From Curriculum to Connection: Embedding Belonging in the UK’s New National Curriculum
Written by Chloe Watterston
Chloe is an educator, athlete, and advocate for inclusive, curiosity-driven learning, dedicated to creating spaces where every young person feels safe, valued, and empowered. Her work across mainstream and SEND education, community projects, and curriculum reform is driven by a passion for amplifying marginalised voices and breaking down barriers to learning.
When the Department for Education announced a new national curriculum (to be implemented from 2028), headlines focused on oracy, digital literacy, and enrichment. Yet behind every subject reform lies a deeper question: Do our students feel like they belong here?
A sense of belonging – feeling seen, supported, and valued – is the heartbeat of learning. Without it, even the best-designed curriculum risks falling flat. For pupils who are neurodiverse, disabled, or marginalised, belonging isn’t a luxury; it’s the foundation of success.
This guide translates the government’s new framework, which centres on life skills, enrichment, and stronger foundations, into practical actions that put belonging at the centre of every classroom and corridor.
“Belonging isn’t an outcome of curriculum reform — it’s the condition that makes reform work.”
Curriculum Design: From Coverage to Connection
Goal: Build a curriculum that feels relevant, achievable, and identity-affirming for all.
- Audit representation: Ensure diverse identities, including disability and neurodiversity, appear meaningfully across units and texts.
- Chunk and scaffold: Sequence content clearly for learners who need structure; use visual roadmaps and checklists.
- Bridge knowledge with identity: Link new content to students’ own experiences and communities.
- Amplify oracy: Give pupils the language to share their thinking aloud, it builds both confidence and cognition.
Example: Pair Macbeth with The Hunger Games to explore power and morality through different cultural lenses.
Enrichment for All: Making the ‘Core Entitlement’ Inclusive
Goal: Deliver the new national “core enrichment entitlement” – arts, sport, nature, civic life – so that every pupil can take part meaningfully.
- Audit participation and remove barriers (costs, timing, accessibility).
- Offer sensory-friendly, shorter, or flexible versions of activities.
- Provide varied roles – performer, planner, designer – so every learner can contribute.
- Train staff to understand fatigue, sensory needs, and invisible disabilities.
Example: For civic engagement, let students design campaigns or social media projects if public speaking feels overwhelming.
Pedagogy & Climate: Making Belonging the Norm
Goal: Build classrooms that balance structure with humanity.
- Predictable routines reduce anxiety; flexible responses show care.
- Replace “behaviour management” with “community agreements.”
- Display student contributions publicly – belonging must be visible.
- Give feedback as conversation, not correction.
Example: Begin each lesson with a one-minute grounding question like “What’s one thing that made you smile this week?” Small rituals can anchor connection.
Staff Culture: Belonging Starts with Us
Goal: Equip teachers to teach through belonging, not just about it.
- Embed neuroinclusion in CPD: autism, ADHD, chronic illness, not as “issues,” but as perspectives.
- Hold peer reflection sessions: “Whose belonging have we strengthened this term?”
- Celebrate staff who champion inclusion.
- Model belonging in leadership – consistency, curiosity, compassion.
Example: Host a termly “Belonging Showcase” where staff and students co-present examples of inclusive success.
Measuring What Matters
Goal: Track belonging with the same intent as attainment.
- Use quick-pulse surveys: “Do you feel you’re understood here?”
- Cross-reference belonging data with attendance and enrichment participation.
- Form neurodiverse and SEND student panels to co-design improvements.
- Include belonging outcomes in school development plans.
Example: If ADHD students report low belonging, pilot flexible seating or movement breaks — then re-survey to measure impact.
Final Thought
Belonging is not a soft extra, it’s the soil that allows learning to take root.
As we rebuild the national curriculum for the next generation, we can decide what kind of classrooms our students inherit. Will they be systems of delivery, or communities of connection?
With intentional design, the new curriculum can become more than a framework of knowledge. It can be a map towards a society where every young person feels seen, capable, and connected – not just prepared for life, but part of it.
I Don't Want Representation to Be My Privilege - I Want It to Be Every Student's Reality
Written by Gemma Hathaway
EDI Trust Lead for Inspire Education Trust, Assistant Headteacher at Blue Coat School Coventry.
This blog is written by Cami Chan – a Year 13 Student from Blue Coat School, Coventry.
As EDI Lead for our school and Trust, I am proud to support student voices like Cami’s. Her article demonstrates the importance of giving young people opportunities to think critically about representation, identity and belonging within literature and media. Through thoughtful analysis, Cami challenges stereotypes and highlights why diverse perspectives matter within education today.
Creating psychologically safe environments in schools is essential to this work. When students feel safe to express ideas, question assumptions and share their experiences, they develop confidence, empathy and independent thought, skills that are vital both inside and outside the classroom.
My first encounter with literature from a POC’s perspective was in year 10, with Tanika Gupta’s play – The Empress. A historical drama set in the last 14 years of Queen Victoria’s reign, where we follow the main characters Rani Das, a young Ayah fresh off the boat from Kolkata and Abdul Karim, a soon-to-be servant of Queen Victoria into their personal journey within the Great British Empire. Gupta masterfully presents the themes of colonialism as well as showcases the interactions between the white British Empire, and the people of colour. The diverse cast of characters all have a sophisticated depth to them. Rani begins the journey as an ayah with blinding naivety and ends by becoming a school teacher, sharing her wisdom with the next generation. Her growth shows to the audience that even in a disadvantaged position within society, you can create a voice for yourself.
