As a young child, Jason finds school inexplicable. Difficulties with language, reading, writing and making friends all combine to make his school experience challenging. Eventually, these difficulties lead to a teenage Jason who has become disengaged and excluded.

I have met many children like Jason, in many schools. His story is depressingly familiar and yet this well-worn path is not inevitable.

As schools are now, once again, being battered by the effects of the pandemic, it is fair to say that the inequities that have been present for many years have been amplified. Most of us would agree that the world is no longer the same - and for many of our Jasons, the impact of those changes has been immense.

So, what might make Jason’s path different? Where should we start?

Let’s begin by paying very close attention to his spoken language development. Research by Gemma Moss and Liz Washbrook (2016) and by Sarah Griffiths (2021) tells us that early language difficulties can exacerbate any additional challenges students face at school.

Learning and outcomes in reading, writing, maths, and social and emotional learning are built upon language learning. And, as Isabel Beck et al found in 2002, it is not just everyday classroom language that is important here but academic language - words that travel across different disciplines and domains such as “estimate”, “describe” and “explore”.

How to keep vulnerable pupils engaged in school

Developing the basic academic building blocks of reading, writing and maths is essential. But we know from sources, such as research by Chris Bonell et al (2019), that it is also crucial for children like Jason to develop an understanding of their place in the school community.

More than anything else, Jason needs to understand the importance of strong, positive relationships, how we foster them and the skills we need to develop them. He needs to understand how those relationships build communities. He needs to know that the communities he is part of care about him and how they show they care.

None of this is easy work. In her upcoming book, Reaching the Unseen Children, Jean Gross, formerly England’s communication champion for children and young people, describes an evidenced, systematic approach to building school communities for children like Jason. Drawing on her extensive experience of working in and across schools supporting our most vulnerable learners, she clearly articulates the need for communities that show they care every day.

And how do we show we care? Greeting students by name. Taking time to build relationships with them as individuals. Recognising and respecting different cultures, backgrounds and interests. Celebrating students in text, images and across our small daily interactions with them. All these things will help.

Most importantly, Gross challenges us to put aside our preconceptions of what the pathway for a child like Jason should be. We must look closely at the real children in front of us, not the ones we wish we could teach.

We show we care by noticing. Every child can be outstanding in something, Gross believes - and so do I.

Megan Dixon is director of research at Holy Catholic Family Multi-Academy Trust

This article originally appeared in the 29 October 2021 issue under the headline “Don’t let struggling students slip through the cracks”