In October, I gave evidence to the Covid Public Inquiry, reflecting on the unprecedented lockdown and school closures, and the long shadow this period still casts over many childhoods.
Even before the pandemic, I was concerned about the lack of support for parents during a child’s early years, the high number of children not starting Reception ‘school ready’, the crisis in children’s mental health, the SEND lottery, and an education system that does not always serve well the most vulnerable children.
Covid has made these challenges even harder. Recently, a primary head teacher told me many of her pupils are starting Reception not toilet-trained, still wearing pull-up nappies. Some had dummies and arrived in pushchairs.
Many don’t have the communication and life skills we would expect. Unsurprisingly, some are really struggling to settle in school, which can lead to disruptive behaviour. When you combine these problems with our creaking SEND provision and an education system that at times is far from inclusive, it is little wonder that we are again seeing an increase in exclusions from primary school – over 11,000 instances of children aged five and under in England in 2021/22, 11 per cent higher than pre-Covid.
Not long ago, I met parents whose children had been excluded in their primary school years. One five-year-old child had been excluded 17 times between Easter and Christmas. Shortly afterwards, they were diagnosed as autistic.
Sadly, too often I have heard of children being suspended or excluded because their school has been unable to cope with their special educational need or disability. The Government needs to recognise this and take a lead. It should be setting the tone fora new culture of inclusion, support and accountability across all schools, bringing an end to the habit of exclusion. It should have high expectations for all children, alongside an expectation that schools have the resources to support those children who need it, enabling them to stay in school or encouraging them to attend.
A new Ofsted inclusion measure would encourage schools to make this a greater priority. The growing number of primary exclusions should be a red flag that our education system is failing many vulnerable children. And it should be a signal that the consequences of Covid are still very much with us.
Anne Longfield was children’s commissioner for England between 2015 and 2021.
