Reaching the Unseen Children: Practical Strategies for Closing Stubborn Attainment Gaps in Disadvantaged Groups [Paperback]

Introduction; 1 We need to talk about Jason; 2 Understanding the gaps: data, theories and research; 3 Myths and wrong turnings; 4 Getting it right in the early years; 5 The word gap; 6 The literacy gap; 7 The maths gap; 8 The seven secrets of self-efficacy; 9 Attendance, belonging and relationships; 10 No excuse for no excuses ?; 11 Secrets of successfully engaging all parents; Conclusion.

Jean Gross is a best-selling author and expert on childrens issues. She has led many national initiatives aimed at improving the life chances of all those who struggle to succeed in our education system. Formerly the governments Communication Champion for children and young people, she was awarded a CBE for services to education in 2011. Her previous books with Routledge include Improving Wellbeing and Behaviour in Special Educational Needs (2024), Beating Bureaucracy in Schools 4^th ed (2023) and Time to Talk 2^nd ed (2018).

This new edition of the best-selling Reaching the Unseen Children provides a powerful and accessible resource for schools working to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged children, particularly white pupils from low-income backgrounds, and their peers.

It tackles head-on the issues currently confronting schools, with new content on early years and on attendance, reflecting deeply worrying data showing that almost two in five disadvantaged pupils were persistently absent in the last school year. Firmly located in the current educational policy context, it incorporates the latest science  on how we can develop oracy, for example, on new approaches to teaching reading, and on why belonging, school connectedness, and agency are emerging as critical to the success of disadvantaged learners. The second edition includes many new case studies from outstandilÃN