- Landmark national census of school leaders reveals deep concerns about children’s lives beyond the classroom, as schools struggle to fill gaps in support without the backing of wider services
- Behaviour and attendance revealed as greater concerns for leaders than curriculum, more secondaries are worried about funding for wider services than their own funding – and fewer than half of primaries provides a school nurse
- Despite that, many schools without specialist staff want to do more to help – as Children’s Commissioner calls on government to make this a reality in its forthcoming White Paper, backed by real-time information sharing to help schools respond early to children’s needs
- Commissioner will today set her vision for change by tackling the “single biggest issue facing government”: reducing school absence, by engaging children in their education and broadening the current narrow definition of ‘need’
A blueprint for the “next great wave of education reform” will be unveiled today by the Children’s Commissioner, to transform children’s lives by redefining how schools and communities consider the full range of children’s needs.
Dame Rachel de Souza’s report, The Children’s Plan: The Children’s Commissioner’s School Census, finds schools are doing a lot to support their children with a diverse range of social and emotional needs – but they are deeply worried about their ability to continue doing this without the backing of wider local services, many of which have been neglected or cut back within communities.
The data reveals that secondary schools are more concerned about the funding of these external services than their own funding. School leaders rank attendance and experiences and progress of children with Educational, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), or who are on SEN Support above children’s attainment. Secondary schools were also more worried about wider social issues like sexism and misogyny, and supporting diversity than they are about curriculum, and schools list poverty, early help, mental health and online safety as their biggest concerns for children in their communities.
The Commissioner’s census provides for the first time a near-comprehensive picture of how schools are supporting their pupils’ additional needs far beyond those within the formally recognised SEND system: from housing and health challenges, to having a parent in prison, to dealing with bereavement and caring responsibilities.
It reveals that teachers and schools in England are often struggling to fill the gaps left by years of neglect of other services. Of those without specialist professional roles, many wanted to do more – not less. More than 75% said they want to provide mental health counsellors, family support liaison/support officers, Educational Psychologists, and Education Mental Health Practitioners in their schools.
Unveiling the findings, Dame Rachel will call for health and local government to be held to account for the attendance of children with additional needs, for real-time data sharing between professionals so schools can understand factors in their children’s lives quickly, for support to be offered at vital milestones in the early years so every child can be ‘school ready’, and for a new system of statutory education plans for children not attending school regularly, who have been excluded on who find learning hard.
The Children’s Commissioner will launch the findings from almost 90% of schools at an event in Westminster today (Monday 8 September), alongside Rt Hon Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, Baroness Dr Hilary Cass OBE, and Ed Vainker, Managing Director of Reach Foundation, for a panel discussion of the themes, with closing remarks from the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson MP.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza will say:
“My school census confirms what children have already told me: that they deeply value education, but where they need extra help, it should be easily accessible and available locally. Now school leaders have agreed, with powerful results, as they lay bare the challenge of filling the gaps left by years of neglecting other services, without the structures and systems to support them.
“School leaders acknowledge that they have benefitted from the energy, investment and focus of the last 30 years of education reform. For most children, this transformed their outcomes and opportunities. For many of the most vulnerable, it failed.
“The next great wave of education reform must fill those gaps by redefining how we think about need in school, because for some children even the best teaching will not be enough unless the systems around them can respond to the daily complexities of their lives. Too often, these additional needs – those which require extra help to attend and engage at school – are ignored, unrecognised or shoehorned into a SEND system that cannot provide the right support.”
The census, which was the first time the Children’s Commissioner used her statutory data powers with schools and colleges, asked leaders about the support offered to pupils and their families, the specialist staff roles available – including mental health counsellors, educational psychologists, and school nurses, the availability of on-site resources such as Family Hubs, nurseries, breakfast provision or food banks for families, and the characteristics and vulnerabilities of their pupils, including information about pupils living in unsuitable accommodation, those dealing with bereavement, in kinship care, waiting for mental health support and being young carers.
Against a backdrop of persistently high absence rates, more than a third of pupils failing to achieve a GCSE pass in English and maths, and fewer than two-thirds of children saying they enjoy school, the Commissioner’s Census presents a unique ‘state of the nation’ of schools in 2025.
Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary says:
“Like the Children’s Commissioner, my ambition is an education system that lifts every child up, wherever they are, whoever they are. High standards, no ceilings. Inclusion, excellence, opportunity for all.
“We’ve inherited a system that has failed generations and left teachers carrying the weight of society’s broken safety net. But we are changing that — with mental health support in every school, expanding free school meals, and overhauling children’s social care through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
“Through our Plan for Change and our upcoming Schools White Paper, background will no longer determine destiny. We’re putting children first and delivering the transformation they deserve.”
Dame Rachel de Souza will say:
“This is the single biggest issue facing the government: fixing the attendance crisis in our schools by creating a system that is set up to meet the needs and ambitions of every child, including those with SEND. More than one in 10 young people are consistently ‘not in education, employment or training’, or NEET – so solving this is not just a moral imperative but an economic one. Getting children engaged in education is good for growth, creates a skilled workforce – and it will give children and families reassurance that they are being listened to.”
