Every Child Programme

The project is a replication of a pilot that Right to Succeed ran in partnership with Blackpool’s Pupil Referral Unit. Working with 5 schools that regularly used expulsion as a disciplinary technique, the project looked at 67 pupils who had been identified by these schools as at risk of exclusion due to a school diagnosis of emotional/behavioural difficulties. 

Right to Succeed found that of these young people 80% has undiagnosed speech, language and communication needs, whilst the cohort was on average 2 years behind on reading age. This led to significant support for these young people, including speech, language and communication therapy.

2 years later, all these children remain in mainstream education, and there have been significant improvements in attendance, engagement and behaviour. Collective learning demonstrated that exclusion was treating the symptom (behaviour) rather than the cause (capability needs) of the young person. 

What does the programme aim to do?

Upscaling this project requires a collective approach, bringing together Manchester City Council, 9 schools including the pupil referral unit, their children and young people, funding partners, and community organisations, whilst connecting into existing local governance structures to ensure learning is fed back into the local system. Whilst such a collective approach requires significant management, we firmly believe that scaled impact is only possible through such an approach.

Shared Measurement

The aim of the project is to create a rising safety net for these young people, that would see schools understanding when a child is starting to fall behind in their development, with the aim of intervening  before this becomes detrimental to other outcomes. The project will regularly monitor these key child development factors (cognitive, social and emotional development) and respond preventatively should a child’s development in one of these key areas start to fall behind expectation.

Measures include:

1. The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT-4) with access to the Dyscalculia Screener if required
2. The National Group Reading Test (NGRT) with access to the National Group Spelling Test (NGST) and Dyslexia Screener if required
3. Pupil Attitude to Self and School (PASS)
4. Short Warwick and Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale

This data will be combined with attendance, exclusion and attainment data sets to monitor progress over time.

How do we do that 

On the basis of the identified needs, we support schools to consider a range of intervention options from different local communities and national partners that meet those needs.