IPSEA - Independent Provider of Special Education Advice’s Post

Families in England now face higher fines for taking their children out of school during term-time without permission. This follows the 400,000 penalty notices that were issued in England for unauthorised school absences in the academic year 2022/23. The change aims to improve school attendance and ensure children receive a ‘consistent education’. How much could you pay for your child’s absence under the new rates? Get the full details in our latest education update: bit.ly/3U9AXwy #Education #Schools #SchoolAbsence

Our October education update was published yesterday. It features articles on the following:-  1. The new duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and the EHRC’s updated guidance to help employers understand what reasonable steps they may need to take to comply with it; 2. Why a school was ordered to pay one of its former teachers £850,000 after it dismissed him for making a number of complaints about the head teacher; 3. Constructive dismissal and specifically, whether a support teacher had to exhaust the school’s grievance procedure, before asserting that the relationship of trust and confident has fundamentally broken down; 4. The increase in fines for taking children out of school during term-time Please have a read - bit.ly/3U9AXwy

Record Year for School Suspensions and Exclusions England saw a record 790,000 school suspensions and 9,000 exclusions in 2022/23, a significant increase from previous years. Persistent disruptive behaviour was the main cause. The long-term consequences for these children (and society) is terrifying. Being excluded from education (temporarily or permanently) is a huge risk factor for kids being drawn into Criminal and Sexual Exploitation, gangs, and other types of dangerous and abusive situations. We all need to get our heads together and sort this out Education Minister Stephen Morgan called these figures a "wake-up call," highlighting the system's failure to meet the needs of children with additional needs. Experts stress the need for early intervention and better support for schools. The new government aims to address these issues with measures like mental-health specialists and free breakfast clubs. For more details, visit: https://lnkd.in/e58C46CY There are lots of good ideas and amazing people like Chris Powell and Bespoke Mentoring & Training Services Ltd Drop others in the comments… and maybe we can get a cracking list of options together?! For a more detailed analysis of the shortage of Educational psychologists see our blog https://lnkd.in/eQ3iDKVm

There is much good practice out there that will never come to public light because leaders are quietly getting on with it - creating policies that are not one-size-fits-all training teams in trauma-informed practice creating staffing structures to meet needs developing spaces and resourcing for alternative provision on site working with families reaching out to any external agency in the hope of support, and suspending with heavy heart in order to protect the pupil, their peers and the school staff. This is taking a serious toll on school leaders’ and their teams. Imagine it was a statutory requirement to have on-site AP and this was fully funded. Imagine there was statutory supervision for staff working with traumatised pupils so that those staff were able to maintain resilience and mental well-being. Imagine there was a national 5-year plan in place with all settings working towards the same end goal - keep pupils on site, keep everyone safe, keep everyone learning.

Findings show a significant rise in suspensions and exclusions in state funded schools. 📈 Just before the end of the summer term, the Department for Education (DfE) published the statistics from the academic year 2022/23 around suspensions and exclusions in state funded schools. The statistics show significant increases across suspensions and exclusions and have caused some headlines in the press alongside comments from the new ministers in the DfE. Education partner Richard Freeth unpacks the key statistics in this article ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e-qBJniX #StoneKing #StateSchools #StateFundedSchools

Take in these statistics. Sit with it. 4,100 children sent home every day. Children. What is the psychological impact of this? How does it influence the rest of their educational and employment journey? Interventions to support students and staff are needed to change this.

Our October #education #newsletter also includes articles on: * The new duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and the EHRC’s updated guidance to help employers understand what reasonable steps they may need to take to comply with it; * Why a school was ordered to pay one of its former teachers £850,000 after it dismissed him for making a number of complaints about the head teacher; * Constructive dismissal and specifically, whether a support teacher had to exhaust the school’s grievance procedure, before asserting that the relationship of trust and confident has fundamentally broken down; Plus, our news in brief section summarises all other #HR and education news #schools and #colleges need know about. #legalupdate #educationsector #constructivedismissal #disability #discrimination #compensation #schoolabsence Irwin Mitchell

I wish I could say that I was surprised by this article, but it is a genuinely sad read. In the Northeast, the surge in school suspensions and exclusions is much more than a data point… it’s a signal of a system under unsustainable pressure. This is however, no excuse for Trusts and schools that habitually expel young people without investing in alternative strategies. Behind these numbers of expulsions, are schools striving to balance safety, learning, and inclusion while facing compounding challenges of poverty, post-Covid disruption, and strained resources. The conversation cannot stop at the justification of these practices or the acknowledgment of the crisis. It needs a deeper reimagining of discipline and support in education and the conversation must challenge the notion that being inclusive is synonymous with being lenient. True inclusivity demands rigor, precise identification of needs, consistent application of behavioural policies, and a commitment to engaging students most at risk of exclusion.

🚨 School suspensions at record-breaking levels, with 4,100 children sent home every day. We are deeply concerned about the rising level of school exclusions across England, highlighted in new Department for Education data, which disproportionately impact the most vulnerable learners within our education system. Together with The Difference, Impetus - Backing the best and IPPR, as part of the Who’s Losing Learning Coalition, we’re working to analyse the scale and impact of lost learning: https://lnkd.in/evPG8ayP