The Commission on Young Lives is now the Centre for Young Lives.

To find out more, visit our new website here.

 

Jonny Uttley, CEO of The Education Alliance multi-academy trust, based in East Yorkshire, writes for the Commission on Young Lives.

Ministers have relatively few levers to pull to make schools do what they want. Whether we like it or not, and many of us don't, one of the most effective levers is the accountability system. The metrics politicians choose to measure school success, and the carrots and sticks that come with them, can and do influence decision-making at school or trust level.

Look at the increase in EBacc uptake in secondary schools. Did this come from Nick Gibb winning the hearts and minds of teachers and parents that his personal vision of a balanced curriculum was a good one? Of course not! It came from putting it at the heart of school performance measures, along with the stick of Ofsted and the carrot of designations like Teaching School Hub, Behaviour Hub or additional MAT growth funding. Similarly, the most egregious and blatant off-rolling was reined in (to an extent) when Ofsted made it a focus of inspection and primary schools embraced systematic synthetic phonics when success in phonics screenings became a key measure.

Many agree that the next government needs to overhaul our current model, with a growing consensus that graded Ofsted judgements and context-free Progress 8 are two big-ticket items that should end up in Room 101. Some form of "balanced scorecard" would surely be a better way to recognise the complexity of the work that schools and trusts do and to report that to the communities we serve.

If accountability is on the table, then this is a pitch for a tweak to ensure that all state schools offer a truly inclusive education and to create a system in which all schools and trusts do their very best to meet the needs of all young people. In my experience, the vast majority of schools do indeed do their best. We may not always get it right, but we don't say "we can't meet need" when in fact we can. However, the truth of the matter is that some schools say exactly that to the families of some of our most vulnerable young people. There is a minority of schools that put barriers in the way for pupils with SEND or challenging behaviour; these schools say they can't meet the needs of the child but suggest that perhaps the school up the road can. We know this happens because one of that schools in our trust is a school that another school directs parents to - a magnet school.

The motivation of leaders who do this is a mystery to me, but it may have something to do with their desire to win the zero-sum game that sits at the heart of our accountability system. And though the reasons may be difficult to unravel and will rarely be admitted, the evidence of this practice is not hard to find. It is there in published data - the proportion of children on roll with EHCPs when compared to neighbouring and similar schools.

Consider these very real cases:

School A and school B are neighbours. At school A, 1% of pupils have EHCPs, while at school B, 4.1% of pupils do, this compares with 2.1% nationally. In similar sized schools, that is 7 pupils with EHCPs versus 35 pupils. Or perhaps consider School C and school D, again both neighbours. School C has 0.5 % while school D has 2.3% - 6 pupils versus 35 in similar-sized school. Schools A and C belong to trusts that are lauded for their results and have been allowed to grow rapidly, because Progress 8 trumps everything and no questions are asked about why the schools educate so few children with EHCPs while neighbouring schools educate so many.

If we want a truly high-quality, inclusive education system (something the DfE insists it does through its new strong trust descriptors), then we must become much more concerned about this issue and put it at the heart of a reformed accountability system. No school should be seen as strong, and no trust should be allowed to grow, if high proportions of pupils with EHCPs in its catchment area attend other schools, without a really compelling and fully audited explanation. I recognise this is not straightforward and we need to guard against unintended consequences with any accountability measure, but the work of FFT Datalab shines a light on the issue through analysis of the profiles of schools' cohorts and the extent to which they reflect the areas in which they are located. This provides one approach that would allow the issue to be fully explored.

I am yet to meet a school leader who says they do not value inclusive education. The elephant in the room though, is that the data and the experience of far too many families says otherwise.

For better or worse, accountability metrics influence the behaviour of leaders, governors and trusts. If we want a school system where every school and trust take equal responsibility for our most vulnerable young people, then we need a system that holds all of us to account and stops rewarding poor behaviour.

Jonny Uttley is the CEO of The Education Alliance multi-academy trust, based in East Yorkshire. The trust is made up of 11 schools across primary, secondary and alternative provision, serving around 7,000 young people.

Shortly, we will be launching the Centre for Young Lives, a new dynamic, innovative, independent thinktank and delivery unit dedicated exclusively to improving the life chances of children, young people, and their families. Our Executive Chair will be Anne Longfield CBE.

