Steve Chalke

The child is never the problem. It is our systems that are the problem! That’s what we have to change. The abolishment of the Adverse System Experience!

The promise of longer prison sentences may win votes but won’t stop crime! We already have harsher sentences than any other European country including Russia. But all the research shows though they don’t lower crime or successfully rehabilitate offenders, they are very expensive!

Despite their sickening protestations it is Netanyahu and his morally bankrupt regime who are not only ‘disconnected from reality’ but from their own people! And besides everything else have shredded the reputation of and respect for their country.

A word of advice for Nigel Farage & Reform. It’s naïve to believe the pathway to a reduction in crime is about getting tougher on it with more Stop & Search. Instead, it’s about being smart about the causes of crime and investing in opportunity for every child and young person.

UK law sets out 9 characteristics protected from discrimination: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex & sexual orientation. I believe protection for children leaving care must become the 10th!

Massive congratulations to all children, young people and teachers for whom this is the last day of another school year. Enjoy the summer! And for everyone joining Oasis summer activities - I’m looking forward to the privilege of meeting lots of you.

Palace has been part of my whole life. So the honour of becoming a patron of Palace for Life is a huge privilege; one which integrates my love for @CPFC with the passion to serve and support young people across South London together. Read more here! palaceforlife.org/news/about-us/…

In my view, the main reason we’re living in an age of ‘over diagnosis’ of mental health issues, is because we have an ‘under investment’ in community development and well-being.

Whatever we do to reshape our welfare & health systems, the cost will continue to rise dramatically until we learn to invest more in children born into poverty. Only this will enable them to become lifelong contributors to our society & economy rather than an ongoing cost to it.

You can’t build a successful education system around shame, embarrassment, detention & exclusion. You can’t create inclusion for all via a curriculum that only works for some. So as the saying goes “If the child doesn’t learn the way you teach, start teaching the way they learn.”

When a child has experienced trauma, their behaviour isn’t a moral failing, it’s communication. The anger you see? That’s pain. The defiance? That’s fear. And the silence? That’s a survival strategy. None of this is about excusing bad behaviour. It’s about understanding it!

The main reason the Education Health Care Plan system is overwhelmed is simply because of the lack of low level social, emotional and mental healthcare for children & young people both in and beyond school. If society invests in this, the need for many EHCPs will fade away.

There is no SEND rebellion threatening Labour over Education Health Care Plans. We all know that the EHCP system fails countless children & that a better, faster & more caring approach is long overdue. Until last week everyone was frustrated by what now some are sticking up for!!

The core issue -sitting behind all the presenting issues for children- is poverty. Poverty is the deadly, destructive system that puts short-term economic profit & geo-political power above the wellbeing of children & their families, compounding all other difficulties they face.

The debate shouldn’t be about whether we keep Education Health Care Plans or not. We all know the present EHCP system is slow & leaves too many children behind. Instead, we need to develop a system that creates better, faster & more effective support for every child who needs it.

Hamas and Netanyahu. For the sake of the children, lay your weapons down and find the humanity to seek lasting peace.

Neighbourhood healthcare is good health care. Oasis has already teamed up with Herne Hill GPs to deliver The Well Centre as part of Oasis St Martin’s Village - delivering mental and sexual healthcare to young people in South London.

More power to those who can deliver the Prime Minister’s five missions - will Labour put rocket boosters under their priorities by joining up communities. Read my article for @SchoolsWeek here: schoolsweek.co.uk/more-power-to-…

A child’s education isn’t just about school - it’s about the whole ecosystem of their life & their family’s life. Tragically, it’s still true that the biggest indicator of a child’s life - their choices & even its length - is their parents’ income rather than their ability.

For too many children school is a miserable experience. Why? Because we’ve still not learned that if the child doesn’t learn the way we teach, we need to start teaching the way they learn.