Putting inclusion at the heart of school ethos can help to support students facing exclusion and pull them back from the brink. Helen Ellis and James West consider what this looks like


Former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield’s Commission on Young Lives has warned that Covid-19 lockdowns have dealt a blow to particularly vulnerable children.

Many faced exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including domestic violence, addiction issues, abuse, and criminal exploitation, and schools are continuing to grapple with the fall-out.

Many of these children end-up being excluded from mainstream settings with Ms Longfield’s recent report (see SecEd, 2022) highlighting the steady rise in permanent exclusions and calling for an end to this “exclusions culture”.

Alternative provision is, in many instances, the most appropriate option for some children, who can present with a combination of complex behavioural, emotional, medical and social needs, and require dedicated, intensive care and teaching.

However, with the far-reaching consequences of permanent exclusion (from the severance of social ties and poor mental health through to increased chances of exploitation and criminal activity) and evidence suggesting that exclusion can cost £370,000 throughout the life of an excluded individual, via extra support with education, training, unemployment, healthcare and even criminal justice (Gill et al, 2017), the ramifications cannot be underestimated.

It is vital that robust support systems are properly developed to offer children the best chance of thriving and achieving educational and social milestones, before exclusion is even broached.

These systems must be underpinned by a cultural shift in perceptions of pupils who present with challenging or disruptive behaviour from “trouble-makers” to children who lack the necessary coping or communication mechanisms.


Defining inclusivity

As observed by Dr Matthew Schuelka (2018), having a clearly defined concept of inclusion is crucial in guaranteeing its long-term success. Inclusive education aims to remove barriers, with the goal of ensuring children from all backgrounds and abilities can learn together in mainstream classrooms for most of the school day. The term “inclusive education” is often thought to go hand-in-hand with education for children with disabilities, and while this is an important attribute to consider, other characteristics include socio-economic status, language, gender and ethnicity.

At West Sussex Alternative Provision College (WSAPC), as part of our inclusion team we support young people in mainstream schools who are at risk of permanent exclusion by providing advice and guidance to schools seeking to embed inclusion practices.

We currently work with 80 pupils across West Sussex schools, 50 in secondary and 30 in primary education. The schools require additional resources to help support these vulnerable and challenging students. In the 12 years since founding the inclusion team, WSAPC has seen an 85% success rate in helping schools boost student re-engagement and reduce the number of permanent exclusions.

In order to create and implement an inclusive school environment, schools should seek to adopt a strategy that addresses the three core areas of teaching and learning, wider support, and key workers.

Senior leadership and governance teams should also ensure this overarching strategy aligns with the SEND Code of Practice statutory guidance (DfE, 2014), which applies to all local authorities, schools and other organisations working with children and young people with SEND.


Pillar one: Teaching and learning

This first pillar of our strategy looks at how schools can make reasonable adjustments while continuing to promote a high-quality teaching and learning experience. Far from being a radical overhaul, these tactics require minimal effort and have proven incredibly effective in engaging pupils.

With some groups of children more likely to be excluded or educated in alternative provision (e.g. children in care, those living in poverty, or with SEND) and some ethnicities disproportionately represented (including Black Caribbean, Irish traveller heritage and Gypsy Roma – Gill et al, 2017), classrooms must be safe and welcoming spaces for learners from all backgrounds.

Teachers can use their own discretion to create a flexible environment which caters for a wide range of needs. Below are a few practical examples which can be easily deployed in most classrooms.

  • Ensure seating plans allow good access to support.
  • Ask pupils to verbalise their plan for the task.
  • Break-down instructions and check pupils’ understanding.
  • Provide additional time to complete tasks.
  • Use “Now and Next” and consider using on-desk visuals.
  • Introduce practical hands-on kinaesthetic activities.
  • Praise good behaviour and communicate with parents/guardians when pupils make a good effort and/or progress.
  • Be vocal and explicit in instructions.
  • Start each lesson with a positive focus.
  • Encourage pupils to share objects or topics of special interest.


Pillar two: Wider support and culture

Taking a step back from immediate classroom practice, the second element of inclusion practice is two-fold – concerning the circle of emotionally available adults around the child, as well as the mechanisms used outside of school.

