1. Supporting resilience through a whole school approach Lisa Williams, YoungMinds & University of Brighton Community Fellow. Jim Roberts, Deputy Head, Hove Park School

2.  What is Resilience?  Some of the concepts behind it  Academic Resilience  Example of how it is promoted in a secondary school in Brighton – illustrating some of the key ideas

3. Prevalence among children aged 5 – 15 in the UK Risk factors but no obvious problems now Mental health problems Mental or psychiatric disorder Severe disorder or mental illness 3 million or 20% 1.5 million or 10% 30,000 or 0.2%

4. Risk and protective factors Risk Factors Protective Factors Can we build resilience?

5. Normal development under difficult circumstances. Relative good result despite experiences with situations that have been shown to carry substantial risk for the development of psychopathology (Rutter) Ordinary magic in the minds, brains and bodies of children, in their families and relationships and in their communities (Masten) An emergent property of a hierarchically organised set of protective systems that cumulatively buffer the effects of adversity and can therefore rarely, if ever, be regarded as an intrinsic property of individuals (Roisman et al)

6. Some key ideas… Better than expected outcomes – in a context of adversity Bouncing back/up Asset or strength focused Compensatory experience – mitigating

7.  Resilience is highly correlated with academic achievement and educational success (Werner and Smith 1992).  Research identifies protective factors that buffer risk – all of which can be provided in or through school, such as caring relationships, positive and high expectations, and opportunities to participate and contribute (Benard,1991).  Studies suggest that children from high risk backgrounds who form attachments with a confiding adult outside their immediate family are more resilient to the effects of family adversity. Fergusson and Horwood (2003 ).

8.  What has been shown to work – Prof. Angie Hart, University of Brighton www.boingboing.org.uk www.boingboing.org.uk  Developing approaches with schools  Testing tools and capturing practice  Written up on www.youngminds.org.uk – simple messages, tools, short film exampleswww.youngminds.org.uk  We called it ‘Academic Resilience’

9. Academic resilience means students achieving good educational outcomes despite adversity. For schools, promoting it involves strategic planning and detailed practice involving the whole school community to help vulnerable young people do better than their circumstances might have predicted.

10. Review Plan Do Understand academic resilience and what it would look like in your school Identify who is at risk if you do not ‘step up’ your support ----Evidence base ----What works ----use data ----prepare for targeted support Audit - How are we doing? What can we improve? School Development Plan Monitor change Whole school community Create baseline for measuring change

11. The kinds of things schools can do…. At least one trusted adult, with regular access over time, who lets the pupils they ‘hold in mind’ know that they care Preparedness and capacity to help with basics i.e. food, clothing, transport, and even housing Making sure vulnerable pupils actually access activities, hobbies and sports Safe spaces for pupils who wish to retreat from ‘busy’ school life Help to map out a sense of future (hope and aspirations) Helping pupils to cope – teaching self soothing or management of feelings Support to help others e.g. volunteering, peer mentoring Opportunities for pupils, staff and parents to understand what resilience is and how they might achieve it for individual students and the whole school community

12.  Short film – approaches to resilience

13. X no. High risk (likely known to you already) X no. Medium risk (prevent escalation) X no. Risk indicated (keep an eye on and focus prevention activity here) Rest of the school (embed Academic Resilience culture ) ‘Pyramid of Need’ – score and collate pupil data to map need e.g. Behaviour Attendance Safeguarding Special Educational Needs Looked After Children Free School Meals English as an Additional Language

14.  Social and emotional aspects of learning (although that is linked)  A one off programme – it is about integrating approaches in to core business across school and sustaining it  It is not a fad …it is drawn from years of research across the world that asks ‘how come child A did better than child B when they both grew up in similarly difficult and adverse circumstances – what made the difference?’

15.  Not treating all pupils the same – they don’t all start from the same place  Early intervention – proactively identifying which pupils are at greater risk of poorer outcomes (educational and otherwise) before problems emerge  Some things to try based on evidence of what works.  Not giving up on vulnerable pupils who often leave us feel deskilled and/or frustrated  Not giving up on yourself as the adult that can help them to do better than you might have expected

21. Whole school ethos All staff – wider work force / site staff / canteen staff Pastoral structures Heads of Year / Assistant Heads of Year Role of the Tutor Tracking and Monitoring Link with other strategies including Closing the Gap

23. Outputs and outcomes City wide vulnerability index Restructured Heads of Year and support Tutor group resource Increased awareness and empathy Commitment to alternative activities and learning e.g. Forest school, MADE day Increased progress monitoring – fuller picture of students = more bespoke support

24. Lisa.williams@youngminds.org.uk www.boingboing.org.uk www.youngminds.org.uk Jim Roberts jroberts@hovepark.org.uk Resources for Info, guidance, resources free on www.youngminds.org.uk