛 need an NAHT ballot to reliably say how most leaders judge Ofsted鈥檚 new framework. (NAHT to consider industrial action over Ofsted reforms, 18 September) After the mauling their initial proposals received, you鈥檇 have thought they would have used the time more effectively than switching the middle point on their own contrived scale from 鈥榓ttention needed鈥� to 鈥榥eeds attention鈥�. Meanwhile, the wildly subjective and often impenetrable language they plan to use to place schools on that scale requires its own 鈥榰rgent improvement鈥�. (What on Earth are 鈥渁stute decisions about how the curriculum and teaching should adapt and evolve鈥�?) No wonder the unions are baring their teeth. Tom Richmond, Education policy analyst and Host,聽Inside Your Ed聽podcast To respond to anything you鈥檝e read in Schools Week this week, comment anywhere on our website or email聽letterstotheeditor@schoolsweek.co.uk