Choosing nursery& school

I previously posted Schools (alwayssingintherain.blogspot.com) from some pre-panel reading, I thought it might be useful to share some of the questions/areas i asked about at the school open days...

School questions I asked:

knowledge of Thrive Approach / Attachment aware (https://www.attachmentleadnetwork.net/what-is-an-attachment-aware-school.php ) or equivalent

Any trauma or attachment training their teachers may have had,

Their disciplinary/reward mechanisms

what they use the pupil premium plus funding for (albeit probably more privately for that one.) If you have any particular thoughts on things

Class size

just try to get an idea of the spectrum of pupils they already support a– do they have experience of looked after and adopted children, and children that require extra support

Phased start to the year? If so, what does this look like?

Breakfast club/ after school club - availability & what that involved?

Holiday club(s) and or links to local ones

Therapy animals?

swimming/ messy play etc / other offerings?

outdoor time?

SENCO availability / numbers

Emotional literacy / visual aspects like makaton

*Pastoral care offerings

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little jumps

Little one is about to be 4... This means I'll be on some manic birthday planning after this. Figured I'm normally writing about the process, so today I'll share the latest for little one. She's also been going through a development jump. She's (successfully ) dressing herself without me and her writing is getting much clearer. She's exploring humour (ok, her jokes are mainly funny for the absurdity at this point). A month ago, if you asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was 'big'. Now, she's saying a doctor or an astronaut (depending on when in you ask). A lovely vtec laptop was gifted by friends a while ago and it seemed like time to let her explore it last week... Two days later, she was typing out her own name! Considering we were initially talking about what delays there may be for her language and speech, this is an extra achievement :) She had been still going to bed with a milk bottle until recently. This had moved to wat...

Direct Contact prep resources

I have mostly used online resources and remembered bits I've looked at previously, but will include other resources that I've been recommended in the below so that you can pull whatever is helpful for you! A lot of the first ones are aimed at social workers, but still have been really useful. Not least of all, because although this is something with a lot more push than it used to have, in my case, I've found they're no more resourced and haven't necessarily had a lot of focus (training) time for this. Online resources I've pulled from: Good practice guide - Contact-PG_E.pdf Staying Connected: the views of looked after children and young people on their contact arrangements - Coram Voice Supporting evidence-informed practice with children and families, young people and adults | Research in Practice Contact: making good decisions for children in public law: Frontline Briefing (2024) | Research in Practice Staying in touch: Contact after adoption | Research...

Schools

I've just finished reading ' No Matter What ' by Sally Donovan. Sally's books have been recommended wherever the topic of adoption has come up, which says something in itself. This book is her story - what led her and her partner to look at adoption and the challenges that they experienced in the years that followed. One of the topics covered at a later part of the book is schooling. Interestingly, her experiences seem quite aligned with what Adoption Adventures described - sadly in both cases a child ended up having to move school because the initial school did not have an understanding of the effects of early trauma and that they might have to think about their strategies to help their behaviour. They also noted that it's not unusual for the behaviours to lead to a misdiagnosis of ADHD. Both mentioned that when the children had experienced that lack of safety then changes in the room that they couldn't see could leave them really unsettled. One thing advised ...

Sing in the rain

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