A parent once said to me that her son’s school was always trying to make him “fit” like a square peg in a round hole. The school never succeeded in doing this, he was never going to fit, he was rapidly crashing towards a permanent exclusion. All of his skills, talents, interests and dreams lay dormant, like a seed that had yet to be planted, everyone was struggling. His school then did the most amazing thing for him, they called me. When I met him, there wasn’t much in his education that was helping him grow. He just hated his situation and the environment he was in. He was angry at school staff, he was angry with his parents, he was angry at the world. On paper it was bleak, he had frequently been aggressive to staff and peers, disrespectful, refused to engage in lessons, truanted etc. He had lost hope and had become apathetic to his future and his wellbeing, he claimed he didn’t like who he was and had no idea why he was behaving the way he was. With his shoulders slumped, his face down and his body language screaming “get me out of here!” I did something very simple and something I suspect few had done before, I looked him in the eye and with the biggest smile I could, told him that it was a pleasure to finally meet him and that I had heard some amazing things about him. I said that, as a team, we would work together to find the right path and that no matter happens I will not go away, he was stuck with me. After a few more minutes of asking the right questions I knew enough to start a new journey and his school were amazingly supportive. What a journey that was, with many bumps in the road, tears, laughter and pure joy. He left school with 5 GCSEs as well a diploma in Sport and other vocational qualifications and Functional Skills. He is now in full time employment and travelling the world and his parents couldn’t be more proud. His school gave him a gift, they took the view that investing in him would put him on a path that would almost certainly provide better outcomes for him than permanent exclusion ever would, they were inclusive and driven by a strong moral purpose. Some children, no matter how hard a school tries, just don’t thrive, like a seed in the wrong soil they just don’t grow but if they let me be the gardener, I will find the right soil. A small investment now by the school can genuinely change lives for the better.