The Education Detective

The Education Detective I am an education detective. I look for clues about how children learn. I work with pupils/students, their setting and parents to help meet their needs.

‘If I'm remembered 100 years from now, I hope it will be not for my music, but for helping children to read.’— Dolly Par...
26/08/2026

‘If I'm remembered 100 years from now, I hope it will be not for my music, but for helping children to read.’— Dolly Parton

It will always be for the music…

But I’ll never forget the books my girls got for free because of Dolly!

She was a philanthropist in every sense of the word!

Such a loss!

But what a legacy!

17/07/2026

My heart goes out to the family, friends, colleagues, students and school family of Katie Allen-Gyves. This should not be happening to our profession. This needs attention - now!

I’m genuinely surprised this is the name of this - as inclusion has been a word used in education for such a long time! ...
07/07/2026

I’m genuinely surprised this is the name of this - as inclusion has been a word used in education for such a long time! 🤨

But I guess it’s in response to inclusion being not just location but the actual teaching being inclusive. 🤩

I think I always assumed that’s what inclusion was 🤔 - maybe for many it meant something else. 😶

Or maybe it’s a rebrand of adaptive teaching- to me it’s the same thing. 😬

Either which way - keeping adaptations/inclusive practice high on our agenda, at the current of our pedagogy can only be a good thing.

So today the EEF have published this.

It’s got universal provisions and adaptive practice explained and practical examples. 🎯

Worth a look - especially if you have induction of staff or you feel folks need a refresher. 🧑‍🏫

Links within it to other very good EEF research/reports. ✅

All evidence based!!! Winning!! 🥇

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/inclusive-teaching

Shout out to my newest followers! Checkout my other latest post to find out a bit more about this page. 😊Jacinda Butterw...
01/07/2026

Shout out to my newest followers! Checkout my other latest post to find out a bit more about this page. 😊

Jacinda Butterworth, Toria Townson, Oksana Kondrytska, Sarah Spin, Lucy Woodward, Lou Vtwo, Caroline Stanley, Mala Perera, Keziah Zakariah, Maggie Smith, Laura Louise, Natalie Freeney, Wilf Boswell, Joanna Jones, Karan Palfreyman, Henrietta Winters, Claire Louise, Samantha Wilson, Daisy Brooms, Rebecca Pyrah, Debra Hines, Michelle Lodge, Kelly Sallis, Liz Gaunt, Matt Burchett, Kieran Fletcher, Deborah Hutchings, Kate Griffin, Heather Haworth, Helen Daniel - Autism and ND Support Practitioner, Louise Bailey, Hilary Haines, Nicky Brewer, Lisa North, Alice Croxford, Susan Hobson, Ciara O'Carroll, Julie Lewis, Saranne Trees, Rachel Cole, Stacey Roalfe, Kelly Simpson, Laura Toby, Krys P*e, Tia Kealy, Emma McCarthy

30/06/2026

Buckle up - it’s a Sarah reflection- I’ve not done one for a bit.

Those of you who have followed me for a while will know I’m partial to one.

To those of you new to me and bizarrely that’s been nearly 350 of you in the last five days…

I’m a teacher - qualified in 1992 (I’ll leave you to do the maths! 👵🏻).

I’ve been class teacher, SENCo, Deputy Head, advisory Specialist Teacher, self employed Specialist Teacher, Teaching assistant and SEND Consultant.

I’m freelance.

I teach.

I support and I get to go into schools and help them audit their provision…a real privilege.

I was also a director of an online SEND training company - training over 10,000 people in all things I cared about relating to SEND.

Menopause (urgh 😣), burnout (awful time 🤯) and subsequently needing to step back from any social media stuff meant this little part of Facebook went a bit quiet… until last week!

I decided I’d share something - the Inclusion base guidance and my opinion on them and the guidance .

I had 31 shares on my post. 😮 and over 239,000 saw it!! Apparently 15k engaged…whatever that means!!!

Bonkers! 😶

Don’t think in all my time with SEND Station that I had that much!

Either it resonated or hit a nerve - maybe both.

All I can say is - as I said before - it can work.

I’ve seen it - in numerous schools over the last four years.

It has worked because passionate practitioners made it work. They had no alternative - in their eyes - if they didn’t they felt they were failing children.

Until budgets increase significantly what’s the option? 🤷🏼‍♀️

And we could debate that till the cows come home.

I’m just delighted that schools are being creative and finding solutions in an imperfect world.

And for some children - this is the perfect solution. 👌Or at least it’s better than the alternative.

As I said - I’ve seen it. 👀

Every school will need to approach this differently - and one would hope that many will not need to create a hub - though most secondaries I think will need to.

If you don’t need to - happy days. ✅

If you do- the guidance might help. ✅

The guidance has come from schools that have done it well and the DfE have seen it and taken the credit. Well at least that’s how it could look.

Don’t ever forget that the schools who have done this have done it in spite of the system not because of it.

Because teachers are creative problem solvers!! 🙌

The powers that be have seen this in action and are now sharing it as guidance. 😬

And that doesn’t make it right. But it is good the love is being shared! 🥰

If I had a magic wand magic 🪄 I’d have increased resources, increased training, more alternative provisions, less assessment that leads to teaching to the test etc.

