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A useful timeline of historical developments and educational advancements relating to HI children

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Timeline of developments of rights and educational advancements of deaf people.docx

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Store photos and docs online. Access them from any PC, Mac or phone. Create and work together on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents.

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Misdiagnosis and labelling, the dangers .

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Misdiagnosis and labelling, the dangers .

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Interesting article reporting the stigma attached to a child who remains undiagnosed in the educational system and the stigma and pressure attached to parents when deciding to address a child who may have SEN

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Well over half of teachers think parental pressure is leading to children without special educational needs being misdiagnosed while those with genuine problems miss out.

A large majority of teachers (57 per cent) think there is a misdiagnosis of SEN in children, according to the survey from GL Assessment, with a similar proportion (54 per cent) blaming parental pressure. Barely a quarter of teachers (26 per cent) say misdiagnosis isn't an issue.

Over three-fifths of teachers (62 per cent) think those with genuine needs are missing out because resources are being diverted to children that don't really need help, with less than a fifth (18 per cent) disagreeing.

Almost three-quarters of teachers (72 per cent) believe some parents want their child to be labelled as having a learning difficulty even though there is little objective evidence to support that status. Only one in ten (10 per cent) disagree.

When asked why they thought parents pushed for a diagnosis, almost two-thirds of teachers (64 per cent) said it was because some parents wanted a medical or psychological explanation rather than being willing to accept that their child had a classroom problem that could be addressed by a teacher.

However, a large minority (39 per cent) thought it was because some parents wanted a label to help their child gain a competitive advantage in exams, though a similar proportion (37 per cent) thought that wasn't the case.

On the whole, teachers in the survey, which polled more than 800 teachers across the UK, thought most parents were supportive. Two-thirds (65 per cent) thought parental interaction with them and their schools was appropriate. Only a quarter (25 per cent) thought it was lacking with one in ten (10 per cent) believing it was intrusive and inappropriate.

Individual parents, however, presented a much bigger problem. Over half of all teachers polled (52 per cent) complained that at least one parent took up so much of their time that it was difficult to give others sufficient attention, with two-fifths (41 per cent) saying they had to deal with more than one difficult parent.

Lorraine Petersen, a special needs expert and former chief executive of National Association of Special Educational Needs, said she wasn't surprised by the findings. "Most parents will work on the assumption that the quicker you assess why a child is having difficulties and give him or her a label, the faster you can get extra support. There may also be a sense of relief that comes with being able to 'blame' a diagnosed disorder. Parents may think people will be a lot less judgemental of a child's behaviour - and their parenting skills - if they know the child has a label."

Some parents, she pointed out, had the opposite problem and were in complete denial about the support their children needed and resisted having them on a SEN register. But at the other extreme were parents who were looking for a label even though their child may not require one. "They feel a label will give the child and perhaps the family additional support that they may not get without it; access to benefits, for instance, or support with exams or a place in a specialist setting."

Greg Watson, Chief Executive of GL Assessment, said: "Few things are more difficult for a teacher to deal with than a frustrated parent who cannot understand why their child is not doing as well at school as the parent feels they should. Parents naturally want to know why. But the fact is that a lot of issues children present are best addressed in the classroom not in the clinic, they don't necessarily need a label and their condition may even be temporary.

"A SEN diagnosis is often about finding the one thing which is holding back a child who might otherwise do much better, rather than identifying a child with a broad difficulty in learning," Greg adds. "That's why the classroom solution is so often better. Accurate assessment, personalised teaching and targeted support can often overcome a specific difficulty without the disruption that an external intervention can cause to teacher and pupil."

Greg Watson adds: "It's great that parents are so committed, that certainly came out in the survey. In some cases parental involvement helps get to the root of the problem, and that's a great thing. I think the bigger worry is when parents maybe aren't engaged and teachers don't have the tools they need. Then there's a risk of a child being overlooked."

Sue Thompson, Senior Publisher at GL Assessment, said it was imperative that teachers were given as much help as possible to distinguish those children who had learning difficulties that could be addressed by a teacher from those who needed more specialist medical help: "Teachers have to be allowed to make the necessary identification of a child's educational needs with the appropriate diagnostic tools. It cannot be right that they feel pressured to mislabel children or that educational problems are misdiagnosed as medical ones."

- Ends -
Notes for editors
Research was conducted for GL Assessment by YouGov, which polled 810 teachers between 19 th January and 1 st February 2017.

GL Assessment's 'Hooked on labels not on needs' report will be available to download from gl-assessment.co.uk/hookedonlabels from Friday 24 February.
For further information contact:
Mark Cooper or Sara Viglione at Gerard Kelly & Partners
0203 763 2703 / 2702 mark.cooper@gkandpartners.com

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Misdiagnosis of SEN in schools means children are overlooked

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Well over half of teachers think parental pressure is leading to children without special educational needs being misdiagnosed while those with genuine problems miss out. A large majority of teachers (57 per cent) think there is a misdiagnosis of SEN in children, according to the survey from GL Assessment, with a similar proportion (54 per cent) blaming parental pressure.

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Impact on Education - Children in Need or at Risk.

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Impact on Education - Children in Need or at Risk.

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The impact on education will often be determined by the nature of the need or risk. Examples of impact:
- difficulties focusing on school work as mind elsewhere.
- behaviour issues
- attendance or timekeeping barriers
- SEMH
- lack of self-esteem/motivation or problems with sense of identity
- poorer educational engagement
- attachment issues
- can become victims of bullies
- attainment levels can be set too low.

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Disabled children are at greater risk of harm. Research, mainly conducted outside the UK though, has indicated that these children are three times as likely to suffer abuse. Of these children, the ones most at risk are those with behaviour/conduct disorders, children with learning disabilities and issues regarding speech and language barriers.

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Disabled children are at greater risk of harm. Research, mainly conducted outside the UK though, has indicated that these children are three times as likely to suffer abuse. Of these children, the ones most at risk are those with behaviour/conduct disorders, children with learning disabilities and issues regarding speech and language barriers.

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In the US, disabled children were found to be 3.8 times more likely to be neglected or physically abused, 3.1 times more likely to be sexually abused and 3.9 times more likely to be emotionally abused.  When combined, these figure represent a 31% likelihood of abuse compared to 9% for non-disabled children.  In the UK, there has been similar reported statistics but it is documented that there is a general and widespread lack of both local and national data.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/190544/00374-2009DOM-EN.pdf

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What a selection of reviews!! Jacaranda, SPDN, TCRU, the Fostering Network and the Derbyshire Model - amazing. You guys absolutely ROCK! :) Well done. These are super useful for your Report. Well done all of you.
Shereen's timeline is incredibly useful - thank you Rachael for sharing your notes too.

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A recruitment service, established in 2003, placing social workers and social pedagogues from around the world in a wide range of settings.

Offers training and consultancy.

Contributes voluntarily to UK development of social pedagogy

Jacaranda works collaboratively with Professor Pat Petrie, Professor Claire Cameron, ThemPra and others on large scale projects, such as the Head, Heart, Hands programme, and Scaling Up Social Pedagogy.

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If you're new to social pedagogy, why not watch this short video. Stuart provides supported lodging to young people leaving care. He participated in the Head, Heart, Hands program and has gone on to qualify as a social pedagogy practitioner. Listen to him talk about the positive and significant impact social pedagogy has had on his practice.

The identity of social pedagogy is in its values and approaches to work with people. As an academic discipline, the theoretical foundation draws from related fields, such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, education, medicine, politics and law. In addition, social pedagogy includes practical and creative activities such as sport, outdoor activities, music and arts. This does not restrict the application of social pedagogy to so-called direct work, but rather prompts us to reconsider our approach to social interaction with service-users in all aspects of work in social care and social work.

As an approach with a humanist value-base, social pedagogy offers a coherent way of thinking and working across complex systems. The social pedagogical setting or practice is held within an institutional context, which in turn is part of the wider community and society, including the political context. Theory underpins practice, both practice and theory link to policy, and research informs all areas. In the words of Karl Mager (1844) "Social Pedagogy is the theory of all the personal, social and moral education in a given society, including the description of what has happened in practice." Social pedagogy can be applied in any work setting where the focus is to support individuals and/or groups. It enables staff to support children and adults alike in order to overcome challenging life situations, and social pedagogical leadership supports this work. The aim is to initiate and support processes of empowerment, the creation of learning opportunities with trajectories to growth and wellbeing. Social pedagogy simultaneously aims for more inclusive systems of community and society by effecting change within these systems. The social pedagogue works alongside people, in interaction with them and also acting within and on systems - be they institutional, community and/or societal. Part of the meaning of the "social" in social pedagogy is a solidarity with vulnerable and marginalised individuals and groups; a social pedagogue supports them, with the aim of reducing their vulnerability and marginalisation. In their work, social pedagogues use broadly educational means, working towards social justice. Social pedagogy practice is focussed on purposefully and reflectively building relationship with the service-user and realising the potential of the relationship, which can be strengthened through social interaction and joint activities. The social pedagogue steers this relationship and common activities in such a way that they result in authentic, positive experiences. An important dimension of social pedagogy is to empower people in a democratic way to achieve positive and lasting change. This is well described in the words of Chinese thinker and social philosopher, Confucius (551bc-479bc):

'Tell me and I forget Show me and I remember Let me do and I understand'

Social pedagogy has long history in continental Europe and a growing level of interest in the UK and Ireland. Jacaranda is an approved assessment centre for two qualification at levels 3 and 5. Why not contact us to learn more about the general development of social pedagogy in the UK?

Jacaranda offers work-based learning and development in social pedagogy. We provide systemic support which helps to realise the efficacy of your investment. Changes in beliefs and ways of doing do not occur in bubbles, nor solely on the front-line; research, learning theories and our experience show the importance of a systems approach in fostering meaningful practice development. See Develop for further details. Jacaranda Recruitment provides social pedagogues, social educators and social workers (HCPC registered) with a social pedagogic orientation. See Recruit for further details.

Winkler, M. (1988) Eine Theorie der Sozialpädagogik. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.

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If you're new to social pedagogy, why not watch this short video. Stuart provides supported lodging to young people leaving care. He participated in the Head, Heart, Hands program and has gone on to qualify as a social pedagogy practitioner. Listen to him talk about the positive and significant impact social pedagogy has had on his practice.

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Time line of social pedagogy that I have created, some useful key dates.

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Time line of social pedagogy that I have created, some useful key dates.

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SPDN - Social Pedagogy Development Network

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SPDN - Social Pedagogy Development Network

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1.       Set up in 2009 by Thempra, but has partnership with Jacaranda Development, Treehouse Associates, CUSP and SPPA, to run events nationally for those who wish to share their experiences of social pedagogy and those who seek to learn more.

2.       The network is based around Parallel Action (Burns, 2007) – This suggests that those follow something that matters to them are more likely to make changes occur.

3.       The events also include pedagogical activities for those who attend, this is to help the attendees gather a better idea what social pedagogy is about.

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Our Vision for Developing Social Pedagogy in the UK

Since the first social pedagogy pilot by the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care in 2007, there has been an ever growing number of organisations exploring the potential of social pedagogy, and many different small and big projects have emerged across the UK. Whilst most of these projects have focused on residential child care settings, some also included foster carers, social workers, teachers, youth workers and early years' professionals. Artists working with looked-after children have also shown a keen interest in the contribution social pedagogy could make to the creative arts.

Much of the enthusiasm around social pedagogy has been fanned by the fact that social pedagogy cannot be implemented by simply importing it from continental Europe. Instead, its implementation builds on existing good practice and connects to traditions in the UK closely related to social pedagogy, such as youth work (Eichsteller & Raper, 2006), social work (Smith & Whyte, 2007) or the Camphill philosophy (Jackson, 2011). In this sense there is much from which to develop a UK tradition of social pedagogy, some of which needs rediscovering, reclaiming or re-thinking. At the same time there is also something new and exciting about social pedagogy. It provides an overarching and coherent framework that focuses on holistic well-being and learning based on a positive concept of children as 'rich', competent and active agents. It offers sound theoretical concepts about the importance of developing strong, authentic relationships in order to support the inclusion of individuals into society. Many professionals can therefore identify with social pedagogy on a personal and professional level.

In order to provide a forum for professionals who are passionate about social pedagogy and want to explore it further, we decided to set up the Social Pedagogy Development Network (SPDN) in late 2009. Co-ordinated and facilitated by us at ThemPra, it is organised in partnership with Jacaranda Development, Treehouse Associates, the Centre for Understanding Social Pedagogy (CUSP) at the UCL Institute of Education, and the Social Pedagogy Professional Association. Its events are hosted by different organisations keen to share their experiences around social pedagogy. Over the course of ten years the SPDN has become a grassroots movement for people and organisations that are interested in social pedagogy and want to nurture it at a local and national level. This community of practice is underpinned by social pedagogic principles of engaging in open dialogue, valuing people and their experiences, and connecting with others in a democratic way. Social pedagogy is thus brought to life in people's unique ways, and through the exchange and relationships with others we can ensure that it grows on ideas and traditions from within the UK, whilst also being inspired by ideas and traditions from other countries. For this reason the SPDN offers an 'oasis' that encourages a rich and colourful diversity of social pedagogy 'flowers' to blossom together. This means we provide the conditions for participants to engage with each other around the themes or issues that people feel most passionate about, thus enabling shared ownership for the SPDN.

Most importantly, the network is based on the idea of parallel action (Burns, 2007) which suggests that change occurs where people can pursue what matters to them. By forming self-organised 'clusters' they can initiate multiple, creative and parallel action streams which reinforce each other, thus leading to change. Parallel action streams could be regional networks of organisations interested or engaged in social pedagogy, higher education institutions wanting to explore how to incorporate social pedagogy into qualifications, people with an interest in restorative justice or therapeutic child care getting together to think how these relate to social pedagogy, different providers forming alliances to promote social pedagogy at a political level, or interested organisations exploring opportunities for (inter-)national exchanges - the SPDN provides the forum for such groups to emerge. Following Margaret Mead's words, the SPDN is about bringing together small groups of thoughtful, committed citizens in order to make a difference.

To keep the development of social pedagogy diverse and colourful, we want to enable as many organisations as possible to be part of this dialogue. Therefore places are free of charge, with different organisations agreeing to host one of the biannual meetings. So far, the SPDN has brought together over 1,250 participants from more than 200 different organisations. Interestingly, there has been a fantastic mix of participants' backgrounds, ranging from frontline practitioners, senior managers and policy-makers to students and academics - some with an emerging curiosity about social pedagogy, others with a well-rounded understanding. All of them have been keen to bring their passion and expertise to the table and thus engage in the dialogue from a social work, youth work, residential child care, foster care, outdoor education, teaching, early years, children's advocacy, family support, community work, health care and psycho-therapeutic perspective. Through the enthusiastic interest within Camphill Communities we've also had participants working with adults with disabilities bring their tradition and philosophy to social pedagogy, thereby demonstrating the relevance of social pedagogy for adult services. In a social pedagogical spirit we welcome further perspectives at the SPDN.

Each SPDN event aims to provide a flavour of social pedagogy to those who are relatively new to the subject whilst also offering opportunities to further develop the wider discourse around social pedagogy. We have previously done this by exploring particular themes over different events, usually initiated by a short presentation from a leading academic and then further discussed by all participants. However, not least since there are now frequent conferences on social pedagogy, we have recently revisited the foundational vision of the SPDN as a grassroots movement concerned with developing social pedagogy from the ground up. What distinguishes the SPDN events from a conference is the strong emphasis on dialogue and providing an open forum for participants to relate their own thoughts and perspectives. By jointly engaging in a meaning-making process we can arrive at a better understanding of what the key principles are in social pedagogy, how social pedagogy can be conceptualised in different practice settings and what it can contribute to improving these. This process is further made meaningful through several organisations sharing examples from developing social pedagogy within their organisational culture in different ways and their experiences, challenges and learning.

