CEO Blog

Our CEO Thomas Keaney's Blog. For other updates, please visit our News page.

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Archive

03/11/23
Is online school a genuine choice for neurodiverse children?
The half term is over and we’re right back into the thorny issue of what elective schooling really means in the context of families whose children have SEND. Department for Education figures released earlier this year show that nearly 4,500 of the 517,000 children and young people with Educ...
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25/04/22
Lives less ordinary
Imagine the scene. Staff and pupils are sitting in a small circle in an independent day school for pupils with special educational needs. We are beginning to form what for us will be the most important intervention in our school: our twice-weekly Group Process. We have 10 pupils and 5 staff in...
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21/09/21
Award-winning week for our LIFE Programme as team scoop National SEND Award and now shortlisted for a second gong
It’s been an outstanding week for our LIFE Programme (Leadership, Independence Skills, Future options including Employment and Empowerment), having been recognised as the Most Innovative Special Needs Intervention in the country in the 2021 National SEND Awards. The Programme has also just bee...
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08/09/21
The TCES WAY: Pupil Leadership
‘School Life Without Labels’ — A strengths-based approach The most important thing we can do for our exceptional pupils is support them to positively transform their perceptions of their skills, strengths, and abilities. Our job as educators is to suppor...
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01/12/20
the one that got away
Last week I celebrated the birthday of TCES as it entered into its 20th year as a Social Enterprise. TCES delivers education, health and care through its schools and services for pupils an Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) and/or Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. As this is our 20t...
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30/11/20
A most gentle mind
Every year for the past decade we have attended the Autism show and each year we meet more and more desperate and frustrated parents and carers. We meet the parents of young children who have been told by nurseries and primary schools something that they long witnessed but didn’t want to...
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10/08/20
A worthy finish despite the start: The trouble with Jane
Today we received the news that one of our Care Experienced Children Jane (not her real name) is being moved out of one of our Independent Special Day schools following another foster placement breakdown.
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20/02/20
hidden heroes
It is a rare thing for a young person to know with certainty what they want to do in life. “The best laid plans of mice and men” is often used to describe the lives of young people who are trying out multiple jobs until something fits, taking gap years that never lead to college or unive...
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05/01/20
New Ofsted Education Inspection Framework: the most positive change for pupils with SEND in a generation
Just before Christmas our North West London Independent School (NWLIS) became one of the first special schools to be inspected under the new Framework.
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09/12/19
TCES’ work philosophy
There is in my view in every child irrespective of previous experiences a wish to integrate into society and to be successful.
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07/12/19
Schools won’t be inclusive until their efforts also apply to staff
To make education truly inclusive, we need to employ neuro-diverse staff as positive role models. Read my piece in SchoolsWeek here.
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01/09/19
Supporting ASC/SEMH Pupils Returning in September: My ‘Top Ten’ List
My 'Top 10' Tips for supporting SEMH/ASC pupils returning to the school environment after their Summer Holidays:
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