The Centre for Young Lives will be seeking collaborations and partnerships with other organisations and individuals who believe Britain should be the best place for children and young people to grow up. We will also be recruiting to our team.

If you would like to work with us on issues affecting children and young people, or you are interested in finding out more about joining our team, you can email us at info@centreforyounglives.org.uk.

You can read more about some of our plans in The Observer.

Thank you to those who were able to join us at the recent Commission on Young Lives 'in conversation' evening with Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson MP.

At the event, we discussed a wide range of topics including early years, assessment and attainment, educational outcomes for disadvantaged children, support for children with special educational needs, children's social care, exclusions, regional disparities, teacher recruitment and retention, vocational skills and further education and access and support for higher education. The audience raised some great questions on these topics as well as school structures, youth provision, mental health support and many more.

For those unable to attend, the link to the discussion and full Q&A is here.

We are very grateful to Public First and TES Magazine for their support for the event, and to Oasis who host the Commission on Young Lives.

Anne Longfield, Chair of the Commission on Young Lives, has written to the new Home Secretary, Rt. Hon. James Cleverly MP, calling for the revival of the Serious Violence Taskforce, initiated by previous Prime Minister Theresa May MP.

A copy of Anne's letter to James Cleverly can be found here.

The full text of the letter is below.

--

Dear Home Secretary,

Hidden in Plain Sight - the final report of the Commission on Young Lives

I would like to congratulate you on your recent appointment as Home Secretary, and to provide you with a copy of the Commission on Young Lives report, 'Hidden in Plain Sight' which was published a year ago this month.

Following the end of my term as Children's Commissioner for England, I launched the Commission to develop a new national action plan to protect those teenagers most at risk of becoming victims of criminal and sexual exploitation, gang activity and serious violence. As you will know, every year tens of thousands of children in England are becoming victims of exploitation or becoming involved in serious violence and the criminal justice system.

Despite good initiatives like the introduction of Violence Reduction Units, and the potential for improved learning through the Youth Endowment Fund, the system for keeping our most vulnerable children safe from harm remains fractured and uncoordinated. A report by the National Audit Office published last year made clear that the present systems of intervention are not reaching many of the most vulnerable young people, and that a strategic approach across government is also lacking.

This is a national emergency. Hardly a week is passing without another teenager being killed or seriously injured, often at the hands of another young person. As I write this letter today, it has been reported that a 17-year-old has been stabbed to death in West London. Last week, two teenagers were killed, one of them close to a school.

In 'Hidden in Plain Sight' the Commission made a series of recommendations to government, including:

Most importantly, we need a recognition at the top of government that the crisis of teenage harm and violence is a national threat and that it should be a national priority.

As you may recall, the government of Theresa May initiated the Serious Violence Taskforce within government to begin the task of coordinating a national response to tackling the scourges of serious violence and child exploitation. Unfortunately, despite making some progress in drawing together the different strands of Whitehall with responsibility for keeping children safe, the Taskforce was mothballed following the change of Prime Minister in 2019.

I am writing to ask you to consider reconvening the Government's Serious Violence Taskforce, not only as a demonstration of the government's commitment to developing a national plan to tackle these problems, but also as a means of providing political leadership for an issue that is destroying too many young lives, families, and communities.

I accept that the Home Secretary is not responsible for education, the care system, and other systems that are not working together as they should. However, the Home Office is responsible for keeping people safe on our streets, and as a very senior Cabinet Minister you carry the political weight to make a difference and to bring other parts of government with you to tackle these problems.

I would welcome an opportunity to discuss these issues with you in future.

Best wishes

Anne Longfield CBE

CHAIR OF THE COMMISSION ON YOUNG LIVES

As the recent pandemic eased, we have commenced rebuilding our lives. Our workplaces are once again open, shopping centres reborn, sports stadia full and children focus back on life in the classroom and socialising with their friends in school. Ofsted inspections and examinations have returned as if nothing had happened as schools picked up the performance agenda and league table positions.

But a major issue has emerged and concerns all schools, the fall in attendance linked to the pandemic. Department for Education (DfE) statistics illustrate since 2020, when schools were directed to close by central government, pupil absence stood at 5% of the school population. It is presently at 7.5% and represents an increase of 50%.