As social pedagogy is about engaging with 'head, heart and hands', SPDN events also have an active aspect to them. Besides the enjoyment and energy built up through these social pedagogical activities, they help provide participants with a practical understanding of what social pedagogy is about as they help build positive relationships between participants by engaging in a shared activity - or what social pedagogues call 'the Common Third'. For instance, the process participants went through when given a challenge - to build in small groups with very few materials a protective device for a raw egg about to be dropped from a balcony - led to fascinating reflections about how relationships had quickly developed amongst people who had never met but had to solve an intriguing challenge together; how different roles were developed, allocated or claimed within each group and what contributions these roles could make within a group; how important it was to groups whether the egg would break and how they valued the process compared to the outcome; and how participants drew on their creativity to find unique solutions for protecting the egg, realising that their creativity was perhaps the most important resource.

Whilst the SPDN offers unique opportunities for participants' own professional development, its main concern is to help participants connect to like-minded professionals both regionally and nationally in order to influence wider change for children and young people. The idea is very simply to 'be the change you wish to see in the world' as Gandhi stated. This spirit seems to strongly resonate with participants who bring to the SPDN a palpable passion and determination to use social pedagogy as a catalyst for improving conditions for children and young people. For them, social pedagogy encapsulates why they decided to work with children and young people in the first place and connects to their professional and personal philosophies, which is why it brings out a level of passion which has much impressed international guests who have joined some of the SPDN meetings in the past. Considering the collective determination, the future seems a little brighter and we hope that more participants from a wider range of professions are eager to join us at one of our next meetings to help us develop more compelling visions of how to improve services for children and young people through social pedagogy. If you would like to become involved in the Social Pedagogy Development Network or receive further details, we look forward to hearing from you - all you need to do is send us an email. You can find further details about previous SPDN meetings and social pedagogy more generally on our website, and you can also register your place at the next SPDN meeting.

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The Idea of the SPDN - ThemPra Social Pedagogy

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Our Vision for Developing Social Pedagogy in the UK Since the first social pedagogy pilot by the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care in 2007, there has been an ever growing number of organisations exploring the potential of social pedagogy, and many different small and big projects have emerged across the UK.

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CAYA`S underpinning conceptual framework identified significant benefits to practice when implementing social pedagogic values . CAYA support staff engaged in a programme of learning (in conjunction with Jacaranda). This model identified the need for social pedagogic values to be recognised through education; after successful piloting in residential care settings , however; some values including equality and empowerment were noted as not being met . This could suggest that in order for social pedagogy to be fully established in mainstream education, the voice of the carer not being respected or valued has a distinct impact on how well social pedagogy is implemented has an effect on future positive outcomes .
Overarching improvements to be made in order to achieve this vision include:
* Development of comprehensive service model
* Improving learner participation
*Tackle anti-poverty strategies in order to reduce the socio-economic attainment gap
*Ensuring improved outcomes for learners by the development of improved information sharing

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Tracy Mills:                                             The Fostering Network is a foster care charity:	     They offer a number of innovative projects and programmes to improve the outcomes for fostered children and young people.      	Foster parents are included in the team around the child including, social workers, education and the child’s birth family. To enable the child to reach their full potential.                                A variety of support is offered, emergency care, short/long term, permanent, short break care or support care.                              Around two-fifths of the children in care are aged 11 to 15 years. 

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Tracy Mills:                                             The Fostering Network is a foster care charity:	     They offer a number of innovative projects and programmes to improve the outcomes for fostered children and young people.      	Foster parents are included in the team around the child including, social workers, education and the child’s birth family. To enable the child to reach their full potential.                                A variety of support is offered, emergency care, short/long term, permanent, short break care or support care.                              Around two-fifths of the children in care are aged 11 to 15 years. 

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https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/advice-information/all-about-fostering/who-needs-fostering

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Established in 1973 by Psychologist Jack Tizard - focus on the institutionalisation of the care of young children in health and education settings.

They conduct research into a variety of topic areas  focusing closely on children and families that are most vulnerable to social and economic adversity

Research themes include:

Early Childhood Education and Care

Families, Food and Environment

Gender, Work and Family

Children, Young People and Families: Care, Education, Health and Wellbeing

Intimacies, Relationships and Identities

Inequality, Intersectionality and Intergenerational Relations

Migration, Mobility and Diversity

Social Pedagogy

Weekly seminars are held where speakers are invited to discuss their work related to these themes mentioned above.

Amber

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In case anyone would find this useful and possibly not completely accurate as poppy was ‘helping’! Had to reassemble a few times and have probably missed loads! 

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In case anyone would find this useful and possibly not completely accurate as poppy was ‘helping’! Had to reassemble a few times and have probably missed loads! 

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Foster Care Charity

Everyday there are around  65,000 children living with 55,000 foster families in the UK. Every 20 minutes another child comes into care needing a foster family. The majority of these children are placed in care due to abuse or neglect.

Strategic Aims:

Provide opportunities for children and young people that benefit them, make their voices heard and enable them to reach their potential.

Promote foster care to ensure society understands, values and recognises how foster carers transform children’s lives.

Influence policy and the legislative framework so it supports and promotes excellence in foster care.

Support fostering families and the services that work with them to provide the best possible care for children and young people.

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Everyday there are around 65,000 children living with 55,000 foster families in the UK. Every 20 minutes another child comes into care needing a foster family. The majority of these children are placed in care due to abuse or neglect.

Foster families give children the love, support and stability that they so desperately need. This is often their first positive experience of family life. We are here for every fostered child and their carer.

Outcomes for children in care are lower than their peers. For example only 15 per cent achieve an A-C grade in English and Maths, compared to almost 60 per cent of their peers not in care. However we also know that 30 per cent of children in care have a statement of special educational need and 60 per cent experience emotional or mental health problems.

Despite the trauma of coming into care and their difficult start to life, we know that good foster care is a protective factor for fostered children's education and wellbeing. Good foster care transforms children's lives and enables them to flourish. That's why we work to make foster care the very best it can be.

Find out more about what we do.

Over the next year over 8,000 new foster families are needed. Could you foster?

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Everyday there are around 65,000 children living with 55,000 foster families in the UK. Every 20 minutes another child comes into care needing a foster family. The majority of these children are placed in care due to abuse or neglect. Foster families give children the love, support and stability that they so desperately need.

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Jacaranda Recruitment

Established in 2003, Jacaranda Recruitment Ltd have aimed to:

-        Provide learning and development courses in social pedagogy to support providers of social services and to provide a stable workforce who can work relationally and holistically.

-        Provide guidance for social pedagogic projects.

-        Continue their Involvement in the development and set-up of the Social Pedagogy Professional Association and the Social Pedagogy Development Network.

On their website there are a number of useful resources.

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Our vision and purpose is to support providers of social services to achieve stable workforces which work relationally and holistically. We do this by providing:

permanent recruitment of social workers

permanent recruitment of social pedagogues

learning and development courses in social pedagogy

systemic support for transformation programmes

the Crossfields Institute Level 3 and Level 5 Diplomas in Social Pedagogy

Since 2003 we have assisted organisations reduce their agency costs and achieve more stability in staff teams. We're proud to have recruited many social workers from around the world who have progressed their careers here. In 2004 one of our first candidates was offered a permanent social work post - fast forward to over a decade later when Bianka won the 2016 Social Worker of the Year Award.

We are passionate about the development of social pedagogy. We recruit social pedagogues and offer learning and development courses, including the Crossfields Institute Level 3 and Level 5 Diplomas in Social Pedagogy. We offer guidance for development programmes, from small projects to national developments. To learn more about the positive impact of social pedagogy development, please see our video and more on our social pedagogy pages.
Read here about the first group of staff and foster carers to graduate with the Crossfields Institute Level 3 Diploma in Social Pedagogy.
We support the wider development of social pedagogy via our involvement in the set-up of the Social Pedagogy Professional Association and the Social Pedagogy Development Network.

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Our vision and purpose is to support providers of social services to achieve stable workforces which work relationally and holistically.

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The project aims were

1) to develop an understanding of the current and existing competences (with regards to social pedagogy) of staff working with looked after children in the county of Derbyshire;

2) to understand their training needs in the context of social pedagogy;

3)  to make recommendations for development work to implement a new and sustained training and CPD approach across the county.

The idea of introducing and embedding a culture of social pedagogy across DCC received widespread support from across all research respondents. The approach was seen to have far reaching benefits for young people, practitioners, managers and foster carers alike. Where concerns were expressed, these related to the resources required to embed this approach more widely and concerns that this might be seen rather more as an initiative than a widespread cultural change.
Also changing the terminology 'social pedagogy' could aid the understanding and adoption of the approach across all sectors.

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These are fantastic descriptions of the social work serious case review failings. Well done everyone - please do read through this whilst we are working online and remotely from home - these will give context to the social pedagogic principles. How could they have recognised / intervened sooner if they had followed any of the principles sooner? And would it have just been the change or does it need to be completely embedded in practice to be effective?

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Northamptonshire child murders: Care failings revealed

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Northamptonshire child murders: Care failings revealed

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A toddler murdered by his father was deemed by carers as "unlikely to suffer harm", while concerns about the welfare of another child who was later killed were dismissed, reviews have found.

Amber
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-48518872

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It is claimed that major failings from a lack of communication by Norfolk County Council’s children’s service, left Child V and her older brother vulnerable to abuse by their father (Grimmer 2018). Missed opportunities by professionals prevented appropriate safeguarding measures being taken that could have prevented Child V’s death. Inexperienced practitioners and optimistic attitudes from the over-stretched service resulted in Child V being shaken to death by her father, despite a history of domestic abuse.

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2014 Getty Images

A six-month-old baby, shaken to death by her father, was let down by professionals and an under-strain system which should have paid more heed to previous domestic abuse within the family, a review has found.

The father of the girl, known as Child V, was convicted of her manslaughter in December last year and a serious case review has just been published by the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board.

It reveals a string of occasions over the three years between 2013 and the child's death in March 2016, when opportunities to put in extra safeguards and support for the Norfolk family - which might have prevented the tragic baby's terrible fate - were missed.

Social workers, who had been focusing on the family because of concerns about the impact of domestic abuse on the baby's older brother, were too optimistic that the relationship between the father and the girl's mother had been patched up.

And a process which was meant to help police, social workers and health visitors share information was not working properly. The report says the multi-agency safeguarding hub at that time, when Norfolk County Council's children's service department had been rated inadequate by Oftsed inspectors, was not up to scratch.

And that meant a police notification of a claim of sexual assault allegation, which led to no further action, in 2013 was not shared properly.

That meant health visitors never had a proper record of it and an opportunity of intervention and targeted help was lost.

The report found that the safeguarding hub had been in a state of flux at the time and had been reduced to "simplistic systems and ad hoc information sharing symptomatic of a service under strain".

After a suicide attempt by the children's father in 2014, a health visitor noted that he had started to shift responsibility for that attempt on to his partner.

But that was not shared with the social worker, when it should have been, as it was a "significant" sign of "ongoing abuse and coercive control".

The mother later left the home, but returned soon after in 2014. Despite a social worker's continued concerns, their team manager "enthusiastically embraced a progressive and proactive approach", that the couple should get relationship therapy.

The review states that, given the history of violence and abuse, the use of that was "highly questionable" and it was delivered by "an inexperienced and untrained practitioner". Children's services ended their intervention in September 2014. In 2015, a daughter was born prematurely and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Staff there were not informed of the domestic abuse history.

The child was allowed home three months later, in November 2015, where the family were supported by the community health service.

But the report says the health visitor had failed to analyse how parental sleep deprivation and the father's concerns over his job prospects could impact on their ability to parent the child.

It says: "With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that serious stressors were emerging".

In February 2016 the little girl was admitted to hospital with a head injury. She was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, but her life support was switched off in March 2, because it was clear she would not recover. Her father was subsequently jailed for manslaughter. The review made a series of recommendations for all the agencies involved to learn from following the tragedy.

They include the need for better sharing of information, an improved understanding of how best to deal with domestic violence and more robust systems to resolve differences of opinion among professionals.

Sara Tough, director of children's services at Norfolk County Council, said: "V's death is a tragedy and our sympathies remain with her mother and family.

"Although we were not working with her family during V's short life, it is clear that the earlier impact of domestic abuse on her sibling was not fully understood by those supporting the family.

"This has been raised in previous reviews and, as a council, we now have a nationally recognised programme to train staff in understanding the signs and impact of domestic violence."

Sian Larrington, head of service for Norfolk Young People's Health Services (part of Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust). which provides health visiting services across Norfolk, said: "Our health visitors work incredibly hard to support families and keep children safe on a daily basis and we sincerely apologise that, working alongside partner agencies, we did not meet our own high standards in this tragic case."

She added: " We have implemented a range of actions to respond to the review's multi-agency recommendations. A two day training programme focussing on domestic abuse has been introduced with over 100 practitioners trained across the service. "Named safeguarding lead nurses are available to provide advice, guidance and supervision to practitioners and respond speedily to any concerns identified.

"In addition, we have increased the resources available to support our partnership working with the multi-agency safeguarding hub, including in relation to information sharing and recording.

"We are confident that, having taken on the provision of the health visiting service in October 2015, the developments we have introduced have improved the knowledge, skills and confidence of our practitioners to work proactively with colleagues and families, including when domestic abuse is known to be a factor in a child's life."

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Critical review reveals chances missed to support family in which father shook baby to death

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2014 Getty Images A six-month-old baby, shaken to death by her father, was let down by professionals and an under-strain system which should have paid more heed to previous domestic abuse within the family, a review has found.

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Nadiya - Child protection plans ended because of agency view that mother loved her children and that was enough despite knowing she struggled with previous 3 children. 

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Nadiya - Child protection plans ended because of agency view that mother loved her children and that was enough despite knowing she struggled with previous 3 children. 

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Agency workers’ unfounded positive view of a mother’s ability to cope and raise her children meant the children’s needs were dismissed by agencies and support not put in place even though historical circumstances in the family gave social workers and agencies  ‘continued concerns’.

A failure to convene a child in need meeting was probably due in part to staff shortages at the council, which received an ‘inadequate’ judgement from Ofsted in March 2015, weeks after the case review was commissioned.  A “mistaken belief that it would not be possible to work with parental resistance” also played a part.

Nadiya ended up in hospital with multiple fractures and brain haemorrhage.

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Workforce pressures within Leicester council's children's services influenced an "incorrect" decision to end four siblings' child protection plans, a review into injuries sustained by the youngest child has found.

The move came "despite escalating concerns and increasing non-engagement" by the baby girl's mother and her partner, the serious case review, one of two published last week by Leicester's safeguarding children board, found.

Services provided by over-optimistic professionals "mirrored the chaos" the children experienced at home, and failed to protect them, the scathing investigation report said.

A failure to convene a child in need meeting was probably due in part to staff shortages at the council, which received an 'inadequate' judgement from Ofsted in March 2015, weeks after the case review was commissioned, the report said. A "mistaken belief that it would not be possible to work with parental resistance" also played a part, it added.

Instead the cases were closed, leaving the baby, named as 'Nadiya', and her siblings at continuing risk of harm.

