• New data analysis by the Centre for Young Lives reveals which parts of England have the highest and lowest rates of lost learning and attainment gaps – with the top 10 most inclusive local authorities all in London.
• The Mission 44 funded report calls for a new wave of inclusion in the education system rolled out across England through with fair admissions arrangements for all local children and more support for those at risk of exclusion and lost learning.
• The report’s recommendations include new statutory guidance on inclusion, improved monitoring of school roll data, a review of the legal right of Academy Trusts to be their own admissions authority, and new guidance on managed moves.
• The report provides a new definition of inclusive education - schools which support all young people to succeed, take a representative cohort of children from their community, and achieve good outcomes for those children.

The Centre for Young Lives thinktank, is today (Thursday May 20^th) publishing a new report, “Everyone Included: Transforming our education system to be ambitious about inclusion”. The report puts forward a new definition of inclusion in the education system, setting out both the barriers and enablers to inclusion in our schools. It also provides new data analysis of local authority datasets to provide an overall inclusion score for each local authority area in England, revealing which parts of the country have the highest and lowest rates of lost learning and attainment gaps. This analysis shows the top 10 most inclusive local authorities are all in London.

The Centre for Young Lives has been supported in this research for this report by Lewis Hamilton’s foundation Mission 44, set up to drive change so that every young person can thrive in school and beyond it. It held a series of roundtables and discussions with school leaders and experts across England to inform our analysis, and our work has been led by Jonny Uttley, CEO of The Education Alliance MAT, a Visiting Fellow at the Centre.

Today’s report argues that an inclusive education system is crucial to tackling a system that is not working well for all children. Thousands of children and young people falling through the gaps and being left behind. Around one in five young people leave school without basic qualifications, 40% of children and young people don’t feel a sense of belonging at school, 32 million days of learning were lost to suspension and unauthorised absence in 2024, only 11% of children say they enjoy coming to school every day, and 95% of Black children have heard or witnessed racist language at school.  

The report calls for a transformation of the education system so that it meets the needs of all children through inclusion while maintaining in high standards and aspirations for all children to succeed and thrive. It provides a clear and tangible definition of inclusion and inclusive practice, developed with stakeholders and experts from across the education sector, namely that inclusive schools are schools which support all young people to succeed - they take a representative cohort of pupils from their community and achieve good outcomes for these children.

The report defines an inclusive education system as one where:

• Admissions arrangements are transparent, clear and where students’ ability levels play no part;
• Behaviour policy is culturally sensitive, sets clear boundaries and is underpinned by appropriate consequences for poor behaviour, while encouraging pupils to take ownership of their own actions and work with staff and peers to improve; Approaches to poor behaviour recognise and respond to the contextual drivers of repeat poor behaviour and take a restorative approach;
• Exclusions are used as a last resort following a range of interventions;
• Uniform policy prioritises affordability and quality and is flexible so as not to discriminate against girls, students from poorer backgrounds, students from certain religious backgrounds, or students with SEND. Girls should never be required to wear skirts, for example.
• There is an inclusive and diverse curriculum and assessment system that is representative of the world we live in, meets the needs of every student and allows students to demonstrate their progress and achievement through a variety of assessments and pathways.  
• There are strategies to tackle absence, with notice given to how absence affects certain marginalised groups;
• There is appropriate and sufficient teacher training on supporting students that are typically underserved by the education system.
• Has systematic collection of student wellbeing data to inform school policies;
• There is an inclusive culture and sense of belonging that extends to staff and teachers alongside a strong culture of belonging for students and a commitment to support all children to thrive;
• There are strong links to local communities and community partners to better understand local issues that may be impacting pupils;
• There is regular outreach with parents, including home visits conducted in a sensitive manner to work with students and families, not against them;
• Youth participation and student voice feeds in to shaping school policies and practices.
• There is a relational approach to teacher-student interactions in the classroom and a recognition that positive relationships with trusted adults are key to building inclusive environments.  

However, the report warns that there are many existing barriers in the education system which make it harder for schools to be inclusive including fractured, siloed systems without joined-up support from local services, an accountability system that pits schools against one another and actively disincentivises inclusion, a narrow curriculum, and a decade of schools and education leaders being conditioned by the accountability system to prioritise performance metrics and league tables.

