Yesterday the Government published its SEND white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving.[i]

As a parent of children with special educational needs, I have lived the exhaustion of fighting for provision. As a pastor shaped by what I call Broken Theology, I spend much of my time thinking about who is included and who is quietly (and even loudly) excluded. As someone who previously led a charity for adults with learning disabilities, I know the long shadow that childhood provision casts across adult life.

So, I welcome reform.

I welcome ambition for earlier support. I welcome a desire to reduce adversarial processes. I welcome an attempt to widen the definition of achievement beyond exam scores.

But reform is not the same thing as renewal.

Across the political spectrum there is a growing appetite for reform. The word appears in policy documents and party names. It signals frustration. It signals a sense that systems are not working as they should.

Yet reform always begs a further question – reform toward what?

If we simplify processes but leave untouched a culture that measures worth by output, will children who learn differently truly thrive? If we increase inclusion within classrooms that operate like conveyor belts, have we solved the deeper problem?

This series begins with SEND reform because it is urgent and personal. But it will not remain there. It will explore the culture in which this reform sits. A culture shaped by performance metrics and shrinking creative space. A culture increasingly anxious about risk. A culture where children have fewer unstructured places to belong. A culture in which attention is monetised and boredom feels intolerable.

It will also look inward. The Church is not immune from these patterns. We too measure growth. We too standardise formation. We too struggle to include difference beyond good intentions.

I am not interested in nostalgia. The past was not kinder for many who were marginalised or silenced. Nor am I interested in claiming that Christianity offers a neat solution to complex policy questions.

I am interested in belonging.

What kind of society are we forming when arts are squeezed from curricula because they do not fit accountability frameworks? What happens to imagination when everything must be measured? What happens to men and women when long-standing roles shift faster than new narratives of shared life emerge? What happens to children who do not thrive under performance pressure?

Reform is necessary. But if we do not also reform our imagination of worth, we may simply rearrange systems while leaving people disoriented.

This is a series about systems. It is also a series about formation. And ultimately, it is a series about what it means for every child to achieve and to thrive.

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[i] Department for Education, Every Child Achieving and Thriving (London: DfE, 23 February 2026), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving