Welcome
“Education - are we really going down the right path?
SKQ Education stands as the launch pad for a new learning initiative, spearheaded by Kunle. His mission is to see financial education formally added to the national curriculum in the UK. His article on page 6 goes into why this is so important to him; the positive impact he feels this will have on our children and on our society and what you can do to help make this happen.
Jenny
When we first tabled the idea of this issue of SKQ focusing on education, Kunle shared an anecdotal story with me.
“.. a well-respected educationalist was invited to speak at Oxford University on the subject ‘what is education?’ The educationalist was perplexed by the question. You’re asking the wrong question, he said. You should be asking ‘what society do you want to have in ten or 20 years’ time?’
Whether it’s a true story or not is by the by. But what it does is successfully highlight just how important education is to get right. It got us all wondering, are we getting it right?
Whatever your views here, there is one area of education that is undeniably at breaking point. The demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support in schools has skyrocketed and funding is struggling to keep pace.
The most recent Department for Education (DfE) figures show that there are now some 435,000 children in this country with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP), up 11.6% on last year alone. An EHCP is a legal document
that details the additional support a child needs to receive in school, funded in part by the local authority and in part by the school. A spokesperson for the County Councils Network (CCN) was recently quoted in the Daily Telegraph predicting that the “high needs” funding deficit linked to EHCP provision is likely to hit £5bn within two years. Barely a day goes by now without a news story highlighting the crisis for those with SEND.
With this in mind, we have spoken to two experienced professionals; Dr Cara Redmond a clinical child psychologist who, for years, has worked with children who have experienced trauma; and a special educational needs coordinator at a primary school (who has asked to remain anonymous). Both of them give their views and insights into what children really need from their education if they’re to thrive. What more would any parent want for their child?
And part of this is of course choosing the right school for your child, which can feel like a minefield. Richard Wallace is CEO of Front Row Group that helps many parents navigate this process (primarily private school) and here he gives us his recommendations on how to get it right. We’ve also included an article on how best to pay for school fees, if you or someone in your family is thinking of going down the private school route.
As always, we hope you will find something here that will spark an idea or a conversations. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
By Kunle Olafare, Chief Executive, SK Financial
My mission: to see every child in the UK leave school financially literate
“Every day’s a school day.. well, it is for me at least.
When I was younger, I didn’t understand about money.
Then again, it seems some 23 million adults in the UK have poor financial literacy, according to a recent article in the FT Adviser. That’s a third of the UK population….
Shocking, huh! I knew how to spend it (still do), I just didn’t learn good habits about saving or investing. That came later. And there were plenty of missed opportunities as a result.
What’s surprising is that the subject of personal finance is not on the national curriculum as a recognised qualification in its own right. As a result, it is given only minimal teaching time.
Why are we setting up our young people to fail?
Why do we not teach them the financial skills that will help them in the future?
I have spent this year asking various clients, contacts, colleagues and at times strangers if they feel personal finance should be taught in schools. The resounding answer has been yes.
So what’s the big idea KO?
I want to see that every child in the UK leaves school financially literate. And I mean properly financially literate. I want to see them empowered to make sound, informed financial decisions that will help them make the most of the money they earn from the moment they start earning – be it a paper round or babysitting job, a bar job or shop assistant role.
I truly believe that this has the potential to change people’s lives. Having the knowledge to independently build a solid financial foundation gives people confidence as well as options and new opportunities in life. It lifts people up.
I want to see a range of financial professionals deliver this subject to students. This is too important to simply be an add on for a teacher with little or no experience in the industry to teach. If the interest increases, let’s work on a programme to get personal finance taught as a core subject on the curriculum.
So it’s now a mission for me to help get this subject taught on a consistent basis with consistent delivery.
The good news is that outside of schools, there is a lot of good work being done by a variety of well-known companies, charities and individuals. Support in this area is also available from professional bodies too. In some ways, this is about connecting the dots, joining up the schools with these existing resources. It is also about getting the right support from Government to support this initiative.
“ I want to see that every child in the UK leaves school financially literate. And I mean properly financially literate. I want to see them empowered to make sound, informed financial decisions that will help them make the most of the money they earn from the moment they start earning.
So that’s my mission. And now you know, do let me have your suggestions to help me make this happen.
To be clear, financial education is included in the national curriculum. But only for secondary school students. And it’s not in-depth, practical, commit to memory learning. This typically only forms part of citizenship and maths. The curriculum requires that students should be taught about various topics such as budgeting, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions. But it is very light touch.
What’s more, primary schools are not legally required to offer financial education teaching at all beyond the maths curriculum that includes some learning about money ie what a 20p coin looks like and what £2.20 + £3.75 is. All schools are also expected to deliver Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lessons which include some financial education (Source – House of Lords).