Worryingly, the Covid related absence rate was at 7% at the height of the pandemic when schools were fully open to pupils but has fallen to 1.6% and is presently 0%. Closer examination demonstrates persistent absence, that is when pupils miss 10% or more of their lessons, has increase from 13% to 24%, in effect almost double against the rate prior to the pandemic. In terms of pupils in secondary education, the figure rises to 28%, almost one third of all teenagers.

When probing the trends more closely those schools identified by DfE with indicators of disadvantage have far higher levels of both absence and persistent absence when compared to schools with lower numbers of disadvantaged pupils (Sutton Trust, 2023). Extrapolating these measures suggests from those families identified as disadvantaged that 40% of their children are persistently absent.

Parliament's Education Committee stated in September 2023 this was of 'great concern'. The Education Secretary has responded to the issue with a pilot mentoring scheme and the creation of attendance hubs. The response is minimal in comparison to the challenge. Meanwhile, our most disadvantage children are missing what is described by Lola Okolosie, a teacher and writer, as 'the anchor of your society'. They are hidden from sight as schools individually try their best to engage pupils but lack national guidance or localised strategic responses.

Over the last decade the school system has become fragmented as have the services that support children and families that managed to survived austerity. This is more than a concern. It is a national scandal that will have severe impact in future years.

We need to move rapidly to overt a crisis. In the long term we need to fundamentally rethink what schools are for. In the short term, we need to adopt innovative approaches such as reintroduce preschool children's centres; broadening the role of primary schooling to engage with families and services to effectively becoming community hubs; and adopting approaches such as Sure Start for Teenagers as proposed by the Commission on Young Lives.

Dr. Doug Martin is a researcher and course director at Leeds Beckett University.

On Friday October 6th 2023, Anne Longfield appeared before the Covid Public Inquiry to give oral evidence about the impact of the pandemic on children and young people as part of Module 2 (Core UK decision-making and political governance).

Anne was the Children's Commissioner for England from March 2015 to the end of February 2021, and her last year in post included most of the Covid lockdown period.

You can find a copy of the written evidence that she submitted to the Inquiry here.

 

 

 

Anne Longfield's Commission on Young Lives and the Manchester Metropolitan University's Manchester Centre for Youth Studies are today publishing a joint report, "Keeping Girls and Young Women Safe: Protecting and supporting girls and young women at risk of exploitation, violence, gangs and harm".

The report estimates there are tens of thousands of girls in England who are vulnerable to serious violence and that many of these girls are likely to also be at risk of sexual or criminal exploitation. It says that behind closed doors there are many vulnerable girls and young women in England who are being groomed into holding weapons or drugs for boys, young men, or gangs, and who are victims of sexual assault, rape, and violent relationships. They are living with extreme risks, and their life chances are being diminished as a result.

The report warns that Covid has worsened many of these risks, yet the support systems to divert and protect girls and young women have not received the same level of attention as those for boys and young men at risk of county lines and serious violence. The number of girls and young women referred to services provided by Redthread, a charity which empowers children and young people to break free from cycles of violence and exploitation, in London, Birmingham, and Nottingham have doubled since Covid.

It has been estimated that over 200,000 children in England aged 11-to-17 are vulnerable to serious violence. It is estimated that around 20% to 30% are girls. This suggests that there could be as many as 60,000 girls in England vulnerable to serious violence. Many of these girls are likely to also be at risk of sexual assault and criminal exploitation.

The report says most of these girls are not 'gang members' themselves, but some are involved with or affected by gangs, and they are being exposed to environments where there are very high levels of control, sexual exploitation, and criminal activity.

The report highlights the success of the Manchester-based Getting Out for Good project, a multi-partner collaborative approach to changing the lives of gang affected girls and young women which worked with over a hundred girls. Its analysis of GOFG's work shows how it is possible to engage with vulnerable girls and young women who often have a strong distrust of statutory services. The project recognises the varied and different needs of girls and young women who are at risk of, or who are the victims of, violence, trauma, abuse, and harm.

The Commission and Manchester Metropolitan University make a range of policy recommendations to improve support for vulnerable girls and young women, including:

Anne Longfield, Chair of the Commission on Young Lives, said:

"The horrific consequences of gang violence on boys are played out regularly on our streets and in the news and are rightly a major cause of concern.  But it is now clear that thousands of girls are also being harmed, sexually assaulted, raped or controlled in a way and on a scale that is not being recognized.