Only after Nadiya was taken to hospital suffering from fractures and brain haemorrhages were the children effectively safeguarded, the review found.

Domestic abuse concerns

Nadiya and her siblings had been known to local child protection services for most of their lives. In 2009 their mother reported to the police that she had been subjected to a forced marriage overseas, while still under 18 years old, and had escaped back to the UK, finding herself pregnant with the eldest child, 'Adrian'.

She also reported to children's services soon after Adrian's birth, claiming that her mother might take the baby away from her. But in both instances she subsequently backtracked on the claims, saying they had been exaggerated to help her get housing.

In 2011, aged 18 and having had a second child, 'Jana', the mother began a new relationship with a man, believed to be the father of her third child 'Mohini'.

"There were significant concerns about the father of Mohini's violence to Mother," the review said. "Between December 2011 and March 2013, the police received 14 reports of domestic abuse."

The new partner was arrested for assault on five occasions, but no convictions were pursued because allegations were repeatedly retracted. During the serious case review process, it was found that Mohini's father was known to children's services in his home authority as someone who had been exposed to domestic abuse.

'Limited attention from professionals'

During a one-year period culminating in Nadiya's injuries, the review found all four children were taken to hospital with injuries that indicated "either very poor supervision or deliberate abuse".

"Although the subject of seven child protection conferences and over 30 core group meetings during the period under review, there was not a clear and proactive child protection plan in place," the review said. "There was no assessment or analysis of the nature of risks facing the children, and mother and the father of Mohini were never challenged about their non-engagement with the very few demands made upon them within the child protection process."

No comprehensive pre-birth plan was carried out while Nadiya's mother was pregnant with her new baby, despite known risks and the fact that she was already struggling with her first three children, the review found.

There was an "over-optimism" among some professionals about her ability to cope, and the believe that she loved her children "and this was enough to ensure their wellbeing"," the review found.

This attitude influenced the decision to end the child protection plans, a move that also led to health visitors reducing their involvement, the review found. Other agencies - some of whom had "continued concerns" - should have done more to challenge the decision, it concluded.

'Thresholds not understood'

A second serious case review into a similar incident that saw a baby, 'Robyn', hospitalised in September 2014, found a series of wider failings within Leicester's safeguarding structures.

Robyn's father had also previously been known to social workers because of he and his siblings' exposure to domestic abuse as children.

Two key episodes - one involving bruising to the baby and one involving the father disclosing mental ill-health and thoughts of harming his mother - should have been escalated by the local 'front door' and properly investigated, the review found.

But other professionals, including doctors and other health workers, did too little to explore and refer concerns about Robyn, who was found to have multiple fractures inflicted in at least three separate incidents.

"This case has identified that threshold decisions in the whole are not understood across the [safeguarding] partnership," the review said. "The case clearly had dimensions of risk and early indicators of harm or potential harm yet did not progress into the child protection arena."

'Major overhaul'

The twin reviews made a long list of recommendations, including making good-quality legal advice available to social workers, improving neglect assessments and embedding child protection plan audits into practice.

Jenny Myers, independent chair of Leicester's safeguarding children board, said agencies involved in the reviews had already implemented the changes recommended.

"Since these cases there has been a major overhaul of the LSCB's policies and procedures, reflecting the need for all partners to work more closely together to identify early on when children are at risk," she said.

"The guidance on non-accidental injuries in babies, pre-birth assessments and neglect has all been updated, while robust procedures have been put in place to check on the progress of child protection plans," Myers added.

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Workforce pressures to blame for 'chaotic' social work failures to protect baby, review finds

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Workforce pressures within Leicester council's children's services influenced an "incorrect" decision to end four siblings' child protection plans, a review into injuries sustained by the youngest child has found. The move came "despite escalating concerns and increasing non-engagement" by the baby girl's mother and her partner, the serious case review, one of two published last week by Leicester's safeguarding children board, found.

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Claire Miles                 Victoria Climbié -  Tortured and murdered 2000.  

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Claire Miles                 Victoria Climbié -  Tortured and murdered 2000.  

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Victoria Climbie was sent by her parents from Africa to live with her great aunt in London (1999) - in hopes to have a better life without poverty.
In 2000, 8 year old Victoria Climbie was found murdered with 128 severe injuries after suffering on going torture and abuse from her great aunt and her live-in boyfriend.
It was reported that during the years of abuse, she was subjected to regular beatings with objects such as bike chains, burns and being left for periods over 24 hours tied up.
After an inquiry into her death it was discovered that many agencies were in contact with her in the lead up to her death. Reported suspicions of abuse were recorded by Doctors, social workers, and police, none of which were investigated fully. Weeks before her death a social worker failed to carry out a satisfactory inspection of the house, as she joked about not wanting to 'catch scabies from the furniture'. The inquiry highlighted many opportunities which she could have been saved from the abuse and racial aspects were discussed. This case is held largely responsible for the introduction of the Children Act 2004 and Every Child Matters.

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BBC NEWS | UK | Victoria Climbie: Chain of neglect

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BBC education correspondent Sue Littlemore looks back on how the system failed eight-year-old Victoria Climbie.

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This case involves a tragic murder of two school girls- murdered by the caretaker of their school- Ian Huntely. The girls TA was also aware and gave Huntley a false alibi. Social workers later admitted that they made a series of blunders. Some of these being sexual relationships and assults between Huntley and other school girls that came to light to the social workers on many different occasions. Phil Watters (North East Lincolnshire area child protection committee coordinator) admitted: "If links had been made [social services and police] would have been aware of the risks Ian Huntley posed to young women". It was said that social workers relied on police to make the links.

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Social workers made a series of blunders over the handling of cases involving the Soham murderer, Ian Huntley, it was admitted yesterday.

For the first time, social services chiefs in north-east Lincolnshire conceded that systems which should have spotted that Huntley was a threat had failed.

Claims that Huntley had a series of sexual relationships with schoolgirls and allegedly indecently assaulted an 11-year-old girl came to the attention of social workers on more than a dozen occasions.

Phil Watters, North East Lincolnshire area child protection committee coordinator, admitted: "If links had been made [social services and police] would have been aware of the risks Ian Huntley posed to young women."

Giving evidence to the Bichard inquiry, which is examining how Huntley was able to get a job as a school caretaker, Mr Watters said he himself had had three contacts with cases involving Huntley in 1996, but had failed to spot the link. He said social workers tended to rely on the police to pick up such connections.

Following Huntley's conviction in December for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, North East Lincolnshire council argued that social workers were responsible for the welfare of individual children, rather than pinpointing possible offenders.

Martin Eaden, deputy director of childcare at the council, said yesterday this approach was flawed, adding: "Such a focus runs the risk of exposing other young people to risk."

He said it was still impossible for the social services database to be searched for possible serial offenders. The council has been told by the government to update its technology.

Mr Eaden expressed particular concerns about two cases. One involved an 11-year-old girl who claimed she was indecently assaulted by Huntley in 1997. Police referred the case to social workers but they decided not to get involved.

The second case involved a 15-year-old girl, identified as CD, who was living with Huntley in 1996 when he was 22. Mr Eaden said efforts to get in touch with the girl were "at best limited". The case was closed without the girl having been seen by a social worker.

At the same time as concerns were raised about CD, social workers were told that Huntley was having a relationship with another 15-year-old and a 13-year-old. The three reports were not connected.

Mr Eaden said that, had the "right judgments" been made by social workers, and had police databases worked efficiently, Huntley would have been picked up.

The inquiry continues.
Topics

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Social workers made a series of blunders over the handling of cases involving the Soham murderer, Ian Huntley, it was admitted yesterday. For the first time, social services chiefs in north-east Lincolnshire conceded that systems which should have spotted that Huntley was a threat had failed.

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In the serious case review of Dylan Tiffin-Brown, two, and Evelyn-Rose Muggleton, one, suggests children’s social services in Northamptonshire county council were in a critical state. Mistakes were made in the months leading up to the children’s deaths, the police, health visitors, schools and social workers made many errors. Unqualified support staff were making key decisions and that a shortage of experienced social workers and multi-agency workers made significant failings in their decision making.In the case review of Dylan, ineffective case management failed to recognise the critical situation, and missed opportunities of ‘his voice being heard’. Children’s services stated that there were systemic faults in the management system. 

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In the serious case review of Dylan Tiffin-Brown, two, and Evelyn-Rose Muggleton, one, suggests children’s social services in Northamptonshire county council were in a critical state. Mistakes were made in the months leading up to the children’s deaths, the police, health visitors, schools and social workers made many errors. Unqualified support staff were making key decisions and that a shortage of experienced social workers and multi-agency workers made significant failings in their decision making.In the case review of Dylan, ineffective case management failed to recognise the critical situation, and missed opportunities of ‘his voice being heard’. Children’s services stated that there were systemic faults in the management system. 

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https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2019/06/06/serious-case-reviews-toddler-murders-highlight-social-work-staffing-oversight-failures/

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Workforce pressures to blame for ‘chaotic’ social work failures to protect baby, review finds

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Workforce pressures to blame for ‘chaotic’ social work failures to protect baby, review finds

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This case focuses on a family and their children with the parents having had their own “failed” involvement with different authorities before their children were born and continued thereafter.  Multiple agencies were involved in their lives for a long period of time; however, these agencies did not work together to create a multiagency response. This resulted in a premature ending of the children’s protective care plans, backed by a view of “over-optimism” on the mother’s ability to cope. Unfortunately, this resulted in new cases of injury with the smallest children. This case become one that began a change in policies and procedures for this borough.

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Workforce pressures within Leicester council's children's services influenced an "incorrect" decision to end four siblings' child protection plans, a review into injuries sustained by the youngest child has found.

The move came "despite escalating concerns and increasing non-engagement" by the baby girl's mother and her partner, the serious case review, one of two published last week by Leicester's safeguarding children board, found.

Services provided by over-optimistic professionals "mirrored the chaos" the children experienced at home, and failed to protect them, the scathing investigation report said.

A failure to convene a child in need meeting was probably due in part to staff shortages at the council, which received an 'inadequate' judgement from Ofsted in March 2015, weeks after the case review was commissioned, the report said. A "mistaken belief that it would not be possible to work with parental resistance" also played a part, it added.

Instead the cases were closed, leaving the baby, named as 'Nadiya', and her siblings at continuing risk of harm.

Only after Nadiya was taken to hospital suffering from fractures and brain haemorrhages were the children effectively safeguarded, the review found.

Domestic abuse concerns

Nadiya and her siblings had been known to local child protection services for most of their lives. In 2009 their mother reported to the police that she had been subjected to a forced marriage overseas, while still under 18 years old, and had escaped back to the UK, finding herself pregnant with the eldest child, 'Adrian'.

She also reported to children's services soon after Adrian's birth, claiming that her mother might take the baby away from her. But in both instances she subsequently backtracked on the claims, saying they had been exaggerated to help her get housing.

In 2011, aged 18 and having had a second child, 'Jana', the mother began a new relationship with a man, believed to be the father of her third child 'Mohini'.

"There were significant concerns about the father of Mohini's violence to Mother," the review said. "Between December 2011 and March 2013, the police received 14 reports of domestic abuse."

The new partner was arrested for assault on five occasions, but no convictions were pursued because allegations were repeatedly retracted. During the serious case review process, it was found that Mohini's father was known to children's services in his home authority as someone who had been exposed to domestic abuse.

'Limited attention from professionals'

During a one-year period culminating in Nadiya's injuries, the review found all four children were taken to hospital with injuries that indicated "either very poor supervision or deliberate abuse".

"Although the subject of seven child protection conferences and over 30 core group meetings during the period under review, there was not a clear and proactive child protection plan in place," the review said. "There was no assessment or analysis of the nature of risks facing the children, and mother and the father of Mohini were never challenged about their non-engagement with the very few demands made upon them within the child protection process."

No comprehensive pre-birth plan was carried out while Nadiya's mother was pregnant with her new baby, despite known risks and the fact that she was already struggling with her first three children, the review found.

There was an "over-optimism" among some professionals about her ability to cope, and the believe that she loved her children "and this was enough to ensure their wellbeing"," the review found.

This attitude influenced the decision to end the child protection plans, a move that also led to health visitors reducing their involvement, the review found. Other agencies - some of whom had "continued concerns" - should have done more to challenge the decision, it concluded.

'Thresholds not understood'

A second serious case review into a similar incident that saw a baby, 'Robyn', hospitalised in September 2014, found a series of wider failings within Leicester's safeguarding structures.

Robyn's father had also previously been known to social workers because of he and his siblings' exposure to domestic abuse as children.

Two key episodes - one involving bruising to the baby and one involving the father disclosing mental ill-health and thoughts of harming his mother - should have been escalated by the local 'front door' and properly investigated, the review found.

But other professionals, including doctors and other health workers, did too little to explore and refer concerns about Robyn, who was found to have multiple fractures inflicted in at least three separate incidents.

"This case has identified that threshold decisions in the whole are not understood across the [safeguarding] partnership," the review said. "The case clearly had dimensions of risk and early indicators of harm or potential harm yet did not progress into the child protection arena."

'Major overhaul'

The twin reviews made a long list of recommendations, including making good-quality legal advice available to social workers, improving neglect assessments and embedding child protection plan audits into practice.

Jenny Myers, independent chair of Leicester's safeguarding children board, said agencies involved in the reviews had already implemented the changes recommended.

"Since these cases there has been a major overhaul of the LSCB's policies and procedures, reflecting the need for all partners to work more closely together to identify early on when children are at risk," she said.

"The guidance on non-accidental injuries in babies, pre-birth assessments and neglect has all been updated, while robust procedures have been put in place to check on the progress of child protection plans," Myers added.

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Workforce pressures to blame for 'chaotic' social work failures to protect baby, review finds

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Workforce pressures within Leicester council's children's services influenced an "incorrect" decision to end four siblings' child protection plans, a review into injuries sustained by the youngest child has found. The move came "despite escalating concerns and increasing non-engagement" by the baby girl's mother and her partner, the serious case review, one of two published last week by Leicester's safeguarding children board, found.

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In the case of Corey, the serious case review (SCR) found that there were a number of missed opportunities from social services dating back to the first involvement with the family in 2013, 4 years prior to Corey's death. (Communitycare.co.uk, 2018).
Social services were concerned with Corey's potentially exploitative, peer associations and offered support, but the family had no faith in Social Services as they viewed Corey as an offender rather than a child at risk. A multi-agency approach was adopted but
meetings went unattended by social services, leading to evidence proving that Corey was at  'significant risk of harm'
being missed. He was murdered at age 14 by a gang in his community.

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Social workers involved with a boy shot in an East London street in 2017 failed to respond to growing risks he faced from gang members, a serious case review has found.

The investigation by Newham local safeguarding children board, published last Friday, found professionals, including social workers, did not properly perceive 14-year-old Corey Junior Davis, who died shortly after the attack, as a victim of exploitation.

Assessments over several years by Newham council's children's services and youth offending team amounted to "snapshots", giving "limited opportunity to develop planned interventions that effectively responded to [Corey's] needs", the review concluded.

Social worker churn meant casework stopped and started as practitioners moved on, denying continuity of care and resulting in information not being shared at critical moments, it added.

"It is clear that despite concerns across agencies, relating to [Corey's] vulnerability, systems in place at the time of his death did not effectively respond to [him] as an at risk child," the review said.

'In fear for his life'

Corey, who had been diagnosed with ADHD, lived in various temporary addresses before his family secured a tenancy in Newham with the housing association East Thames in 2011.