As times change, we are finally able to see more nuanced representations of minorities in the media. Looking at the evolution of Katie Leung’s acting career, she began with playing the character of Cho Chang in the Harry Potter movies. The docile, pretty, smart Chinese girl who was Harry’s object of attraction – and only that. In the movies, Cho Chang’s main appearances were either by the side of Cedric Diggory or with Harry. Later on, the scene where she was dragged by Draco by the coat after “betraying” Dumbledore’s army made her look meek and powerless. The characterisation of Cho Chang in the movies was white male centric, as if her whole personality was based on the handsome, charming white men around her. Because of the small sample size of representation, it creates the idea that Chinese girls only can be like Cho Chang – quiet and powerless, especially to the young audience of the Harry Potter series. It stops people from rejecting and speaking against stereotypes, while forcing a specific view of Chinese people. In recent years, people have taken off their rose-tinted glasses and realised that such caricatures were actually harmful. Consider the release of Bridgerton season 4, a show that bypasses historical accuracies to uplift POC actors. Leung starred as Araminta Gun, the evil stepmother of House Penwood who acted as the antagonist against the main heroine. The character of Araminta is complex, she is seen to be cruel, but it’s what she had to do to keep her title and relevancy in society. In the scene where the Penwoods arrive at Lady Cressida’s ball, Araminta complains about how the party decor was “浮誇 (over the top)” in Cantonese. Rosamund responds in the same language whilst Posy only responds in English. This deliberate act of isolating her child emphasises her manipulation, keeping Rosamund as the “favourite daughter” and disregarding Posy. This portrayal of a malevolent matron who schemes her way in society shows that Chinese people aren’t just meek, math-loving caricatures, these people are real and have complexities to their personalities.
People of all races are nuanced and deserve to be represented. Whilst the works of Dickens and Priestley are well established in English Literature, they fail to reflect on the diversity within classrooms today. Britain has always been a multicultural country and will always be. Modern media such as Bridgerton have begun taking a step in showing the cultural diversity within society, yet at many schools the curriculum remains stuck in the past, focusing mainly on white perspectives. By introducing diversity in media, literature and the like, it inspires children to challenge the labels placed on them, allowing them to more freely express themselves. It’s been a privilege to be able to study literature from diverse perspectives, in GCSE and A-level. However, I don’t want this to only be my privilege, but a norm within school curriculums. Therefore, schools should aim to further widen the texts and material they give to students, not to just focus on one singular experience or perspective.
Cami’s reflections remind us that representation matters because young people deserve to see the full complexity of themselves and others reflected in the stories they study. A broad and inclusive curriculum helps students challenge stereotypes, develop understanding and recognise the value of different perspectives. As schools, we must continue creating cultures where every student feels heard, respected and able to contribute confidently. When young people are empowered to think critically and express themselves authentically, education becomes not only more inclusive, but more meaningful for everyone.
Can We Teach That? RSE 2026 and LGBT+ Inclusive Education in Primary School
Written by Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch (they/them) is a writer, educator, and DEI specialist. As Co-Director and Workshops & Training Lead at Pop’n’Olly, they work with schools, educators, parents, and organisations across the UK to create more inclusive environments. Jack has delivered training to thousands of professionals and authored widely used resources that support good practice in diversity, equity, and inclusion in education.
“What can and can’t we teach about LGBTQ+ lives under this new RSE guidance?”
With the new Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Guidance 2026 set to come into force in England from September, this has been one of the most common questions I’m asked when working with primary school leaders and educators, at the moment.
In our conversations with schools and educators, I am hearing two clear messages. Firstly, the language and messaging of the RSE guidance around LGBTQ+ inclusion is deeply concerning and that, alongside other consultations and revisions of legislation, it’s providing less clarity, more questions, and increased fear and division. Secondly, it’s making educators want to work even harder to ensure that every child feels like they belong.
With LGBTQ+ bullying significantly increasing and the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ young people at some of its lowest levels, I am working even harder to empower schools to continue to remain inclusive and show every child that they belong. After spending months scouring the legislation and working with our legal team at Pop’n’Olly to understand what the legislation does and does not say, I can say with absolute confidence that LGBTQ+ inclusive education is very possible under RSE 2026.
LGBTQ+ inclusive education at primary level is broader than simply teaching about LGBTQ+ identities. It’s about teaching children that families can look different but that all families are characterised by love and care. It’s about teaching children that we aren’t limited to speaking, behaving or dressing in certain ways because of our gender and, finally, teaching children that there are many different ways to be human. So let me break this down a little further.
Family and Relationship Diversity
This guidance calls specifically for schools to recognise that “families of many forms provide a nurturing environment for children, and can include single parent families, same-sex parents, families headed by grandparents, young carers, kinship carers, adoptive parents and foster parents/carers” and that “Teaching should illustrate a wide range of family structures in a positive way, and care should be taken to ensure that children are not stigmatised based on their home circumstances.”
This provides a clear message that teaching about family diversity should be truly representative of all families. This provides a brilliant legislative basis for this work, which is a cornerstone of inclusive education in the lower age groups of primary and is key to making sure that children from non-traditional family structures can see themselves represented. This positive representation at early ages has been shown to significantly increase the mental well-being of all children, providing them with the important messaging that, whatever their family looks like, they belong.
Tackling Stereotyping
The RSE guidance also targets stereotyping, and specifically gender stereotyping, stating that by the end of primary school pupils should know “how stereotypes can be unfair, negative, destructive or lead to bullying and how to challenge a stereotype” as well as saying that schools should “avoid language or activities which repeat or enforce gender stereotypes”.
This focus on challenging negative stereotypes already forms a key part of many schools’ inclusive curricula and is a key element of LGBTQ+ inclusive education, as we know that gender stereotypes often underpin homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. When we teach about diversity, rather than binary gender stereotypes, rates of bullying based on protected characteristics are shown to decrease, which aligns perfectly with schools’ duties under the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty to ‘eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.’
LGBTQ+ Identities
The RSE guidance section on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender content is where the majority of the concerns we are hearing from schools lie. The section specifically states that “Pupils should also be taught the facts and the law about biological sex and gender reassignment” and that “schools should be mindful that beyond the facts and the law about biological sex and gender reassignment there is significant debate, and they should be careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact”. Feedback we are hearing from schools, educators and, indeed, parents and families is that the wording here is ambiguous and lacks clarity as well as concerns about how trans and gender non-confirming pupils can be supported and included.
My intention in this article is not to tell schools how to interpret this wording, as that is not my place and every school will approach this differently based on their specific setting. However, what I can say is that at no point is this guidance saying that schools cannot teach that LGBT+ people exist. In fact, the guidance is clear that schools should teach pupils to “recognise that people with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, as with the other protected characteristics, have protection from discrimination and should be treated with respect and dignity”.