"Sadly, girls' experiences are often hidden - out of sight and out of mind with most of the services and support to tackle serious violence, county lines and exploitation focusing on boys.

"We have heard how young men are often treated in one way, and young women in another. Young women arriving at an A&E with mental health crises caused by traumatic experiences are less likely to be asked what is going on in their lives than a boy who arrives having been stabbed.

"Too many vulnerable girls and women are suffering in silence. We have heard repeatedly how many girls do not feel able to talk about what is happening to them. They don't want to approach anyone for support because they are scared and feel unsafe. They can feel ashamed to talk about being abused or exploited.

"If we don't recognise the prevalence of violence and control experienced by some vulnerable girls and young women, it will remain unseen and undetected, with devastating effects.

"The 'adultification' of BME girls also continues to undermine support for some young women, with too many Black and mixed girls being seen as more resilient and more able to cope with situations that should demand intervention.

"It is time to recognise the threats and risks facing girls and break the conspiracy of silence that has left too many vulnerable young women without the access to support that can protect them from exploitation harm and encourage them to meet their aspirations."

Dr Deborah Jump, Deputy Director of the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, said:

"Our research and evidence gathering provide a clear sense of direction for policy makers seeking to tackle these problems, support girls and young women to succeed and prevent harm. A greater focus - alongside investment - in early help and the development of community, gender-based, culturally representative, trauma-informed support is key. Creating environments where girls and young women can build trusted relationships with people who they can relate to, and go on to disclose what is going on, is crucial.

"The Getting Out for Good project has highlighted how critical mental and emotional health support is to building girls and young women's agency and capital. It shows how important it is to follow an approach that takes girls and young women seriously and recognise that their needs and that sense of agency should be developed as part of a holistic approach, not just as an add-on to male-focused gang prevention work.

"We are encouraged by the progress made by some of the local interventions now underway. But these are very small scale and in their infancy. We remain concerned that there is a significant lack of focus in both policy and funding on the needs of vulnerable girls and young women that is leaving many at risk of significant harm."

A copy of the report is available here.

The Covid Inquiry is now underway, and it provides us with a vitally important opportunity to examine the events of the momentous months of 2020 and 2021 through the eyes of children and young people.

Under the overarching theme of the UK's 'response to and impact of the pandemic' and 'what lessons can be learned', the Inquiry has begun by looking at resilience and preparedness, before it moves on to decision-making and political governance. Further modules include education, children and young people, and benefits and support for vulnerable people. I will be providing the Inquiry with evidence, drawing on my period as Children's Commissioner for England during the first two national lockdowns.

There is no doubt that the pandemic exposed and enhanced many of the deepest inequalities and generational problems that were already affecting millions of children, including the attainment gap, food poverty, a lack of provision to help children with mental health problems, and our overstretched and underfunded children's social services and care systems.

The pandemic led to the biggest disruption in education since the Second World War, with an average of 115 days of education lost. Those living in the most disadvantaged areas, where infection levels were higher, missed the most school. Though schools were kept open for vulnerable children (and the children of key workers), the overwhelming majority did not attend. And while the more affluent schools were already using digital platforms in their work and were able to move over to online lessons and tutoring quickly and easily, many other schools were not equipped for virtual learning. Some children had no access to laptops or the internet at all.

Following the first lockdown, pubs, shops, and even theme parks and zoos were opening while most children were still stuck at home. In some countries, schools were able to move into neighbouring public buildings to ensure adequate social distancing and ventilation, but no such arrangements were made here.

The loss of the protective factors provided by the structure of school, relationships with teachers, and oversight of professionals, meant that some vulnerable children slipped off the radar. Referrals to social services via schools fell. Some of the regulations around children's social care and protection were relaxed over concerns about service continuation, rather than strengthened to mitigate the loss of oversight from other services. This included the reduction of health visiting during the first lockdown.

The move to communication and assessment of child protection cases by screen inevitably hampered social workers' ability to do their job. Tragically, many of the recent distressing cases of child deaths which occurred during lockdown and are now coming to trial, have highlighted how those who wanted to abuse and harm children, were given a perfect opportunity to do so, out of sight.

Children's play parks closed and stayed shut for months, sports and games were prohibited, and while there was a 'rule of six', which allowed small groups of children under 12 in Scotland and Wales to play together, children in England were not given the same opportunities.

