1. Why do Looked After children and Adopted Children fail to thrive in our Schools?

2. The Effects of early Trauma on the brain
A significant minority of children in our schools appear to be unfocussed, disruptive, controlling, withdrawn and destructive
These children tend to underachieve in school and are often punished and even excluded.
Feeling safe and secure is now known to be more important in our children’s brains than learning
Neuroscientific evidence demonstrates that warm, responsive relationships and interactions build children’s brains and help them to learn to self- regulate their behaviour
Securely attached children build positive internal working models of others as trustworthy and of the self as valuable and effective

3. What Attachment Disorders mean for children in our schools
Our children may have Regulatory disorders including Toxic Stress – high levels of stress hormones leading to hyper arousal and or dissociation. An inability to manage behaviour and Shame – hypersensitivity to criticism/ apparent lack of remorse are common features too
Social function disorders mean an impaired understanding of others and difficulty with empathy / feelings of worthlessness and poor self esteem / lack of capacity for joy
Processing disorders [ creating cognitive difficulties] result in an impaired understanding of the world/ difficulty in making sense of sensory information/ difficulty in making sense of feelings

4. Types of Attachment Disorder
Insecure Avoidant – cannot trust the teacher/ can only focus on what to do and cannot seek help / self reliance which inhibits creativity and exploration of the unknown = underachievement
Insecure Ambivalent – separation anxiety means they need constant teacher attention and the task is unimportant / we give 1 to 1 support often but this can feed anxiety and prevent independence growing
Insecure Disorganised – tasks are too unbearably challenging to their vulnerability/ low esteem and limited resilience / the response is often omnipotence shown through anger and frustration
Insecure Ambivalent- both clingy and rejecting of the teacher /seek comfort but cannot be comforted / attention seeking with hyperactivity and cannot easily recover from upset

5. Ways to help our Children Succeed at School
Feeling safe and secure physically and emotionally
Relationships and secure attachments
Being able to express what has happened and creating a narrative to make the memories safe
A structured environment is needed with firm boundaries and nurturing empathetic relationships
Secure foundations will help to develop social skills , build self esteem and emotional literacy, autonomy and self identity
THIS IN TURN WILL PROMOTE READINESS TOO LEARN

6. What do Schools and Teachers need to do
Be child centred and acknowledge children’s different attachment styles
Create nurturing relationships to promote children’s learning and satisfy their innate need to have a secure sense of belonging
Acknowledge adults’ roles as secondary attachment figures who can help to reshape insecure attachment behaviours and support the development of more secure ones
Create different policies for children with emotional and behavioural impairments [ as we do for physical and learning impairments ]