This new edition of the best-selling Reaching the Unseen Children provides a powerful and accessible resource for schools working to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged children, particularly white pupils from low-income backgrounds, and their peers.

It tackles head-on the issues currently confronting schools, with new content on early years and on attendance, reflecting deeply worrying data showing that almost two in five disadvantaged pupils were persistently absent in the last school year. Firmly located in the current educational policy context, it incorporates the latest science – on how we can develop oracy, for example, on new approaches to teaching reading, and on why belonging, school connectedness, and agency are emerging as critical to the success of disadvantaged learners. The second edition includes many new case studies from outstanding schools which have successfully drawn on and developed ideas from the first edition, making them their own.

Bringing together the latest data, research, and stories from schools that have made the difference to close the gap, Reaching the Unseen Children remains an essential guide for anyone working in education today who is seeking equity for all their pupils.