The move meant Corey was separated from primary school classmates in 2014, when he started at Forest Gate Community School in Newham. He was repeatedly excluded over the next two years before being referred in 2016 to a specialist unit, Tunmarsh school, where he was described by police as associating with older gang members.

Over the next 12 months concerns for Corey's welfare ramped up, with several referrals to Newham children's services being made that did not result in further action. During this period he was reported to have bought a "Rambo-style" knife and bulletproof vest, and in December 2016 told his mother he been pressured into selling drugs and was "in fear for his life".

"Children's social care records at this time note that evidence pointed strongly to [Corey] being groomed by older young people for the purposes of selling drugs and being involved in gang related activities," the review said.

By early 2017 Corey's mother had arranged for him to stay with relatives in South London while continuing "to report, in writing to children's social care, being in fear for her son's life and welfare". While Corey became involved with Lewisham's youth offending team after being arrested for carrying a knife, his case was not transferred to local children's services.

In June 2017 Corey returned to Newham after falling out with his uncles and continued to work with youth offending services in the East London borough. Taxis had to be arranged to take him to and from appointments due to the potential risk he faced, with a group of other young people reportedly chasing him on one occasion. On 4 September, he was shot.

'Inadequate response'

From the time Corey and his family got their tenancy in Newham, professionals shared concerns with the council's children's services on seven separate occasions, resulting in three periods of involvement.

Missed opportunities dated back, the investigation found, to Corey's first involvement with children's services in 2013, relating to concerns his mother had "physically chastised" him.

"It is clear from case records [Corey] was presenting with a range of emerging, yet complex needs at this time," the review said. "The assessment states that [he] fabricated the reported incidents to 'take the heat off him' but his thought processes and motivation were not further explored, nor were the incidents it is inferred he tried to deflect attention from."

Later, in 2016, an offer of support was made to Corey's family. But they declined on the basis that it failed to "adequately understand or respond to the context of [his] behaviour and the underlying and complex risk factors at play within the community and home".

The review found that by this point there were multiple issues requiring intervention. "A full assessment of family dynamics was necessary to put in place diversionary and early prevention when [Corey's] problematic, potentially exploitative, peer associations were beginning to develop," it said. "This did not happen."

'Clear indicators of risk'

The serious case review identified a number of key omissions by children's services during the final months of Corey's life.

In November 2016, he went missing from home for a week, returning with "a number of high-value possessions". Children's services were made aware of this but no independent return interview was carried out. "[This] absence would indicate there is still work to do shifting professional perception from offender to potentially exploited child," the review said.

The next month, children's services became aware of Corey's confession to his mother that he was being coerced into selling drugs and that she had destroyed a large bag of them. But no strategy meeting or assessment was triggered, despite "clear indicators of risk for both [Corey] and his family", the review found, nor was information shared with Tunmarsh school.

Corey's allocated social worker, who was employed via an agency, left in early 2017, meaning a police letter in support of rehousing was never forwarded to East Thames. After the social worker's departure support "waned" when the teenager temporarily moved to South London, though he remained on Newham's educational roll.

At various junctures multi-agency meetings took place, to which a manager from Newham's children's services was invited but did not attend, meaning assessments "did not keep pace" with escalating risks.

"At the point [Corey] returned to Newham, there was sufficient evidence to review the case and escalate to child protection as it was the view of the multi-agency partnership that he was at significant risk of harm," the review said. "This did not happen."

'We did not understand'

The serious case review made 14 recommendations. These included delivering training around child criminal exploitation (CCE), ensuring that children who go missing in relation to CCE have access to return interviews, and exploring practice approaches "that address the complex needs of adolescents living with adversity and multiple, contextual and community-based risks".

Responding to the review's findings, the mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz said it was "clear that as a council we did not understand the risks to Corey's life".

"The fact he was viewed as an offender, rather than a child who was vulnerable, points to a flaw in our methods and a wider culture that views young people as criminals," Fiaz said. "They are children and young people facing complex risks whom we have a duty to help, protect and safeguard."

Fiaz added: "Under my administration we are now tackling these through a public health approach, better systems and a culture centred on exemplary safeguarding of our children and young people in Newham."

Nancy Kelley, the chair of Newham's safeguarding children board, said: "Work has already begun across the partnership to make sure practitioners truly listen to the concerns that children like Corey and their families raise, and provide effective and coherent support."

She added: "Actions include providing training across the partnership on gangs and criminal exploitation, strengthening management oversight and providing reflective supervision in complex cases, and improving information sharing across agencies, all essential for reducing risk to Newham children."

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Social workers 'did not respond' to risks murdered teenager faced

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Social workers involved with a boy shot in an East London street in 2017 failed to respond to growing risks he faced from gang members, a serious case review has found. The investigation by Newham local safeguarding children board, published last Friday, found professionals, including social workers, did not properly perceive 14-year-old Corey Junior Davis, [...]

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This case highlights the impact of failed collaboration/multi agency working of Social Workers and the NHS, which resulted in the boy's suffering being extended over an unacceptable period. It was however, the action of police in following up school concerns, which finally resulted in his being taken into care. It is possible that the school's relationship with the siblings enabled them to trust an adult enough to fully disclose the situation.

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Child protection experts have called for a national review of home schooling following an inquiry into a case in which a violent stepfather and his partner subjected their young son to extreme neglect and abuse.

The boy - known as Child AB - endured four years of cruelty including being beaten, locked in his room and forced to defecate on the floor, fed stale food and banned from speaking to his siblings.

He was taken into care in 2016. His parents, a 34-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman were convicted of five counts of child cruelty last May, and jailed for seven and three years respectively.

An official serious case review published on Wednesday by the Northamptonshire safeguarding children partnership, found significant failures by social workers and NHS staff who it said had missed early chances to remove the boy.

"Fortunately, in this case, Child AB did not die. If children's social care and police had not acted when the school passed on the concerns arising from disclosures by Child AB's siblings, then the outcome could have been very different," the review said.

"However, by not instigating child protection procedures when previous referrals had been made to children's services Child AB was left to endure continuing neglect and serious abuse for years."

It highlighted the controlling and manipulative nature of the stepfather, who singled out Child AB for acts of "extreme cruelty", while seemingly treating the boy's other siblings differently. Although he had no parental responsibility, safeguarding professionals failed to challenge him on this, the review found.

The stepfather took total control of decisions regarding Child AB between 2012, when he entered the family, and 2016, refusing to engage with professionals, not taking him to health appointments, and effectively cutting the child's mother out of any communication with the school and social workers.

The boy's mother, the review found, "abdicated her responsibilities and duties as a parent" to the stepfather.

Although at one stage Northamptonshire county council social services set up a "child in need" plan, it closed the file after three months after deciding there were no concerns for the child's welfare.

The review states: "Within weeks of closing the case, stepfather made professionals aware of his intention to electively home educate Child AB. These decisions resulted in Child AB not being seen by any professional for over a year. In effect, child AB was hidden from view and the abuse perpetrated by stepfather, with a lack of protection by mother, continued."

However, Child AB was never home educated as his stepfather never submitted an application form. This resulted, the review says, "in the child being out of school, effectively out of sight for a period of 14 months". Attempts by the school to get the forms completed appear to have been rebuffed.

The review recommended that national plans in regards to home educated children should be reviewed, and that more resources should be made available to assess and monitor children who are taken out of school to be educated at home.

The report states: "Whilst it is currently a parent's right to elect to home educate their child, the sanctions for not complying with the local authority requirement to visit the child's home, interview the child, see the child's work and provide information concerning the programme of work produced by the child, are limited."

Northamptonshire county council's cabinet member for children's services, Fiona Baker, said: "We are deeply sorry for any poor decision making and mistakes which may have contributed to this awful case of abuse. Children's services in Northamptonshire are on an improvement journey and although much progress has been made there is still a lot to do."

The case is the third high-profile serious case review in recent years involving Northamptonshire county council children's services.

Last year two reports found that professionals missed crucial opportunities to save two toddlers who were murdered by men with histories of domestic violence, crime and drug use.
Topics

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Child cruelty case triggers call for home schooling review

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Child protection experts have called for a national review of home schooling following an inquiry into a case in which a violent stepfather and his partner subjected their young son to extreme neglect and abuse.

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Teenager 'Agnes' subjected to years of abuse by family. 

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Teenager 'Agnes' subjected to years of abuse by family. 

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In the case of ‘Agnes’, it was stated by Hough and Holehouse (2011) that there was a lack of action carried out by the social service team in Essex. This process led to ‘Agnes’s mother and other family, physically and sexually abusing her for years. Noted, was that the mothers’ previous social service involvement (having had two children already put in care), was enough for the social service team to neglect further risk assessment and monitoring of the family. Agnes’s situation could have been avoided if a support agency focused on the entire lifeworld of Agnes, supporting her upbringing as a unique individual.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/8033095/Social-services-failed-to-protect-teenager-from-years-of-family-abuse.html

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Heartbreaking. What a great headteacher, educating students for all the right reasons.

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Heartbreaking. What a great headteacher, educating students for all the right reasons.

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https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/thanet-headteachers-heartbreaking-words-expose-3604781

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The Contented Child, Child Wellbeing Consultancy

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The Contented Child, Child Wellbeing Consultancy

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How 'trauma training' at a school saw exclusions plummet

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"Interventions which target social and emotional learning (SEL) seek to improve pupils’ interaction with others and self-management of emotions, rather than focusing directly on the academic or cognitive elements of learning. SEL interventions might focus on the ways in which students work with (and alongside) their peers, teachers, family or community."

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/pdf/generate/?u=https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/pdf/toolkit/?id=146&t=Teaching%20and%20Learning%20Toolkit&e=146&s=

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It only takes one person to make a difference in a child's life

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It only takes one person to make a difference in a child's life

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Dr. Erica Liu Wollin is a great speaker worth listening to for case study and essay

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Attachment and resilience -- the power of one: Dr. Erica Liu Wollin at TEDxHongKong 2013

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According to CASEL, SEL is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Casel.org (2019) What is SEL?

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“At its core, SEL involves children’s ability to learn about and manage their own emotions and interactions in ways that benefit themselves and others, and that help children and youth succeed in schooling, the workplace, relationships, and citizenship. To effectively manage emotions and social interactions requires a complex interplay of cognitive skills, such as attention and the ability to solve problems; beliefs about the self, such as perceptions of competence and autonomy; and social awareness, including empathy for others and the ability to resolve conflicts”.

The Future of Children (2017) Social and Emotional Learning. 27 (1, Spring) Available at : https://futureofchildren.princeton.edu/

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Amazing mental strength! 'No human is limited'. So inspiring.

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According to Patricia Van Velsor, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Counselling, San Francisco State University, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which individuals become socially and emotionally intelligent. Social intelligence is the ability to understand and deal with people and to act judiciously in human relationships; this definition dates back to Edward Thorndike in 1920 and was later called interpersonal intelligence by Howard Gardner in his 1983 book on multiple intelligences (Burns, Bastian, & Nettelbeck, 2007; Pellitteri, 2006).

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https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/411489/Overview_of_research_findings.pdf

The Early Intervention Foundation (EIF, 2015) define Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as the development of skills that promote children and young people’s wellbeing and enable them to realise their full potential to thrive in life.

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Attachment aware teaching

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Teachers are becoming ever-more comfortable talking about attachment when it comes to students who have experienced trauma, but attachment-aware practice should not just be used with the most vulnerable - every child would benefit, according to Professor Peter Fonagy.

Speaking on this week's Podagogy podcast, the head of psychology and language sciences at University College London explains that attachment is a fundamental part of successful teaching that needs more consideration (listen below).

Fonagy explains that attachment is a process every child goes through.

"Attachment is a very simple biological process," he says. "Because of [an infant's] dependency, we need protection. And we need to find the person who's going to protect us. The person who's going to protect us is usually our primary caregiver. And we get attached to that person.

Attachment theory in education

"So whenever we are anxious, whenever we feel frightened, we seek proximity to that person who's going to comfort us, we signal our fear by crying, by making a nuisance of ourselves in one way or another."

Quick read: Professor Barbara Oakley on why working memory is the Rosetta Stone of teaching

Quick listen: What every teacher needs to know about trauma

Want more articles like this? Join the Tes Teaching and Learning Facebook group

As the child gets older, she or he seeks out more adults to form strong attachments with. "Human beings are like lions," explains Fonagy. "They are born to be alloparented " - and that includes teachers. In order for a child to learn, they have to trust the teacher, and to trust them they need to have a secure attachment to them.

"We know that children who have secure attachment relationships actually learn better," Fonagy explains. "When you are in a world with a cacophony of information all around us, we can't listen to everything. We have to have a biological way of focusing on the person who's going to relay to us the information that's relevant to us.

"This biological system of learning that we call 'epistemic trust', or the 'trust in knowledge', actually opens the mind up to learning from that individual in that context."

Attachment-aware practice

This is why attachment-aware practice is so crucial for all children, according to Fonagy. Teachers need to not just support those children with obvious attachment challenges, they also need to ensure they form stable attachments with every child in a class.

How might that be done? The simplest way, says Fonagy, is to show an interest in them.

"If you recognise me, as an agent as a person, I will be more likely to learn from you," he explains.

To do that, non-learning related conversations are key - showing an interest in what the young person thinks and feels is also important. With 30 children in a class, that might seem difficult with so much content to cram in, but whether it is through form time, extracurricular clubs or in your approach to teaching, Fonagy is certain it is a fundamental part of what teachers should be doing.

Vulnerable children

This is not to say that those who have experienced trauma and may have attachment challenges should just get the same treatment as everyone else. Fonagy says a student who has experienced trauma and has attachment issues is more likely to find forming later attachments more challenging.

"If you had an early experience where you were neglected or maltreated, as some children are, then you get very confused about who you can trust and who you can't trust," says Fonagy. "And then you flip flop between not trusting anybody, being in a state of a kind of epistemic hypervigilance.

"You are going around, feeling no one understands you, thinking, 'I'm all on my own. I can't trust anybody. I can't listen to anybody.' And that sets you off on the wrong foot. And that would make you a difficult child to teach because you don't trust the knowledge that comes from the other."

More time and more support will be needed with these pupils.

"It can be very hard for a teacher to break through and the child might need a lot of additional effort before they can develop a feeling of trust towards that person," he explains.

What can also happen, says Fonagy, is a situation where a student forms inappropriate attachments, and begins seeking out their information not from teachers, or trustworthy contemporaries, but instead from those who do are looking to exploit them.

"We can see in gangs, and little clusters of children that get formed, where they feel so lonely that they then have to form relationships," he says.

It just takes one

The good news is that if teachers get it right with these pupils, even those with the most difficult set of circumstances can be helped, according to Fonagy.

"One good relationship, when you have someone who's able to make you feel that they're interested in you, that they care about you, can actually reverse history of pretty bad things," he says.
You can listen on the player above or via your podcast platform (including Spotify) - just search for 'Tes - The Education Podcast'

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Why attachment-aware teaching matters for every child

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Teachers are becoming ever-more comfortable talking about attachment when it comes to students who have experienced trauma, but attachment-aware practice should not just be used with the most vulnerable - every child would benefit, according to Professor Peter Fonagy.

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Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success.

People with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges and benefit academically, professionally, and socially. From effective problem-solving to self-discipline, from impulse control to emotion management and more, SEL provides a foundation for positive, long-term effects on kids, adults, and communities.

