2019 wins

Peter Kyle MP letter to Damian Hines

Peter Kyle MP asks questions in the House of Commons:

“What steps is the Government taking to support children who are affected by school phobia and refusal”; and“What data does the Government hold on the number of children affected by school phobia and refusal annually?”

38 Degrees petition to stop treating non-attendance as truancy (14k++ and still collecting signatures)

Schools Week op ed

Legal challenge against fines & registrations via Crowd Justice raising £7k towards legal fees

Reported in Local Government Lawyer

Attended INSA annual conference in Oslo, join Comms Board

Channel 4 News extended film

BBC Breakfast News interview, in conjunction with BBC News online article, Newsround,

2 regional BBC channels and 20+ local BBC radio stations with interviews

Open letter of support, signed by 9 key national charities

Mental Health Today op ed

2020 wins

Emerging Minds webinar

Mirror newspaper article

School Differently in collaboration with Independent Thinking

‘Square Pegs’ book commission with Crown House Publishing via Independent Thinking Press

Covid-19 survey

Map campaign

Hello Yellow children’s voices campaign

Young Minds open letter to Gavin Williamson supporting Square Peg

Article in The Guardian by Fiona Millar

Article in The Guardian by Chaminda Jayanetti

Joint signatory in open letter to Education Select Committee Chair, Robert Halfon MP

Join: the Council for Disabled Children (under NCB umbrella) Special Education Consortium; the National Children’s Bureau Schools Wellbeing Partnership; the Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition

2021 wins

Whole School SEND blog

Rethinking Education podcast

Big Education Conversation collab with Rethinking Education

BBC Look North extended film

Blog for Excluded Lives project new website (Oxford University)

Excluded Lives webinar on persistent absence - 1,500 signup

Award-winning animation

ACAMH panel discussion

Article in the Sun

Join: NASEN Whole School SEND; More Than A Score; Learning with Parents; Foundation for Education Development council

2022 wins

Limitless x Progressive Education podcast

DfE meeting following Square Peg submission to Attendance Consultation - our recommendations to the Department: ‘barriers to attendance’ descriptor language; mental health, SEMH & SEND recognised as key drivers; Attendance Mentors (not officers or enforcement); support not sanctions; more research required (Education Endowment Fund / Youth Endowment Fund research bid launched)

Children’s Mental Health Week - Schools Week - Kids In Crisis (worked with lead journalist for 4 months, after initial conversation with Square Peg, a 1000 word article became a 9 page special supplement, which was subsequently nominated for Private Eye Paul Foot Award)

Article in The Times

Channel 4 News - sourced school / families

Teachers Talk Radio discussion on non-statutory new attendance guidance

Work with the Children's Commissioner’s Office on the Attendance Audit, gathered 30 children and families to give evidence

Schools Bill - House of Lords - ‘support first’ approach to school absence agreed by Government

BBC Panorama - Why Kids Miss School

Associated articles during development phase of programme & upon transmission date (SP briefing): Almost 2m children regularly miss school; Pupils missing school need more help; Fines for parents rise; School fines lottery

Square Peg featured / quoted in the Express and here, again here, the Sun, Education Uncovered, Financial Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph; the Independent and again here

Radio interviews:

LBC, Woman’s Hour, Times Radio

Rethinking Education inaugural conference organising committee / ran conference workshop

Telegraph interview & article

Called to give evidence:

Times Education Commission
Commission on Young Lives
Children’s Commissioner’s Attendance Audit
Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition Behaviour Inquiry (main report page 21 & 75)

Join:

The Fair Education Alliance; Edge Foundation policy network

2023 wins

‘Square Pegs’ book published

‘Square Pegs’ is Amazon Best Seller - described as ‘a book for our time’ and recommended to Department for Education as core reading by Dame Christine Lenehan, Director of the National Children’s Bureau

Critically acclaimed, click on Reviews tab on Crown House Publishing listing for the book to read all reviews, endorsements and colleagues recommending our book

Teachers Talk radio ‘Square Pegs’ interview

Schools Week book review

Other book reviews include: Rebecca Leek; Autistic Realms; Steph’s Two Girls; SEN magazine; International Journal for Positive Behaviour Support; FORUM magazine; Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools

Schools Week article

Editorial feature for Schools Week

No School Fines petition delivery to Downing Street; Square Peg on Radio 5 Live coverage with Adrian Chiles and again on the Drive Time show; articles across the Express, Sun, Daily Mail, Hereford Times, Plymouth Herald, North East Chronicle

Not Fine In School parent featured on BBC Good Morning Live

Briefed journalists and / or sourced families & professionals for the Economist, i newspaper, Sky News and here, Telegraph, Guardian, Express

Philippa Perry column in the Guardian

Telegraph / Lucy Cavendish piece, with companion piece quoting our families here

Gaby Hinsliff for the Guardian; Charlie Duffield for the Metro

Sky News 6-part long-form series covering contexts we know from families: poverty, insecure housing, single parent households, SEND, alternative provision, medical needs tuition, the system response via fines & prosecutions / threat of exclusion / off-rolling, bullying, mental health, performance pressure, behaviour policy

Op ed pieces TeachWire, SecEd magazine, House magazine

Called to give evidence:

Centre for Social Justice Attendance Inquiry submission

House of Commons Education Select Committee Inquiry on Attendance for vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Telegraph report quadrupling of fines in 12 months in advance of the session

National Children’s Bureau Special Education Consortium tell the Committee fines don’t work

The Independent newspaper reported here

Special Education Consortium confirm support of Square Peg’s call for an Attendance Code of Practice

Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition support Square Peg’s call for a Mental Health & Wellbeing registration code. Quoted in their published report

MIND support Square Peg’s call for a Mental Health & Wellbeing registration code

Education Select Committee recommend Government introduce a mental health registration code

Transform Justice support call to end truancy laws

Podcasts & webinars:

Transform Justice ‘Should school non-attendance be treated as a crime’

Radio 5 Live podcast ‘Finding Britain’s Ghost Children’ ep. 4, 5, 6

SEND Parenting podcast ep. 22 and 23

EDSK Thinktank podcast

Public Policy Exchange on impact of Covid and schools and students

University of Wolverhampton Diiversity podcast; chosen by Schools Week as podcast of the year

Adoption & Fostering podcast

Interviews: Natasha Devon / LBC; Sky News

Association of School & College Leaders (ASCL) Pastoral conference; ASCL Annual Conference workshop; ASCL webinars Understanding Attendance

Festival of Education panellist by invitation of Sir Tim Brighouse; hosted a panel on ‘Square Pegs’ book as part of Literary Festival strand

Centre for Mental Health Festival of Ideas; Public Policy Exchange webinar; Children’s Society Transitions Working Group; TES SEND Show workshop; Global Equality Collective Working with Parents workshop; Schools & Academies Show event

Children’s Society Transitions Working Group

Awards:

National Association of Pastoral Care in Education / Raising Awareness Award