Press Notice: Children’s Commissioner raises the alarm over the numbers of children who are falling through the cracks after leaving the state education systemÂ
Shocking new statistics show that local authorities in England have no idea what has happened to 10,181 children who left state education between Spring 2021/22 and Spring 2022/23, the Children’s Commissioner revealed today. The data also shows around 13,120 further children left the state education system for home education, with many parents reporting this was […]
Tips for parents whose children are struggling to attend school
Sarah is Safeguarding Manager at School-Home Support and previously worked as a primary school teacher and Deputy Headteacher. This week, thousands of children will be returning to school after the Christmas break. Going back to school will be an exciting time for some children, who will be looking forward to seeing their friends and getting […]
A look back on Help at Hand in 2023
Help at Hand is the Children’s Commissioner’s advice and assistance service for children who are in care, leaving care, working with social services or living away from home. Children and their advocates can get in touch with Help at Hand via the freephone telephone line, website or email. As we look forward to 2024, we […]
Why focusing on families matters in Alternative Provision
In this blog, Brenda McHugh, co-founder of the Pears Family School and Consultant Psychotherapist (Inclusion and Specialist Help in Schools) at Anna Freud, tells us about the importance of a family-centric approach to Alternative Provision. For the past 10 years, the Pears Family School has been doing something really innovative – but also incredibly simple […]
Football Beyond Borders: Transforming the lives of young people
Football Beyond Borders (FBB) is an education and social inclusion charity using the power of football to transform the lives of young people. In October, Dame Rachel de Souza visited the FBB programme at Manchester Enterprise Academy. In this blog, their Senior Policy Manager, James Reeves, tells us more about their work. For children and […]
Connecting the dots – the importance of sharing data on children and families
As Children’s Commissioner, I have seen how important good and consistent data sharing is for improving children’s outcomes in life. But sadly, too often children fall through the gaps due to a lack of knowledge sharing between children’s services. This was most apparent earlier this year, when I conducted regional roundtables in areas with […]
The importance of health and well-being to children and young people
Children want to grow up feeling happy, healthy and well. In my last big survey, The Big Ask, in 2021, children spoke about wanting good physical health, and younger children in particular spoke about wanting to live healthy lives. I am now going round the country again asking them what they want politicians to prioritise […]
Celebrating World Children’s Day
Today is World’s Children’s Day, a chance to celebrate children across the country and to raise awareness about the importance of upholding children’s rights. We should all take this moment to reflect on how we are upholding children’s rights and why it is paramount that we do so. Children themselves recognise the need for the […]
Help at Hand annual report 2022-2023
As the Children’s Commissioner for England, my statutory duty, as set out in the Children Act 2004, is to promote and protect the rights of all children, with particular regard to children who are living away from home or receiving social care services. In 2014, under section 2D of Act, the Commissioner’s powers were extended […]
Protecting children from serious violenceÂ
‘I think in certain areas we ain’t provided with lots to do and that makes kids fend for their own type of fun and most of us just end up hanging out on the street. This causes knife crime and stuff like that’ – Girl, aged 14 (The Big Ask). Recent months have been heavy […]
Missing Children, Missing Grades
Since becoming Children’s Commissioner, I have made tackling school absences one of my top priorities. I first came into this role in March 2021, after 30 years of experience in education as a multi-academy trust leader and headteacher. The nation was emerging from successive lockdowns and children’s education had been immensely disrupted. I sensed that […]
Experiences of children with SEND
Earlier this year, I was commissioned by the Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit to explore the lives, experiences and needs of disabled children in England, to inform its Disability Action Plan. Since then, my team and I have spoken to children, young people, parents and practitioners across the country to understand the challenges disabled children face, […]
Archived Content
What’s it like to be a child growing up with HIV?
There are 801 children living with HIV in the UK. The charity Children’s HIV association (CHIVA) works to ensure young people living with HIV have the knowledge, skills and support needed to live well and to achieve their greatest potential. To mark World AIDS Day on December 1st, we spoke to members of CHIVA’S youth committee about […]
Growing up North: Creating better outcomes for children and young people
Author: Cllr Judith Blake, Leeds City Council Our ambition is for Leeds to be the best city for children and young people to grow up in – a crucial element of Leeds City Council’s work to become the best city in the UK by 2030. Child Friendly Leeds is the thread that brings together all […]
Shining a light on the experiences of children excluded from schools and in alternative provision
My ‘Children’s Voices’ report looks at findings from an evidence review of the views, perspectives and experiences of children who have been or at risk of being excluded from school and children in alternative provision.
Letter from Anne Longfield to Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England
Over the last year, the issue most often raised with me has been children’s mental health, and it was the top of the list in my consultation with children about my priorities for this year.