But in the absence… share the good stuff. 😊

That’s my mantra anyways. 🕉️

And if you do decide to create a place that your highest need kids can feel safe and thrive in …good luck.

There’s some fab people out there to draw upon for inspiration and advice. 🥰

Inclusion has been a ‘thing’ for over three decades. Index for Inclusion was published at the turn of the century!!! (Go...
26/06/2026

Inclusion has been a ‘thing’ for over three decades.

Index for Inclusion was published at the turn of the century!!! (God I feel old 👵🏻It became policy.

And we are still working on it.

I think we always will - as we always learn and improve don’t we!

As someone who gets invited into schools to carry out reviews of SEND provision (friendly ones I hasten to add 🥰) I’ve seen a shift over the last five years.

Schools are getting to grips with adaptive teaching. Equity over equality.

The main areas schools are now wanting to focus on has increasing been…’Are we meeting the needs of those with the highest need- and can we do it even better?’

Those who are doing it well have informed the new guidance on creating inclusion hubs within their own school. Hurrah! Professionals being heard and recognised and good practice shared 🧡

As I said in a previous post - it’s a useful document.

What I’m also seeing is an increased interest in executive functioning which actually underpins all cognition and learning.

So the direction of travel has been

✅ Nail Adaptive Teaching - including how to monitor that to ensure consistency(consistency is a biggie).

✅ within AT the need for children to feel SAFE in school. Those children that feel safe are ready to learn. The schools that get that right… you just feel it as you move around them. It’s in the ether!

✅ Focus on those who might need something different and be creative in how you do that- outside the box and all that. Think not only who and where but how will we create a bespoke curriculum and how we will assess progress. And how to include within the school community.

✅ And look at executive functioning for CPD - it’s a different mindset for us as teachers. A really really useful one!

Something else will evolve as an area of focus in due course but for now these seem to me to be what many schools are looking at - or could do with looking at.

What say you?? I’d be interested to know.

Oh and the sewing. I’ve had a bit of an obsession with slow stitching and in particular seed stitching and I’ve been doing these random circles - in various colours and designs.

Funny how your subconscious does things without you consciously engaging. I’ve realised circles for me represent inclusion.

Think circle time, parachute games, etc. it’s always important to feel part of the circle. ⭕️

I’ll think about the other circles Ive stitched and no doubt have some reflections on what they might mean 🙄🫣😂

Government guidance on Inclusion bases within mainstream schools. This guidance is timely. 🕣I’ve seen so many schools cr...
26/06/2026

Government guidance on Inclusion bases within mainstream schools.

This guidance is timely. 🕣

I’ve seen so many schools creating these spaces out of necessity…

… with the right intent (from the SENDCo at the very least)…

…wanting to meet the needs of the children and still include them within the wider school community. 🏫

But it needs adequate funding… 💷

and in particular careful consideration towards capacity and the training of staff. 🧑‍🏫

Take a look - for those of you considering developing one in your school…it will help. 🤝

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a3bd3a74c7605ab56723924/Inclusion_bases_in_schools_.pdf?fbclid=IwVERDUASq4gpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeUh6BXqeRVazshgcQpPfWweuhJYuRh62-rxoNRt2lHZyTHeQI71IRBDSXMwE_aem_z-dDQ_vscXRx5DNg_aRCLg

24/02/2026

I have to read the new Government White Paper 📚through fully and digest it 🤓but the SEND reforms seem progressive on the one hand…

areas of development as opposed to categories of need (I very much like executive functioning as an area, replacing cognition and learning and also that sensory needs are identified);

and a return to three tiers of support; (anyone recall, school action/school action + and statements) on the other.

As an aside… back in the day - as a rule of thumb (never saw it written down) - statements were given to the children on the 1st percentile. So a primary school with one form entry might have 2-3 children with statements.

The transition to EHCPs changed that.

More children had their needs ring-fenced within a legal document and along with that came additional funding.

We all agreed it was progress.

The new reforms as a model in one respect look like a return to the previous one. I’m not necessarily seeing that as a criticism - more an observation, but if that previous model needed reform back then, why revert back to it???

I’m not sure how this will pan out in the great scheme of things.

Additional funding will help obviously and I welcome any additional focus and funding for our young people with SEND - but will it be enough??

And the specialists?

Where do they come from?

EP shortage. SALT shortage. Specialist teacher teams - many disbanded years ago (sore point!!!).

I really hope the reforms make a positive difference and retains the best of what we have learnt over the last 35 years…

We didn’t need major government reforms for schools to start applying adaptive teaching strategies or creating their own hubs as solutions to the high need children who didn’t fit our ‘system’.

Schools got on with it - because they had no other choice.

But it’s good to see that this solution finding is reflected in what the reforms aspire to look like.

Maybe my musings on those are for another time.

Off to read the 120 pages in closer detail when my brain fog has lifted. 😶‍🌫️

Happy reading 📖

13/02/2026

When you do your first bit of face to face training in 6 years and you get this afterwards. ❤️

“Thank you soooo much!! Was the best training we’ve had for the longest time - everybody really buzzy! “

07/12/2025

So so so good. I love an analogy/metaphor.

I’ve used the plant 🪴 one myself in training.

Agriculture all the way!!!

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