Vulnerable learners: Child-centred planning

When working with our more vulnerable learners, child-centred planning is crucial. There is a danger that this can become somewhat tokenistic and a box-ticking exercise. When this happens, child-centred planning loses its power and can sometimes do more harm than good. So I am sharing five principles to help you engage in genuine, child-centred planning that will make a difference to the children you are working with.

All of our vulnerable children come with labels; like an evacuee with a name label, they have a list of special or additional needs that go with them wherever they go. These things matter but what matters more is the real child.
Look beyond the labels and try to understand the child as a person with wants and wishes and passions and interests. When we get to really know the child and understand their strengths, the things that make them special and the things that make them tick, then we will build the foundations of a strong relationship, and one where we can tailor our support and input to build on their strengths and address their challenges far better than we could ever do by looking at our registers of need.