FEATURE FOCUS: VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
Building self-esteem, trust and a sense of belonging
Tell us about your school
Stonelow Junior School in Dronfield, is located in north Derbyshire, in the suburbs between Chesterfield and Sheffield. We have 170 pupils aged 7-11 years-old, 53% girls and 47% boys, with 23% of our pupils receiving Pupil Premium Funding (PPF).
Why did you decide to become a Trauma Informed School (TISUK)
Children learn best when they have strong self- esteem, a sense of belonging and trust. When I first came to Stonelow, I was concerned by the seeming lack of support for pupils who found school challenging and were therefore challenging in the classroom.
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n our ever popular View from the classroom feature this month we are delighted to hear from Catherine Robinson, Headteacher at Stonelow Junior School in Dronfield, Derbyshire, who outlines the positive impacts on pupils, parents and staff of becoming a Trauma Informed School (TISUK).
Although ‘nurture’ was on the schedule, it was not very apparent, so in 2017, we introduced nurture group provision, with fully trained staff, to support pupils who were not ready to meet the social and intellectual demands of the classroom. Two TAs run the nurture groups, offering short- term focused intervention to support children who are experiencing difficulties with learning due to social or emotional difficulties. Building strong partnerships with parents impacts directly on pupil behaviour and attainment - everyone should feel involved and part of school, by supporting parents and families, we are supporting our children. So we used some of our PPF to appoint a full-time Family Support Worker (FSW), Shona Hardcastle, and created a dedicated space for her to work with both pupils
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Pupils unable to cope fulltime in the classroom or those needing time outside the classroom to regulate themselves, spend time with Shona, she also checks in with other pupils in classes throughout the day and deals with issues that arise at playtimes. She runs a lunch-time club, parenting workshops, and is available to listen and give advice and support to parents who are struggling.
When we first began the service, Shona was inundated with requests from parents, it was definitely needed and appreciated. Even when children have progressed to secondary school, parents still come back to us if they are experiencing difficulties and need to talk. We also developed our own whole school communications policy which put in place clear guidelines to define effective and ineffective communication, it was agreed by all and is regularly revisited. Staff witnessed the positive impact that the shift in adult behaviour, language and reactions had on our pupils’ behaviour. Trauma Informed training was a natural progression in our school development – we wanted to provide support for all our pupils and staff, and ensure our school was a mentally healthy place to learn and work. The decision to go ahead was taken by all our stakeholders and everyone was keen to make this ‘official’ by achieving the Trauma and Mental Health Informed School Award.
October 2022
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