Claire Barrett

Comms lead & peer supporter via @notfineinschool, Mum to a quirky girl & a passionate Publisher. Challenging school 'refusal' misconceptions through words.

[Elly Chapple Founder #FlipTheNarrative©💜 @elly_chapple]

This. 🔥

[Claire Barrett @clairedotcomms]

This succinctly sums up everything I’ve been feeling and thinking over the past few days. The rhetoric being spouted is highly insensitive, damaging and just plain wrong. If a change of Gov & Ed Sec has done no good, then praps a change of @educationgovuk leadership is needed?

[Square Peg @teamsquarepeg]

Good to speak to @mrjamesob @LBC yesterday on school non attendance, the difference between can’t not won’t go to school, and criminalising families.

There is no data which evidences criminalising or fining families improves outcomes long term, particularly for the most marginalised and / or multiply disadvantaged. There is no research which demonstrates it builds relationships, bakes in trust or builds resilience and independence.

But there is evidence which demonstrates punitive sanctions and heavy-handed involvement in families’ lives destroys trust, impacts development and identity / self efficacy, disables marriages and relationships, discriminates and stigmatises, creating declining results, escalating propensity of ill health, disengagement, vulnerability in terms of attainment, employment, contact with psychiatric and justice systems etc.

The rhetoric of crackdowns on attendance and behaviour is the language of the last Government, which saw exponential rises in off-rolling kids from schools, exclusions, suspensions, absence, use of restraint, isolation and seclusion, non-elective home Ed, need for CAMHS, SEND; culture and practice which drove families and workforce away from schools and services. It is the language that will lose this Government voters, engagement and trust.

Commodifying children in terms of earnings is not landing well with families and is increasing anxiety and disengagement with kids. 100% attendance targets does not work. Doomsday predictions do not incentive. It must stop. Why prime a system to work against itself? Madness and entirely unnecessary.

There is always Another Way. Together.

[thehighcliffeguy @AdamHighcliffe]

@bphillipsonMP I'm intrigued to find out how Tom Bennett is going to "drive change", given that he's been flogging the same ideas for the last 10 years, and they helped deliver this:
https://t.co/w1Mo9k1i9r

[Claire Barrett @clairedotcomms]

@warwickmansell This is an important article &, by the sounds of it, an important book too. I maintain that the current education system is what made my daughter ill. Eight years on & still seeing repercussions. At 21 she’s just been diagnosed with FND to add to autism & Tourette’s diagnoses

[Caroline Farrow @CF_Farrow]

Today I took my autistic son, who also has ARFID, to Chessington, while juggling the needs of my other kids.
Some people think autism is “bad behaviour” or “poor parenting.”
This is what it’s really like. 🧵

[Paul Hopkins 🙋🏽‍♂️👨🏽‍🔬🧮🖥🦡🌻 @hopkinsmmi]

@NickGibbUK @routledgebooks Do you mention the retention crisis, falling apart schools, recruitment catastrophe, English children being the unhappiest, mental health crisis, behaviour crash, chumocracy, MAT salaries, desteuction of local democracy, collapse of the arts, awful and hated GCSE reforms …

[Square Peg @teamsquarepeg]

The engagement, attendance and mental health crisis’ are all deeply entwined.

The tyranny of merit is writ large in our myopic and blinkered education system. And it’s not working. Kids with gold plated degrees can’t get jobs. And if they do, employers say they lack the interpersonal and soft skills to succeed.

Compliance and test scores don’t equal a healthy thriving country.

Please @educationgovuk do not make the same mistakes as previous curriculum reviews. Please listen to those pointing to the warning lights on dashboards, raising flags. Please ensure joy is returned to classrooms, to teaching, to schools, to children’s lives.

[Warwick Mansell @warwickmansell]

Prof Myhill, Professor Emerita at the University of Exeter and one of 40 experts listed in the document as having been consulted, told me she had contributed to the review only to send back detailed concerns about it.

[Dr Sinéad Mullally @SineadMullally4]

Thank you to Steve Boggan for covering our recent research findings. See: The shaming of SEND families @UnHerd https://t.co/32vDwYljqk @bphillipsonMP @NotFineinSchool @educationgovuk @SEND_Action @SpcialNdsJungle @CarrieGrant1 @Define_Fine_PS @_MissingTheMark

[Warwick Mansell @warwickmansell]

New: English pupils’ absence from school is because of “design failure” in the education system, psychologists warn https://t.co/TDmu8SueBR
Children’s school experiences “key factor” in rising levels of mental ill health, letter signed by 300 psychologists states.

[Dr. Aaron Bradbury @AaronTeamEC]

Every child needs play.

It’s not a luxury.
It’s how children learn, grow, and thrive.
But play is being locked away, by policy, pressure, and politics.

Let’s change that.

📢 Share this.
🧱 Use the hashtag #PlayMatters
✊ Voice for early childhood.

#EarlyYears

[IPSEA @IPSEAcharity]

“The level of dishonesty is very hard to exaggerate” - @_Chris_Coghlan speaking out for children and young people with SEND and their families.
#SaveOurChildrensRights

[Square Peg @teamsquarepeg]

How is this not segregation by another name?

How will kids in these units feel?

How will they be safeguarded against bullying, discrimination & guaranteed equal opportunity of access to a broad curriculum including enrichment?

How will these units ensure low expectations or aspirations are not the norm for children in these units?

How will individualised plans be determined for each child attending these units to ensure their provision is needs led and appropriate?

[Claire Barrett @clairedotcomms]

@johncosgrove405 @NotFineinSchool The pre-conditions need to go further than that. CYPs need to feel safe in school. Far too many don’t. The whole purpose & scope of the education needs to change. There’s no room to breathe with the pace of Gove’s curriculum. Above all it must no longer be one size fits all.

[Elly Chapple Founder #FlipTheNarrative©💜 @elly_chapple]

Sept 2025 🔥

Understanding Parent Blame by Dr Ana Aiello & Prof Luke Clements.

Revealing how parents are wrongly blamed by the systems meant to help them. 👀

https://t.co/wo5bVwTkfR

#ParentBlame #SocialJustice #DisabilityRights #Safeguarding #Inclusion #Neurodiversity

[Frances Ryan @DrFrancesRyan]

I’ve worked a lot on the welfare reform bill in recent months - in press, radio, and podcasts - but today’s column is everything I need to say:

[Catriona Moore @catrionamoore13]

A perplexing case study from @educationgovuk that couldn't illustrate more clearly why the law on support for children and young people with SEND doesn't need changing. https://t.co/ld71LGQNRx

[Warwick Mansell @warwickmansell]

New: Teachers at super-strict academy told to hand out 25 detentions a week - whatever their pupils’ behaviour https://t.co/fHduYFncLN
Latest developments at Ark Alexandra Academy, in Hastings, East Sussex.

[David Spendlove 🐝 @David_Spendlove]

Lazy populism artificially dressed up as serious debate. If genuinely debating the challenges of growing up - parents and children deserve better…

[Square Peg @teamsquarepeg]

Since 2019, the number of issued fines in England has risen by 167%.

No data exists for threats to fine.

There is no right to appeal a fine. You have more right to appeal a parking or speeding ticket. There is no mediation or resolution mechanism.

https://t.co/Ke5TnHZ5Rj