Open petition: Mandate Social, Emotional, and Mental Health informed school behaviour policies

Created by Charlie Morrow
Closes on 13 February 2027

Set out guidelines and legally mandate SEMH-informed school behaviour policies. This should include replacing punitive discipline with early intervention, stopping exclusions which we see as punishing mental health struggles, enforcing trauma training for staff, funding better mental health support.

We believe SEMH has to be more clearly recognised and treated as an educational need, and not a behavioural failure, to protect children's futures.

We are concerned that a large number of SEMH students may be out of education in part because rigid discipline can punish mental health struggles and neurodiversity as bad behaviour. Having experienced this first-hand, I know the pain of being treated as a problem to be managed rather than a student to be helped. We demand the Government set out guidelines for and legally mandate SEMH-safe behaviour policies, in the way we've proposed, to help protect our futures.

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