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Educating for Hope: Beyond Trauma
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Dear colleagues
As we continue to lead through this challenging season, we want to continue to encourage you in all that you are doing – particularly those of you leading in geographical locations where the numbers of cases are rising faster and bubbles are bursting – I know for so many this had added another level of challenge at a time when things appeared to be emerging with greater positivity. There has been so much to contend with this year, and we continue to be so grateful for all you are doing lead your teams through this situation with such vision, commitment and passion.
In this week’s issue of ‘Called, Connected, Committed’ we are focusing on Hope and Aspiration, which often feels like it’s a very positive rose-tinted thing to be talking about – as if the world is all as it should be, and that we are moving forward with energy and momentum. The reality of leadership is quite different in that we often grow the most through our most challenging seasons. In the Vision for Education, we talk about Hope as ‘coping wisely with things and people going wrong’ and this is normal life in a school each day, of course.
In ‘Called, Connected, Committed’ we write – “Teams with sustained vision can still see where they are going in the dark times, and they grow through the difficulties they face together. Leaders show that resilience is not simply coping or working harder. Leaders are changed and transformed through adversity, as their skills and character are formed in the crucible of the challenge.”
As we think about how we can best support and encourage children to flourish together, we know that many have faced incredibly difficult experiences in their lives, and need support in responding to and recovering from trauma. This is why we are pioneering our new ‘Becoming Trauma-Informed Schools Network’ in partnership with an incredible range of organisations (as outlined below). I was delighted to sit down with the inspirational Sir John Timpson this week to talk about his experiences in fostering over 90 children in his life and his incredible passion for improving school leaders’ understanding of attachment theory and trauma. We have a launch event coming up for this network on 7 July, and already have around 1200 people signed up to join us – please do get involved and consider whether your school, Diocese or MAT could be part of this incredible opportunity for 2021-22. It’s an area of school life we all need to move forward in, and this ongoing network opportunity will be a wonderful way of really bringing that to life for so many schools.
With all love and encouragement for all you are doing in this season.
Andy Wolfe
Deputy Chief Education Officer
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Our last CCC edition is on our website (we had technical issues with sending it out) and includes resources linked to the G7 and environment. CCC Interdependence G7
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This week's Called, Connected, Committed podcast features Timpson Chairman and long-time foster carer, Sir John Timpson CBE. Sir John talks to Andy Wolfe about his own personal experiences with bringing up children who have encountered trauma, and his thoughts on how schools can best work with families to enable flourishing for every child.
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Educating for Hope and Aspiration
Church of England Vision for Education
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In the drama of ongoing life, how we learn to approach the future is crucial. Good schools open up horizons of hope and aspiration, and guide pupils into ways of fulfilling them. They also cope wisely with things and people going wrong. Bad experiences and behaviour, wrongdoing and evil need not have the last word. There are resources for healing, repair and renewal, repentance, forgiveness, truth and reconciliation are possible; and meaning, trust, generosity, compassion and hope are more fundamental than meaninglessness, suspicion, selfishness, hardheartedness and despair.
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Resources for Exploring Hope: Beyond Trauma
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‘The worth of each student impels us to work to fulfil their God-given potential... with special consideration given to those who are disadvantaged. Each is to be understood as respectfully and deeply as possible.’
Church of England Vision for Education
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We are so excited for our launch event on July 7th! We have an amazing line-up of experts and practitioners, as well as those with their own first-hand experience of dealing with trauma. This event is open to anyone who works in or with schools and has been orchestrated by Dr Krish Kandiah, special advisor to the DfE on adoption and guardianship and previous CCC podcast guest. We already have over 1,200 people registered!
Sign up here: Every Child Flourishing Tickets, Wed 7 Jul 2021 at 15:30 | Eventbrite
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Learn more about our partners in Every Child Flourishing
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We are delighted to be working with Professor Eamon McCrory of UCL and the Anna Freud Centre, both at our launch event and in our year-long network for schools. You may have encountered Professor McCrory before, in his work with the Duchess of Cambridge's Royal Foundation. Here you can hear about how trauma and adverse childhood experiences impact upon children's mental health and wellbeing. Through Professor McCrory, we have also become connected with the UK Trauma Council, who are supporting our network in the area of bereavement and loss.
