Last year, Enquire launched Navigate – an online hub for those supporting care experienced children and young people. One year on we reflect on the power of language when talking about care experienced young people, and how learning from the Each and Every Child initiative has strengthened our approach
At Enquire, we are committed to communicating and championing the rights of children and young people in education. Whether we are responding on the helpline, sharing information on social media or creating resources, our everyday conversations are a constant reminder of the central role that language plays when we are talking about children’s rights to additional support for learning. In the jargon-filled world of ‘ASL’, there’s hope in our collective care and examination of how the words we use reflect our values as a service.
This blog is itself an exercise in language. It’s written in the context of support for learning where additional support needs can apply in a range of scenarios related to lifelong neurodevelopmental conditions, disability, health needs and care experience as well as changes in family circumstances, bereavement or interrupted learning. Within just a few phrases, it’s already easy to discern language barriers between communities defined by ‘need’ within a service system that speaks its own coded language.
Amid the lingo, the question becomes how do you present a pluralistic picture of additional support for learning that actively promotes inclusion and considers children’s school experiences from a human perspective?
Promoting positive language choices
Each and Every Child responds to the views of children and young people shared in The Care Review – and acted on in The Promise – that say the systematic language used to describe care and care experience can bestigmatising and compounds a sense of difference.
Language is one of the core considerations for Navigate, our resource for supporting adults around children with care experience at school. Funded by the Keep the Promise Fund and shaped through conversations with young people, families and partners, Navigate flips the narrative on care experience. School is a challenging stage of development for all children. Following the Each and Every Child model, Navigate actively shifts the language away from divisive words and phrases that unconsciously place blame, towards lanuage that promotes a shared and empathetic understanding of what it’s like to be at school and have experience of care. Professionals are guided to do this through different tool types such as myth-busting the language of school attendance and top tips for using language to create an inclusive school environment.
Supporting real change
September marked one year since the launch of Navigate, and so the learning from Each and Every Child provides us with some timely pause for thought. If we want to improve educational outcomes for children with care experience, we must address stigma and discrimination head-on. Navigate does that by equipping professionals not only with the advice, but with the language for starting conversations about children’s support at school. We have a new page ‘Let’s talk attendance’ to de-bunk some of the language on this subject and to consider the context for the children being described. There are a couple of new videos in the mix, and we are adding to our draft emails for requests for school support.
Mostly, this past month saw us renewing our commitment to language facilitated by the heart-felt and effective training delivered by Each and Every Child. As individuals in the children’s sector, we can educate ourselves; we can listen and amplify the voices of children and young people and promote positive action in the professionals delivering the best possible support. It is this care and curiosity about the people in the language and the words we use to bring about positive outcomes for children in education that emphasises the power we all have as communicators.
Find out more about the Each and Every Child initiative: https://eachandeverychild.co.uk/
*This is an edited version of the blog ‘Talking up care experience’ which first appeared on the Enquire website on 30 September 2026. Read in full, and other news and blogs from the Enquire service at https://enquire.org.uk/news/
