A TRAUMA-INFORMED AND THERAPEUTIC APPROACH TO BEHAVIOUR FOR ALL EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS AND WIDER STAKEHOLDERS

Our aim is to embed a therapeutic framework across Cambridgeshire so that we generate a common language for both understanding children's behaviours and responding to them in an inclusive way that promotes change.\r

This procurement is for a trauma informed training package and associated resources that will be a locally owned approach which aims to raise confidence in staff in their ability to support children whose emotional wellbeing is affecting their engagement with education. The successful bidder will need to support with embedding a therapeutic foundation, articulating a clear graduated approach to supporting children and young people in Cambridgeshire who present with difficult or dangerous behaviour and are at risk or exclusion/placement breakdown, criminal activity, exploitation and absenteeism. The successful bidder will provide training, consultancy and delivery of a therapeutic approach to education settings, internal LA staff and wider service stakeholders across Cambridgeshire.\r

The approach will be a school, setting and service led ethos characterised by an inclusive culture, based on training and information that is underpinned by best practice, policy and plans. The successful bidder will need to deliver a therapeutic approach to emotional wellbeing that places an emphasis on consistency and on the teaching of internal discipline rather than imposing external discipline. This approach is a whole school approach but also aims to target individual children who are at risk of exclusions, poor attendance, or are subject to the use of restrictive physical intervention/restraint. Local Authority support services will also be trained to ensure consistency of advice particularly around individual risk management and support planning.\r

The training will need to teach school staff to develop planning which will lead to pro-active techniques to de-escalate a situation before a crisis occurs, placing an emphasis on analysing the causes of an individual child's declining emotional wellbeing. The successful bidder will support to deliver a therapeutic approach that will provide both the foundation of principles for Inclusion in Cambridgeshire, but also the umbrella under which all other interventions and programmes must sit.\r

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The successful bidder will need to deliver a product that will: \r

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• Empower staff to proactively tailor their responses to behaviour \r

• Use a variety of person-centred analytical tools to explore, consider and understand the causes of poor emotional wellbeing. \r

• Provide specifically planned differentiation through a graduated response which protects children from overwhelming experiences and overdependency, minimising the risk of crisis behaviour. \r

• Develop a common language and a joint approach that is followed by all professionals in Cambridgeshire \r

• Improve attendance and behaviours for learning\r

• Provide an understanding of the inseparable link between teaching, learning and behaviour\r