There are 1.6 million children in England who are persistently absent in schools. Punitive measures disproportionately affect families facing poverty, SEND, mental health challenges, and instability. Attendance systems rely heavily on fines and prosecutions and this is an international outlier approach. Anecdotally, families often feel misunderstood, excluded, and criminalised rather than supported. Children struggling to attend are at higher risk of exclusion or off-rolling which is the practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without using a permanent exclusion.

As a parent of two children with additional needs and complex health conditions, Ellie deeply understands the challenges families face navigating the education system. She is running a two-year pilot with Square Peg in Salford, Greater Manchester, to replace mandated attendance fines and prosecution with relational, co-designed, people centred approaches. It sets out a radical new approach to those struggling with attendance that builds trust and collaboration between families and schools.  

By testing supportive, non-punitive approaches, this pilot will explore the potential of a more effective, child-centred approach. The results will be shared in order to influence national discussions on attendance policy and practice.

Square Peg’s work to tackle the attendance crisis spans three key strands:

• Campaign: Mobilising local and national lobbying to influence policymakers, legislators, and the media.
• Collaborate: Building authentic partnerships across sectors, connecting families, practitioners, and experts to inform solutions and catalyse influence.
• Innovate: Providing practical tools, strategies, and insights to support innovators addressing absenteeism and strengthening child-centred approaches in schools.

Square Peg has the potential to transform the way we address school exclusion by building evidence around how supportive, relational approaches reduce disengagement. Through a coalition of support, including families, schools and partner services, magistrates and cross-party politicians such as Jess Asato MP, Dr. Alison Gardner MP and Claire Young MP the initiative seeks to reshape policy and public understanding. 

The project aims to place young people and families at the centre of the solution, building trust and partnership between schools, allied services and families. By supporting schools to adopt relational, child-centred approaches which reduce exclusion, criminalisation, and disengagement, the work will generate evidence for alternative attendance policies, influence local and national policy, and create a scalable model for broader systemic change.

As a parent of two children with additional needs and complex health conditions, Ellie deeply understands the challenges families face navigating the education system. An experienced leader, she is Executive Director of Square Peg CIC, an multi-disciplinary organisation working across education, research, policy, practice, and innovation. She has given evidence to Commons Select Committees in 2023 and 2025 and serves on several advisory boards, including FED, The Difference ‘Losing Learning’ Solutions Council, and the Special Education Consortium Parliamentary Group.

She partners with organisations such as Not Fine in School, representing over 75,000 children, and has provided evidence to Select Committees, contributing to national policy discussions. Known as a trusted, compassionate advocate, Ellie elevates the voices of families, and grass-roots professionals working alongside them, often marginalised in education debates.