Teaching about LGBTQ+ identities in primary can be done in a range of ways including (but not limited to) having books with positive LGBTQ+ representation, having diverse representation on display boards, not hiding someone’s LGBTQ+ identity when using role models (e.g. Alan Turing in a history lesson) as well as specific lessons that cover what LGBTQ+ means. Teaching about LGBTQ+ should always have a clear learning objective and align with the schools curriculum and values, showing clearly that LGBTQ+ topics are not an ‘add on’ or taught because of any personal agenda but have a clear educational purpose that is aligned with the guidance and legislation.
I want to be clear, the new RSE guidance and surrounding legislation does NOT mean we have to stop teaching about LGBTQ+ lives, it does NOT mean we have to stop supporting LGBTQ+ pupils. What is most important is that schools are clearer than ever before on how and why they are teaching about LGBTQ+ identities: how this aligns with their ethos, values, and educational objectives; how they are interpreting the guidance; and how LGBTQ+ education fits within their wider work on inclusion of other protected characteristics.
For more information on guidance and legislation that relates to LGBT+ education, Pop’n’Olly have recently released a ‘LGBT+ Equality Legislation: Guidance for Schools’ resource which outlines the legislation in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This resource also provides information on what the legislation says about common areas of concern such as religious/belief conflicts and parents’ right to withdraw. You can download this for free at www.popnolly.com/free-resources
Disclaimer: This information is not a substitute for legal advice and is solely intended to support good practice by offering general information on the legal principles relevant to LGBT+ education in schools. It is the responsibility of schools to know their own legal responsibilities and independent advice should be sought where necessary.
Beyond The Bookshelf: Creating Change Through Activism
Written by Maria Oprea
Maria Ariana Oprea is a Year 9 student at Caterham High School who wishes to have a future career in Law. She was part of Every Future Foundation 2026, Activism Academy.
When I first joined Activism Academy, I never imagined how much it would change me. I signed up because I cared about making a difference, but I came out with so much more: confidence, new friendships, valuable skills, and the opportunity to create real change in my school community.
My project is called Beyond the Bookshelf. The idea came from the simple question: Does everyone in our school feel represented in our school curriculum? I wanted to make our school curriculum more diverse, starting with the library.
For me, diversity in books is way more than just numbers. It means having authors from different ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds. It means books with characters that people feel reflected in, whether it’s through experiences or identities. It means exploring stories, histories, and perspectives from around the world so that every student has the opportunity to learn from people who may be different from themselves, while also seeing their own experiences reflected in what they read. It also means helping others develop the same genuine love for reading that I found myself having from a very young age.
Through surveys, research, book sales, and presentations, I gathered the views of students and explored ways our library could become more inclusive. Seeing other students engage with the idea and recognising that their opinions mattered was one of the most rewarding parts of the project. It showed me that positive change can begin with listening, understanding different perspectives, and taking action. No matter how young you are, or how small the change may seem at first, every positive action has the potential to make a real difference.
One of the biggest things I learned is that activism does not always have to be loud or dramatic. Sometimes it starts with asking questions, listening to others, and finding practical ways to improve something that matters. Through Beyond the Bookshelf, I discovered that small changes can have a lasting impact.
I am incredibly grateful to Activism Academy and my amazing mentor, Hannah Wilson, for giving me this opportunity and supporting me every step of the way. This has helped me grow as a person, develop confidence in my voice, and understand that I can help shape the world around me. Most importantly, it showed me that when people come together with a shared purpose, positive change is possible.
Beyond the Bookshelf started off as a project about books, but it became a journey of learning, friendship, and empowerment – and one that I will always be proud of and grateful for.
What Happens When We Listen to Children About Peace?
Written by Jim Dees
Jim Dees is the headteacher of West Lodge Primary School. He is the co-founder of YESFest.
On 18th May, more than 70 primary-aged Young Ambassadors for Peace gathered at the House of Lords for An Experiential Peace Dialogue: Living Peace in Action. Hosted by Baroness Verma and attended by members of the House of Lords, including Lord Raval, the event brought together educators, researchers, sustainability leaders, policymakers and community partners to explore an important question: What role can peace education play in helping young people thrive in today’s world? The event brought together educators, researchers, sustainability leaders, policymakers and community partners to explore an important question: What role can peace education play in helping young people thrive in today’s world?
The Young Ambassadors for Peace (YAP) programme, organised by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University UK, brings together primary school pupils to explore peace within the self, peace with others and peace with nature through reflection, dialogue, leadership and action. What stood out most was not the programme itself, but the children. Speaking about peace within the self, peace with others and peace with nature, pupils aged between nine and eleven shared their experiences with remarkable wisdom, clarity and authenticity. They spoke about self-regulation, empathy, interfaith understanding, leadership, sustainability and belonging. They led meditations, answered questions from invited guests and demonstrated that children are capable of far more than we sometimes assume.
One child explained that the programme should focus on young people “to make a better generation.” Another reminded the audience that children are capable of making a positive difference in the world today, not simply in the future.
The event reinforced a growing belief that peace education is not an optional extra. It sits alongside wider conversations around wellbeing, belonging, citizenship, sustainability and pupil agency. At a time when schools are navigating increasing complexity, there is a growing need to create opportunities for children to develop not only knowledge and skills, but also self-awareness, compassion, responsibility and a sense of connection with others and the natural world.
Perhaps most importantly, the showcase highlighted a shift that is gaining momentum across education and beyond: seeing children not as empty vessels to be filled, but as active contributors with voice, agency, insight and wisdom. When we create the conditions for children to lead, reflect and contribute, they often bring perspectives that adults can easily overlook.
Looking ahead, we are keen to strengthen the evidence base for peace education, build partnerships across sectors and communities, and connect practice, research and policy. We would particularly welcome conversations with researchers, universities, schools, charities and organisations interested in collaboration, evaluation and further development of this work.