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This is worth a read. Greg Ashmans posts on twitter are always thought provoking.
Also David Grossmans BBC podcast about the subject.

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Just a funny look at sibling order

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Taylor Mason's Humorous Look at Siblings

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Do young children watch the news? Not usually.

Do young children have a sense of the current news? Definitely.

The Children's Society, which produces the Good Childhood Report every year, says that almost a quarter of a million children in the UK are unhappy. Among the list of worries are things that are undoubtedly a direct result of children's exposure to the media, and knowledge of current affairs: crime, the environment, homelessness and poverty all feature.
Quick read: Quick listen: Want to know more? How to break the cycle of circle time in early years Why we need more support for mental health in primary 3 ways to keep your pupils focused
Avoiding talking about issues in the news, then, is not only naive but also closes off an avenue of discussion that could help children to contextualise and process what they are already thinking about.

But how do we avoid the potential pitfalls and ensure that these discussions are effective?

Don't assume they aren't interested

Children are naturally curious and will pick up easily on any zeitgeist that happens to come their way. That's how they learn. Also, as children turn into young adults, they are forming a whole new set of opinions that they want to feel are validated.

They are interested, they want to know what you think and sometimes even to debate the news with you.

Ask children what they know

For a teacher/pupil partnership to work, children need to feel heard. We already appoint children as members of our school councils, and even ask them to interview new members of our teaching staff.

Seeing the world's news through the eyes of a small child can actually hit the refresh button sometimes - you may be surprised at how your opinions are affected.

Think global

Don't forget that families in your school community could be affected by issues further afield. Recently, there was a major international incident that sadly affected a family we worked with. They needed the support of the school community, and we had to speak to classmates to explain that they needed to be sensitive.

All the children concerned dealt with the news sensibly and we were ready for any issues that might have arisen.

Tackle tricky subjects head-on

There are a lot of difficult news stories and, unfortunately, we can't protect children from them all. Pupils can be very good at catching us off guard; if this happens and you aren't sure what to say, be quick to postpone rather than reject.

"That's a really important issue, and I'm glad you've brought it up. Maybe we can have a quick chat later and decide how we can discuss it in PSHE next week".

Challenge misconceptions

When I was a parent liaison, I encountered many intolerant views within our parental group prompted by news stories regarding religion and culture. The problem was spilling over into the playground and dinner hall, and beginning to creep into our classrooms.

Parental meetings and a new focus in PSHE got the ball rolling, but the subject knowledge of our staff at this time was crucial. When you are challenging bias you are usually challenging fear, and that's tough.

Often now, schools must practise equity so that all members of the community feel represented - and, more to the point, safe. Know your facts, stick to your policy, and don't be afraid to deal with sticky issues before they snowball.

Bring the news into the classroom

The language-rich news lexicon that we are exposed to is an ideal way to pick up non-fiction terms and try using them out. Being afraid to introduce pupils to vocabulary that you think is too advanced will prevent you from dipping into this resource.

Think real-time news recordings on an iPad, podcasts or reviews posted on the school website, or interviews and vox-pops with key guests.

Don't avoid using the news with younger children

Even infants need to have a sense of what is going on in the world around them. Local news for these children can be particularly fascinating, so get out there and see that new bypass being built (why are so many people cross about it?), visit the forest to find out who lives there (how would these animals be affected by deforestation?), and get that local newspaper on the phone when a mystery alien object/dinosaur egg/dragon footprint turns up on the playground. Just imagine the writing opportunities.
Lucy Moss is a key stage 2 leader in an inner-city primary school
Warn children about fake news

Yes, the phenomenon that has blighted poor old Donald Trump can be a dangerous pitfall for our young people. More and more, they are in uncharted waters when searching online for homework help or doing research.

Something that looks reliable and can fox many adults could prove a real red herring to a child - sensationalist news sites that are merely clickbait are usually bright, sparkly and attractive. Fake news can be a tough concept to explain, but we must arm children with the knowledge that not everything published online is reliable or safe.

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How to talk about the news with primary pupils

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Do young children watch the news? Not usually. Do young children have a sense of the current news? Definitely. The Children's Society, which produces the Good Childhood Report every year, says that almost a quarter of a million children in the UK are unhappy.

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Interesting reading!  I agree with a number of the points made within the paper and most of your comments here too.

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Interesting reading!  I agree with a number of the points made within the paper and most of your comments here too.

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My first question is what is 'disruptive' would a student appear disruptive to one member of staff and not necessarily another due to their management of the behaviour and relationship with that individual?  Over the years I have worked with a number of alternative provisions and have frequently observed that an individuals behaviour will be impacted by the staff working with them.
The next question is why are these students in an alternative provision?  Geddes (2006) highlights the importance on the attachment theory and the impact of early relationships on young people.  Working with these learners sadly this is often the case and and these individuals have often had difficult, challenging, harmful childhoods and this is the only way they know how to behave or react in specific situations.  Are they learnt behaviours and if this is the norm at home will the education setting manage to change these if the student is in the home environment for considerable periods of time?  As a result of this my opinion on excluding these learners is, that of the paper, in that in benefits no one, another rejection and on occasion back to the home environment, embedding these behaviours as the norm and potentially no consequence for their actions.
With my comments above I agree with Youell (2006) that there needs to be an understanding of the behaviours to respond appropriately and effectively work with the learner to support them. Learners do need to be aware of appropriate and inappropriate and understand that their is a consequence to their actions but as Delaney (2009) discusses the educational setting may be seen as the safe place and learners may arrive daily with fears and anxieties from home which will impact on their behaviours and attitudes in the classroom. Therefore, to me, it highlights the importance of keeping the educational establishment the safe place and supporting each learner as an individual in identifying appropriate and inappropriate behaviours and working with them to find supportive strategies to help cope with them on a day to day basis.

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Go away! I hate you!" Matthew screamed, as he hurled the stapler at my head.

Trying to remain calm, I ushered the other children from the classroom. Matthew carried on, tearing displays from the walls, turning tables over and kicking chairs across the floor.

Half an hour later, he wasn't shouting any more, but crying hysterically in the corner of the room. I crouched down and stretched out my hand.

"It's OK, Matthew," I told him, in a soothing voice. "It's alright."

He sniffed, but didn't say anything.

"Can I come and sit next to you on the carpet?"

He sniffed again, but nodded.

That was the beginning of a long and emotional journey for Matthew and me, in which he would learn how to trust adults and form positive relationships, and I would learn how to put the teachings of attachment theory into practice.

The theory says that if a child experiences trauma or has difficulty bonding with their main caregiver in early childhood, this can lead to significant emotional problems. This could be as a result of postnatal depression, for example, or because of financial or marital problems that cause emotional difficulties for the caregiver. Or it could be down to very severe trauma.

As I was reading about this through the work of John Bowlby and others, I could instantly see how it should influence my practice. Matthew was the test for much that I learned.

How I reacted to Matthew's behaviour was the first change I made. Whenever Matthew was unable to regulate his emotions and he began to manipulate situations to be in control, or when he would swear and shout or threaten to do something awful to me, I no longer reacted with sanctions. My response was: "I can see that you are feeling angry with me but whatever you do or say, I care about you and I'm not going away."

Even when, at the end of term, everyone, including me, was at their wits' end, it was important to remain calm and consistent.

This is because, whereas "normal" children will be corrected by a firm voice from a key adult, for a child who has experienced trauma or who has not formed secure attachments, their "hyperviligance" means that the very same social signal could be enough to trigger an episode. So instead of reading a raised eyebrow as a reminder to be quiet, they may interpret it as rejection.

As a result of this difficulty, children like Matthew rarely respond to sanctions successfully, because a sanction simply reinforces what they "know" already, which is that they are "naughty" or "bad" or "not good enough".

Another really important development in my practice was the tracking of patterns of Matthew's behaviour. I would note down when he was most emotionally dysregulated. This is an approach that is often used for children with autism, but it was just as effective in this situation.

When we could establish what it was that was causing the problems, then we could begin to put in proactive measures. So, if we consistently had an issue at 11.30am before lunch, then we could try an early lunch to see if hunger was factor. If it was every break time that we had an issue, we could isolate variables in the playground and see what was causing the problems.

Working like this with Matthew led to a dramatic decrease in the number of incidents that we had with him.

A third approach we adopted was to use techniques prominent in early years: reacting to the child's interests and using bags of empathy. As Linda O'Neill has found, the child will show contentment when they are allowed to engage in the activity they are drawn to and, from this place of safety, the child and key adult are able to build a relationship that the child so desperately needs (O'Neill et al, 2010). As many children with attachment needs have missed crucial parts of their development, role play or sensory experiences are important for their progress.

In a mainstream primary school, it takes a leap of faith from school leaders to use this kind of strategy. Recovery happens at the child's pace, not the adult's. Meanwhile, data targets have to be met, budgets are squeezed and parents want "justice".

Not to mention the battle for funding, which is what will make or break the success of these interventions.

It is understandable that during the times when the child spits in a teacher's face or scales the wall of the playground, exclusion seems to some to be the only option.

Indeed, by far the most significant and immediate challenge I had was the mindset of other staff. I was told that Matthew was choosing his behaviour, that a lack of negative consequences would make it worse, and that, frankly, he didn't deserve to take part in nice activities like baking after trashing the classroom.

This disciplinary culture, which we inherited from a bygone age, is hard to overcome. But, in my experience, it is by modelling strategies, one child at a time, that people begin to come around to a more nurturing way of thinking.

For the handful of children whose journeys I have been privileged to be a part of, the impact has been clear. The "unteachable" children who used to exhibit several rage episodes a day have become calm and caring and are slowly more able to access the curriculum.

Sometimes, it takes years; for others, weeks. But in all cases, the child has not been excluded or rejected, but instead has learned that they belong to the school community and that adults care about them.
The writer is a teacher in a primary school and wishes to remain anonymous to protect the identities of Matthew (a pseudonym) and staff at the school This article originally appeared in the 7 June 2019 issue under the headline "How attachment to trauma theory helps behaviour"

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Go away! I hate you!" Matthew screamed, as he hurled the stapler at my head. Trying to remain calm, I ushered the other children from the classroom. Matthew carried on, tearing displays from the walls, turning tables over and kicking chairs across the floor.

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Would this be the same if understanding and early intervention took place?

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In the academic year 2017-18, there were 7,905 permanent exclusions across England, which represents 0.1 per cent of the total school-age population.

Of these young people, only 1,787 (23 per cent) were girls.

The picture in primary-aged pupils is particularly extreme.
Quick read: Quick listen: Want to know more? What colleges can learn from mental health units Why there is no such thing as an unteachable child 'Children who don't fit? Maybe the problem is us'
Only 9 per cent of permanently excluded young people in the age group are female (compared with 25 per cent of secondary-aged pupils).

In my school, a pupil referral unit educating predominantly permanently excluded pupils, girls make up less than 20 per cent of our 464-strong cohort.

This isn't a new phenomenon; male exclusions have long made up more than 80 per cent of our numbers.

But what is driving such an extreme disparity? Are girls simply less challenging? Is their behaviour less extreme or dangerous? Do we get less persistent disruption from girls?

Overall, the answer to those questions is no. The girls in our school are at least as challenging as the boys and some of them are far more so.

Time for tough questions

So perhaps it is time that we asked ourselves, as a system, why so many more boys are excluded than girls.

The national picture tells us that girls are far less likely to be involved in physical altercations or carry weapons; for example, the Millennium Cohort Study found that more than 70 per cent of 14-year-olds who admitted to carrying knives were male. So they are obviously less likely to be excluded for those reasons.

But there is much more to it than that.

For starters, there seems to be a far greater acceptance of mental health issues in girls. In my experience, schools are far more likely to accept that challenging behaviour from female students is driven by mental health needs, such as anxiety, than in boys. Our tolerance levels, therefore, are not equal.

Harsher treatment

In 2016, Brown University released research that found stereotypes about boys' behaviour may lead to educators taking harsher action.

This can lead from something very low level - refusing to remove a coat, for example - escalating into something much more serious due to the reaction of the staff, rather than the pupil.

There's also the variation in perceived threat level, particularly as students get older. It's easy to see why some teaching staff may feel threatened and even scared by some boys displaying challenging behaviour.

Older boys, in particular, are often larger than staff and this can feel threatening. They can be quite aggressive (although, in my experience, they mostly want to be listened to rather than attack you). To put it into context, in 13 years working in a PRU I have only been hit by a pupil twice.

I have witnessed many staff responding through fear when confronted with a threat from a 15-year-old boy. The teacher may shout or attempt to exert their own authority. This can be explosive and often makes a situation worse.

It's fair to say that the most challenging girls display almost identical behaviour - shouting, physical posturing and verbal threats - yet staff seem to feel far less threatened.

It's possible, as Brown University reported, that this is simply down to stereotypes; knowing that girls are less likely to carry weapons, for example, may result in staff feeling greater confidence in challenging the behaviour in a calmer and more reasonable way.

This in itself would be likely to lead to a better reaction from the pupil, de-escalating a situation, rather than making it worse.

Perceived threat

That reduced level of perceived threat is important. It allows staff to react in a more rational way as they are not experiencing their own fight-or-flight response, enabling them to begin the process of de-escalation.

There is also the broader question of whether our education system disadvantages boys in general. We know that, in general, boys are more active and enjoy learning in ways that are more practical. Couple this with the greater prevalence of issues such as ADHD in boys and it's clear that there is a cohort of pupils, particularly boys, for whom the traditional school education does not work.

As educators, we must take heed of our unconscious biases; I have seen too many boys excluded from school for what, in the first instance, started as a small incident and escalated due to the reaction of the staff members.
Steve Howell is the headteacher of the City of Birmingham School (COBS)
All school staff, particularly those new to the profession, need better input around behaviour management, need a better understanding of the types of behaviours pupils may exhibit and need to know how to react to these effectively.

Building confidence among staff will help to reduce this unconscious bias. Where school staff feel they have a range of skills and strategies to deal with most behaviours and that they have appropriate behaviour support structures within the school, they are likely to feel less threatened.

It is consequently imperative that we upskill, model and empower staff to manage the behaviours of both girls and boys. It is this that will make the difference.

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Exclusions: is our gender bias damaging boys?

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In the academic year 2017-18, there were 7,905 permanent exclusions across England, which represents 0.1 per cent of the total school-age population. Of these young people, only 1,787 (23 per cent) were girls. The picture in primary-aged pupils is particularly extreme. Quick read: Quick listen: Want to know more?

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An example of a school making positive changes by early intervention in mental health. The exclusion rates have fallen.

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Being excluded from school can be an isolating and frightening experience for children.

Research by the Local Government Association also shows that gangs prey on excluded children, linking the rise in exclusions to the spike in violent crime.

But Wandsworth is bucking the trend.

The borough used to have one of the highest rates of permanent school exclusions in 2007/2008, but the latest figures show a dramatic decrease.

In 2017/2018, just 19 pupils in the borough were permanently excluded from school, compared to 71 a decade ago.

The percentage of permanent exclusions is now 0.06 per cent - down from 0.25 per cent in 2007. It is also much lower than the statistics for Inner London, and the rest of England which stand at 0.9 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.

But how did they do it?

Eileen Shannon, Headteacher at Victoria Drive Pupil Referral Unit, says the key is catching children early and taking steps to help them with their mental health.

"It's about being able to articulate how they're feeling and their frustrations at all the things that are going on. It's social, emotional or mental health. The family set-up they're in, the housing situation they're in, if they're homeless or moving around, if a parent is in prison, or domestic violence. It's the whole shabang," she said.

