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Health and Wellbeing

10 Ideas to Make School Feel Safe for Children Struggling to Attend

Make school feel safe enough to come back to, with 10 low-cost ideas that run from the morning welcome to the phone call home.

  • 50 minutes
  • 1 CPD hour
  • Certificate

Free for 14 days, then £7 a month or £70 a year. Cancel before day 14 and you won't pay anything.

About this course

For a child who's struggling to attend, getting through the gate can take everything they've got. If the first thing they hear is about their tie or their homework, school has just proved it's the scary place they thought it was.

These 10 ideas follow the school day, and none of them costs much in time or money. Greet the child warmly, whatever happened yesterday, and decide which battles can wait. In lessons, take away the fear of being picked on without warning, and praise quietly, with a nod or a note rather than in front of the class. At lunch, a quiet place to eat can decide whether the afternoon goes well.

Then end the day on something good, and give the family a new story to tell about school. The aim is a phone call from school that a parent is pleased to get.

Modules

13 modules
  1. 1Introduction3 min
  2. 2Warm Welcome3 min
  3. 3Pick your Battles4 min
  4. 4Morning Routine5 min
  5. 5Anxiety-Free Engagement8 min
  6. 6Quiet Praise4 min
  7. 7Academic Safety4 min
  8. 8Control the Fun4 min
  9. 9Quiet Lunch5 min
  10. 10End with Positives2 min
  11. 11Tell a New Story4 min
  12. 12Summary1 min
  13. 13Q&A3 min

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Good to know

  • A certificate with your CPD hours that anyone can check online.
  • Buy the course and you have 12 months to finish it.
  • Stop when you like and pick up where you left off.
  • Your school is a member? Log in and it’s already there. You won’t pay twice.

Start this course today

Try it free for 14 days. The trial opens every course in the library, including this one.