The next stage of that journey takes place at the Young Ambassadors for Peace Festivals in Oxford (10 June), London (12 June) and Leicester (17 June), where pupils will share their learning through experiential exhibitions, presentations and performances. These events provide an opportunity not only to celebrate the achievements of the children, but also to engage in a wider conversation about the role of peace education in supporting wellbeing, belonging, citizenship, sustainability and positive social change.
Places at all three events must be booked in advance. If you would like to attend, please register at https://yapglobal.org/peacefest2026/. We would particularly welcome educators, researchers, community leaders, policymakers and potential partners who are interested in exploring how peace education can help develop more compassionate, connected and sustainable communities.
Perhaps the most powerful message from the House of Lords came from the children themselves. In a world that often underestimates young people, they reminded us that they are not simply the leaders of tomorrow, but active contributors today — capable of helping to build more compassionate, connected and hopeful futures if we are willing to listen.
Literacy matters: From Mirrors and Windows to Voice and Participation
Written by Amy Wilby
I am an experienced senior educational leader, currently serving as an Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Curriculum, as well as a Trust-wide DEIB Champion, edublogger, and proud mum to a 21-year-old son. Since qualifying as a teacher in 2009, I have built a career rooted in both academic excellence and strong pastoral care. I bring extensive experience across middle and senior leadership, including roles as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) and Associate Assistant Headteacher. I hold an NPQSL and a master’s degree in educational leadership, and I am deeply committed to evidence-informed practice, drawing on educational research to enhance teaching, learning, and curriculum design.
Walk into most classrooms and you’ll see literacy everywhere, embedded in reading tasks, writing activities, and assessment criteria. It’s carefully planned, structured, and aligned to curriculum goals.
But there are deeper questions we don’t ask often enough:
- Who can actually access it, use it, and shape it, and who can’t?
- Does the ability to decode mean that students can fully understand the context?
- How can literacy build social and cultural capital?
- Does literate signal included?
In the same way that an inclusive curriculum depends on mirrors and windows, an inclusive approach to literacy depends on something equally powerful:
Access, voice, and participation.
If ‘Mirrors and Windows’ help students see, literacy determines whether they can engage, respond, and belong.
From mirrors and windows to literacy as power
The idea of mirrors and windows gives us a strong foundation:
- Mirrors: students see themselves reflected
- Windows: students understand others
But there’s a crucial next step.
Seeing is not the same as participating.
A student might recognise themselves in a text (a mirror), or learn about another perspective (a window). But without the literacy skills to interpret, question, and respond, their role remains passive.
Literacy is what turns:
- mirrors into validation
- windows into understanding
- classrooms into spaces of participation
Without literacy, inclusion risks staying at the level of representation. With it, inclusion becomes something students actively experience.
Literacy as access: who gets in?
Just as curriculum design asks whose stories are told, literacy asks:
Who can access those stories in the first place?
Who is advantaged and disadvantaged by the choices of text and the metaphorical language that is frequently used in education?
When literacy is secure:
- Students can engage with the full curriculum
- They can navigate complex texts, instructions, and ideas
- They can move confidently across subjects
- If they truly understand the text, they begin to understand the subtext, the meaning and the inference.
When it isn’t:
- The curriculum becomes partially inaccessible
- Learning is fragmented
- Students may disengage, not from lack of ability, but from lack of access and from cognitive overload!
This is where literacy builds directly from curriculum thinking. It ensures that mirrors and windows are not just present, but reachable.
Literacy as voice: who gets heard?
Mirrors validate identity, but literacy enables expression.
In an inclusive classroom, it’s not enough for students to see themselves reflected. They need opportunities to:
- articulate their thinking
- share their experiences
- challenge ideas
- contribute to discussions
This is where literacy becomes deeply connected to belonging.
Because belonging isn’t just about recognition, it’s about being heard and taken seriously.
Expanding literacy here means valuing multiple forms of communication:
- spoken language
- storytelling
- debate and discussion
- digital and visual expression
When these are embedded into classroom practice, more students find ways to participate meaningfully.
Literacy as participation: who gets to shape the learning?
Windows help students understand the world.
Literacy allows them to interact with it.
Through literacy, students:
- question what they read
- connect ideas across topics
- collaborate with others
- form and defend their own viewpoints
This shifts them from consumers of knowledge to contributors.
And this is where belonging becomes tangible.
A classroom is not inclusive because of what is displayed on the walls or listed in the curriculum. It becomes inclusive when students can actively take part in the learning experience, when they can influence it, respond to it, and see their role within it.
‘Without enough language – a word gap – a child is seriously limited in their enjoyment of school and success beyond’. (Harley, 2018, p. 2)
The risk: when literacy is overlooked
There’s a parallel here with the ‘add and stir’ approach to curriculum.
Just as representation can become tokenistic, literacy can become:
- overly focused on technical skills in isolation
- detached from meaning and purpose
- assessed more than it is lived
- Focused on written rather than oral assessment
When this happens:
- Students may decode text without truly engaging
- Writing becomes performative rather than expressive
- Participation is limited to those already confident
- Those with a word gap are continually disadvantaged, this is not inclusive; this does not increase a sense of belonging.
And again, students notice.
They can tell when literacy is something they do for school, rather than something that gives them power within it.
What this looks like in practice
Building on mirrors and windows, schools can strengthen inclusion through literacy by being equally intentional.
- Make literacy visible across the curriculum
Ask:
- Where are students reading, writing, speaking, and thinking deeply?
- Who is thriving in these moments, and who isn’t?
- Is there a large focus on extracts rather than rich and extended reading? This may feel more inclusive, however appropriately scaffolded pieces, allow all learners to build their vocabulary and feel more confident in their linguistic ability.
- Connect literacy to meaning, not just mechanics
- Use texts that matter
- Create purposeful writing opportunities
- Prioritise discussion and dialogue
- Focus on metaphorical language as well. Idioms and common metaphors, where not understood, can create a sense of isolation and ‘otherness’.
