Not Fine in School

This is what we read about on a daily basis in our support groups - children and young people experience systemic barriers to school attendance, then their parents experience systemic barriers to finding and arranging a resolution for them. @educationgovuk @ChildrensComm

One day, hopefully soon, a high profile school or MAT will do something that could change everything for all our children. It will cost relatively little. It will save much more. It will be a way of addressing the ongoing challenge and disruption of illness and absence. 1/5

Thank you to Steve Boggan for covering our recent research findings. See: The shaming of SEND families @UnHerd unherd.com/2025/07/the-sh… @bphillipsonMP @NotFineinSchool @educationgovuk @SEND_Action @SpcialNdsJungle @CarrieGrant1 @Define_Fine_PS @_MissingTheMark

My LATEST BLOG seems to have struck a chord with teachers and parents. Since Michael Gove "cracked down" and banned term time holidays we have had "crackdown" after "crackdown" on attendance. The evidence says they don't work... johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/06/28/tim…

A @NotFineinSchool parent has sought advice following a conversation with their social worker. The SW said as her child is not attending school, they must deregister and home educate. SW insisted on a home visit to complete the form. Parent has said this is not what either she or her child want. Parent knows her child will not respond well to parent teaching. Parent asked about online tutoring to help keep up with education while child stabilised. SW said not possible. Not done in their local area. No needs assessment necessary. Just deregister & close case. This is happening on repeat. And non-elective HE families & children struggling to attend access or remain in education face an added burden with measures around School Attendance Orders in the Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill. This is not Support First. This is institutional enforced off-rolling. Families who refuse to comply can be subject to child protection investigations, accusations of Fabricated Illness, threatened with permanent exclusion from school. This is what broken SEND, CAMHS, allied services & high stakes performance & accountability looks like. The Square Peg families are collateral damage, ‘natural wastage’, syphoned off. Home Education works for some who didn’t intend to be there. But not all. Flexi-schooling, hybrid schooling, remote schooling, supplementary schooling, all options. Some may return to education full time. Some may not. Insisting or coercing a poor outcome is not ok. @CommonsEd @bphillipsonMP @CMcKinnellMP @StephenMorganMP @AmandaMartinMP @sarahsmithlab @ClaireforTAY @Munira_Wilson_ @natalieben @EllieChowns @ADCStweets @SEC_Tweets @ChildresComm @CfYoungLives @CYPMentalHealth @MattWestern_ @helenhayes_ @NotFineinSchool

The school staff who create and enforce these policies should be ashamed

The petition to protect SEND children's rights has just hit 90,000 signatures! One more BIG push is needed to get to 100,000 - and force a parliament debate before it's too late. Please help by signing and sharing far & wide. Link in next tweet...

Since 2019, the number of issued fines in England has risen by 167%. No data exists for threats to fine. There is no right to appeal a fine. You have more right to appeal a parking or speeding ticket. There is no mediation or resolution mechanism. bbc.com/news/articles/…

Friend’s child had been reassured by staff that the SATs were merely checking that the school was doing its job… Then they were given 30mins of SATs homework every night & kept in at lunchtime if it wasn’t completed. Nervous wreck! Hates school @MoreThanScore @NotFineinSchool

The Education Secretary is wrong about teaching "grit". 🧵 She's wrong in her perception that anxious children lack grit and she's wrong to think that those with mental health issues lack resilience. It's vital that we challenge this narrative. 1/

Please read and share so we can change this narrative and work towards real change for children and families👇 @teamsquarepeg @NotFineinSchool @bphillipsonMP @educationgovuk @IPSEAcharity @SENDinfoBucks @autisticrealms @Autism @bestofannamm @naomicfisher frontiersin.org/news/2025/04/2…

The Truth about The Attendance Crisis: For several years now, pupil attendance has been a high profile and emotive subject, both in the education sector and in the mainstream media. 🧵 1/

Attendance - Why children need support not shame. @educationgovuk @bphillipsonMP RewritingThe FairyTale fixed it for you! @teamsquarepeg @NotFineinSchool

Questions. Which parents? Where? What was the sample size? What was the demographic? Context on polling (and findings) is essential. #NotInMyName #SquarePegs @NotFineinSchool @Ofstednews @CommonsEd @Moreincommon_ schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-report-…

We’re calling for a Dynamic Support approach to the Register drawing on the National Keyworker Service as a blueprint for positive, responsive, agile response to the children who need timely, appropriate care. We’re calling for an Attendance Code of Practice, as supported by @SEC_Tweets @DCPcampaign @contactfamilies and an Attendance MH & WB Absence code, supported by @CYPMentalHealth @MindCharity @Place2Be @AdoptionUK @ncpscounselling If you’d like to know more, or have any questions, get in touch. hello@teamsquarepeg.org @NotFineinSchool @WordsMatter_ @tes @SchoolsWeek @branwenjeffreys @MargaretMulhol2 @SteveChalke @75ThunderRoad @CfYoungLives @Fededucation @childrensociety @SpcialNdsJungle @TheDifferenceEd @ASCL_UK @CSTvoice @LGAcomms @cypnow

Right now, there are two mental health crises within our education system. They're adversely affecting huge numbers of people in our school communities. Both should be taken very seriously. But they're seldom talked about together. It's time to talk about them together. 1/

It’s Friday. The day where the most ‘persistent absentees’ miss school, according to media reports. This is often said to be because Friday is a day when many parents work from home, so they just ‘don’t bother’ getting the children to school that day. That’s not what I hear. I hear about Friday being the hardest day, because children are exhausted after a full week of school. I hear that when children can’t sleep each night because they are worrying about school, by Friday they are in a state of complete exhaustion. I hear that the weekend provides some time to rest and reset, but that by Friday, that’s gone. I hear that for young children, each school day requires a lot. They are with other people all day, they are expected to follow adult instruction and do what they are told. They’re told to sit on their bottoms, listen to the teacher, and control their emotions. There is no adult who has time to pay them much attention. There are too many other children for that. They erupt after school, but they hold it in during the day. Their parents see the distress, but the school thinks they're fine. They beg to stay at home in the mornings, but once they're dropped off, they give up. Schools tell parents it's manipulation. Only if what you mean by manipulation is 'they would like you to listen to how they feel'. I hear about it getting harder each day of the week to persuade a reluctant child into school, and by Friday it comes to a head. And I hear about attendance policies which means that there is no flexibility. No space to say that maybe they just need a bit more time to mature before they can manage five days a week. No space to acknowledge that young children learn at home too, and that life being sustainable is more important than 100% attendance. It's Friday. Lots of children won’t be at school. Before we leap to blame them and their parents, maybe we should take a hard look at what we are expecting of our small children. Maybe we would then ask ourselves whether they are simply telling us they’ve had enough, in the only way that they can. The real question is, are we listening?

There's only one Attendance Contract needed in England's schools right now. @bphillipsonMP & @educationgovuk, you'd like to crack down on school absence. Okay. But first, you need to crack down on the things schools do which stop kids from learning. Let's take a tour... 🧵

If you can help with this research please click the link forms.gle/JcHqifbVtFnhYr…

Please sign and share this excellently written and very relevant petition: Call For A Public Enquiry Into The Misappropriation Of SEN Funding by Local Authorities chng.it/CxDzhmXjHZ

@75ThunderRoad @teamsquarepeg @NotFineinSchool We need to ban the phrase "we can't help if she's not in". Yes you can. We ended up home educating for 2 years to gcse. School attitude and actions more traumatising.