Resources

Timely Resources (i.e. First term back)

General Wellbeing and Reintegration Activities.

When children return to school, a lot of teachers are keen to have ideas of how to emotionally support children and help them to settle.

• The Specialist Teaching Service in Lancashire County Council have developed an excellent resource with guidance on 10 sessions which can help children: download here.

• The BiBorough Educational Psychology Consultation Service of Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of Westminster have developed a resource with guidance and activities around teacher wellbeing, and developing key areas of resilience: Primary schools download here. Secondary schools download here.

• Nottinghamshire County Council along with NASEN and AEP have produced guidance on supporting children’s reintegration and recovery after experiencing the inherent disruption and change following school closures: download here.

  
  

Building Children’s Resilience.

The British Psychological Society has published a resilience and coping framework for supporting transitions back to school, including suggestions for Individuals, Classes, and Whole school communities: download here. Given that resilience is of incredible importance to children at this time, we have developed whole school training to support with this; more details of which can be found here.

Attachment Aware Behaviour Regulation Policy.

Brighton and Hove have developed ‘Attachment Aware Behaviour Regulation Policy Guidance’ which provides a relational and universal approach to supporting all children’s wellbeing. While this is particularly important for those with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), it is beneficial for the whole school community: download here.

NASEN have also created valuable guidance on ‘Working together to build resilience through relationships: download here.

Protecting Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The Anna Freud Centre have teamed up with NAHT to provide timely guidance on key support areas and resources to help school staff support pupils' mental health upon returning to school: download here. Their suggestions for a ‘Recovery Curriculum’ can be supported by the other resources on this page, as well as the specifically designed RISE Resilience training.

Preparing for children’s return.

No one knows what the true impact will be when children return to school but the more prepared we can be, the better we can help children to settle and begin to thrive once more. The Childhood Trust has released a helpful document to give us some ideas of where need is likely to be greatest, entitled ‘The Consequences of the Coronavirus Crisis for Children Living in Poverty’: download here.

EYFS Transition Guidance.

There are particular things which will be helpful to consider for our younger children. Bristol City Council have provided some good guidance to support the return or start of our youngest children into early years settings and primary schools: download here.

Staff wellbeing: Adult Resilience.

To help children the most, we have to ensure that us, as adults, are in a good place emotionally. This too can come from looking at our resilience and how to build this over time. The CEDAR department at Exeter University has some excellent resources for us too: download here.

Emotionally Based School Avoidance.

When children return to school, we may expect an increase in emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA). West Sussex Educational Psychology Service has put together some excellent guidance to help us understand why this develops for some children, and practical strategies to support them. From experience, the earlier we can identify EBSA, the quicker and more successful children are at being able to feel secure and settled within school once more: download here.

Children with autism.

Autistic children and young people are likely to find the initial transition back to school perhaps more challenging than most.

• STARS provide a great collection of practical resources which can aid this transition, and support children to feel more secure on their return: www.starsteam.org.uk/coronavirus-resources

• A collaboration between One Education Educational Psychology, Speech Therapy in Manchester, and Manchester CAMHS have produced comprehensive guidance on planning for the return to school of autistic pupils after Covid-19, including advice and resources for schools, parents and young people: download here.

• The Autism Education Trust has designed a wide range of practical tools to support teachers to work effectively with autistic pupils, including areas such as Transition, Managing Emotions, and Sensory Regulation: download here.

Trauma Informed.

Statistics show that there has been an unfortunate increase in abuse and neglect, which can lead to trauma and disturbed attachments. Recovery from trauma occurs best in the context of developing close relationships with particular adults, and this guidance helps to provide an overview of the key things we can do to support children in such difficult contexts. Many of the the principles will also be helpful to support any child to settle and feel more secure when returning to school: download here.

Cognition and Learning

DOWNLOADS

Short-Term Verbal Memory Training
The download provides a collection of games to engage with children which stretches their capacity to keep in mind what they hear (i.e. short-term verbal memory). This is a key cognitive skills and ability, and especially important for language development. For a brief screening assessment which can help to give an indication of capacity and monitor progress, please also click here.

Reading: High-Frequency Words
The 100 most frequent words make up approximately 50% of all printed materials. Supporting children to learn these can help give them a solid foundation for reading, and increase their fluency and confidence. The recommended approach to achieve this comes through quick, rote-repetition activities, and is described in detail here:

WEBSITES

British Dyslexia Association→
Has a wide range of advice, recommendations and guidance to support children with Dyslexia. They also offer a ‘Dyslexia Friendly Schools’ Quality Mark for those who embed good practice and approaches at all levels.

Social Communication and Autism

DOWNLOADS

Intensive Interaction
Intensive Interaction is an approach to help children develop early communication attainment through play-based, and often child-led approaches. This can help to develop a range of communication skills, including foundations of enjoying being with another person and taking turns, to building up the child’s understanding of non-verbal communications and using meaningful vocalisations. A brief guide and examples can be downloaded here:

Transitioning: Now and Next Boards
For children who struggle with their communication and / or find transitions difficult to manage, ‘Now and Next’ boards provide a consistent visual communication technique. This is a key strategy which helps to build their understanding and, in turn, can help with engagement. Guidance on this can be downloaded here:

Free Play: Choose Time Boxes
During free play times, a lot of children can struggle and have a very restricted range of activity preferences, become ‘paralysed’ by the choice available and don’t make any choice at all, or simply don’t know how to make a choice. Although a simple technique, having a Choose Time Box can be an important part in helping to enrich children’s play. Additional information on Choose Time Boxes can be downloaded here:

WEBSITES

National Autistic Society→
The National Autistic Society is actively engaged in a wide range of research and support activities. In particular, they have a wide section dedicated to practical classroom strategies and tips, and regularly share more teaching resources when signed up to the MyWorld hub.

Art of Autism→
The Art of Autism website hold a range of artworks, poems, stories and blogs which provide a deeply personal insight into the lives of those with autism. This highlights and showcases the range of strengths as well as struggles many individuals experience. In doing so, it helps both ‘neurotypicals’ to understand those with autism better, as well as providing a place for those with autism to feel connected with others who may share a relatively unique perspective on the world.

Emotional and Mental Health

DOWNLOADS 

Emotional-Regulation / Relaxation Training
The skills to be able to calm and relax when feeling anxious or frustrated take time to train and develop. For children who need to develop these skills, daily guided practice with an adult using an app such as Headspace or Stop, Breathe, Think is very useful. These skills can also be used at a whole-class level, and can be built upon through staff training by the Mindfulness in Schools Project. A simple starting script is also available to use with children here:

Learning From Experiences: ABC
Children can find it difficult to learn from their experiences, and some end up repeating the same mistakes over and over. However, when a difficulty does occur, this is a good opportunity for children to learn from these experiences. In fact, learning from our experiences is the most powerful and effective social learning we can achieve because these events are personal, meaningful and directly related to their experiences. To help children understand what caused the difficulty, and think about what alternative responses they could have made, the ABC Approach is especially useful:

WEBSITES

MindEd→
Funded by the Department of Health and Department for Education, MindEd provides free educational resources for adults on children and young people's mental health.

Winston's Wish→
Losing someone close is an incredibly difficult experience to endure. Winston’s Wish provide invaluable support, advice, and guidance for children, young people, parents, and schools. They have a lot of especially relevant guidance regarding supporting children through COVID-19, and their helpline is also available for advice on: 08088 020 021