A few years ago Victoria Drive had 37 referrals for five-year-old children into the PRU which was "unprecedented," and resulted in the set up of the school's "nurture network" to help vulnerable children.

"We did some work with the teachers from the schools, it was giving them permission to nurture these children who were not really ready to sit down and do their phonics," said Ms Shannon.

"We are not getting those kind of referrals now because the schools and teachers are better equipped. They have the understanding that they can let those children play and do all of those things which they need to do before they go into hardcore learning."

Working with 62 primary schools in the borough, Victoria Drive sends in specialist teachers and mentors, and takes children with behavioural issues for two sessions a week.

"We're not like other PRUs in England and Wales, I think there's only one other PRU that operates like us. We always say we don't own these children, the primary schools own them. They come in their school uniforms, they belong to their primary school," said Ms Shannon.

In the latest Ofsted Report from 2017, in which the PRU is rated as Outstanding, a child is quoted as saying "Bullying? Not here!" while a parent remarked that her daughter was "happier and wiser at the school."

The new approach seems to be working, and has seen some impressive results for its pupils who are now at secondary school.

The school tracks its former pupils, and prepares them for transition to secondary school. If they are not making the progress expected they recommend they are moved to specialist provision, or given an Education Health and Care Plan to provide extra support in a mainstream school.

"Our Year sixes are now going into Year 10 and the children haven't reappeared in the secondary schools. We believe they were placed correctly, or had a EHCP," she said.

Councillor Will Sweet, cabinet member for education and children's services praised the work at Victoria Drive and added that the council's Behaviour and Attendance Partnership is key to the council's determination to "do whatever it takes to stop exclusion happening."

The partnership brings together senior leaders from secondary schools and focuses on the impact of exclusion in managing behaviour.

Cllr Sweet said: "We decided as a borough that we wanted to reduce exclusion levels. We were really ahead of the curve on that, which is probably why now 12 years on we're starting to see some distance between us and our London contemporaries."

The council also runs an inclusion service to train school teachers in managing behaviour.

Speaking about the long-term impact of exclusion, he added: "Pupil exclusions can be really disruptive for a child's education. In Wandsworth we want to offer an exclusive schools environment and that means that no child should be left behind. When a child is removed from school and has to start somewhere else, that is really bad for their education.

"It's also really bad for a child's mental health and sense of wellbeing. Believe it or not even the naughtiest children do not want to be excluded. It's not a very nice experience. So we're pretty obsessive about trying to stop it where we can."

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Permanent exclusions down in Wandsworth as early intervention praised

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Being excluded from school can be an isolating and frightening experience for children. Research by the Local Government Association also shows that gangs prey on excluded children, linking the rise in exclusions to the spike in violent crime. But Wandsworth is bucking the trend.

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Teachers' perceptions of disruptive behaviour in schools.

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Teachers' perceptions of disruptive behaviour in schools.

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This research shows an interesting insight to what could be possible were there time. I fully believe that to gain a better understanding of a pupil and behaviours we must step back and try to understand where this may have come from and why. Within this reading I was drawn to the quote "challenging behaviour is an expression of need". I think this is a powerful statement that should be brought into training for teachers and support staff. As educators we are in an invaluable position to help those students.
This reading has come at an interesting time for me, as from after half term my school is implementing a new focus on behaviour management in regards to Ofsted. Mainly opposite of this reading.

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I support this research and the understanding of raising awareness towards the need to understand the psychology behind a childs disruptive behaviour. Raising better awareness will help the child in dealing with their behaviour as well as helping the teacher within their professional development. Teachers should follow and apply strict policy when dealing with disruptive behaviour as the child needs to understand and take responsibilities for their actions. However, the child should be offered more support to help communicate their feelings and understand why they may be feeling a certain way. Teachers should invest their time with vulnerable pupils to build a positive relationship that will be reflective within the classroom.

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Teaching perspectives on disruptive behaviour in school

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Teaching perspectives on disruptive behaviour in school

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The overriding problem that is acknowledged in this article is the inconsistent understanding by education professionals of the aetiology of certain ‘disruptive behaviour’ of pupils.  I have worked with teaching professionals that have both supported proactive intervention and frustratingly, negated it. As results from the article highlight, there was acknowledgement that a large proportion of teachers  believe pupils displaying disruptive behaviour is largely self-controllable. If professionals do not have an adequate understanding of the key theories that are embedded in pupils’ behaviour, I question how children of primary or secondary school age, experiencing any degree of emotional trauma, are expected to self-identify this and independently control it. We must also not forget those pupils that have become able to disguise their anxiety and fear. Greene (2009) highlights the need for all schools to make changes to the system so that understanding, proactive support and collaborative foresight improves situations for all pupils. The subsequent Carter Review stated that teaching professionals should receive training in understanding child and adolescent behaviour as part of ITT. This addresses the understanding of new professionals to be emotionally and cognitively engaged with behaviour, but equally there must also be opportunities for longstanding and continuing education professionals to undertake training and regular CPD in this area.

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Although exclusion is sometimes appropriate, I do agree that it is used as an easy way out, and not enough care and intervention is attempted to improve children’s behaviour in school. I think that CPD and more training opportunities should be given to teachers to improve their understanding of the attachment theory, and see how it overlays against behaviour management.  This also relates to the Plowden quote as if a child cannot be happy in school, they in turn wont become useful to society and will not thrive.
Many teachers that have been in the profession for a long time may not consider how important theory’s are to practice, and I have seen many times in my work adults that excuse children’s behaviours without fully understanding the cause behind them. I also believe that smaller class sizes would help this issue, as I think the stress of teaching a class of thirty can overlook the individual needs of each child. These are all things that need to be seriously considered to better practice.

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Action research

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How Can A Teacher Kickstart Action Research In Their Classroom? 3 Helpful Methods To Ease The Burden by @TeacherToolkit... 

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How Can A Teacher Kickstart Action Research In Their Classroom? 3 Helpful Methods To Ease The Burden by @TeacherToolkit... 

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— 🇬🇧 TeacherToolkit.co.uk (@TeacherToolkit) September 29, 2019

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How Can A Teacher Kickstart Action Research In Their Classroom? 3 Helpful Methods To Ease The Burden by @TeacherToolkit... 

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Would you?

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(Image: Kent Live WS)

A mum gatecrashed her son's maths class to stop him being rude to teachers.

Becky Crandley marched into The Sittingbourne Community College in Kent and sat herself down next to her son as part of a "surprise" experiment.

Her boy, in Year 8, had been showing signs of a bad attitude last year and this did not stop when he returned to school for the autumn term, she said.

His mother's threats to sit with him in his class did little to deter his unruly behaviour, Kent Live reported .

Becky took matters into her own hands after receiving emails from his teacher about two particular incidents which had landed him in trouble.

She said: "It all started last year with his behaviour change, it's part of growing up I think, but its his rudeness and disrespect I cannot stand.

"I have had phone call after phone call about his behaviour.

"He's had an untold amount of detentions and isolations but nothing seemed to bother him."

After being in contact with the school, she offered to come and sit with him in the last lesson of the day on Friday, which was maths.

The school accepted, and so at 2pm the brave mum walked through the school gates with one mission on her mind, to do what she always said she would.

The mother-of-five added: "I constantly threatened that I'd sit with him in school if needed, and he always laughed it off.

"Since they've been back this year I've had several phone calls already.

"So when his maths teacher emailed last week and said about an incident, I said to her I would join him.

"He didn't have a clue, and he was very embarrassed for sure, I was introduced as his mum."

The carer also took to social media to share her story as a stand against naughty teenagers.

She said she felt it was necessary as "today's children are getting worse by the second."

"I think more parents need to act upon their children's behaviour," she added.

"It's scary to think what we will leave behind one day."

Describing herself as a "big softy", she told her Facebook followers: "Most people know I'm a big softy when it comes to my kids but I'm also straight up and try my hardest to teach them the right way in life.

"One thing I will not tolerate is disrespect from my sons towards any woman and my eldest has been rude recently in secondary school towards his female teachers.

"His mummy bear has had enough for sure, my foot is down and I will not lose.

"If only I got a picture of his face when I walked in and sat down next to him, he went so red there's nothing I can compare it to."

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Mum turns up and sits next to son in school to stop him being rude to teachers

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A mum gatecrashed her son's maths class to stop him being rude to teachers. Becky Crandley marched into The Sittingbourne Community College in Kent and sat herself down next to her son as part of a "surprise" experiment.

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A Teachers perspective on Disruptive Behaviours in Schools

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A Teachers perspective on Disruptive Behaviours in Schools

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Firstly, I have a problem with the word ‘disruptive’. Yes, I understand that this does describe the behaviour accurately for all others in the classroom, but to me its very negative and shows a lack of insight and understanding into how the child is feeling or why. After reading all the neurological reasons for the behaviour, I question why or how this word is still acceptable in this context. I would prefer ‘unsettled’ or ‘restless’ behaviour, as this describes how the child is feeling themselves, which is the important factor (in my opinion!). I don’t believe a child goes into school to set out to be disruptive and get disciplined, its more about their state of mind and subsequent behaviours. A teacher should be trained to understand that state of mind and reasons for the behaviour first and foremost (Delaney, 2009).

That aside, I do find this reading very interesting, due to the inconsistencies in teachers’ perspectives of disruptive behaviour and their short-sighted lack of connection between behaviours and neurological factors. I completely understand how an unsettled child can be an added stress factor for an already overworked teacher, but this is no excuse for ignorance and disregard for the emotions of the individual child. I consider this a major failing.

A minority of responders had received training in attachment theory, with a minority of those linking attachment theory to disruptive behaviour. I find this quite shocking and frustrating, both for the child and teacher. It indicates a lack of knowledge and care in understanding the child. The majority of replies were returned by head teachers, so my initial thought that this is the view of frustrated older generation teachers is unlikely. I’m surprised that headteachers think that the students can have total control of their behaviours at school, suggesting that they feel the behaviours are deliberate. Their answer to this is to use discipline to teach the child consequences of behaviour. At what point in this has anyone, (and we are talking about professionals here!), considered the aetiological reasons and root cause of the initial restlessness?

The most positive finding I can take from this study is the realisation that perhaps females may have more awareness of psychological underpinnings that males. This does warrant further is as schools could adapt their wellbeing support to reflect this.

Table 4 shows that responders have an awareness of factors contributing to behaviour, however the results show that they consider them to bear no relation to the child’s ability to control themselves in the classroom. I am baffled and angered by this. There is a big difference in having an awareness of factors, and a deep knowledge about those factors. These two must marry if the child is to be understood and have their basic needs met, in order to learn (Maslow, 1943).

Its deeply troubling that, according to the report, more teachers than ever are leaving their roles due to challenging classroom behaviour, when an understanding, more specific training, more staff and support could be the answer. However, again we come down to lack funding in education in supporting staff and subsequently providing a positive learning experience to all students.

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Private Schools

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The claim: In some countries, charging for education is not allowed - for example, in Finland.

Reality Check verdict: It's true that in Finland it is not permitted to charge fees for mainstream education - and only 2% of its schools are run by non-governmental bodies. BBC Reality Check was not able to find another example of a country with this rule.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In some countries, it is not allowed to charge for education in any form... in Finland, for example."

He was defending his party's decision to vote to integrate private schools into the state sector, if Labour won power.

So, is he right about Finland?

It's true schools there have not been allowed to charge fees for almost 50 years.

The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture says: "Charging tuition in basic education is prohibited by the Finnish constitution."

Until the early 1970s in Finland, most secondary schools were run by private organisations. They were gradually brought under public control over the course of the decade, as part of wide-reaching educational changes, and their governing bodies were abolished.

Schools not operated by the government or local authorities are permitted - and are referred to as "private schools"- but they are publicly funded and free to pupils, although some charge parents and guardians registration fees.

And there are only 75 of them, making up just 2% of Finnish schools.

This doesn't mean all forms of paid-for education, including private tuition, are banned. But no-one can charge for mainstream schooling that leads to a formal qualification.

Finland is rare in the world for having a model like this - we weren't able to find another country with the same rules.

It has been held up as an example because the country scores so highly on the internationally recognised Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) for science, mathematics and reading.

Its 15-year-olds out-perform those in countries that do have private schools - although we can't say the lack of private schools itself is the reason.

The country also performs well for educational equality - that is, pupils have an equal chance of doing well at school regardless of their background.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which runs the Pisa testing, says of Finland: "No other country has so little variation in outcomes between schools - and the gap within schools between the top and bottom-achieving students is extraordinarily modest as well.

"Finnish schools seem to serve all students well, regardless of family background or socio-economic status."

A lack of fee-paying schools is not the only difference between the Finnish and other European models of education, though, says Prof Pasi Sahlberg, who has acted as an ambassador for the Finnish model around the world.

Pupils start school at the age of seven after funded early childhood education that focuses on play.

Teachers are paid better than they are in the UK, undergo much longer training courses, and have greater flexibility and control over what they teach.

"The main issue in Finland is not just absence of private schools but having education policy that protects education as a basic human right and public service," Prof Sahlberg says.

Finland also has a different demographic mix to the UK, with a far smaller and less diverse population, meaning issues around the funding and organisation of education are not necessarily comparable.
Read more from Reality Check Send us your questions Follow us on Twitter

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Is Corbyn right about bans on school fees?

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The claim: In some countries, charging for education is not allowed - for example, in Finland. Reality Check verdict: It's true that in Finland it is not permitted to charge fees for mainstream education - and only 2% of its schools are run by non-governmental bodies.

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As many of you have already mentioned, I am alarmed by how relatable this reading is, particularly when reflecting on current class I work with.

I am particularly touched when the authors introduce work from Delaney (2009) when stating that 'barriers to learning can be reduced once the meaning behind the behaviour is understood'. This is something I strongly believe in and support the notion of implementing staff CPD. Unfortunately there are several factors which can contribute to the reasoning of challenging behaviours being over looked, (eg lack of staffing or support in the work place) and therefore as mentioned reactive behaviour management strategies are typically enforced more often than proactive ones.
Interesting to note that the recommendations from Teachers themselves regarding behaviour management for trainees and NQT's was not included - this I personally would have found very beneficial?

Amber

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Teacher`s Perceptions of Disruptive behaviour in Schools : A Psychological Perspective.

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Teacher`s Perceptions of Disruptive behaviour in Schools : A Psychological Perspective.

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Alarmingly accurate and insightful read that raises many informed and distressing factors that contribute to the rise in the disruptive behaviours that we are presented with in both primary and secondary schools. In order for a more robust and forward thinking approach to be implemented, professionals and the educational system as a whole must bridge the gap between an educational and psychological perspective. As teachers numbers decrease , it is more than likely that (as stated) the main cause of this is due to children`s disruptive behaviours in the classroom and the lack of knowledge and training provided to teachers in order to counteract this. I found  the statements surrounding the underlying cause of unwanted behaviour being due to underlying fear and anxiety extremely interesting. In one of the surveys that was conducted, it was examined to what extent a child can control their behaviour and investigated teachers perceptions towards unruly behaviour/s  , it concluded in order for there to be positive advances in this area, there is an urgent need for a more nurturing and collaborative approach to be implemented. Attachment in children is innate and reactive to their environment and experiences .As recognised by Barron & darling-Hammond (2010) a more inquiry based system is vital in order to create this vision.

