Schools

Resources Predominantly for Schools

Advice and information about issues adoptive children and children with attachment difficulties face is accessible online through search engines but in creating this site I have tried to create a 'one stop shop' and with your help it will become a great resource. Also you may find useful information in the parents/carers resources for use in school or to pass on to parents.
If you have any resources you would like to share please email me and they will be reviewed and added. Although please be patient as this site is maintained in spare time between parenting therapeutically and working.

For newly added resources please see the bottom of the lists

Support/Advice/Research/Training

Adopted Children’s Experiences of School. Results of the research conducted by Adoption UK.

Working with a looked after or adopted child in school. A child who is fostered or has been adopted may present particular challenges as a consequence of their own traumatic early experiences, and this guide is intended to help teachers understand and respond to some of these challenges. Hopefully, it will also help teachers to make sense of the behaviour of other children too.

An Introduction to Attachment and the implications for Learning and Behaviour created by Bath Spa University. This is a great resources to introduce and begin to think about the implications of Attachment Awareness. Thank you to Bath Spa for sharing this document on the internet.

Learning Trust After Trauma. Before children who may have experienced abuse and neglect can begin to learn, they must first feel safe and secure in the classroom, says Jennifer Jones. Working in partnership with any parent or carer is important, but for those whose children have experienced disturbed early trauma it is essential. This article aims to give some understanding of the challenges these children face and provides some helpful advice for supporting them.

Attachment-informed practice with looked after children and young people. This insight, written by Judy Furnivall, SIRCC, on behalf of Scottish Attachment in Action, examins attachment-informed practice with looked after children and young people. It was completed in partnership with the Looked After Children Strategic Implementation Group.

Understanding attachment and how this can affect education with special reference to adopted children and young people and those looked after by local authorities. Thanks to the National Children's Bureau and Hampshire County Council.

The Lost Children Of Trauma produced by adopters and adoptees to raise awareness of the support needs of traumatised children. Open Nests first animation.

Brighter Thinking – A New Animation
The Open Nest invited adoptive parents to share ways they felt unsupported by friends and family, and also share the ways that their support networks got it right too. This is the animation based on that research, please view and share.

Great informative blog about Why Scared Brains Struggle in Education including a Back to School Note from a truly great kid both from Jane Evans (follow this link for Jane Evans Training)

Knayton Church of England Primary School. The head teacher, Mrs Nicola Beniams, has offered support and advice to other schools about attachment and behaviour. I am sure if you had other questions she would gladly do her best to answer them.

Calmer Classrooms. Both research and wisdom show us that regardless of the adversity they face, if a child can develop and maintain a positive attachment to school, and gain an enthusiasm for learning, they will do so much better in their lives. The role of teachers in the lives of traumatised children cannot be underestimated. This booklet encourages teachers and other school personnel to forge those attachments through two key mechanisms: understanding traumatised children and developing relationship based skills to help them. Taken from a link on The Potato Groups website.

NICE guideline covering the identification, assessment and treatment of attachment difficulties in children and young people up to age 18 who are adopted from care, in special guardianship, looked after by local authorities in foster homes (including kinship foster care), residential units and other accommodation, or on the edge of care. It aims to address the many emotional and psychological needs of children and young people in these situations, including those resulting from maltreatment.

Helping the child who doesn't want to be helped.
Adoptive mother Jennifer says she often hears the phrase when talking about adopted children, ‘They are fine, we don't see any problems’. Within this article she uses her professional insights to explain why 'not seeing' any problems doesn't
necessarily mean there aren't any.

Suffering in Silence examines the world of children with avoidant attachment issues and how we can help. As Jennifer says: When most people think about attachment disorder they think about angry children; these are the ones who are aggressive, attention seeking and controlling. This is certainly one side of attachment disorder, but there are also other ways that these children can present themselves, some of which can make it almost impossible to spot that anything is wrong.

My Story
This 'My Story' has received excellent feedback from our child's head teacher and was adapted from a version from Durham LA. As a working document it is important that we as adoptive parents update our children's 'My Story' as often as is required. The document linked her is fully editable so please feel free to alter it to suite your needs.

RAMP - Reducing Anxiety Management Plan has been shared by Croft Primary School. This is a great resource they use to recognise different states a child has and what they can use to support them. It will need to be personalised for each child and completed with the support of the parents/carers.

Support/Advice/Research/Training

The Yellow Kite is set up to advocate for a special tribe of children and young people who have been misunderstood and misinterpreted in our schools and communities for too long.

Adoption UK have a range of training designed to make education a successful environment for children who have suffered early trauma, neglect or abuse.

