econdary education, but this was also evident in primary schools. Concerning levels of dysregulation and risk-taking were reported in children as young as six and linked by respondents with developmental trauma that had started early in their lives. ... whereas historically, I would say, you would see challenges, perhaps from the age of 13 or 14, 15... becoming involved in things that cause harm to them. Now we're seeing this kind of dysregulation, both in our education system and in our social care system, in children aged six, seven, eight and nine, so that is where some of the complexity comes from, the impact of trauma starting earlier in their lives. (DCS, Unitary, North East Region) Analysis for the Institute for Public Policy Research (Gill et al., 2024) found that 32 million days of school learning were lost to children in 2022–23 due to a combination of unauthorised absence and exclusions.4 Suspensions and exclusions across all schools and year groups in England were predicted to have risen by over 20% in 2023–24 compared to the previous year. 4 Gill et al. (2024) described an ‘exclusions continuum’ covering 14 types of ‘losing learning’ (including exclusions, suspensions and unauthorised absences). Researchers compared the first two terms of 2022–23 with a sample from the same period in 2023–24. They additionally found that the suspension and exclusion rate for secondary school children (years 7 to 11) increased from 14.3% to 17%, which is a rise of one-fifth. That number is 72% higher than in 2018-19 (the last full school year before the pandemic). 25 According to Gill et al. (2024): • Children interacting with social care are permanently excluded at eight times the national rate and severely absent from school at over five times • Students entitled to free s