No matter how complex the situation, we help students find their footing again.
Every behaviour tells a story
A child who disrupts a lesson, refuses a task or goes quiet is usually saying something they cannot yet put into words. Sometimes that is frustration. It can also be anxiety about what is coming next, or the response of a child who feels unseen.
So we start with the cause rather than the incident. Once that is clear, we can change what sits around the child. The pace of the work, the structure of the day, the size of the group, the adult sitting alongside them. Progress follows a calmer environment, and the emotional side of it usually moves first.
Read our case studiesOur Approach
What we do, and the order we do it in.
Common situations we support
Parents often open by telling us their situation is unusual. It rarely is. The five below account for most of the families who come to us, and they overlap more often than they appear separately.
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School refusal
Refusal is rarely about school as a whole. It is usually one lesson, one corridor, one part of the day that has become intolerable, and the avoidance spreads out from there. We work out where it started, then build a route back that does not begin with a full timetable.
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Emotional or anger outbursts
Some children have almost no gap between feeling something and acting on it. Sessions are built to reduce the number of moments that set it off, and to give the child a way to step back that is not a walkout.
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Opposition or defiance
Refusal often looks like rebellion and is usually closer to self-protection. A child who expects to fail will refuse before they are asked. Giving them some control over the order and pace of the work tends to achieve more than any sanction.
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Classroom disruption
Disruption is a symptom with several possible causes. Anxiety, gaps in the work and plain boredom all look much the same from the back of a classroom. Bright children who find the work too easy are a more common cause than most schools assume.
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Post-exclusion reintegration
A suspension is usually a warning. We plan the return so the child arrives to a structure rather than a reputation, and where a return is not realistic, we set the alternative up properly instead of treating it as a stopgap.
Our Specialist Services
Support for children aged 4 to 18.
Most families use more than one of these. They can be combined, and changed as the situation moves.
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For children who need to be out of a school environment for a period. One-to-one teaching at home or online, on a timetable built around when the child actually works best.
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Our one-to-one day school, taking a small number of students. Quiet, closely supervised, and often the right step for a child who is not ready to walk back into a classroom.
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For families dealing with an exclusion, a placement that has broken down, or a move to a school better suited to the child.
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Individual lessons at home or online, alongside school or instead of it, keeping the academic work moving while everything else is being resolved.
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Therapeutic integration
Where a psychologist or therapist is already involved, we work to their strategy rather than around it, so the child is not being handled two different ways.
Examinations, when school is no longer the route
A child out of school still has to sit the exam. Lionheart is a JCQ and CAIE registered examination centre in West Kensington, so students we teach can take their GCSEs, IGCSEs and A-levels here rather than ringing round centres that will not accept private candidates.
That matters most for children excluded during their GCSE or A-level years, where the qualification is close enough to be worth protecting. Where a school will still enter a student, we coordinate with them. Where it will not, we can enter them ourselves.
Anxiety & Undiagnosed Autism
"We weren’t looking for miracles, just people who understood what was really going on behind the behaviour. Lionheart’s team saw past the anger and refusal and worked with our son patiently and consistently. The shift in his confidence and attitude has been remarkable."
Sarah P. Parent & Former Client
Behavioural difficulties tutors
Composure is part of the brief
We look for tutors who have taught children like yours before and who do not escalate. Someone who can absorb a bad session, arrive the following week exactly the same, and hold the academic standard while doing it. Our SEMH tutors understand that social, emotional and mental health needs affect the learning before they affect the behaviour.
Every placement is overseen by Lionheart’s senior education team, so the tutor is not working alone and the plan is reviewed as the child changes.
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Rigorous selection
Enhanced DBS and international safeguarding checks on every tutor. Beyond that we interview for composure, because a first-class degree tells you nothing about how someone responds to being told no.
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Collaborative practice
We coordinate with therapists, counsellors and school SEN teams so the academic plan supports the therapeutic one rather than pulling against it.
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Ongoing oversight
Senior consultants review each placement, looking at wellbeing alongside progress. If the match is wrong we change it rather than waiting for the end of term.
“I never thought I’d look forward to learning again…”
For students rebuilding confidence after anxiety or burnout, lessons aren’t just about grades — they’re about rediscovering curiosity. One week it’s creative writing by the river; another, science through cooking. When learning feels safe, everything changes.
Explore our case studiesFrequently asked questions:
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How do you tell the difference between behaviour and what is underneath it?
Usually by looking at when it happens. We review the academic history, the school reports and what parents are seeing at home before designing anything. Behaviour that appears in two subjects points somewhere very different from behaviour that appears at three o’clock every day regardless. The common drivers are unmet SEND or SEMH needs, ADHD, anxiety, demand avoidance, past trauma, stress at home, and work pitched at the wrong level in either direction.
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Can you work alongside our therapist or psychologist?
Yes, and it is better if we do. We take the clinical strategy as given, build the teaching around it, and report back on what we are seeing in sessions.
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Is this the same as a behaviour management programme?
No. Lionheart is an education provider, not a clinical service, and we do not deliver behaviour modification programmes. Where one is already in place, through an EHCP or a private clinician, we teach in a way that is consistent with it.
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What qualifications do your tutors and consultants have?
Tutors are subject specialists with experience of teaching children with behavioural, SEND and mental health needs. Consultants have generally come from senior roles in independent or specialist schools.
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How quickly can support begin?
In urgent cases, including school refusal and a pending exclusion, we prioritise the assessment and can usually start within days. More complex placements take longer, because getting the match right matters more than getting it fast.
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Do you work with international families or students outside the UK?
No. We are not a legal or clinical service and we do not act as representatives. We can provide the academic record from our own sessions and work with a solicitor you have appointed. For free advice on exclusions and EHCP appeals, IPSEA is the usual first port of call, and the SEND Code of Practice 0 to 25 sets out what schools and local authorities are required to do.