SafeBase for schools is run by After Adoption and is an innovative programme developed to help schools effectively support young adopted pupils. Teaching staff will come away understanding the challenges adopted children face and have practical strategies to help these children reach their full potential in the classroom. They also have a teenager version.

Training for Professionals These courses are suitable for professionals working with looked after, adopted or vulnerable children. For further information on the course content please follow the link.

The Lost Children Of Trauma, produced by adopters and adoptees to raise awareness of the support needs of traumatised children. Open Nests first animation.

Lets Learn Together (Please follow this link) - has been commissioned by the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Board. It is written by an adopter with contributions from other adoptive parents, using recommendations from internationally renowned experts on trauma and attachment, plus a wealth of information gained through the training department of Adoption UK. Shared by Inspired Foundations.

Another course from Inspired foundations is Attachment and Trauma training is available as an on-site option for educational settings such as schools and nurseries. We offer full and half day, as well as twilight sessions which can tailored to the particular needs of your organisation and of the children your setting caters for.

Brighter Thinking – A New Animation The Open Nest invited adoptive parents to share ways they felt unsupported by friends and family, and also share the ways that their support networks got it right too. This is the animation based on that research, please view and share.

There is no universal rating system for clips and books etc that we all use in our teaching but from an adoptive parents point of view check with parents where possible and use PEGI rating or common sense media.

Please follow these links to Training for Schools from PAC-UK and information about their affordable book A Good Practice Guide for Schools Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Children who are Looked After, Fostered, Adopted or otherwise Permanently Placed.

Thrive teaches you how to be, and what to do, with children’s differing and sometimes challenging behaviour. As a result, children become more self-assured and ready to engage with life and learning. Thrive is underpinned by neuroscience and attachment research, Thrive training provides a targeted intervention.

Fagus is a unique, educational resource which provides a system for schools to monitor, review and support children’s emotional and social development. The website also has some great information about attachment theory.

Getting it Right for Every Child - A schools' guide to working with adopted children and their families. This guide contains good advice, and practical suggestions, for teachers and other staff in school so that they can better help those adopted children who need it. This is a great guide to share with all your staff. Shared by Inspired Foundations.

Let's Learn Together. Written with Northern Ireland in mind but a great resource for all schools as it contains an insight into how early relational trauma affects brain development, why school can be challenging for adopted children, and how we can help to improve the experience for all children by paying attention to the needs of the most vulnerable. Shared by Inspired Foundations.

Won't Do or Can't Do? Is a guide for schools on supporting children whose early life experiences have affected their ability to function effectively and responsibly within the school environment. This article will help you to begin to understand some of the issues that will underpin their behaviour and attitude and in turn help you to support them more fully. Shared by Inspired Foundations.

Supporting Adopted Children in School. This booklet, produced by the Essex County Council Post Adoption Team, offers practical strategies to help parents and teachers work together most effectively and offers a greater understanding of how a child’s past experiences can affect their ability to cope within school. Shared by Inspired Foundations.

Pupil Premium Plus

Helping Our Children at School – Using the Pupil Premium Plus
Garreth Marr delivers an update on the excellent work he is doing on using the Pupil Prememium Plus

The Pupil Premium How schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement

This guide for effective pupil premium reviews has been developed by the Teaching Schools Council working with Sir John Dunford, National Pupil Premium Champion. It has been developed for system leaders and school leaders and provides a rigorous and tested framework which reviewers and supported schools can use to make the most of a pupil premium review.

Effective pupil premium reviews A guide developed by the Teaching Schools Council and Sir John Dunford, Pupil Premium Champion

A Guide to Pupil Premium. Excellent guide which introduces Pupil Premium and gives ideas for how it could be spent on individuals or groups.

PAC-UK's Education Service has put together a useful guide on Pupil Premium Plus which clearly sets out eligibility criteria, how funding can be accessed, what it can be used for and other vital information for adoptive parents and other permanent carers as well school staff and social workers.

Pupil Premium for Adopted Children by Caroline Thomas, BAAF March 2015. The case studies described aim to promote adopted children’s educational and personal development through appropriate use of the Pupil Premium. The messages are intended to enable adoptive families and schools to consider the potential application of innovative approaches facilitated by the availability of this resource.

Using the Pupil Premium Plus - Teaching the Teachers. Another great blog from Garreth Marr. "If our children succeed at school, they will succeed in life. Working in partnership with our children’s schools we can achieve this and PP+ is the fuel that can power this partnership."

Transitions

Children with attachment difficulty will find transition difficult, especially when it coincides with loss - such as leaving primary school for secondary school. They will often try to reject the primary school before they leave but this may only present itself at home. The list of links below may help support these children and all children as they transition.