Often referred to as “wrap-around” support, this holistic approach refers to the wide range of specialist interventions which safeguard the emotional and mental wellbeing of the child.

In the first instance, developing authentic partnerships with participants, stakeholders, community members and supporting agencies cannot be achieved without fostering positive interpersonal relationships to drive best practice. Everyone involved in the process must feel empowered to share their thoughts and feelings, from teachers and support staff through to pupils and parents.

Although often intensely rewarding on a personal level, working with children who have additional learning needs and/or challenging behaviours can prove emotionally demanding, so staff must be supported to bolster their resilience and avoid excessive stress.

Similarly, parents of children who are facing permanent exclusion frequently report feeling understandably overwhelmed or out of control and rely on both schools and AP centres for advice to cope. Once empathic, strong bonds are formed, schools can then look at additional tactics to complement these social ties such as outdoor education, farm projects, fishing or sports practice.

“Felicity”, a recent alumna of WSAPC, is a compelling illustration of how this suite of relationship-building and enrichment tools can work together to achieve positive outcomes. Often finding herself in conflict with peers and teachers, Felicity’s behaviour in school had yielded three exclusions and she was finding it increasingly difficult to make it through the school day.

She struggled to respond appropriately, which caused situations to quickly escalate, with ramifications for herself others and for relationships across the school.

After years of refusing support, WSAPC was able to create a window of opportunity for Felicity and her family by building trusted relationships. This enabled Felicity to benefit from a comprehensive package of interventions and measures, including:

  • An inclusion intervention plan and supporting intensive pastoral support programme.
  • Strategies to inform the development of a profile and spotlight meeting held with all teachers.
  • Teachers becoming more aware of Felicity’s needs to help avoid escalating behaviour.
  • Increased communication with teachers and senior leaders.
  • On-going mentoring support from our inclusion support team over eight months.
  • Engagement from the family, multi-agency support including the early help team, family support and health professionals, and CAMHS involvement.
  • Access to enriching day alternative provision on the APC farm partnership project.

Throughout the intervention, Felicity achieved the school-wide accolade of “Student of the Week” and, most importantly of all, progressed to complete year 11 and achieve GCSE outcomes across nine subjects. She is now studying at a local agricultural college for a Level 3 Diploma, having previously been only one incident away from permanent exclusion.


Pillar three: Key workers

Most of the children we assist are allocated a key worker who is responsible for quality-assuring the delivery of support as well as direct intervention, mentoring or modelling management of behaviour. Support is tailored depending on the child’s unique needs and can vary from in-classroom assistance through to one-to-one support outside of lessons. Intervention strategies play a key role in helping students make it through the school day and can include:

  • Developing options for highlighting praise such as “Friday Feedback” or “Monday Mentoring”.
  • Colour-coordinating the school timetable and trouble-shooting “red” and “amber” subjects.
  • Working with a SENCO to establish the impact of additional needs on the pupil, and whether further interventions can help provide a buffer.

Supporting the pupil with developing a good understanding of basic expectations in the classroom, such as putting your hand up to answer questions, responding to the register, or adhering to designated “quiet time”.
Encouraging teachers/school leaders to think outside the box for solutions but also taking steps to build staff persistence and resilience.


Final thoughts

The most successful school inclusion strategies require a systematic transformation of culture, process and vision.

Not only does centring inclusion ensure all children receive equitable opportunities to succeed and thrive (a human right enshrined under United Nations’ conventions), but the evidence (Schuelka, 2018) also suggests that inclusive education reaps positive benefits for learners across the wider school community.

Formulating your school inclusion policy using the foundations of teaching and learning, wider support and culture, and key workers, will help to remove barriers, drive meaningful change and deliver impact at scale for learners facing significant challenges.

  • Helen Ellis is deputy headteacher and James West is inclusion advisor at West Sussex Alternative Provision College. Helen is also leader of WSAPC’s specialist inclusion team for mainstream settings. WSAPC operates in seven separate locations and delivers the equivalent of 292 full time places for children and young people from West Sussex who have been permanently excluded, those at risk of exclusion, and those out of school for medical reasons.


SecEd Autumn Edition 2022

  • This article first appeared in SecEd's Autumn Edition 2022. This edition was sent free of charge to every secondary school in the country. A digital edition is also available via www.sec-ed.co.uk/digital-editions/

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