To provide a signpost to good practice and identify areas where there are the greatest barriers to inclusion, the Centre for Young Lives has undertaken data analysis to map geographical variation in the rates of school absence, suspension, exclusions and other forms of lost learning. It ranks all 152 upper tier local authorities based on their rates of lost learning and attainment gaps for disadvantaged students using overall absence rate (for academic year 2023/24), suspension rate (Spring term 2023/24), permanent exclusion rate (Spring term 2023/24), and overall attainment gaps (2023).  These findings reveal:

• The top 10 most inclusive local authorities are all in London, supporting previous research which shows schools in London have lower rates of lost learning, and lower attainment gaps than other parts of the country.
• This ‘London effect’ is likely to be a result of the London Challenge education reforms of the 2000s, the higher rate of funding received by London local authorities, and better access to voluntary and community organisations in the capital. The introduction of a London-wide ‘Inclusion Charter’ and the work of London’s Violence Reduction Unit could also be starting to reap results.
• There is an overrepresentation of rural authorities, semi-rural and coastal authorities in the bottom scoring local authorities, which may reflect the greater scarcity of resources in these areas as well as the schools funding formula which has tended to favour urban over rural schools.
• There is an overrepresentation of schools in deprived areas which, while many of the top 10 local authorities were deprived local areas, may still reflect the impact of poverty and deprivation on lost learning.

The report recognises that inclusion in education is not just an individual school issue, but one which is dependent on the wider community assets that any child, family or school has access to. It is also important to note that there are many practices which are unrepresented in our tables. For example, Elective Home Education, is on the rise in London, with Tower Hamlets home to the highest rise in elective home education since 2022/23, with a 63% increase from 240 to 390. Barking and Dagenham, also in the top ten here, saw a 57% increase.

The report makes a series of recommendations for a new era of inclusion, including calling on the Government to begin work on a Green Paper setting out options for wholesale reform of the school system so it becomes meaningfully inclusive. Its main recommendations include:

• New statutory guidance on inclusion which includes specific reference to meaningful inclusion for children with SEND, children from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds, and racially inclusive practice.
• Extending the live Pupil Attendance dashboard to include the school roll to reflect which schools are serving their communities, and which are not. This data should be used to hold to account those schools and trusts which are not inclusive.
• Extending the remit of Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) Teams to include monitoring and accountability for school roll data and supporting and developing inclusion.
• A review of the legal right of Academy Trusts to be their own admissions authority and returning the legal duty to local authorities, providing greater oversight and accountability of Academies and selective schools.

The report also calls for a new era of racial inclusion. The evidence is clear that children from some ethnic minority groups have disproportionately negative experiences and outcomes in educational settings including punitive behaviour policies disproportionately impact children from some ethnic minority groups, a lack of diversity in the curriculum, and an under-representation of Black teachers in the education workforce. The report proposes a racially inclusive culture at the heart of every school, diversity in the curriculum to be a thematic focus of the Curriculum Review, and a racially diverse and well-trained workforce.

Baroness Anne Longfield, Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives, said:

“The government has shown it recognises the importance of a more inclusive education system, and this report defines and promotes an aspirational vision that I hope Ministers will use as they seek to develop a truly inclusive education system.

“Schools shouldn't get to pick and choose which children can enter their gates - either with unfair admissions policies, catchment areas, or gaming the system with managed moves or off-rolling. Some schools are being rewarded by Ofsted while leaving it to other schools to be inclusive. This is unfair and must stop.

“Our analysis reveals an inclusion postcode lottery. London is powering ahead – with children more likely to go to schools with low rates of exclusions, school absence, and attainment gaps for vulnerable children. Despite local disparities there are signs of hope too - non-inclusive school practice does not happen everywhere and there is a new wave of inclusion emerging.

“One headteacher told us he took over a school with high exclusions. He made the decision to literally knock down the isolation booths that children said had made their life at school miserable and replaced them with a garden. He said this had a transformational impact on children’s experience at his school and boosted a sense of belonging. It is this kind of brave and bold thinking that should be the future.”

Jonny Uttley, CEO of TEAL Multi Academy Trust, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Young Lives, said:

“Every school leader I have spoken with recognises the need for inclusion as a design principle, not a box to be scored. All are alarmed by the sizeable number of children whose life chances are held back by a system that is not always inclusive. Schools pioneering whole-school inclusive practices have been doing so despite rather than because the Ofsted framework and current performance measures.

