Accredited by Jennifer Nock Training and Consultancy, the award aims to provide a framework of support and understanding for schools to support children and young people who have experienced adversity and assist in helping them to heal, thrive, play and learn.

The Award is external recognition of the commitment of Rockliffe Manor’s school staff and the work they do to develop a culture of compassion and nurture. This plays a key role in getting children and young people into a state of ‘learning readiness’.

Jennifer Nock commented “I would like to warmly congratulate you and the rest of the staff on achieving the Award, which is an external sign of recognition of your commitment to the steps you have taken at Rockliffe Manor Primary School to develop a culture of compassion and nurture. This, as you well know, plays a pivotal role in getting your pupils into a state of ‘learning readiness’.

“I hope that you will celebrate your achievement with pupils, staff, governors, parents/carers and other stakeholders to celebrate the school’s commitment to its children, successfully removing barriers to learning and participation in the life of the school. I have felt particularly privileged to share your journey.”

We are really proud of members of our whole school team, who work together on a daily basis to ensure our children receive the very best support. This Award is a real accolade and a great achievement.

Here is some of the report feedback from the Attachment and Trauma Sensitive School’s Award judges: 

• Staff are skilled in monitoring excitement and anxiety, and they have a deep understanding of survival behaviours.  They make appropriate interventions to provide coregulation, using a ‘connection before correction’ approach, so physiological and emotional comfort is restored as part of the coregulation process, and reflection and restorative dialogue only takes place once a child is regulated in their body and emotions.
• Staff frequently mentioned the importance of supporting children to stay within their window of stress tolerance through recognising and minimising triggers. They described a wide range of grounding strategies and spoke of the importance of having a deep knowledge of each child as an individual; there is no ‘cookie-cutter’ approach to meeting needs and all support is individualised and personal. Exit plans, where required, are developmentally appropriate and enable children to ask for help and support when becoming uncomfortable or overwhelmed. Managing anxiety and dysregulation is a particular strength of at Rockliffe Manor Primary School.’
• There is an emphasis on children’s past experiences as a tool for understanding the child in the present. Throughout all the interviews, staff demonstrated sensitivity to children’s histories and experiences. They were able to share comprehensive details about the background and adverse experiences of pupils in the school, to explain how these experiences have impacted development and to describe how they are working with the children to support regulation and develop pro-social behaviour.
• You have a range of strategies in place for supporting parents and carers in understanding child development and attachment relationships. Strategies are largely informal in nature, and particularly engage parents … Evidence about the support you offer to children and families was compelling and moving. You demonstrate deep empathy in relation to the daily struggles that families face. Connection with and care for families is a particular strength of the school.
• There is a strong focus on multi-sensory learning and play. This, combined with the emphasis on making learning fun and individual attention for each child, is an excellent recipe for helping children to become fully engaged with learning. The range of opportunities offered to pupils is impressive, and again, individually tailored to each child. Staff spoke about enrichment activities and how feedback from the children informs planning for future activities and trips. Multi-sensory learning is beneficial to the children in so many ways, for example building cognitive skills, such as cause and effect reasoning; sensory development; social and emotional development and to decompress, reflect and relax. Staff reflect on how to make playtime appropriate and playful and understand the impact of play deprivation. This again is a particular strength of the school.

To find out more about this Award, visit www.attachmentandtraumasensitiveschoolsaward.com.