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Education crises can happen quickly and escalate fast, and before you know it, your child is out of school, and your relationship with the school has been damaged overnight. In a crisis, Lionheart’s priority is to offer the best advice to prevent the situation from deteriorating and to make sure your child’s education is continued when they are not in school. We’ve been working with families in London and across the UK since 1989 in situations where their child has been excluded from school, is refusing to attend, is unable to attend, or is being relocated to a new school.

Education crises we can help with

Illustration of anxious boy

School refusal help

A child refusing to attend school is not always classed as truancy, and we can provide the mental health support children need to feel safe and happy in school or in homeschool. Lionheart can help students dealing with issues such as anxiety, emotional and mental fatigue, and pressure at school, working with families to map the next steps.

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Suspensions and school exclusions

Suspensions and exclusions can happen the same day, and you should receive a phone call, letter, or meeting request from the school. It’s important that you act quickly to maintain a good relationship with the school if your child has been suspended, and you can contact our team to create a temporary or permanent education plan in the case of exclusions.

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Emergency relocation advice

Whether you’re moving to somewhere else in the UK or abroad, the Lionheart team is here to support you with last-minute advice, taking charge of applications, school search shortlisting, and interim teaching. Mid-year school relocation due to professional, diplomatic or family reasons is made easy thanks to our many years of expertise.

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SEND children or mental health issues

Mainstream schools cannot always meet the needs of every child, so we’re here to act fast if you feel that your child’s current school is not a good fit for them. We can assist whether you’re pre-diagnosed, have an emerging SEND need, or have an EHCP already in place thanks to our excellent SEND consultancy and school placement advice.

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Academically disengaged students

Even though your child may be in school, their learning can be impacted if they are not being academically stimulated, overwhelmed with subject matter and homework, or seem withdrawn as a result of attending school. We can offer mentoring, educational assessments, and tuition to create a realistic plan to get them back on track and rediscover their love of learning.

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Educational recovery after a crisis

Illness, exclusion, school refusal, or a prolonged absence can make reintroduction to schooling difficult, so we’re here to assess the situation and help children regain confidence before starting back at school. We can bring them up to speed with missed learning material so they can keep pace with their peers.

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Support for managed school moves and exclusion

We take care of all aspects of a managed school move if the current school placement is failing your child. A managed move can have lots of different components that parents find confusing, such as deregistering and re-registering a child, as well as maintaining continuity in education. Lionheart can act as a liaison between the current school and the new school, keeping parents informed at all stages and keeping education going in the interim period.

If it’s a school-suggested managed move rather than one following an exclusion decision, we discuss the circumstances with you and look at how the new school can provide what the previous one didn’t. If exclusion has already taken place, our education crisis management team can act fast — requesting an independent review panel for exclusions and putting in an appeal against a fixed-term exclusion, working in coordination with your exclusion solicitor. When a school is refusing to readmit a child, we can walk you through the options available to you, including a move to a new school, homeschooling, private tuition, or alternative provision.

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Our Services

Education crisis services we offer

  • Bespoke tuition and homeschooling

    When mainstream schooling is no longer viable, Lionheart Education is able to arrange one-to-one tuition in your London home with an in-person tutor, or online homeschool programmes. We can also provide a hybrid service with tuition during school exclusion, plans for homeschooling during exclusion, and catching up with core subject material. 

  • Emergency school placement

    We can assist with emergency school placement in London and across the UK and move quickly after an initial assessment of the child’s educational profile. We have a specialist school placement consultancy service for families, and we even offer our own Lionheart School London to provide a safe and accepting environment for temporary or permanent use.

  • Child mental health support in a crisis

    Although our education team cannot replicate the work of clinical professionals, we are a helping hand in a time of mental health crises where anxiety, family breakdown, trauma, or persistent low mood have caused school refusal. We can coordinate with the school, therapists, SENCOs, review panels, and other health professionals to create a realistic academic programme.

How our education crisis response works

  • Step 1 — Discovery call

    An initial assessment is key to understanding the whole situation, and this can take place the very same day or the next day to get to the bottom of the matter. We will listen carefully to what the school has said, the family’s thoughts and concerns, and how the child feels about the situation.

  • Step 2 — Situation review

    After the initial consultation, we can review any school communication in detail, including any input from SENCOs, and work to create an educational profile of your child. We can put plans into place within a matter of days to ensure your child’s learning is not disrupted, whatever has happened.

  • Step 3 — Educational continuity

    Every case is different, but rest assured we can work fast to arrange online teaching, private tuition, support with homeschooling, and much more to keep your child’s education on track. If your child won’t go back to school after exclusion, we can work together with the family to create a suitable at-home timetable of study.

  • Step 4 — Strategy meeting

    Once the primary educational aims have been achieved, we can have a deeper discussion with the family and any professionals in the child’s life to set out the best path forward. We use our many years of expertise to discuss managed school moves, school reintegration, SEND assessment, alternative provision, and long-term home education.

Rupert Syme and Lionheart Students at Lionheart School

Steering Families Through Crisis

"We stay involved for as long as it takes, quietly guiding and supporting, until the child is firmly back on the right path. Because if you work in education, it’s because you care — and because getting it right for families truly matters.”

Rupert Syme Chairman & Head of Educational Consultancy
Rupert Syme and Lionheart Students at Lionheart School
Charlotte Faber Lionheart Consultant

Steering Families Through Crisis

“There are times when things don’t go well — perhaps because something is happening at home, a family crisis, or a divorce. In those moments, you need someone to step in and help guide you through.”

Charlotte F. Educational Consultant
Charlotte Faber Lionheart Consultant
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Teenage boy in school uniform sitting by a window in a quiet corridor, mental health education support London

Crisis management for alternative provision and pupil relocation

When a child is unable to attend school due to exclusion, fixed-term suspension, illness, or school refusal, the local authority is legally bound to deliver Section 19 Alternative Provision. Alternative provision when excluded can be disruptive for the child and the family, and our team is here to assess the best way forward using our 35 years of experience with the UK schooling system.

Support for international and expat families

For international families and British expat families, we can handle urgent school placement in the UK, deliver online tuition to bridge the gap, and even allocate a travelling tutor if required.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is a managed move at school?

    Managed school moves are a student transfer between schools that is arranged by the parents and schools themselves, but Lionheart can step in and make sure that the transfer goes smoothly and put pressure on the new school to deliver the correct quality of education for your child.

  • What to do if my child has been excluded from school?

    Children can be suspended or excluded from school the same day, and if you’ve just picked your child up and are wondering what to do next, give the Lionheart team a call. We can walk you through the exclusion, maintain the child’s education, act as your representative with the school, and help coordinate with legal representatives.

  • How quickly can Lionheart Education start education crisis support?

    After an initial discovery call the same day your child is excluded, or the day after, we can create an education plan to bolster learning when they are not attending school. Our team can move fast to provide online or in-person tuition, as well as working out a long-term plan with parents for their child’s educational journey.

  • Can you place our child in a school mid-year?

    It’s not uncommon for children to be excluded from school, experience EBTA, or have school refusal halfway through a school term. This can disrupt their education if the situation is not dealt with quickly, so we work fast to discover the root cause of the issue and offer a rapid school placement consultancy service to get them back in school fast.

  • Can you help if our family is relocating into or out of the UK?

    Family circumstances, school crises, and diplomatic postings are just some of the situations we assist with here at Lionheart Education, whether you are moving into the UK or out of the country. We can help with school searches, provide online and in-person tuition, assign a temporary travelling tutor, and create interim homeschooling programmes.