Helpful? Well, it’s a helpful start. But I believe we can do better.
A more nurturing approach will transform our schools
I was standing in the playground with the headteacher. A child was throwing whatever they could get their hands on at us. Again. This was happening more often and with more children. We looked at each othersomething had to change. We couldn’t carry on like this.
Our school is in a deprived part of the UK. It may not look like it - it’s not inner city, it’s rural and there is a very exclusive private boarding school just around the corner. But things are tough for a lot of local families and for a lot of the children at my school.
As the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) for the school, the most challenging children I support are those who have a difficult home life or have experienced trauma. We have children who have complex behavioural needs – they lash out and can be very physical. And this is not a secondary school. This is primary. Children aged just four to 11.
7.5% of our children have an Educational Healthcare Plan (EHCP), which outlines additional support needed, funded in part by the local authority and in part by the school (not easy considering the cuts we face). The national average is just 2.3%. We are over three times this.
As a school, we have always naturally used a nurture-based approach and of course some elements included the conventional route of ‘consequences for your actions’. There were traffic light systems, where the children were named and shamed; visits to the headteacher; letters home, and unfortunately some exclusions. It was the kind of discipline you will see in schools up and down the country. But it clearly wasn’t working.
We knew we needed to change to support the needs of the children. That’s why we turned our back on the ever-stricter punitive approach and focused instead on a consistently nurturing one. It has transformed our school, for the children and for the staff. But what does this actually mean and what does it look like in a school environment?
We had two things that helped us kick start the transition. We received a generous £1,000 donation from a local business and, because our numbers had dwindled, we had a spare classroom. Our first step was to set up a Nurture room. This is a classroom for children who are struggling to manage their behaviour in a regular classroom. It is for those children who need additional support to help them understand their emotions. We teach them that all emotions are ok, it is just we need to learn how to manage them in a positive way.
They are in the class all day, every day but it takes on a very different feel to a regular classroom. The class size is small and the focus of the room is consistently based around ‘Nurture Principles’, divised by the charity Nurture UK. These include showing that the classroom offers a safe base; that children’s learning is understood developmentally based on where they’re at rather than where they ‘should be’ based on their age; that all behaviour is communication. Coming from this starting point totally changed how we, as the Nurture room teachers, responded to different situations and behaviour. And the children changed too.
The children spend around a year in the Nurture classroom. By the end of their time there, they are usually ready to transition back into the mainstream classroom. They leave with increased self-esteem and are more confident about themselves and their abilities. They understand themselves better and are more in control of themselves. And their behaviour has improved as a result. The children have learnt life lessons, and because their emotions are more in check, they have also made progress with their learning.
“Their ‘naughty’ behaviour was not because they were ‘naughty’ kids. Their behaviour was their way of telling us that they were not ok and asking for help. We now always reflect – what is their behaviour trying to tell us, because no child likes to be emotionally dysregulated.
Our Nurture room scheme has been so successful that as of this term, we are rolling out the approach across the school. We’re introducing the Nurture Principles into all classrooms, to parents and the wider school community. These principles will now inform every part of school life. We genuinely believe the approach will benefit not only those children with special educational needs but every child, in every classroom. We hope that by becoming a ‘Nurture School’ we can pave the way to do better and in doing so have a profoundly positive effect on all our children.
When you’re faced with difficult behaviour in school, it is very easy to blame the kids. But what we actually need to do is look at the way we’re teaching. I have been a teacher for nearly 15 years. Not as long as some, but even in my time, teaching has become increasingly prescriptive and target led, due to government pressures. This does not make for an inspiring learning environment.
The nurturing approach is now starting to become a bit of a movement within education, but it needs to be compulsory in every school. My experience is that responding to ‘bad’ behaviour with more rigidity and punitive punishments, rarely has the desired effect. More often than not, it leads to more frequent and increasingly violent outbursts, which in turn leads to more severe punishments. And we all know what that leads to – exclusions, lost education, lack of confidence, lack of opportunities. So, who does that help? The children? I certainly don’t think so.
“When you’re faced
with difficult behaviour in school, it is very easy to blame the kids. But what we actually need to do is look at the way we’re teaching.
Understanding the impact of trauma on children at school
Q&A with Dr
Cara Redmond
Dr Cara Redmond is a clinical child psychologist, with over 20 years’ experience at the sharp end of children’s mental health. For much of her career, she has worked with children who have experienced severe trauma –sexual abuse, at risk of suicide, removed from their familiesand is now involved with post adoption services.
Can you tell us a little bit more about your work?