- Plan for participation, not just completion
- Build in structured talk across all subjects
- Use collaborative tasks
- Create space for multiple perspectives
- Scaffold up, don’t recue the reading to support students
- Value different starting points
- Recognise that students arrive with different literacy experiences
- Scaffold without limiting
- Maintain high expectations with appropriate support
- Keep student voice central
Just as with curriculum:
- Do students feel confident contributing?
- Do they feel listened to?
- What helps them engage—and what holds them back?
Expanding inclusion beyond representation
Mirrors and windows ensure that students can see.
Literacy ensures that they can:
- access what they see
- respond to it
- participate in shaping it
Without literacy, inclusion can remain symbolic.
With literacy, it becomes functional, lived, and sustained.
What you can do tomorrow
To build on your work around mirrors and windows:
- Review a lesson or scheme and ask: Where is the literacy demand here? Who might struggle to access it?
- Add one structured opportunity for student voice (discussion, reflection, or debate)
- Adapt a task so students are not just reading, but responding, making inferences, questioning, or creating. Do this in a subject other than English or the Humanities.
- Plan which common idioms can be used in different units, this may feel outdated, however they are often used in History, English and other GCSE and A level exams as we as in common discourse. Not knowing these can disadvantage and disengage!
Small shifts here can have a significant impact on participation and belonging.
Final thought
If the first question of an inclusive curriculum is:
“Do students see themselves and others?”
Then the next question must be:
“Can they do something with what they see?”
Because true inclusion isn’t just about visibility.
It’s about access, voice, and participation.
And that’s what makes literacy a superpower.
Further reading:
Harley
Harley, J. (2018) Foreword. In: Why closing the word gap matters: Oxford language report. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 2.
Burnett, Merchant & Neumann
Burnett, C., Merchant, G. and Neumann, M. (2020) ‘Closing the gap? Overcoming limitations in sociomaterial accounts of early literacy’, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 20(1), pp. 111–113. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798419896067
Global Equality collective
Global Equality Collective GEC KnowHow Bookshop. Available at: GEC KnowHow Bookshop
Global Equality Collective 6 books to diversify your bookshelf (NCAFF). Available at: https://www.thegec.education/blog/6-books-to-diversify-your-bookshelf-ncaff
Kara
Kara, B. (2020) A little guide for teachers: diversity in schools. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Quigley
Quigley, A. (2018) Closing the vocabulary gap. London: Routledge.
Wilby
Wilby, A. (2024) ‘Privilege, knowledge, and access: navigating education through cultural capital’, Global Equality Collective Blog, 12 September. Available at: https://www.thegec.education/blog/privilege-knowledge-and-access-navigating-education-through-cultural-capital
Worth-it (2021) How to build positive relationships in school, Worth-it Blog, 17 May. Available at: https://www.worthit.org.uk/blog/positive-relationships-school
Nurturing the "Healthiest Generation": Tackling the Dual Crisis in Childhood Wellbeing
Written by Elizabeth Iheoma
Elizabeth believes that the best leadership happens when passion meets purpose. With a career spanning 20 years in Further Education, Elizabeth has mastered the art of leading through uncertainty by staying rooted in her core values. She isn't just a leader in the office; she is a deeply invested member of her community, serving on a local governing board and partnering with health experts to bring preventive wellness into schools.
The numbers are in, and they paint a sobering picture of the “silent crisis” facing our children. Recent data from over 1.1 million children in England (2024-2025) reveals that while many children are maintaining a healthy weight, a significant portion is falling through the cracks. By the time children reach Year 6, over 22% are living with obesity.
In response, the government has launched a robust package of preventative measures, including junk food advertising restrictions and the expansion of free school meals and universal breakfast clubs. The goal? To foster the healthiest generation of children ever.
More Than Just Physical Health
Physical fitness is only one side of the coin. The mental health of our young people is reaching a critical tipping point. Consider these statistics:
- A 50% increase in the likelihood of young people developing mental health problems over the last three years.
- 5 in 30 children in an average classroom are now likely to struggle with their mental wellbeing.
- Two-thirds of young people prefer seeking support outside of a traditional GP setting to avoid stigma and long waiting lists.
As specialist services become overstretched, the need for early support services has never been more urgent. These services provide the “breathing room” children need to build resilience and navigate the stresses of growing up before they reach a crisis point.
Our Solution: A “Tried and Tested” Approach
To support national efforts, we have developed an innovative Children’s Wellbeing Programme. We believe that learning about health shouldn’t feel like a chore. Our approach turns essential principles—like regular exercise and balanced nutrition—into engaging, fun, and constructive experiences for children.
By presenting these life skills in an “informative and innovative” way, we aim to reverse deteriorating health trends and give children the tools they need to flourish both physically and mentally.
We Need Your Insight
We are currently conducting vital market research into wellbeing programs specifically designed for children (ages 3–18) and their caregivers.
If you work with parents and infants or children in the 3–18 age bracket, we want to hear from you. Your professional perspective is essential to ensuring these programs are as effective and accessible as possible.
Would you be open to answering a few brief questions to help inform our research? Please click on the link to share your thoughts. Together, we can build a more resilient future for our children.
For Professionals in an Early Years Setting
https://forms.gle/PE2x94m2DnY7fF1B8
For Professionals in a Primary School Setting
https://forms.gle/gc6TQkXGKhPusTo39
For Professionals in a Primary School Setting
https://forms.gle/X93f3D1rVKbg8TbMA
Sources
The Children’s Society
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/our-work/well-being/mental-health-statistics
GOV.UK
Diversity in children and young peoples’ reading
Written by Sarah Bagshaw-McCormick
Sarah Bagshaw-McCormick has 25 years experience in schools, professional development and leadership. She has spent the last 5 years working in teacher-education, with a focus on teacher and leader professional development as a learning designer. Over her career, Sarah has developed expertise in literacy, English, and school leadership. Throughout this work, Sarah finds and creates opportunities to embed and champion Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.
The global culture wars are busy creating division within and across communities. And, much too close to home, schools are banning books and removing them from the shelves of libraries for questionable reasons. Let’s reflect on why diversity in children’s reading is good.