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'While latent vulnerability is a cause for concern, it does not determine anyone's future. Brain changes aren't fixed, nor is a child's destiny.'
Professor Eamon McCrory
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Louise Bomber & Touchbase
Many of you will have encountered Louise's work, particularly over the last year. She is a fount of knowledge about how to support children who have experienced trauma, using research to explain the suitability of certain approaches. 'Know me to Teach me' is one of our favourites in the Foundation. Louise featured on our podcast last year - you can listen back here. Find out more about the work of Louise's organisation, Touchbase.
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This video, based on the work of Betsy de Thierry, explains through the voices of children, what happens when trauma impacts the brain. A simple introduction to neuroscience!
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The Difference 2021 Inclusive Leadership Course
Are you concerned about pupil wellbeing post lock-down? Do your staff lack confidence in de-escalation or working with children showing signs of trauma? Are you worried about numbers of students persistently absent or moving towards permanent exclusion? Then The Difference Inclusive Leadership Course could help you and your school.
Specially designed for senior leaders leading safeguarding, wellbeing and inclusion whole-school, the Inclusive Leadership Course combines personal professional development with school improvement, through school-based assignments and CPD which can be cascaded to all staff across a school. Join 50 heads, deputies and assistant headteachers across the country working to make their schools more inclusive through this year’s course. For more details or to apply, visit www.the-difference.com/mainstream-schools, email Shaun@The-Difference.com or join us for a Taster Event on 29th June.
We are delighted that Kiran Gill, CEO of The Difference, will be speaking at our 'Becoming Trauma Informed' network, particularly around supporting children at risk of exclusion.
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We have been working in partnership with Adoption UK to set up both our launch event, and our network for schools. Rebecca Brooks, Adoption UK's education policy advisor, has written about how schools can create environments where trauma and attachment need not have the last word. Check out her book here.
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'All my life I've been carried by grace...'
Christians believe that we can have hope for the future, having seen the work of God in the past - through the life of Christ, and through their own experiences of being carried through difficult times. This simple song from Elevation Worship reminds us that miracles are possible!
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A Prayer for School Leaders
God our rescuer
We know that through Christ
You offer us a renewed and better future.
Hope of justice for all,
Hope of healing and repair,
Hope that our worst experiences need not define us,
Hope anew each day.
Help us to believe in flourishing futures for all of our children,
Seeking to understand and to unlock,
Engendering empathy within our community,
Enabling wise practices and loving care.
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God our strength
While we believe in your hope,
We sometimes struggle to sustain it.
Disappointment can drain us,
Bad experiences can overwhelm us,
Incidents can unnerve us,
Individuals' actions can divide us.
Help us to hold on when challenges arise,
Clinging on to faith in what lies ahead,
Seeking support when it becomes too much,
Running into your arms when love runs dry.
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Amen
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Philippa Hanna sings this very famous hymn that we have been referencing in our networks recently in thinking about where our hope comes from.
'Morning by morning, new mercies I see'
How can we come back each day, offering fresh starts and the hope of a renewed future?
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We are delighted to be one of the DfE's nine chosen providers for the full suite of NPQs starting in September 2021. There are now three new specialist qualifications (Leading Teaching, Leading Behaviour and Culture and Leading Teacher Development), to replace the previous generic middle leader qualification. Additionally, the NPQs for Senior Leaders, Headteachers and Executive Leaders have been fully overhauled and redesigned.
We are really excited about these new courses and have secured partnerships with a huge range of excellent Delivery Partners from right across the country. We have experts in their fields developing evidence-informed curricula for all of the programmes, utilising 'the best that has been thought and said' (Matthew Arnold) to secure excellence for young people.
Applications are now open!
To find out more about the NPQs, you can find all the information here.
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