I’m currently working with a lot of Year 10 and 11 kids. That’s the GCSE years. I love working with this age group. They’re just amazing. They have these incredible minds that are just at that point where they’re working hard to try to figure out who they are. And because I work in adoption, this identity work is even more important.
Identity work with the children I see is about helping them understand themselves in the context of their experiences. It’s about supporting young people to recognise patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviour, to figure out what they do in relationships including with themselves. I seek to help young people develop more awareness and understanding as to why these patterns exist and what’s maintaining them. Ultimately, I want to help them develop skills that mean they have the choice to do something different when things are not working well.
How do you go about this?
I am influenced by an approach characterised by PACE, developed by clinical psychologist Dr Dan Hughes, P.A.C.E stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. It’s not a strategy per se but a way of being. You bring parts of each of these elements into every interaction possible, especially ACE.
By using this approach, you’re giving people permission to talk about the really difficult stuff. That’s the acceptance – it’s not about accepting destructive behaviour. But then, rather than trying to protect young people from the traumatic experiences they have had with reassurance, you have to actually connect with where they are and get into that difficult place with them. That’s the empathy part and it’s so important for someone to feel heard and felt. Curiosity is then essential to make sure you put aside your assumptions and listen to understand young people more deeply.
How does this approach help?
PACE helps people to feel psychologically safe, where we feel ok about ourselves, the world and others. When we embody PACE we can support others to broaden their ‘window of tolerance’, meaning the capacity to maintain a calm, receptive state, where they are able to think and use the whole brain. It’s a place where our sympathetic nervous system – the fight or flight response, or worse still, shut down – is not so easily triggered.
Each person’s window of tolerance can widen and narrow because of big life experiences, good and bad. It can also change throughout the day because of things like how hydrated you are, whether you’ve eaten enough, who said what to you during your last conversation. As humans we are so impressionable. We take in what is done to us and how people treat us and reflect that back out into the world. That’s another reason why I think PACE is so powerful.
If we’re embodying PACE in our interactions with children, this can be absorbed, and mirrored back in their future interactions with others and with themselves.
What would you like to see change in our schools to help better support children?
Every school needs training to understand the impact of trauma and neurodiversity. There will be children in every class where attachment difficulties and managing the impact of neurodiversity will be part of their struggles. When the associated needs are properly understood and accommodated by professionals in education, changes occur at a cultural level; where differences are embraced as part of children’s strengths. And starting this awareness at leadership level is absolutely essential.
The schools where I’ve worked where they have been able to properly support children with attachment difficulties and neurodiversity, are the ones where this awareness has come right from the top. Where the head teacher and senior leadership are really well informed.
What’s the one thing you’d like to see children taught in school that you think would help?
Every child needs to learn skills to regulate, how to befriend their nervous system and manage their emotions. This needs to be on the national curriculum. It’s not rocket science, but it is really hard sometimes, because it is a process. In fact, it’s a lifelong journey – many of us are still figuring it out in our 40s!
But the foundations need to be offered and given to children in school. We need to teach children how to breathe, about their sensory needs, about activities and foods and ways of connecting that can soothe their nervous system. This plays a huge part in how young people look after themselves and manage their relationships. We have so much knowledge around this that could be drawn on more in education. Tied into this is the impact of social media and phones. I don’t believe children should have phones in school at all. They cause so many problems with focus and they get in the way of real time, face to face interactions.
What effect do phones and social media have on children and young people?
It’s on multiple levels, attention, concentration, self-esteem. Naturally, tech is amazing but there needs to be more boundaries. The whole thing about social media is that it invites us into social comparison and judgement, where we are either striving to be better, or not measuring up, it makes us feel bad about ourselves. Because we’re social animals, we can’t help but get into these social comparisons. It then takes a huge amount of emotional energy to stay in that safe and social zone, able to connect and cooperate with others. This of course impacts children’s capacity for learning and for staying regulated. It’s all interlinked.
How to choose the right school
Finding the right school is often a daunting process. As a parent looking for an independent school or a grandparent supporting the search (financially or otherwise), what exactly should you look out for to make the right choice?
By Richard Wallace, CEO Front Row Group
The single most important thing to do is to put the child front and centre. If your child is not happy at a school, they’re unlikely to be able to learn to the best of their abilities. Now, some of you may roll your eyes and say ‘of course, that’s a no brainer’. But I work with families day in, day out, helping them find schools for their children. And yes, parents want what’s best for their child. But what they see as ‘what’s best’ is often mixed up with a whole load of other stuff that actually clouds the issue of putting their child first.
“Surely, this will be a great start in life and open so many doors?