For some time, following the events of 2020, schools, libraries and the publishing industry were making positive headway in diversifying the representation in books made available to children and young people. But in the last 12 months that has changed. The political landscape and divisive political narratives have had a tangible effect on the proportion of children’s books written by and featuring diverse characters (Inclusive Books for Children, 2025).
It is ironic that, in this national year of reading, I (and others) should have to make a case for considering and championing of diverse representation in texts. In this blog I will invite you to consider the role that diverse representation in texts can play in bringing us together and the benefits of diversity of representation in the texts read by all pupils.
Diversity of authorship and representation means books that are written by, and feature characters, experiences and places that encompass a diversity of experiences, cultures or backgrounds. This can include racially diverse writers and characters. It can include a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, encompassing different homes, such as flats, council houses or temporary accommodation, or it can include characters with disabilities, both learning and physical.
Reflection
Consider your own experiences of the world growing up and now. Is it easy for you to find books that feature characters like you, and experiences that are familiar to you?
Three decades ago, Sims-Bishop (1990) provided us with the analogy of books as mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors to describe the role that books can have in allowing children to see themselves in books, see others in books and enter whole new worlds through books. This is reinforced by more recent evidence, which suggests that narrative fiction has the potential to support young people to understand themselves and others. Let’s start by exploring the ideas of books as mirrors, windows and doors.
Mirrors
There is a power to seeing characters like you in print. Whether the thing you have in common is your age, gender identity, disability, home, or socio-economic status. Reading texts with central characters, events and settings that young readers relate to is important.
Relating to characters in stories make children feel seen, in being seen they feel important and find comfort in knowing that others are experiencing the same things as them (Santi, 2023). This empowers young people, not only allowing them to see themselves in texts, but also to understand themselves more deeply (Santi, 2023). This has a positive impact on young peoples’ self-esteem (Koss 2015; Wopperer, 2011).
In addition to this, books that are representative of young peoples’ lives and interests are beneficial for encouraging volitional reading. Diverse texts enable young people to access books which are personally meaningful by reflecting and representing their identities, lives and experiences (Picton and Clark, 2022).
Windows
In addition to understanding themselves, diverse authorship and representation in texts enables children and young people to understand and experience other people, their lives and experiences, through interacting with texts. In fact, this has the potential to change children and young peoples’ attitudes to people whose identity or points of view differ from their own (Kaufman and Libby, 2012). By reading books which expose children and young people to different cultures, perspectives or experiences than their own, they are enabled to pay closer attention to the needs of others. Reading texts with diverse authors and diverse representation can help children to develop empathy (reference).
Sliding Glass doors
The texts children read offer them opportunities to enter into new worlds, both realistic and magical. Neuroscience has explored how readers experience immersion into these worlds and the benefits of this.
When people read fiction, research suggests that their brain reacts in ways that are very similar to the way it reacts to ‘real life’ experiences. When children and young people are actively engaged in reading, it is thought that reading is a form of neural simulation, which enables them to practice socio-emotional responses in a low-stakes environment (Tamir et al, 2015). This also allows children and young people to experience situations they’ve never experienced themselves, which is beneficial, because of its potential to positively impact their attitudes and behaviours in relation to their peers and others in their communities.
“Children… want to see the world reflected back at them just as much as they want to read about worlds they don’t know” (p.22 Excluded voices report).
Reflection
How do the texts in your library and classroom provide children with mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors?
Where might you improve your offer?
How could you find out whether the children agree with you?
So, we know that in providing children with these mirrors, windows and glass doors is beneficial, but beyond this analogy there are wider benefits of accessing texts with diverse authors, settings, experiences and characters.
Access to diverse texts is inclusive. The presence of texts that reflect the realities of children and young peoples’ lives communicates pupils’ value. This can support belonging, make young people feel welcome and create psychological safety (Bulatowicz, 2017; Lifshitz, 2016).
More than this seeing characters who share their background, identity and experiences (particularly characters who are complex, successful and vibrant) expands young peoples’ sense of what is possible for them (The linking network, 2024). This provides young people inspiration, which informs their future aspirations, and makes concrete the reality of the adage ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’.
Access to and engagement with diverse texts supports readers to build personal connections to characters and stories (Hafflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001). These diverse stories are also supportive of young peoples’ autonomy in reading choices (Webber et al., 2024). These positive experiences support their reading motivation (Cremin, 2023 -NATE), which in turn positively impacts children and young peoples’ volitional reading.
The opposite is also true. When books that reflect diverse experiences of the world are not available to young people it excludes them from seeing themselves as readers, can signal a lack of importance and lead young people to conclude the literacy and literature are not for them (Bronson, 2016; short, 2018).
So, it is essential that we choose to surround children with books that are affirming, communicate their value and offer them opportunities to explore their own and others’ identities.
“We know that if children feel invited into the world of books, when they recognise elements of themselves in the pages, they are more likely to form a love of reading”. (P.4 Excluded voices report).
Reflection
What do the books available to children in your setting communicate to them?
Do the texts available support reading motivation and volitional reading?
How could you check with the children and young people?
If you are looking for diverse recommendations for children and young peoples’ literature, please join me at my teachers’ reading club at The House of Books and Friends on the 14th April.
or
Subscribe to my blog, where I will share reading recommendations following the event. See my previous reading recommendations for children and young people here.
References
Bishop, R. S. (1990, March). Windows and mirrors: Children’s books and parallel cultures. In California State University reading conference: 14th annual conference proceedings (pp. 3-12).
Bulatowicz, D. M. (2017). Diverse Literature in Elementary School Libraries: Who Chooses and Why? (Doctoral dissertation, Montana State University).
Cremin, Teresa (2023). Motivation and reading: Focusing on disengaged readers. Teaching English(32) pp. 32–36.
Hefflin, B. R., & Barksdale-Ladd, M. A. (2001). African American children’s literature that helps students find themselves: Selection guidelines for grades K-3. The Reading Teacher, 54(8), 810-819.
Inclusive Books for Children. (2025). Excluded Voices report. https://www.inclusivebooksforchildren.org/excluded-voices-report
Kaufman, G. F., & Libby, L. K. (2012). Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103(1), 1.
