The education system is failing many young people with SEND and we need to seriously consider different ways in which to turn failure into success. Why is it that we are so focused on the basic skills of education, those that are more easily assessed and judged, that we fail to recognise and reward talents…

The SEND system is in a mess. Schools cannot fund it. Some schools struggle to know how best to support children who, for one reason or another, begin to lose pace with average levels of learning. It has occurred to me for some time that since the inception of SEND as a category of children…

What do you do when your child, who is no longer a child, but a young adult, is diagnosed with Dyslexia? This has just happened to a parent I know and it has come as a big shock. Why? Firstly, we are entitled to ask why such a diagnosis has only just been made? Why…

Labour want to scrap SATS for primary pupils. A good move or not? There is no doubt that SATS have developed a bad reputation, mainly because many schools have given in to the temptation to teach for the test, rather than in the interests of each pupil’s individualised learning. SATS has also developed into a…

A strange title you may think but if we want to motivate children to write and prevent many children from becoming reluctant writers, schools need to think more deeply about their approaches and responses to childrens’ spellings. Spelling is a developmental journey – a very long and arduous journey for some children who struggle to…