Maybe they went to a particular school and so did their Dad and their Dad’s Dad as well. So they want to give their children the same brilliant start in life they and previous generations have had at that school. Maybe they didn’t go to the best school and they’ve been saving every year to send their child to one of the ‘so-called’ top tier schools in the country – the big names that everyone knows. Surely, this will be a great start in life and open so many doors?
These are all truly well-meaning and a great starting point. But they won’t always result in the right fit between the school and your child. You may have been a super sporty child and the school you went to invested heavily in sports facilities, helping you really excel at rugby. But your child is perhaps less sporty and loves science. Your old school is not going to be a great fit and is unlikely to give them the opportunities to thrive in their preferred subject. And sometimes, by focusing on the big names, you miss out on the incredible, less well known schools often doing exciting and innovative things to prepare our children for their future. What’s more, like with any market, schools go in and out of favour, so what may have been a great school ten or 20 years ago, may be lacking now.
Choosing the right school for your child is invariably going to involve taking a step back from your own assumptions and experiences. I appreciate that this is not always easy to do.
“I always recommend parents ask their children what they – their child - want from their school
Now, this might sound unusual, but the one thing I always recommend parents do is ask their children what they – their child - want from their school. Maybe don’t ask your four year old, but certainly ahead of secondary school, your ten year old will have some ideas. I have not had a family yet who has done this who hasn’t learnt something surprising. The great thing about this is
that you avoid the ‘it was good enough for me so it will be good enough for them’ trap or the ‘I would have loved a school like this as a kid, they’ll love it too’ mindset. Asking your child is unlikely to be something that will have sprung to mind when looking for a school – not many of us were asked when we were young. But it is well worth it.
Once you’re armed with this information, visiting the school is essential. You cannot get a real sense of what the school is all about without going to see it in person. And take the time to speak to the people in charge and the teachers of the subjects your child loves. Get a feel for the place and see how that marries up with your child’s personality, needs and wants. You’ll know when you get there if it is right – they say you make the decision on whether the school is right within five to six minutes of being there. And don’t forget, as a parent you wield a lot of power and influence, so ask those difficult questions about what they will offer your child now and in the future.
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It’s parents telling schools what’s needed
Ten, 20 and certainly 30 years ago, the belief was that the schools were best placed to decide what was ‘right’ for the children. That’s why boarding schools were such a popular choice. Parents just handed their children over to the school and that was that.
Today, this is no longer the case. It is the parents who are in the driving seat. It’s the parents telling the schools what’s needed and this is having a profound effect on what is now on offer at our independent schools. They are having to raise their game as expectations continue to rise – people pay a lot of money these days to send their children to private school. Schools that are changing and adapting to what modern families are demanding of them survive, those that don’t won’t.
“Getting a child’s approach to their own mental health right early on is not just a nice to have but absolutely essential.”
One of the biggest changes we have seen has been the move towards much better, more comprehensive pastoral care. Schools are also starting to recognise the importance of investing in special educational needs and bespoke approaches that meet the needs of each child. There are schools that focus and invest heavily in mental health support and wellbeing, helping children build resilience and giving them tools to help them understand themselves. This is quite a shift, certainly for those of us that grew up in the 70s, 80s and 90s – wellbeing and mental health were definitely not words used when I was at school. But today, we have a much better understanding of our mental health and the importance of taking care of it. Getting a child’s approach to their own mental health right early on is not just a nice to have but absolutely essential.
How to make school fees more affordable
School fees are probably the largest outgoing after your mortgage or rent. If you have three kids, it is not unheard of for the final bill to start pushing the £1million mark.
The perception is that parents that send their children to a fee paying school are wealthy. Some are. Some benefit from having had a family trust for grandchildren set up (now that’s legacy planning and I’m happy to discuss the pros and cons of this idea). Some parents again are prepared to work numerous jobs – I know of two parents who were baggage handlers that saved to send their child to a well-known fee paying school.
Plan early and regularly set an affordable amount aside
Whatever your financial situation, the common objective here is to try and provide your children with a better education. But there are no guarantees on the outcome. As parents you can spend hundreds of thousands of pounds (or more!) on this education and only in time will you know whether or not it has all been worth it.
If it is your decision to send your children to a fee paying school, plan for this as early as possible. Set aside an affordable amount regularly (little and often tends to win the race) and invest this money in a portfolio that is conducive to your risk profile. Over a 10 year period or so you should benefit from compound interest as well as hopefully positive capital returns.
Whatever the bill, whatever the capital sum, it will feel a lot better to know that you have made this plan at the earlier stages, rather than funding these school fees out of income and feeling the pressure.
“it will feel a lot better to know that you have made this plan at the earlier stages, rather than funding these school fees out of income and feeling the pressure.
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
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