Key findings from the Commissioner’s census report include:
- School funding was a top concern for school leaders, with secondary schools more worried about the funding of wider services than their own – indicating that school leaders understand the challenges their children are facing cannot be solved by schools alone.
- Attendance was the top concern among secondary schools, with recent figures showing there are 39,000 children not in school, not receiving an education at all, and nearly 20% of pupils who are persistently absent – a rate which remains higher than before the Covid pandemic and which must be understood and acknowledged by professionals in health, public health, and social care.
- Concerns for children with SEND ranked highly – more than half of primary schools (53%) and two in five secondary schools (40%) said experiences and progress of children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) or on SEN support were among their biggest concerns – but cited funding and a lack of specialist staff as their biggest barriers to fulfilling the requirements of an EHCP.
- Schools are not always aware of additional needs, with only 16% of secondary schools able to give the actual number of children on waiting lists for mental health support. Large numbers of schools were unable report exactly how many children had experienced bereavement, lived in unsuitable housing, or had a parent/carer in prison.
- Concerns were high about social issues outside the school gates, with school leaders reporting mental health and online safety as top concerns. Leaders at secondary schools were twice as worried about sexism and misogyny and supporting diversity than they were about the curriculum, while they cited attendance as a greater worry than attainment.
- Schools’ response to needs varied but some schools wanted to do more, with a wide variation in support varying by school phase, region, deprivation and the needs of pupils. Of schools without specialist professional roles, more than 75% said they want to provide mental health counsellors, family support liaison/support officers, Educational Psychologists, and Education Mental Health Practitioners in their schools.
Careers and support for post-16s was among the lowest ranked concerns, despite children telling the Children’s Commissioner in her 2021 survey The Big Ask their number one concern for the future was getting a good job, and only half of children telling The Big Ambition in 2024 they knew about apprenticeships, university options and career paths.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester said: “This report makes clear the vital work that school leaders, teachers and support staff do to support every child. But it also makes clear that they cannot continue to do this without being properly supported themselves.
“That’s why I’m happy to support the Children’s Commissioner to push for change. Her report shines a light on significant cracks in the system and the challenges this can cause for young people, particularly those with additional needs. These are issues we see happening in Greater Manchester too, and that’s why we have committed to narrow the gap on school readiness, increase pupils’ wellbeing, and increase school attendance and school achievement for disadvantaged young people – and I hope the Government takes the report’s recommendations on board to help us to deliver this.
“In Greater Manchester, we listen to our schools, colleges and our young people, such as through our BeeWell survey, to understand the issues that are affecting them most. We know that real improvements for children happens as a result of listening, collaborating and then delivering locally. Through programmes like our MBacc and shared work to improve school attendance, as well as our Live Well approach to delivering public services, we are showing how our approach can better serve and support children and young people to thrive.”
Baroness Dr Hilary Cass OBE said:
“The findings of Dame De Souza’s census highlight some deeply worrying shortfalls in the wider systems that should be supporting children outside the classroom. However, there is clearly a great deal of commitment from school staff to fill these gaps and I very much welcome the ambition of the recommendations that Dame De Souza sets out in this report. If realised, they will have a transformational impact on children’s lives.”
Ed Vainker OBE, Managing Director of Reach Foundation, said:
“This is a landmark report – confirming what we have suspected, that schools know that a great school is necessary but not sufficient, that wider support is needed to ensure that all young people can flourish and that we need a more integrated, interdisciplinary children’s workforce with a common body of knowledge to make that happen.”
Ahead of the Government’s promised Schools’ White Paper this autumn, the Children’s Commissioner has set out her vision for how to transform the outcomes of the most vulnerable children, ensuring needs are identified and supported early-on so they arrive at school ready to learn.
Recommendations include:
- A broader focus on additional needs, with a new framework recognising a wider range of additional needs beyond SEND to include safety, pastoral, health and learning needs. To ensure these wider circumstances are understood, the Unique ID for children must be implemented ambitiously without delay and made easily accessible for professionals.
- A new approach to statutory education support that acknowledges this broader definition of additional needs that can act as a barrier to a child’s ability to learn. All support should be provided through a Children’s Plan, one for every child. Some would require an Education Plan if they are not attending regularly, not meeting the expected standard for their age, or who might find learning hard. Others will require an Education and Care Plan or an Education and Health Plan. EHCPs should also be offered for children whose needs sit across all three services, or those in care or living away from home in institutions. For children with lifelong or life-limiting conditions, EHCPs should be automatic until age 25.
- Every child ‘school ready’ at Key Stage One, with opportunities to catch up for children who miss key milestone checks at 12 months, two years or five years with their needs set out in the appropriate Children’s Plan. Any child not ‘school ready’ by the end of Reception should have the option of an additional year – ‘Reception Plus’ – to help them begin Key Stage One meeting developmental milestones and reduce the risk of falling behind.
- Greater accountability on wider services for children’s outcomes, including school attendance. Local children’s services and health services should be held to account for the outcomes of children with additional needs. A new specialist support fund should be jointly funded between education, health and children’s social care, underpinning work to commission services, coordinate schools and allocate resources proactively.
