For Jen Smith, the autumn term started, as always, with the prospect of managing the delicate process of her children’s school attendance. Both autistic, they were in mainstream classes until two years ago; now in specialist provision, they still faced deep-seated anxiety about school.
“My son’s anxiety began when he needed a disabled toilet key at school, but in the time it took to get one he felt he couldn’t go to the toilet and that is when the anxiety started building,” she says.
There were screaming and meltdowns on the way to school, she says, then more on the way home after he felt ashamed that he had been unable go in.
Read more in The Guardian
Michaela school wins High Court battle over prayer ban
A High Court judge has ruled any disadvantage to Muslim pupils caused by a prayer ban at Michaela Community School was “outweighed by the aims
Children excluded in primary school less likely to pass GCSEs, new research warns
The majority of children excluded in primary school don’t pass their GCSEs in English and Maths, according to new research. The charity Chance UK looked
Revealed: hundreds of vulnerable children sent to illegal and unregulated care homes in England
Hundreds of extremely vulnerable school-age children in England are being sent to illegal, unregulated homes every year because of a chronic shortage of places in secure local