Kucirkova, N. (2019). How could children’s storybooks promote empathy? A conceptual framework based on developmental psychology and literary theory. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 121.
Koss, M. D. (2015). Diversity in contemporary picturebooks: A content analysis. Journal of Children’s Literature, 41(1).
Picton, I., & Clark, C. (2022). Seeing yourself in what you read: Diversity and children and young people’s reading in 2022. National Literacy Trust. PISA (2011). Do students today read for pleasure, 1057-1092.
Santi, E. (2023, May 12). Reading and narrative fiction: Understanding ourselves and others. BERA. https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/reading-and-narrative-fiction-understanding-ourselves-and-others
Tamir, D. I., Bricker, A. B., Dodell-Feder, D., & Mitchell, J. P. (2016). Reading fiction and reading minds: The role of simulation in the default network. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(2), 215–224.
The Linking Network. (2024, December 4). Diversity in children’s books: Why representation matters. https://thelinkingnetwork.org.uk/diversity-in-childrens-books-why-representation-matters/
Webber, C., Wilkinson, K., Duncan, L. G., & McGeown, S. (2025). Motivating book reading during adolescence: qualitative insights from adolescents. Educational Research, 67(1), 79-97.
Wopperer, E. (2011). Inclusive literature in the library and the classroom. Knowledge Quest, 39(3), 26.
Closing the Gap by Valuing Multilingualism
Written by Soofia Amin
Soofia Amin is the Multilingual Trust Lead for Tapscott Learning Trust (TTLT). She is also a Specialist Lead in Education for Multilingualism with vast experience in supporting multilingual pupils and their families. Soofia is passionate about developing excellent practice for multilingual pupils whilst promoting their first languages as a resource in both the classroom and the wider school community. She strongly advocates for a whole-school approach to multilingualism and uses her own school’s example to provide effective models of practice for others.
I recently visited a primary school where low writing outcomes for multilingual children had led leaders to search urgently for ways to “close the gap.” For many school leaders, this phrase often leads to discussions about data dashboards, targeted interventions, and heightened accountability measures. These discussions often neglect one key factor: the children’s first languages.
Many children in this school confidently use two or three languages and travel regularly to their countries of origin. Leaders worry that this rich linguistic exposure might be contributing to weaker writing outcomes. While understandable, this view risks misidentifying the problem.
The challenge here is not multilingualism. Rather how much we, as educators, value and use the children’s linguistic proficiency to further their learning, including their writing. If we focus intentionally on using the multilingual children’s rich language skills to support learning, particularly their writing development, outcomes could look very different.
Building Strong Foundations Through Explicit Language Instruction
Language and subject learning develop together. Children do not learn content first and language later; they learn both simultaneously. Evidence from Cummins states that,
“Conceptual knowledge developed in one language helps to make input in the other language comprehensible.” (Cummins, 2000,p.39).
Therefore, embedding spoken language approaches across the curriculum can strengthen literacy and attainment when language is taught explicitly and in context. For multilingual learners, this means making the language demands of lessons visible and teachable.
In practice, this involves modelling how this language is used in speech and writing.
Classroom example: Year 5 science (States of Matter)
The educator explains evaporation using sentences such as:
“When water is heated, it evaporates.”
“As a result, the liquid changes into a gas.”
The educator unpacks key vocabulary like evaporate and evaporation and gives children sentence stems to support their explanations. Alongside the science objective, sits a clear language objective. Children now have the words and sentence structures they need to explain their thinking clearly.
Strengthening Learning Through Cultural and Linguistic Connection
Multilingual children bring a wealth of cultural and linguistic knowledge into the classroom. When educators recognise and build on this, learning becomes more meaningful and inclusive.
Schools that invest in understanding children’s linguistic backgrounds are better placed to design teaching that connects new learning to what children already know.
In practice, this means:
- Gathering information about a child’s home language/s and experiences
- Using this knowledge to make lessons more relevant and accessible
Classroom example: Year 5 science (States of Matter)
The Educator invites children to share where they see evaporation at home: drying clothes, steaming dumplings, or burning incense. Then explicitly links these examples back to the scientific explanation.
By connecting the abstract concept of ‘evaporation’ to something tangible like ‘incense’ or ‘steaming,’ the child is able to relate to it.
Deepening Understanding by Harnessing Home Languages
Research and classroom practice both show that strong first-language skills are crucial for developing English proficiency and achieving academic success.
“The idea that a multilingual classroom is not only beneficial to EAL students but to non-EAL students (suggests) the need for a strategic whole-school approach to language teaching and integration.” (Arnot et al., 2014,p.7)
In practice, schools should:
- Encourage translanguaging as a learning strategy. Translanguaging enables children to first process complex cognitive tasks in their strongest language, before expressing them in English.
- Encourage families to use first languages to support key topics and concepts
Classroom example: Year 5 science (States of Matter)
The children use their first language to clarify why the change is happening. Once they have secured the concept, they then describe it in English.
The child is not cognitively overloaded. They use their first language to handle the heavy lifting of thinking, and only then move on to using English to demonstrate their understanding.
Final Thoughts…
Closing the gap for multilingual children requires a clear understanding of how language underpins attainment, a commitment to evidence-informed practice and a shared vision that places language at the heart of curriculum design.
When leaders get this right, the impact is profound – not only for multilingual children, but for all learners. Prioritising language isn’t just an inclusion strategy; it’s a school improvement strategy.
References
Arnot, M., Schneider, C. and Welply, O. (2014) School approaches to the education of EAL students. Cambridge: The Bell Foundation.
Cummins, J. (2000) Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Mirrors and Windows: Rethinking the Curriculum for Inclusive Classrooms
Written by Amy Wilby
I am an experienced senior educational leader, currently serving as an Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Curriculum, as well as a Trust-wide DEIB Champion, edublogger, and proud mum to a 21-year-old son. Since qualifying as a teacher in 2009, I have built a career rooted in both academic excellence and strong pastoral care. I bring extensive experience across middle and senior leadership, including roles as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) and Associate Assistant Headteacher. I hold an NPQSL and a master’s degree in educational leadership, and I am deeply committed to evidence-informed practice, drawing on educational research to enhance teaching, learning, and curriculum design.
