On 3rd December 2024, The Department for Education published an article estimating that 117,100 children and adolescents were missing out on education during 2022-23. They also believe that there is an unknown number of school refusers unaccounted for. These are the kind of statistics that motivate me more each day to help find a better way for them.
So, the day I got the chance to join FSiE was also the day I got the opportunity to meet, work with and help some of these young people. All of these young people have been out of education for various reasons, and they all have a story. Listening to and understanding their story is key to providing them with a positive educational experience. As an Education Specialist (ES) you keep going back, you go with the flow, you think on your feet and above all, you have fun. I’ve done quite a lot of thinking on my feet and I’ve certainly had a lot of fun. This is just one of my stories.
When the country went into lockdown in March 2020, my student and I didn’t lockdown in the traditional sense. There were two places we could visit: the supermarket and the park. We had a routine, get a sandwich and take it to the park. On one of these occasions in Morrison’s, my student went to explore the fish counter, he picked up a salmon wrapped in a bag but unfortunately, the bag wasn’t sealed at both ends. The fish slid out of the bag and plopped on the supermarket floor with an impressive splat. It wasn’t long before my student was rolling on the floor with laughter and I had to find my straight face, seek assistance, make apologies and offer to pay for the fish. Luckily for us, the shop took responsibility for not sealing both ends of the bag securely and the guy at the fish counter saw the funny side of the unfortunate occurrence. For months later, one of us only had to say the word “fish” or “Do you remember” and we’d laugh until we cried!
With a meal deal in our rucksacks, we’d head off to the park. There wasn’t much for a teenager to do in the park but we managed to find a project. There was a small boating lake that was being slowly drained so that it could be cleaned. We ended up writing a recount of the day-to-day activities of the staff cleaning out this lake. Whilst walking to the park, we would try to guess the progress made in our absence. We would record our predictions and head straight to the bench by the lake to monitor the progress. When the day finally arrived and the lake was empty we decided to sit in the empty boating lake and eat our sandwiches. We both said we’d never eaten lunch in the middle of a boating lake before and probably never would again – it was certainly a good way to brighten the lockdown period.
By June, restrictions had lifted a little and I decided we needed more focus. We were back to working as three (2:1) giving us more opportunities to discretely travel around the local area. So we decided to do some fishing. We set off armed with three camping chairs, some sandwiches, and a few flasks of tea and searched the local area for a river where we could set up camp. This project lasted for a month. Despite copious amounts of research on skills and strategies required to become a good fisherman, we never caught a single fish but we did have an unfortunate incident where I stepped into something unpleasant in a field and it took a whole packet of wipes to get my shoe clean enough to be accepted in my partner ES’s car. Obviously, this created another very funny “Do you remember” story.
Fresh Start Goes to War - and more "As an Education Specialist (ES) you keep going back, you go with the flow, you think on your feet..." Share on X
It's November 2020 and the country heads into another lockdown. On the 11th of November, we decided on another adventure: to find a war memorial to pay our respects on Armistice Day. Whilst drinking tea at the war memorial and talking about the soldiers who had lost their lives, we noticed many concrete buildings in the surrounding fields.
A little bit of research later, we discovered we were sitting in the middle of a WW2 airfield. We were very excited about this. We planned an exploratory adventure for the following week. The prize was to find the aircraft tower. Over the weekend, I printed maps and pictures of the airfield in use in 1942. We studied the maps, we drew routes we could take to get to the aircraft tower, circling interesting buildings we might explore on the way. We discussed the importance of only following public footpaths and bridle paths and respecting the farmers’ fields. Over the next few weeks, we explored several buildings on the site, discussed what they might have been used for and researched photographs of them in use during WW2 but the aircraft tower remained elusive. The site was huge!
The day came when we were determined to find it. I prepared a picnic at home so we didn’t waste valuable time buying lunch. My student was so excited, he called the office to ask if the session could start earlier and finish later! We did end up finishing later. The problem with the map was that everything looked so much closer than it actually was in reality. We walked and walked and walked some more. After almost an hour of walking, the determination to find this elusive aircraft tower was beginning to wane. I said, “Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, imagine how exciting it’s going to be when we actually find it.”
We did eventually find the tower and it was very exciting comparing what we could see now to the photographs of when it was in use. We ate our picnic and talked about how quiet and peaceful the building felt now and how busy it would have been in the 1940s. We took lots of photographs to stick in the journal alongside the older pictures. Then we started the walk back to the car.
After about half an hour, my student sat down on the footpath and said, “Anouska, you’ll have to go back and fetch the car”
I looked around and responded, “Well, there’s a bit of a problem with that idea, the farmer might not like it very much if I drive the car across his fields. So, we’d better plod on with the walking” Distraction and humour were the way forward.
I said, “Knowing my luck, I’ll probably step in something unpleasant again, good job I’ve got my wellies on this time.”
This instigated a conversation of memories based on Education Specialist misfortunes going back to the very start of the provision including forgetting which multi-storey carpark level we were on and how we “lost” the car! The remainder of the mammoth walk passed quickly!
By January 2021, we had explored every abandoned village in the local area, had a picnic on a battlefield and found a derelict church where we had a fantastic snowball fight and several picnics! We could often be found hanging out in empty carparks, sitting in our camping chairs - crochet blankets on our laps with flasks of tea doing traffic surveys and comparing the results to the previous week. We even started recognising the same cars passing at the same time of day and making up stories of where these people might be going and what they could be doing. To a passerby, we probably looked like an odd little trio out in the cold. However, our reality was instigating interesting and engaging ways to spend 16 hours a week with no venue open for us.
I look back on this time now with fond memories. At the time, it was challenging, it was cold and thinking on your feet was key. However, we had so much fun and we laughed a lot. It is an experience I shall never forget. It has become part of my FSiE story and I’m sure it has been a positive addition to our student’s story too.
At Fresh Start, being person-centred is what we are all about. Yes, there were restrictions during the lockdowns, but we had a young person in need, and we worked around the situation to achieve our goal - out-the-box sessions, always keeping it fresh and challenging. We apply this approach to all of our provisions, no matter the situation or the level of adversity, we will find a way. Our success stories speak for themselves.
If you're facing a challenging situation and haven't found the support you need, reach out to us. We'd be honoured to help you create your own success story.
About the author
Anouska is a qualified Primary School mainstream teacher, with 20 years experience in this sector. She has also worked with learners with low attainment levels, those with undiagnosed emotional difficulties, ASD, ADHD and challenging behaviour, and uses her skills to champion young people to achieve their goals.
