24/08/2026
Learning is so much more than the knowledge itself. 🌱
This summer has taught me so much. One of the conversations I have regularly about Children Lead The Way is:
“What you do is wonderful, but children still need academics. They still need to learn to read, write and do maths.”
And I agree. Of course those skills matter.
But after more than five years of tutoring and supporting children with SEND in those core academic skills, alongside the work we now do supporting children through recovery, I have come to see these two things very differently.
They are not separate.
This summer, I have delivered some tutoring support for families who, for different reasons, needed it. My own son also chose to continue with learning activities over the summer. He loves knowledge and structure, and during long holidays—when days can feel less predictable and accessing busy places can become increasingly overwhelming—learning can actually provide something meaningful and regulating for him.
And across all of these experiences, something has really struck me.
Every one of these children is curious.
They seek knowledge.
They ask questions.
They want to understand.
They enjoy learning.
The desire to learn is not the problem. What can be incredibly difficult is everything that happens around the learning.
It is the feeling when there is a gap between what they desperately want to be able to do and what their body or brain can manage in that moment.
It is the frustration when something doesn't work.
The huge emotion that can come with making a mistake.
The uncertainty of not immediately knowing an answer.
The demand of being asked to follow someone else's process when their brain has already found its own.
The sensory experience of sitting, writing, listening, processing and concentrating.
The body's need to move.
The energy required to regulate all of that and learn at the same time.
For a child who feels deeply, experiences big emotions, is highly attuned to their environment or has a strong drive for autonomy, a seemingly simple learning activity can contain an enormous number of invisible demands. And that is where I think we sometimes misunderstand children.
We see the activity that wasn't completed.
The writing they refused to do.
The activity they walked away from.
The frustration.
The avoidance.
And we conclude that they don't want to learn. But what if the knowledge was never the barrier?
What if they desperately do want to learn, but accessing that knowledge asks more of their nervous system than we can see?
This is why the recovery work we do at Children Lead The Way isn't separate from education. It is deeply connected to it.
Learning how to recognise when your body needs to move.
Learning what frustration feels like before it becomes overwhelming.
Learning that making a mistake is survivable.
Learning when to pause and how to return.
Learning that you can approach something in a different way.
Learning that another person's idea doesn't have to remove your autonomy.
Learning that you can take your time.
Learning that adults will support rather than overpower you when things become difficult.
These are learning skills too.
When we adapt environments, reduce unnecessary demands, allow movement, follow interests, create meaning and purpose, support regulation and give children time to gently absorb new skills, we aren't replacing education.
We are making education accessible.
Sometimes that means maths happens while building something. Writing begins because a child has something they genuinely want to communicate. Reading develops through researching a fascination.
Problem-solving happens in the woods.
And sometimes it means sitting at a table doing a maths activity—because that is what the child has chosen and enjoys.
Neuro-affirming, child-led learning isn't about removing challenge or deciding that academics don't matter.
It is about understanding the conditions a particular child needs in order to access challenge successfully.
Perhaps one of the biggest things this summer has reinforced for me is this:
Children who struggle to access education are not necessarily children who struggle to love learning.
Sometimes they are incredibly passionate learners.
We just need to become much more curious about what happens between their curiosity and their ability to show us what they know.
At Children Lead The Way, recovery and learning were never really two separate journeys.
The more I learn from these children, the more I understand that they are woven together. 🌿