From the beginning of the first lockdown, it was clear that some children were going to be trapped in difficult, risky or traumatic family environments. Thousands of children were spending all day, every day, for weeks  in cramped or inadequate housing, or with parents who were suffering serious mental health problems or addictions. Many will have witnessed or been the victims of domestic violence.

Professionals working with teenagers saw how the pandemic increased the opportunities for those who groom and exploit children, when vulnerable children escaped to parks and takeaways in the evenings to get away from what was happening at home.

Some of the early consequences of these decisions, and others, were set out in "Children in the Time of Coronavirus" which I published as Children's Commissioner in September 2020. This was one of the first reports to assess the pandemic's impact on children.

The aftershocks of Covid are now visible for us all to see, even three years on - the record number of children with mental health problems, a widening of the education disadvantage gap, unprecedented numbers of children absent and out of school, more children in poverty, and rising numbers of children at risk of harm and entering care.

Children never had a proper 'recovery' programme to help them through the challenges of the Covid crisis. That argument is still in play. In the meantime, the inquiry should help us to better understand the impact on children of the decisions that were made and, crucially, it must ensure that if a similar pandemic ever occurs in the future, the needs and wellbeing of children will never again be an afterthought.

Dear Gillian

I am writing to share the many concerns that have been raised by children, families, and
professionals with the Commission on Young Lives about the impact of the continued high levels of
school absence on children's education, mental health and, for some, vulnerability to harm and
exploitation by criminal gangs.

Despite this problem becoming apparent over a year ago, I am concerned that there has been little
progress in tackling it. As you are aware, levels of both persistent and severe absence from school
have remained high since the pandemic. Schools and local authorities are often working hard to
improve attendance, but the reasons a child is not attending school regularly can be complex and
require the kind of bespoke long-term work and specialist support that few have the capacity to
provide.

Recently, I was contacted by a parent whose fifteen-year-old had previously been a sporty child, but
who had not attended school on any consistent basis for three years. She told me how his
confidence and motivation had dropped to such a low level that he was unable to go to school, see
friends or to take part in sports. The family were lucky enough to be receiving some help from the
school but this meant he was getting just one hour a week with a youth worker to plan and support
a route back to the classroom. Whilst the hour session was welcome, the parent knew it would take
many months, if ever, to see her son return to full time education.

I know you will share my concern that these long periods out of school are a disaster for children and
that for those with wider vulnerabilities it can be catastrophic. All the evidence shows that absence from
school is more prevalent for children who are in receipt of free schools meals, for those with SEND
and for those with mental health conditions. Many of these problems were there before Covid but
have been amplified and accelerated by the pandemic. As a result, we have a highly vulnerable
cohort of children who face increased risks if they are not given the support they need.

I am particularly worried about the children and young people who are being targeted and exploited
by criminal gangs. School leaders and the police have told the Commission on Young Lives there has
been an increase in the frequency and extreme nature of the violent incidents and attacks involving
young people over the last two years. Hardly a week passes now without new incidents of serious
violence involving children. The recent increase in suspensions points to a significant rise in
disruptive behaviour in classrooms, particularly from children who are unable to regulate their
behaviour, follow rules, or deal with change.

Sadly, over the last two years, I have heard countless examples of the dangers that children not
attending school can face from those who seek to exploit or abuse them. The ruthless business
models of those who groom young people into county lines and other criminal activities are
targeting ever younger children. Recent shocking cases involving 13- and 14-year-olds involved in
fatal violence is a signal that many of the systems that should be protecting vulnerable children are
failing.

I am concerned that school absence is becoming an entrenched problem that will see thousands of
children disengaging from school and never returning unless they are provided with proper long-term support and opportunities. This in turn leads to diminished life chances and in the worst cases
serious harm.

The frustration is that we know what works - trusted relationships with youth workers, opening
schools up for sports and arts, mental health and therapeutic support and support for families. Yet
none of these pillars of support can happen without government intervention. I urge you to support
the development and delivery of targeted work with pupils in all schools experiencing poor
attendance and to introduce a more ambitious attendance recovery programme. Failure to act now
will simply store up bigger - and more expensive - problems for the future.

I would be very pleased to discuss this with you and the Commission's proposals for supporting
vulnerable children and protecting them from harm in more detail.

Best wishes

Anne Longfield, CBE
Chair, Commission on Young Live

Copyright Oasis 2023 • Privacy Policy

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram