All over the UK and amongst our own community families are stuck with school, local children and young people are struggling in their classrooms, marginalised by The National Curriculum, waiting for SEN assessments, falling behind and not able to access support for their mental health, which often culminates in EBSA. 

Meanwhile their parents and carers are also stuck, left to pick up the pieces, unable to secure the help and understanding their child or young person needs, abandoned by the system they believed they could rely on. 

Furthermore the situation is only getting worse, and although we don't underestimate the enormity of the issues that result in being stuck with school, after our own experiences, and as we learn each week of more local families who are also stuck with school we have become determined, we are taking action.

These are our aims. 

Empowered Parents and Carers

Being a parent or carer who is stuck with school is like being stuck between a very hard rock and a confusing lonely place; waiting lists are endless, support is scarce and progress seems impossible.

We don't have a magic wand to solve all these problems, but we will do what is possible to empower parents and carers with relevant guidance, provide support and representation if required, helping them to gain clarity and see a way forward. 

We will also build a Stuck With School community for local families where they can exchange their stories, advice and understanding in a non-judgemental and welcoming environment, where we intend to invite experts to share their insight. 

Where possible, when significant delays are causing major obstacles for families who are stuck with school, we will help to fund support from alternative providers. 
 

Accountability from Professionals and Institutions

When families are stuck with school so much of their energy goes into dealing with the specific challenges they are facing, their focus has to be their own individual situations; however so many of these families have become stuck with school for the same or similar reasons. 

This is why we will establish a more general dialogue with the institutions, organisations and individuals involved with and responsible for the reasons which lead to and perpetuate children and young people becoming stuck with school.

With an approach that's both positive and productive we will remind them of their formal obligations, highlight the issues that require their attention and seek accountability at all levels.  

Improved Understanding and Awareness

In every local school and classroom there are children and young people who are neurodiverse and experiencing mental health issues. 

However, as a result of a mainstream education system that values academic outcomes more than the general wellbeing of children and young people, together with the ongoing cuts to schools' budgets, teachers aren't properly trained or supported to recognise and appropriately manage neurodiversity, metal health issues and disabilities. 

Subsequently children and young people in local classrooms and schools are being marginalised, behaviours linked to their autism, ADHD, dyslexia or anxiety are labelled as weird, naughty, lazy or careless, disabilities are ignored or misunderstood and the concerns and requests of parents and carers are being dismissed. 

This lack of awareness and understanding in schools is a significant factor causing families to become stuck with schools. 

We are therefore collaborating with experts and professionals to develop strategies and training that local schools can implement straightforwardly and cost effectively, to equip their SLTs, teachers and teaching assistants with skills, insight, empathy and  confidence. 

Equity and Compassion in Education

Although Stuck With School is taking action locally, being stuck with school is a national issue that families are experiencing all over the UK. 

We will therefore raise the volume of the Stuck With School community so it's heard by a national audience, and engage at a national level with relevant decision makers and people in power, until we are confident they completely understand what it means to be stuck with school, and they are committed to address all of the issues we will highlight. 

We will explain that the only way to end families becoming stuck with school is to urgently repair and properly fund the broken mainstream education system, to end its draconian one size fits all approach to teaching, overhaul its boring and narrow National Curriculum, and stop its routine discrimination and damage of children and young people. 

We will be clear that only policies that address the root causes of being stuck with school will be effective, and above all we will make the case for an equitable, inclusive and compassionate education system, that ends the need for Stuck With School.