Walk into most classrooms and you’ll see a curriculum that has been carefully planned, structured, and sequenced. In most schools, this planning is grounded in research, designed to support the acquisition and retention of knowledge.
But there’s a deeper question we don’t ask often enough:
Who gets to see themselves in it, and who doesn’t?
This is where the concept of mirrors and windows becomes essential to inclusive education.
The idea is simple, but powerful:
- Mirrors: Students see their own identities, experiences, and cultures reflected
- Windows: Students gain insight into lives and perspectives different from their own
A truly inclusive curriculum does both, consistently, not occasionally.
Because when students only experience windows, they may feel invisible.
And when they only experience mirrors, they miss the opportunity to understand others.
What do we mean by ‘mirrors and windows’?
If we want genuinely engaging and inclusive classrooms, we need both.
The problem: Representation is often surface, level
Many schools are already working to diversify their curriculum, but often in ways that don’t go far enough, or lack careful consideration of how content is framed.
You might see:
- A one-off lesson or assembly, such as during Black History Month
- Efforts to diversify reading materials in the library
- Occasional references to global perspectives, often framed as ‘meanwhile, elsewhere…’ and confined to specific subjects
These are well-intentioned, but they risk becoming add-ons rather than meaningful integration.
And students notice the difference.
Why this matters for belonging
Students can tell when inclusion is occasional, symbolic, or performative, and this can have the opposite effect to what is intended.
Instead of feeling seen, they can feel outside the main narrative.
Curriculum is not just about knowledge, it’s about belonging.
When students consistently see themselves reflected through the Mirrors of the curriculum:
- Their sense of legitimacy increases
- Engagement improves (with positive effects on attendance and behaviour)
- Confidence grows
- Equity becomes something that is lived, not just discussed
At the same time, windows help to build:
- Empathy
- Cultural understanding
- A broader view of the world
This isn’t an ‘extra’ it’s foundational.
What this looks like in practice
Creating an inclusive curriculum doesn’t require starting from scratch. It’s about intentional, thoughtful adjustments over time.
To begin you could consider the following:
- Audit what’s already there
Start by asking:
- Whose stories are centred?
- Whose voices are missing?
- Are certain groups only represented through struggle?
This process is often revealing.
Too often, diverse histories are framed primarily through oppression. A more balanced approach:
- Includes innovation, leadership, and cultural contributions
- Presents individuals as active agents, not just recipients of injustice
This doesn’t ignore difficult histories, it places them within a fuller, more accurate context.
- Move beyond ‘add and stir’
Inclusion isn’t about inserting isolated examples, it’s about integration.
For example:
- Literature: diversify authors across the year, not just within one unit, include local, national and international texts
- History: embed multiple perspectives within the same topic, rather than adding them at the end
- Science: highlight contributions from a wider range of scientists and challenge assumptions about who belongs in the field
- Avoid single stories
Be careful not to reduce groups to one narrative.
- Don’t present marginalised groups only through struggle
- Include stories of success, leadership, creativity, and everyday life
Students need multidimensional representations.
They should encounter people as fully human, complex, nuanced, and varied.
This leads to richer learning and a more honest curriculum.
- Make it subject, specific
Inclusion is not just a humanities issue, it is a whole, curriculum responsibility.
- Maths: use real, world problems that reflect diverse contexts
- English: select texts that provide both mirrors and windows
- Geography: avoid deficit narratives and explore cultural diversity with depth
- Science: challenge narrow perceptions of who can be a scientist.
Every subject has a role to play.
- Involve student voice
Ask students directly:
- Do you see yourself in what we learn?
- What would you like to see more of?
Their responses often highlight gaps that adults may overlook—and involving them builds both agency and belonging.
Common pitfalls to avoid
Even with strong intentions, there are common missteps:
- Tokenism: adding one example and considering the work done
- Over, correction: forcing representation in ways that feel inauthentic
- Stereotyping: simplifying identities rather than showing complexity
- Inconsistency: inclusion appearing in isolated moments rather than as a sustained approach
Inclusion works when it is planned, consistent, and authentic.
What you can do tomorrow
If you’re not sure where to start, begin small:
- Gather feedback from a class or year group (through a form or discussion) – The Global Equality collective has a fantastic platform for gathering student and staff voice and producing kaleidoscopic data to help to understand where any gaps exist.
- Review an upcoming scheme of work and ask: Where are the mirrors and windows?
- Identify one meaningful change that improves representation
You don’t need to do everything at once, but you do need to start intentionally.
Final thought
An inclusive curriculum isn’t about ticking boxes or meeting requirements.
It’s about answering a simple but powerful question:
‘Does every student feel seen here, and are they being helped to see others?’
When the answer becomes consistently ‘yes,’
you’re not just delivering content, you’re building belonging.
Further Reading
Bhorkar, S., Campbell, R. and Claro, J. (2025) ‘Beyond the tick-box: diversity in the curriculum’, Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching. Available at: https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/beyond-the-tick-box-diversity-in-the-curriculum/
Bishop, R. S. (1990) ‘Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors’, Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3). Available at: https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
Geographical Association (n.d.) Cultural diversity in geography education. Available at: https://geography.org.uk/ite/initial-teacher-education/geography-support-for-trainees-and-ects/learning-to-teach-secondary-geography/geography-subject-teaching-and-curriculum/teaching-thematic-geography/cultural-diversity-in-geography-education/
Kara, B. (2020) A little guide for teachers: diversity in schools. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
The Global Equality Collective Global Equality Collective KnowHow. Available at: GEC KnowHow
Pearson (2023) Pearson School Report: Diversity and Inclusion. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20231204193347/https://www.pearson.com/en-gb/schools/insights-and-events/topics/diversity-inclusion/schools-report.html
Teach First (2020) STEMinism: How to encourage more girls to study STEM subjects. Available at: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-02/teach_first_steminism_report.pdf