Product reviews for On the Fringes

I could provide so many stories to support this very important book. Jackie Ward rightly reminds us that the children who need love the most will ask for it in the most unusual ways. As a consequence, schools need to seek unusual ways to teach such young people. I use those words deliberately: schools and teachers are paid to teach children, not to stand them in corridors, sit them in isolation booths or send them out on the streets. However, high-stakes testing - coupled with high-stakes accountability - has led to some schools using hostile, reactive strategies with those children who often have quite specific social and emotional needs. On the Fringes rightly suggests that there is another way - based around more creative and proactive child-friendly strategies that allow every child to feel that they can succeed.