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1.1 Principles of care in all contexts

Ensuring equal access to consistent care

1.1.2 Ensure that all children, young people and their parents or carers get equal access to interventions for attachment difficulties, regardless of whether they:

1.1.3 Assess all children and young people who enter the UK as unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children for attachment difficulties once a stable placement has been found, and offer interventions and support if needed. Take into account that, in addition to attachment difficulties, children and young people who enter the UK as unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children are highly likely to have been traumatised, especially when coming from war zones. If they have post‑traumatic stress disorder, offer treatment in line with the NICE guideline on post-traumatic stress disorder.

1.1.4 Ensure that the health, education and social care processes and structures surrounding children and young people with attachment difficulties are stable and consistent. This should include:

1.1.5 Ensure that the stability or instability of the child or young person's placement does not determine whether psychological interventions or other services are offered.

Improving the stability of placements

1.1.6 Ensure that, whenever possible, children and young people enter the care system in a planned manner rather than in response to a crisis.

1.1.7 Ensure that carers are ready to accept the child or young person's need to be in a loving relationship and are able and, whenever possible, willing to think about providing longer‑term care or involvement if needed.

1.1.8 Help arrange kinship placements, if safe and in the best interest of the child or young person.

1.1.9 Consider comprehensive education and training for potential carers to prepare them for the challenges involved in looking after children and young people with attachment difficulties and the likely impact on them and their families.

1.1.10 Provide ongoing support and advice, either by telephone or in person, and proactively monitor difficulties in placements to identify opportunities to provide additional support, if there are significant attachment difficulties or if disruption to the placement is likely.

1.1.11 If a placement breaks down, aim to maintain the relationship between the child or young person and the foster carers (including kinship carers), adoptive parents or special guardians, whenever possible and if it is in the best interests of the child or young person.

Preparing the child or young person before they enter the care system or change placement

1.1.12 Actively involve children and young people, and their parents or current carers, in the process of entering the care system or changing placement. This may include:

explaining the reasons for the move

familiarising the child or young person with their new carers and placement (for example, by arranging a pre‑placement visit or showing them photographs of their new carers and home)

providing ongoing support during transitions, such as face‑to‑face meetings, telephone conversations and other appropriate methods of communication

making sure the child or young person has the opportunity to ask questions and make choices whenever appropriate and possible

supporting the child or young person in maintaining relationships with their parents or previous carers unless this would not be in the child or young person's best interests

taking account of the needs of children at different ages and developmental stages, including needs related to their mental health and any physical disabilities.

Improving the likelihood of a more permanent placement, including adoption

1.1.13 If a return to the birth parents or original family is not an option, keep siblings together if it is possible and in the best interests of all the children or young people.

1.1.14 Offer additional support and resources (such as mentoring or day visits with a social worker) to children and young people and/or their carers:

1.1.15 When adoption is considered the best outcome for the child or young person ensure that:

Preserving the personal history of children and young people

1.1.16 Social care workers should offer children and young people in the care system, in special guardianship or adopted from care, accurate, comprehensive, up‑to‑date and age‑appropriate information about their history and family in a form that they are able to use and revisit at their own pace (for example, through photographs and life story work in line with the NICE guideline on looked-after children and young people).

1.1.17 Social care workers should keep a record of the significant people and places in the child or young person's life while they are in the care system.

Safeguarding and monitoring during interventions

1.1.18 Ensure safeguarding is maintained during any intervention for a child or young person with attachment difficulties.

1.1.19 Consider using a parental sensitivity tool (for example the Ainsworth Maternal Sensitivity Scale) and a parenting quality tool with parents and carers to help guide decisions on interventions and to monitor progress.

1.2 Supporting children and young people with attachment difficulties in schools and other education settings (including early years)

1.2.1 Schools and other education providers should ensure that all staff who may come into contact with children and young people with attachment difficulties receive appropriate training on attachment difficulties, as set out in recommendation 1.2.2.

1.2.2 Educational psychologists and health and social care provider organisations should work with local authority virtual school heads and designated teachers to develop and provide training courses for teachers of all levels on:

how attachment difficulties begin and how they can present in children and young people

how attachment difficulties affect learning, education and social development

understanding the consequences of maltreatment, including trauma

how they can support children and young people with attachment difficulties.
Children and young people with attachment difficulties, and their parents or carers, should be involved in the design of the training courses, wherever possible.

1.2.3 Staff in schools and other education settings and health and social care professionals should work together to ensure that children and young people with attachment difficulties:

can access mental health services for children and young people and education psychology services for interventions

are supported at school while they are taking part in interventions following advice from mental health services for children and young people and education psychology services.

1.2.4 When providing support for interventions in schools and education settings, staff should:

be aware of the possibility of stigma, bullying and labelling as a result of any absences from school

take into account the child or young person's preferences for the setting of the intervention.

1.2.5 Schools and other education providers should ensure that the designated teacher:

has had specialist training:

is aware of and keeps accurate and comprehensive records about all children and young people in their school who:

has contact details for the parents, carers and health and social care professionals for all the above groups

maintains an up-to-date plan (a personal education plan for children and young people in the care system) setting out how they will be supported in school

provides a key person who can advocate for the child or young person and to whom the child or young person can go for support

allocates a safe place in school, for example a room where a child or young person can go if they are distressed

attends looked-after children reviews

maintains an effective referral system with other agencies.

1.2.6 Social care professionals, schools and other education providers should ensure that changes or gaps in the education of children and young people in the care system are avoided by:

helping them to keep attending school when there are changes to their placements

supporting them while they develop new relationships and if they are worried about the new placement.
If a change is unavoidable, it should be planned in advance so that disruption is minimal.

1.2.7 Schools and other education providers should avoid using permanent and fixed‑term school exclusion as far as possible for children and young people in the care system with identified attachment difficulties.

1.3 Assessing attachment difficulties in children and young people in all health and social care settings

1.3.1 Health and social care provider organisations should train key workers, social care workers, personal advisers and post‑adoption support social workers in the care system, as well as workers involved with children and young people on the edge of care, in:

recognising and assessing attachment difficulties and parenting quality, including parental sensitivity

recognising and assessing multiple socioeconomic factors (for example, low income, single or teenage parents) that together are associated with an increased risk of attachment difficulties

recognising and assessing other difficulties, including coexisting mental health problems and the consequences of maltreatment, including trauma

knowing when and how to refer for evidence‑based interventions for attachment difficulties (see sections 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6).

1.3.2 Health and social care professionals should offer a child or young person who may have attachment difficulties, and their parents or carers, a comprehensive assessment before any intervention, including:

personal factors, including the child or young person's attachment pattern and relationships

factors associated with the child or young person's placement, such as history of placement changes, access to respite and trusted relationships within the care system or school

the child or young person's educational experience and attainment

parental sensitivity

parental factors, including conflict between parents (such as domestic violence and abuse), parental drug and alcohol misuse or mental health problems, and parents' and carers' experiences of maltreatment and trauma in their own childhood

the child or young person's experience of maltreatment or trauma

the child or young person's physical health

coexisting mental health problems and neurodevelopmental conditions commonly associated with attachment difficulties, including antisocial behaviour and conduct disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, anxiety disorders (especially post‑traumatic stress disorder), depression, alcohol misuse and emotional dysregulation.

1.3.3 Offer children and young people who have or may have attachment difficulties, and who also have a mental health problem or neurodevelopmental condition, interventions as recommended in the relevant NICE guideline (for example, antisocial behaviour and conduct disorders in children and young people, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, depression in children and young people and alcohol-use disorders).

1.3.4 Consider using the following assessment tools to guide decisions on interventions for children and young people who have or may have attachment difficulties:

Strange Situation Procedure for children aged 1-2 years

modified versions of the Strange Situation Procedure for children aged 2-4 years (either the Cassidy Marvin Preschool Attachment Coding System or the Preschool Assessment of Attachment)

Attachment Q‑sort for children aged 1-4 years

Manchester Child Attachment Story Task, McArthur Story Stem Battery and Story Stem Attachment Profile for children aged 4-7 years

Child Attachment Interview for children and young people aged 7-15 years

Adult Attachment Interview for young people (aged 15 years and over) and their parents or carers.

See the table in appendix 1 for further information about these tools.

1.3.5 Health and social care provider organisations should ensure that health and social care professionals are skilled in the use of the assessment tools in recommendation 1.3.4.

1.3.6 Only diagnose an attachment disorder if a child or young person has attachment difficulties that meet diagnostic criteria as defined in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edition (DSM‑5; reactive attachment disorder and disinhibited social engagement disorder) or the International classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision (ICD‑10; reactive attachment disorder and disinhibited attachment disorder).

1.3.7 Do not offer genetic screening (including measuring specific gene polymorphisms) in children and young people to predict or identify attachment difficulties.

1.3.8 If, following assessment of attachment difficulties, an intervention is required, refer the child or young person, and their parents or carers, to a service that:

has specialist expertise in attachment difficulties in children and young people and their parents or carers

works with other services, including mental health services for children and young people, education and social care

actively involves children and young people with attachment difficulties in staff training programmes.

1.4 Interventions for attachment difficulties in children and young people on the edge of care

This section covers children and young people with attachment difficulties (or at risk of attachment difficulties) who currently live with their birth parents or original family and who are at high risk of entering or re‑entering the care system. It also covers children and young people who have been maltreated or are at high risk of being maltreated (see recommendations 1.4.9, 1.4.10 and 1.4.12).

Preschool-age children with, or at risk of, attachment difficulties

1.4.1 Health and social care professionals should offer a video feedback programme to the parents of preschool‑age children on the edge of care to help them:

1.4.2 Ensure video feedback programmes are delivered in the parental home by a trained health or social care worker who has experience of working with children and young people and:

consist of 10 sessions (each lasting at least 60 minutes) over 3-4 months

include filming the parents interacting with their child for 10-20 minutes every session

include the health or social care worker watching the video with the parents to:

highlight parental sensitivity, responsiveness and communication

highlight parental strengths

acknowledge positive changes in the behaviour of the parents and child.

1.4.3 If there is little improvement to parental sensitivity or the child's attachment after 10 sessions of a video feedback programme for parents of preschool‑age children on the edge of care, arrange a multi‑agency review before going ahead with more sessions or other interventions.

1.4.4 If parents do not want to take part in a video feedback programme, offer parental sensitivity and behaviour training to help them:

1.4.5 Ensure parental sensitivity and behaviour training:

1.4.6 If parents do not want to take part in a video feedback programme or parental sensitivity and behaviour training, or, if there is little improvement to parental sensitivity or the child's attachment after either intervention and there are still concerns, arrange a multi‑agency review before going ahead with more interventions.

1.4.7 If the multi‑agency review concludes that further intervention is appropriate, consider a home visiting programme to improve parenting skills delivered by an appropriately‑trained lay home visitor or a healthcare professional such as a nurse.

1.4.8 Ensure home visiting programmes:

consist of 12 weekly or monthly sessions (lasting 30-90 minutes) over an 18‑month period

include observing the child (not using video) with their parents

give the parents advice about how they can improve their communication and relationship with their child by:

provide parental education and guidance about child development.

Preschool-age children who have been or are at risk of being maltreated

1.4.9 Consider parent-child psychotherapy for parents who have maltreated or are at risk of maltreating their child to improve attachment difficulties, ensuring that safeguarding concerns are addressed.

1.4.10 Ensure parent-child psychotherapy to improve attachment difficulties:

is based on the Cicchetti and Toth model[]

consists of weekly sessions (lasting 45-60 minutes) over 1 year

is delivered in the parents' home by a therapist trained in the intervention

directly observes the child and the parent-child interaction

explores the parents' understanding of the child's behaviour

explores the relationship between the emotional reactions of the parents and perceptions of the child, and the parents' own childhood experiences.

Primary and secondary school-age children and young people with, or at risk of, attachment difficulties

1.4.11 Consider parental sensitivity and behaviour training for parents of primary and secondary school‑age children and young people (as described in recommendation 1.4.5) to improve attachment difficulties, adapting the intervention for the age of the child or young person.

Primary and secondary school-age children and young people who have been, or are at risk of being, maltreated

1.4.12 For children and young people who have been maltreated, and show signs of trauma or post‑traumatic stress disorder, offer trauma‑focused cognitive behavioural therapy, and other interventions in line with the NICE guideline on post-traumatic stress disorder.

1.4.13 Consider parental sensitivity and behaviour training (as described in recommendation 1.4.5) for parents at risk of maltreating their child to improve attachment difficulties, ensuring that safeguarding concerns are addressed and adapting the intervention for the age of the child or young person.

1.5 Interventions for attachment difficulties in children and young people in the care system, subject to special guardianship orders and adopted from care

This section covers children and young people with attachment difficulties (or at risk of attachment difficulties) who are in the care system, subject to special guardianship orders or adopted from care; it also covers their foster carers (including kinship carers), special guardians and adoptive parents.

Preschool-age children

1.5.1 Health and social care professionals should offer a video feedback programme to foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents, as described in recommendation 1.4.2.

1.5.2 If there is little improvement to parental sensitivity or the child's attachment after 10 sessions of a video feedback programme for foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents of preschool‑age children, arrange a multi‑agency review before going ahead with more sessions or other interventions.

1.5.3 If foster carers, special guardians or adoptive parents do not want to take part in a video feedback programme, offer parental sensitivity and behaviour training as described in recommendation 1.4.5.

Primary school-age children

1.5.4 Consider intensive training and support for foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents (see recommendations 1.5.5 and 1.5.6) before the placement and for 9-12 months after, combined with group therapeutic play sessions for the child for the same duration (see recommendation 1.5.7).

1.5.5 Ensure intensive training for foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents includes:

1.5.6 Ensure intensive support for foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents includes:

1.5.7 Ensure group therapeutic play sessions for primary school‑age children after placement:

Late primary and early secondary school-age children and young people

1.5.8 Consider a group‑based training and education programme for foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents to maintain stability in the home and help transition to a new school environment (see recommendation 1.5.9), combined with a group‑based training and education programme for late primary and early secondary school‑age children and young people in the care system, subject to special guardianship orders and adopted from care to improve social skills and maintain positive peer relationships (see recommendation 1.5.10).

1.5.9 Ensure group‑based training and education programmes for foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents:

1.5.10 Ensure training and education programmes for late primary and early secondary school‑age children and young people in the care system, subject to special guardianship orders and adopted from care:

1.5.11 Modify interventions for young people in the care system, subject to special guardianship orders and adopted from care when needed to allow for:

physical and sexual development

transition to adolescence

re‑awakening of emotions about their birth parents or original family.
Take into account that these factors can complicate therapeutic interventions and relationships with foster carers, special guardians and adoptive parents. Discuss making contact with their birth parents or original family sensitively.

1.6 Interventions for attachment difficulties in children and young people in residential care

1.6.1 Professionals with expertise in attachment difficulties should:

work with the residential staff group and identify any key attachment figures to work specifically with the child or young person in residential care

offer parental sensitivity and behaviour training adapted for professional carers in residential care.

1.6.2 Ensure parental sensitivity and behaviour training for professional carers:

1.6.3 Modify interventions for young people in residential care when needed to allow for:

physical and sexual development

transition to adolescence

re-awakening of emotions about their birth parents or original family.

Take into account that these factors can complicate therapeutic interventions and relationships with professional carers. Discuss making contact with their birth parents or original family sensitively.

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Children's attachment: attachment in children and young people who are adopted from care, in care or at high risk of going into care

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Ensuring equal access to consistent care 1.1.2 Ensure that all children, young people and their parents or carers get equal access to interventions for attachment difficulties, regardless of whether they: 1.1.3 Assess all children and young people who enter the UK as unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children for attachment difficulties once a stable placement has been found, and offer interventions and support if needed.

