Square Pegs: Inclusivity, compassion and fitting in – a guide for schools

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The book is set out in five parts, covering insights into individual cases, legal issues, relationships, mental health and alternative options. Furthermore, the book challenges readers to think deeply about the ever-shrinking school budgets, which are responsible for the limited resources and support available to educators. While the book does not offer solutions to this issue, it highlights the need for a deeper exploration of this problem and how it affects our education system.

Making schools more inclusive is essential to ensuring the well-being and ability to thrive of every young person. Creating a sense of belonging and using trauma-informed strategies to help the system welcome the square pegs, rather than continuing to force them into round holes, is clearly the way forward. The current government one-size-fits-all approach, particularly to SEND and behaviour, needs a rethink. I really enjoyed this book because it shows that you have to look at everything in a child's life that is helping/hurting them. Sometimes it is even the parents style of parenting that might be hurting the child. You should also consider that but never rule it out. If you are a helicopter parent, STOP IT, and let them live a normal live. If you are too free-spirited as a parent, then maybe providing some rules and boundaries will help them. Kids need structure but never at the level of what helicopter parents have. Written by Fran Morgan with Ellie Costello and edited by Ian Gilbert, Square Pegs: Inclusivity, compassion and fitting in – a guide for schools is a book for educators who find themselves torn between a government/Ofsted narrative around behaviour, attendance and attainment, and their own passion for supporting square pegs and their families.

Over the last few years, changes in education have made it increasingly hard for those children who don’t ‘fit’ the system – the square pegs in a rigid system of round holes. Square Peg is, in part, a memoir about L. Todd Rose's experience growing up a misunderstood, wild and out of control kid with ADHD. He is every teachers nightmare, throwing stink bombs in school. He ends up making a lot of mistakes including, failing high school and is three steps short of being a juvenile delinquent. He had a couple of things going for him though, a mother who loved and accepted him and the will to succeed. He uses this will to succeed to reinvent himself. Square Peg is the story of how he went from being a failure at the very bottom of the educational system to a Harvard graduate student. In an engaging, thought provoking and practically realistic analysis, Fran Morgan, Ellie Costello and their wide range of associates have unravelled the implications for learners of all ages who fail to ‘fit in’ or ‘conform’ within certain schools and colleges. They highlight the continuing inadequate responses to promote effective access, inclusion and strategies for engagement and progress for a growing number of learners. The authors and their contributors champion the needs of all children who are ‘square pegs’ and write with passion about the ways in which the school system often fails to meet their needs and to recognise their strengths.The book provides personal and professional insights into an alternative, positive vision of education.

Anyway, being in this Facebook group has really opened my eyes to the struggles many of our students face in the classroom today. It's truly amazing how the system can fail so many of our children, and yet still be good-intentioned. Square Peg is also a book for parents and educators who are looking for answers for helping kids survive and thrive in a failing education system. If you have a child with dyslexia or ADD or Asperger's you probably already know that your child doesn't do well in the current educational system. Rose provides specific techniques and ideas on how to be a better parent and how to be a more effective teacher when working with kids that are active learners. Recently, a 13-year-old girl with autism gave me a list of what a good school for her would look like: well-organised, supportive, calm, focused on learning, there to help. These are all things we would want to see for every child in every school. After spending two years out of the classroom because a succession of schools was unable to meet her needs, she went on to find a school which understood her and provided the springboard she needed to do well. She went on to achieve great things in her GCSEs and is now in sixth form. Like Square Peg, I want all schools to see the potential in all children and provide the support they need.Although the author says that there is not one factor in his growth beyond being a challenging child with misbehaviors, the one thing that comes through over and over again is that his mother stood in the gap for her child and believed in him. The other beliefs about himself he discovered on his own. I've been reading a lot about education lately. I got this book because of this NPR article, "Standards, Grades And Tests Are Wildly Outdated, Argues 'End Of Average,'" Feb. 16, 2016 ( http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/0...). I also watched his TED talk, https://youtu.be/4eBmyttcfU4. Budget cuts, the loss of support staff, an overly academic curriculum, problems in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and difficulties accessing mental health support have all compounded pre-existing problems with behaviour and attendance. The 'attendance = attainment' and zero-tolerance narrative is often at odds with the way schools want to work with their communities, and many school leaders don't know which approach to take. I participate in a Facebook group where the discussion centers largely around learning differences in students, and ideas for helping those students receive an education that works for them. The group was born when a friend of mine met a lot of resistance from both her child's teacher and the school/school district in trying to get her daughter help. She also met plenty of resistance from the educational system in trying to figure out why she was struggling in the first place. Square Peg - My Story and What It Means for Raising Innovators, Visionaries and Out-of-the-Box Thinkers, by L. Todd Rose is a great book with great ideas for our modern classrooms. Todd Rose was himself a 2E child. And the system failed him. He tells the story of how he was given a poetry assignment, and because he actually enjoyed writing poetry, he did it. His teacher failed him, thinking he had cheated, since Todd didn't try on any assignments, as a general rule. Even when Todd's mother plead his case to the teacher, the teacher held firm to the failed grade.