“We also know about schools with high rates of exclusions, suspension, movement from rolls, elective home education (EHE) and other forms of lost learning, that have continued to receive “outstanding” judgements.

“The definition of inclusion in this report, developed in partnership with more than a hundred colleagues across the country, is a starting point for a future where mainstream inclusion is a reality. Schools that follow this definition are those that take responsibility for the progress and wellbeing of all pupils, including, and especially, the most vulnerable or disadvantaged. This definition is not about being soft or divorced from high standards.

“This report sets out bold, ambitious recommendations which, if accepted, would give the government a flying start in transforming not only schools, but to change the life chances of all children in every community.”

Jason Arthur, CEO of Mission 44, said:

"This report is yet another wake-up call for our education system. Too many young people - especially those facing disadvantage or discrimination - are not getting the support they need to be able to thrive at school. The findings reinforce the core message of our Nothing Happens in Isolation campaign: exclusions and lost learning are not isolated issues, they are the symptom of a deeper lack of inclusion. We urgently need policymakers to support school leaders by publishing official guidance on inclusion and an accountability system which holds schools accountable for who they serve, measured not just by results, but by belonging and opportunity for all."

ENDS

[.download]Download the report[.download]

For further information or interview requests contact: Jo Green (Mob/WhatsApp: 07715105415. Email: jo.green@centreforyounglives.org)

Notes to editors:

1. The report is available here.‍
2. Drawing on published local authority datasets, we have ranked all 152 Upper tier local authorities based on their rates of lost learning and attainment gaps for disadvantaged students. We removed two local authorities - Isles of Scilly and City of London - where data was suppressed due to low counts. We used the following datasets:
   
   • Overall absence rate (for academic year 2023/24)^[1]‍
   • Suspension rate (Spring term 2023/24)^[2]‍
   • Permanent Exclusion rate (Spring term 2023/24)^[3]‍
   • Overall attainment gaps (2023)^[4]

We ranked local authority areas on all four measures independently, allocating each a score for each measure from 1 being the most inclusive (i.e. smallest attainment gap, lowest suspension rate), to 152 being the least (largest attainment gap, highest suspension rate). The overall ranking score combined the rankings for each of the four indicators.

Local authorities with the smallest combined score are the most inclusive - with the lowest suspension and exclusion rates, lowest overall absence, and smallest attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Local authorities with the largest combined scores are the least inclusive - with the highest suspension and exclusion rates, highest overall absence and largest disadvantage attainment gaps.

Local authorities with the 10 smallest combined inclusion scores (indicating most inclusive LAs)

Local authorities with the 10 largest combined inclusion scores (indicating the least inclusive LAs)

3. Further recommendations in the report include:
   
   • Review and reform Pupil Premium funding to effectively target disadvantaged pupils, and review and reform SEND support and funding so that there is greater investment in early intervention, assessment and prevention.
   • New guidance on managed moves drawing on models where high proportions of managed moves are successful and serve children’s interests.
   • Extend the remit of attendance teams to include a dedicated staff member to monitor and oversee school roll data in their locality to support inclusion.
   • Introduce local authority-led ‘support periods’ for parents considering moving their child into elective-home-education.
   • Consider requiring schools to maintain responsibility for a child after a move.
   • A new duty on councils to develop and deliver an integrated strategy to support inclusion in education, alongside schools and trusts developing a whole-school strategy for delivering inclusion.
   • Local Authorities should collect and publish all relevant data to show the inclusivity of schools and trusts in their local area, including EHE, managed moves, and successful ECHP consultations. A long-term ambition for schools to collect data on their pupil outcomes at age 25, which is then folded into Ofsted’s inspection framework to assess the long-term impact of a school’s approach.

4. About Mission 44. Launched by Seven Time Formula One World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton in 2021, Mission 44 is a charity that is working to build a fairer, more inclusive future for young people around the world. The charity is driving change so that every young person can thrive in education and access great careers in STEM. It has a particular focus on developing an inclusive education system, creating employment opportunities in STEM and motorsport, and empowering young people to shape the world they live in.

‍

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^[1] Department for Education (2025) Pupil Absence in schools in England; https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2023-24

^[2] Department for Education (2025) Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England; https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/suspensions-and-permanent-exclusions-in-england/2023-24-spring-term

^[3] Ibid

^[4] Education Policy Institute (2024) Annual Report 2024: Local Authority Gaps; https://epi.org.uk/annual-report-2024-local-authority-gaps-2/