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https://ncu.libguides.com/c.php?g=900418&p=6478433

Interesting stuff here guys, various podcasts and journals, all American but useful I thought.

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 Teachers’ perceptions of disruptive behaviour inschools: a psychological perspective - Sadly, as I read this article, it reminded me of a number of children I have had the pleasure to work with.  The recommendations regarding school staff CPD couldn't happen soon enough! It is interesting to note that the attachment theory is often key to understanding the needs of these 'challenging' children and it is worrying that this is not a key aspect of either teacher training or CPD for both teachers and teaching assistants.  

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 Teachers’ perceptions of disruptive behaviour inschools: a psychological perspective - Sadly, as I read this article, it reminded me of a number of children I have had the pleasure to work with.  The recommendations regarding school staff CPD couldn't happen soon enough! It is interesting to note that the attachment theory is often key to understanding the needs of these 'challenging' children and it is worrying that this is not a key aspect of either teacher training or CPD for both teachers and teaching assistants.  

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Challenging behaviour is rarely anything other than an expression of need. Our children do not want to be reacting in a negative way, but can often feel it is their only option. It is however, still the opinion of many school staff, that there are some children who 'just shouldn't be in mainstream school'.

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The article suggests that teachers who lack knowledge and necessary skills when managing a classroom are subject to creating a disruptive environment. The Elton Report (1989) states that teachers’ lack of understanding can lead to a negative atmosphere not only for the specific student but can also branch out to the whole classroom; this can affect their performance within the class and their attitudes to learning. The article notifies the significance of understanding the behaviourist approach and its core element that the quality of early relationships have an effect on possible disruptive behaviour. The approach, which the article advises is relevant, places emphasis on the nurture debate within society. Watson (1913) suggests humans are born as a ‘blank slate’ and all behaviours are developed from early interactions throughout childhood and experiences as an adult. The article highlights the importance of how insecure attachments developed from a young age can begin to evoke specific emotional and behavioural difficulties leading to disruptive behaviour.

The article mentions that schools do not obtain enough resources or specific training to facilitate support for these pupils. There is an urgency to adopt a psychological perspective, to increase the functionality in the classroom.

Geddes (2006) and Bombèr (2007) both recommend an attachment approach in tackling disruptive behaviour alongside psychotherapeutic elements. The article states the need for reflection; this can help to expand the number of individualised intervention plans as teachers will have an evolved understanding of a specific learners needs. Youell (2006) proposes the reflective nature of this approach can create more informed responses to disruptive behaviour from teachers.

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Whole school behaviour policies do not work for every child. 

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Whole school behaviour policies do not work for every child. 

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If you want good behaviour in every secondary classroom, the current mantra suggests that creating whole-school norms - rigorously enforced through routine, rules and modelling - is the best way of going about it. But how realistic is for a school to enforce a norm on a diverse and socially motivated group of teens?

"Well, it is a realistic starting point," says Brett Laursen, professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University, US, and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Behavioural Development. Speaking on this week's Tes Podagogy, Laursen discusses just how complex peer influence can be in schools.

Laursen's working definition is as follows: "When we talk about peer influence, we usually talk about getting someone to do something he or she might not otherwise do. So it's typically described as a change in behaviour. Sometimes, peer influence describes getting people not to change. And it is important to note peer influence can be positive - it is not always negative."

Peer influence

The good news for secondary schools is that the age bracket of 12-15 is when we are most easily influenced. So, in theory, teens would be ready to be swayed by attempts to instil whole-school norms.

"We know that peer-to-peer influence seems to peak around those ages, about the time when adolescents start moving out into the world on their own without a lot of adult supervision. So, other people - that'll be your friends and your peers - are there to step in.

"Those in the early teen years don't have a clear identity yet. If you are unsure about who you are, what defines you, you tend to look for others to help fill in the gaps."

Quick read: Understanding the psychology of 'bad'' behaviour
Quick listen: The dark side of consistency

For more Podagogy podcasts, visit our Podagogy homepage

That these forces are at their peak at the time when we put children into secondary school exacerbates the issue, he explains.

"It's a challenging time to be a teen under any circumstances and then we toss them into increasingly unstructured settings. In that context, a teen absolutely has to have a mate, you can't navigate these unfamiliar school settings all by yourself," he explains.

"Making and keeping friends is essential. Teens know they need to focus on making sure that they are similar to their friends - the more similar you are, the less likely that friendship is going to break up over some differences. Peer influence minimises the risk that differences might arise because we're changing our behaviours to look more like one another."

Rules and routines

In schools, we try and make sure that the behaviours mimicked are the ones we want to see. But Laursen says that influencing behaviour from outside those relationships is far more difficult than we may assume.

For starters, the way teens are influenced can be two-fold.

"There are two different forms of peer influence that a teacher needs to be aware of," says Laursen. "First, there is peer influence at the group level, which typically includes visible kinds of peer influence behaviours with one person in the lead. Think fashion. Members of the group follow along behind the leader, so influence flows from one to many.

"Then we have a second form of peer influence, involving friends, which is typically more private. Here, influence is one-to-one about behaviours but also about personal matters, such as attitudes and beliefs."

As a school, trying to influence these fragile dynamics is, according to Laursen, "not as easy as we would hope".

Behaviour management

The theory is right, he stresses: "A focus on group norms is a good idea. By group norms we mean what's acceptable behaviour in this particular group. It's easy to get people to do positive things when the group norms are fairly benign and when there's frowning upon misbehaviour. It's very difficult to get peer influence to work in a positive direction if the group norms embrace misbehaviour, discourage school work, and are tolerant of bullying. So it makes sense to try and get the smaller, most influential groups in each classroom to buy into a larger group identity."

However, achieving this is very difficult.

"In order to do that, the whole school norm has to be properly translated into the smaller group setting," Laursen explains. "The teens in a classroom are not blank slates. They have histories together and the teacher is going to have to work with the histories of the children in the classroom."

What this means is that some teachers are going to have a much tougher job implementing the whole-school norm than others, and through no fault of their own: they may simply have a much more complex set of relationships to navigate in their classroom.

To unpick those relationships, and ascertain how the whole-school norm can work, requires knowing the teens really well and knowing how to present and adapt that whole-school norm for the context. That takes time and flexibility from the teacher and the leadership team.

Complications

What it does not mean is trying to ensure the make-up of every class has the right number of "good behaviour" leaders to ensure the norm dynamic you want. For starters, in a class of 30, the notion of a "leader" is problematic because of the two types of influence cited earlier.

And also, accurately working out what the dynamics are as an outsider is nigh-on impossible.

"I always caution parents and teachers that, when it comes to interpreting relationships between teens, one should be careful about trying to manipulate friendships - believing one friendship is better for the individual than another," Laursen explains. "It's very difficult to know from the outside exactly what the dynamics within a friendship are because you don't know how valuable that friendship is and you don't know what characteristics the other person brings to the table.

"You run the risk of discouraging a friendship in which the child is the one exerting most of the influence and encouraging a friendship in which the child takes on the role of the less influential partner. Good intentions can easily backfire."

Laursen expands on these themes in the podcast, and also discusses at length the characteristics of influential people, whether some are naturally more easily influenced than others and whether teachers can be victims of peer influence via their classes, too.
You can listen on the player above or via your podcast platform (including Spotify) - just search for 'Tes - The Education Podcast'

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The problem with whole-school behaviour policies

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If you want good behaviour in every secondary classroom, the current mantra suggests that creating whole-school norms - rigorously enforced through routine, rules and modelling - is the best way of going about it. But how realistic is for a school to enforce a norm on a diverse and socially motivated group of teens?

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Challenging behaviour should be met with empathy not punishment. 

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Challenging behaviour should be met with empathy not punishment. 

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What can we do with disruptive children? | Debbie Breeze | TEDxNantwich

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Not all behaviour has the same antecedents. Identifying teacher’s perspectives on disruptive behaviour in the article has identified the lack of knowledge professionals have on behaviour aetiology. Without this understanding, identifying the correct strategy to support these behaviours is unlikely. Undeniably, data from the article suggests that there are behaviour problems in schools that are causing and are likely to continue to cause further consequences for both students and teachers. International evidence from the article reports teachers leaving their roles as professionals within 4 years of employment due to pupils that misbehave. Geedes (2006) states by understanding the psychological framework of behaviours, effective strategies can be utilised whilst also enhancing staff well-being (limiting teacher stress). Research findings from the reports own empirical data (collected through questionnaires) leads to the assertion that teachers believe if a behaviour can be controlled, then children must be able to decide ‘not’ to misbehave in the first instance. Understandably, only a minority of the teachers have had attachment training. Resonating from the article, is the idea that early relationships impact subsequent development. Pupils are individuals. Some may have experienced loss, rejection or family breakdown. These experiences cause consequences such as ‘acting out’ as they feel safe to do so at school, and other circumstances explained by Green (2009) identifies misbehaviour occurring due to children being cognitively ‘out of control’ due to conditioned emotional responses.   Wetz (2009) explains that schools lack resources or expertise to manage with behaviour management and whilst a rewards and sanctions system will work for most children, those at the ‘extreme end’ require more support. With a lack of knowledge on psychological framework around behaviour, it makes sense that the article recommends school staff furthering their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and as stated by the Carter review (2015) to include ‘managing pupil behaviour’ in the framework of ITT. An improved understanding is needed to avoid further negative correlations between strategy and behaviour. 

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Not all behaviour has the same antecedents. Identifying teacher’s perspectives on disruptive behaviour in the article has identified the lack of knowledge professionals have on behaviour aetiology. Without this understanding, identifying the correct strategy to support these behaviours is unlikely. Undeniably, data from the article suggests that there are behaviour problems in schools that are causing and are likely to continue to cause further consequences for both students and teachers. International evidence from the article reports teachers leaving their roles as professionals within 4 years of employment due to pupils that misbehave. Geedes (2006) states by understanding the psychological framework of behaviours, effective strategies can be utilised whilst also enhancing staff well-being (limiting teacher stress). Research findings from the reports own empirical data (collected through questionnaires) leads to the assertion that teachers believe if a behaviour can be controlled, then children must be able to decide ‘not’ to misbehave in the first instance. Understandably, only a minority of the teachers have had attachment training. Resonating from the article, is the idea that early relationships impact subsequent development. Pupils are individuals. Some may have experienced loss, rejection or family breakdown. These experiences cause consequences such as ‘acting out’ as they feel safe to do so at school, and other circumstances explained by Green (2009) identifies misbehaviour occurring due to children being cognitively ‘out of control’ due to conditioned emotional responses.   Wetz (2009) explains that schools lack resources or expertise to manage with behaviour management and whilst a rewards and sanctions system will work for most children, those at the ‘extreme end’ require more support. With a lack of knowledge on psychological framework around behaviour, it makes sense that the article recommends school staff furthering their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and as stated by the Carter review (2015) to include ‘managing pupil behaviour’ in the framework of ITT. An improved understanding is needed to avoid further negative correlations between strategy and behaviour. 

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Emily

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In 2013 and 2014, the project's organisers ran a pilot study in 11 schools and colleges, with each committing to a programme of training in areas such as trauma and its implications for learning. Each institution devised its own whole-school approaches to being "attachment aware" with the help of a consultant.

The initial results were excellent, with all participants reporting that they had found the process useful and that it had had a big impact on learning.

Dr Janet Rose of Bath Spa University is part of the research group leading the programme. She explains: "Attachment theory is already well recognised in areas such as clinical psychology, health and social care.

"The preliminary evidence from our pilot study shows that attachment-based practice in schools can have a positive impact on academic performance, reduction in behavioural incidents and improvements in pupil and staff well-being."

Putting theory into practice

So far, so good. But what does attachment theory look like in practice? And what new strategies are emerging? One example is the use of "emotion coaching". Originating in the US and historically used in helping parents to relate to their children, it involves recognising, naming and validating the feelings and emotions that may cause disruptive behaviour rather than dismissing them.

In particular, there is an emphasis on changing the language used to deal with poor behaviour, enabling children to understand and manage their feelings more successfully.

For example, parents would be advised to say: "I'm sorry you're feeling so angry and I'd like to talk to you more about it, but I still need you to stop throwing things" (instead of: "It's very silly to throw things so stop it right now!"). It is a strategy that has been embraced by many of the pilot schools in the Attachment Aware scheme, and Ed Harker, headteacher of St Saviours CEVC Nursery and Infant School in Bath, has already seen positive results.

"We have found that children with attachment disorders have responded really well," he explains. "And on a practical level, attachment theory has changed the specific language we use with all the children."

The Attachment Aware project and its pilot schools offer further specific ways of bringing attachment into an educational setting, from appointing an attachment leader to using nurture groups to help children process their feelings better.

Harker says that the interventions at St Saviours - such as a "nurture" space for children to use at lunchtime - have had a school-wide impact.

"There is a better emotional intelligence within the school team now and a raised awareness of attachment needs," he says. "It gives you the understanding you need to adapt your provision and ensure that potentially vulnerable children are helped to thrive."

Fighting the fear

But it is not just about interventions, according to Dr Rose. What can also be effective in schools, she believes, is the modelling of attachment. "Most teachers are likely to encounter insecurely attached and traumatised children in their classrooms," she says. "A warm, supportive teacher can actually promote attachment relationships."

Roger Catchpole, a consultant for children's mental health charity YoungMinds, agrees: "There is strong evidence for the protective power of one important adult in a child's life who can provide them with unconditional positive regard. This is often found in school." He points out that this does not have to be a teacher and could equally be a teaching assistant or other member of support staff.

The Attachment Aware project also recommends assigning "key adults" to needy children. These are trained adults within the school who take a particular interest in a child, supporting their emotional development and reducing their anxiety. And although "unconditional positive regard" may seem to suggest overlooking or indulging poor behaviour, it is more about giving children a sense that they are liked and cared for in spite of their behaviour.

This may make some teachers feel uncomfortable, particularly considering that adults are often advised to keep a careful distance from students for child protection and authority. But as Harker says, if attachments are "appropriate" and "secure" there is nothing to fear.

Fear is perhaps as important a factor as ignorance in stopping attachment theory being more widely implemented in schools. We have become so guarded when it comes to children and so concerned with data that we can forget about the importance of relationships in teaching. For those children lucky enough to get a great start in life, this is damaging. But for those with attachment issues it can be nothing short of destructive.
Kate Townshend is a teacher at a primary school in Gloucestershire
What else?
Create an attachment-based nurture group with these detailed resources.Use this mind map to identify the many issues faced by students with attachment disorders.
References

Bergin, C and Bergin, D (2009) "Attachment in the classroom", Educational Psychology Review, 21: 141-70.
O'Connor, M and Russell, A (2004) "Identifying the incidence of psychological trauma and post-trauma symptoms in children, A Survey of Three Clackmannanshire Schools", Clackmannanshire Council Psychological Service.

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Behaviour - How to get a grip on attachment theory

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In 2013 and 2014, the project's organisers ran a pilot study in 11 schools and colleges, with each committing to a programme of training in areas such as trauma and its implications for learning. Each institution devised its own whole-school approaches to being "attachment aware" with the help of a consultant.

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Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools

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Six recommendations for improving social and emotional learning in primary schools

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When children exhibit extreme behaviour, sanctions - and, eventually, exclusion - are usually the response from schools. But when this primary teacher implemented an attachment-informed approach in a bid to help one of her pupils, she found huge success