This is a short, compelling book that education leaders should read. The author was a hyperactive, disruptive, mostly unlikable child. He flunked out of school. But he went on to be accepted to Harvard. How does that happen, and what can we learn from his experience? Fran Morgan founded Square Peg in 2019, following her own daughter’s struggles in the education system. She was joined by Ellie Costello in 2020, with experience as a parent of children with underlying needs. She now runs the organisation, as well as working with local authorities and health teams. Ian Gilbert has been an advocate of change in the education system for many years, alongside his Independent Thinking associates.As a parent of two "square pegs" (both my children are autistic, amongst other needs), this book was a good read. Sometimes though, it was a bit over my head as it is aimed more at educators than at parent/carers. However, one of my "square pegs" has been so let down by the system that she is currently not in school. She was even let down by the special needs school we got her into after she crashed out of mainstream school. I just wish that educators would rethink how they approach children. I wish that politicians would stop trying to fix things by putting arbitrary targets into place. There needs to be a wholesale change in culture. Not every child's success is the same. We need to be able to help all children succeed, even if that means different ways for each child. Budget cuts, the loss of support staff, an overly academic curriculum, problems in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and difficulties accessing mental health support have all compounded pre-existing problems with behaviour and attendance. The ‘attendance = attainment’ and zero-tolerance narrative is often at odds with the way schools want to work with their communities, and many school leaders don't know which approach to take. Square Peg arrived on my doorstep at the right time. My son is struggling in school and one of the reasons why is because he is bored with worksheets. Rose's book has given me a new outlook and strategies to help him and encourage his teachers to think "out of the box" when they teach him. We should all be grateful to Square Peg for all they do to advocate for children who need most help, and for showing how schools and parents can work together with children to provide a positive environment to learn. Every child deserves the best start in life, and positive outcomes for all children must be at the heart of a successful education system. Interesting memoir by a guy who grew up in the 80's and 90's with severe ADHD. He dropped out of high school after failing too many classes to graduate, but did get his GED, go on to college, and eventually grad school...ending up teaching at Harvard.

Bringing different perspectives and expertise together in one place, Square Pegs aims to help school leaders and staff support children (and their families) more effectively. The authors cover a wide variety of topics – including school attendance, building relationships, trauma-informed practice, and behaviour management. Featuring contributions from more than 50 individual authors, this is an accessible, dip-in, dip-out book – perfect for busy school leaders. An enlightening first-person account of what it's like to be "THAT kid" in the classroom—and of how to help him be successful if you're his parent, teacher, or community. To be generous to it, this scattergun approach does get you thinking and encourages you to form your own opinions. But while showcasing so many voices lends the book some weight, I can’t help but feel that it’s lost without a clear sense of where and how to apply it. A more coherent and aligned set of views would have allowed for a clearer and more impactful message.One last thing, don't read this book hoping to copy everything the author did, read this book so you can understand what to look for in your child's environment that is hurting them and helping them so you know what you need to do. attended the inaugural conference of INSA (the International Network for School Attendance) in Oslo in October 2019, and now sit on two INSA committees What the diverse voices do particularly well is to offer a glimpse into the many challenges faced by educators and schools when it comes to inclusivity and compassion. Several chapters genuinely touched me and made me reconsider my own views. One in particular, ‘The Dreams List by Dave McPartlin, is so powerful that I actually cried. I dare anyone to read it and not be moved. McPartlin’s approach to nurturing his students’ self-belief and ambition is truly inspiring and it made me reflect on the type of educator I want to be.