SPECIALIST ENGAGEMENTEnquireChildren Missing Education (CME) & Fair Access
When a child has been away from education for a long time, families can feel worn down and professionals can feel the pressure to find a way forward. We listen to what has made education difficult, what the family has been carrying and what your team has already tried. Together, we agree a first step the child can take towards reconnecting.
Discuss education engagement Read the CME account: Ryan
The connection that helps support reach the child
A school place can be agreed.
The next step can still feel impossible.
A child may have lost trust. A family may be exhausted. The professionals around them may have tried every route they know. We take time to understand what is getting in the way.
Through one-to-one Asset-Based Mentoring, we begin with the young person’s strengths, interests and ambitions. We work with their family, education setting and referring team to agree achievable steps towards participation.
Discuss a young person’s needsStart with a short outline, without names or sensitive personal details.
One young person. Connected support.
Begin with what matters to the young person and a relationship they can grow into.
Agree priorities, a named liaison and how family, school and services will stay in touch.
Support introductions and transitions, work through setbacks and review progress together.
Four starting points / Bespoke engagement
Start with the barrier to participation. Build from the child’s strengths. Shape the support around the next achievable step.
Build trust with a child and family arriving from out of borough. Help parents understand the process, engage the child through their interests and support introductions to the new school, including a mid-year start.
For a return from Elective Home Education (EHE) or Children Missing Education (CME), start at home. Build family confidence and the child’s readiness in achievable steps, with home-to-school mentoring through setbacks.
Explore what sits behind disengagement, rebuild trust in education and work with family and school on attendance and behaviour. For an agreed managed transfer, engagement can begin in the current school and continue into the new one.
Provide bespoke, hybrid support alongside the existing placement. Engage the child and family at home, then support the child’s steps into provision, with attendance reviewed alongside the professionals involved.
These describe ways the service can be shaped. Suitability, scope, capacity and responsibilities are agreed for each referral.
Explore the specialist engagement overviewFrom enquiry to delivery
From a panel, local authority team or school. Describe the starting point and the progress sought; ECNM reviews suitability and capacity.
Discuss suitability, education or engagement goals, scope and investment. Agree the delivery, safeguarding responsibilities and review arrangements.
Build the plan around the child and family, with a named liaison. Connect direct engagement with the schools and agencies already involved.
Review participation, child and family voice and available records alongside the referring team. Agree what needs to continue, change or happen next.
This account has moved to Impact
Before you commission
Know what to expect before you enquire. We’ll agree the support, responsibilities and next step with you.
The case studies describe collaboration with centre leaders and referring professionals. Placement decisions remain with the responsible education bodies; ECNM supports engagement towards the agreed plan.
Parents and family are one of the service’s three connected strands, alongside the child and the schools and agencies involved. The engagement plan sets out how those strands work together in the individual case.
We confirm availability after understanding the need, location, safeguarding arrangements and proposed delivery. A start date is agreed for each project.
“Their compassionate and non-judgmental approach has allowed students to open up about their challenges and work towards constructive solutions.”
Recommendation
An independent chair’s account of the commissioned programme.
Recommendation
Confidence and pupil voice in CME and alternative provision.
Your next step
Tell us where engagement is missing and the progress you want to make possible. ECNM reviews suitability before agreeing the next step.