During this course, you’ll learn about how the cycle of school avoidance develops, and the part we may unwittingly play in that, as well as exploring a range of simple steps that you can take, alongside families, to support children to return to school and engage regularly and meaningfully; helping school turn from a place of fear to a place of safety for the child. We also explore the steps we can take to spot the early warning signs and prevent a school avoidance cycle from developing as well as exploring some universal strategies that we can employ to make school feel like a safer and more inviting place for every child. The course has been developed and delivered by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, an internationally respected child and adolescent mental health expert who has worked closely with a range of schools and local authorities to develop their approach to emotionally based school avoidance.

The Pupil Premium is money specifically earmarked to improve educational attainment for disadvantaged children – but how can we make sure that we’re successful in this aim?  In this course, you’re walked through a simple three step process to help you make the very best use of this fund using Matt Bromley’s simple three point plan:

1. Identify the barriers
2. Choose the strategies
3. Set the success criteria

This course will clear up any ambiguity about what the pupil premium is and how it can be used as well as giving you a simple, clear framework for best utilising it.  This course is a great opportunity for more experienced colleagues to reflect on current practice, whilst those newer to working with the Pupil Premium will find it to be a comprehensive and thought provoking introduction which inspires tangible action. This course has been developed by Matt Bromley who has over twenty years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as headteacher. He regularly speaks at the national Pupil Premium conference, has written extensively on how to make effective use of the Pupil Premium, and has worked with countless schools on improving their PP provision.  In addition, he specialises in diminishing disadvantage, including through the development of cultural capital and by improving pupils’ literacy skills.  He is the author of a number of books and regularly writes for the education media.

**UPDATE - over 3,000 people completed this course whilst it was free for a week and the feedback was fantastic. You can still access this course via site membership and can be ended anytime.   In this course, Matt Bromley walks you through a five step framework for managing attendance.  These simple strategies are easy to grasp and provide the perfect springboard for developing your policies and practice in school in order to reduce absenteeism and lateness.  This course is a great refresher for more experienced staff and a comprehensive introduction for those newer to post. As well as being useful for individual CPD, this course could also form the basis of group discussions or training and is likely to be of especial interest to governing bodies, boards or trusts. This course has been developed by Matt Bromley who has over twenty years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as headteacher. He regularly speaks at the School Attendance conference and writes for Attendance Matters Magazine.  He is a school improvement advisor, teacher-trainer and public speaker.  He is the author of a number of books on education and regularly writes for the education media.

Mentoring can be an incredibly powerful process for enabling people to make good progress and reach their potential.  Mentoring can be used effectively with people of all stages and ages, and you can adapt the ideas in this course to enable you to mentor either children or adult with a range of aims and objectives.  The course is broken down into four parts:

• Part 1 – A mentoring framework
• Part 2 – A deep dive into mentoring
• Part 3 – The skills of a mentor
• Part 4 – The broader picture

In part 2 of the course we will be taking a ‘deep dive’ in to mentoring – asking questions to get a better understanding of what we are doing and why, as well as exploring alternative approaches we could take. This course has been developed by Kevin Piper, school leader, school improvement officer and experienced trainer. He has mentored people of all ages both nationally and internationally leading an EU team training and mentoring staff and students across Europe.

Mentoring can be an incredibly powerful process for enabling people to make good progress and reach their potential.  Mentoring can be used effectively with people of all stages and ages, and you can adapt the ideas in this course to enable you to mentor either children or adult with a range of aims and objectives.  The course is broken down into four parts:

• Part 1 – A mentoring framework
• Part 2 – A deep dive into mentoring
• Part 3 – The skills of a mentor
• Part 4 – The broader picture

In part 1 of the course we consider first what mentoring is and why it is such a powerful vehicle for motivating and enabling pupils to change what they think, feel and do.  We go on to build our understanding and skills in developing a simple cycle of predicting, listening, reflecting and acting.  Throughout the sessions you’re supported to develop your own approach, tailoring tried and tested questions, statements and activities to best meet the needs of your mentee. This course has been developed by Kevin Piper, school leader, school improvement officer and experienced trainer. He has mentored people of all ages both nationally and internationally leading an EU team training and mentoring staff and students across Europe.

Many pupils and teachers alike are fearful of writing poetry which is a shame as it can be such a fun and powerful tool and a brilliant gateway into wider writing, thinking and performing.  In this course, you’ll explore a range of ideas for making poetry seem less scary and more accessible giving you the inspiration, ideas and confidence you need to get your pupils writing. This course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, author of “Using Poetry to Promote Talking and Healing” which includes an anthology of her own poems and dozens of poetry writing prompts.  Pooky wrote a poem every day for over three years, just to see if she could get any good at it.  The jury is out on that, but she found the process of writing and sharing her poetry powerful indeed and has run many workshops which have inspired other aspiring writers.

When we get them right, assemblies can be a brilliant opportunity to change the way that staff and students think, feel and behave.  During this course, we explore how you can plan and deliver assemblies that make a difference and that you’ll feel proud and excited to deliver.  The course provides food for thought for those new to giving assemblies as well as staff who are looking to revisit and refresh their approach and is suitable for all staff across all phases and types of school and college. The course has been developed and delivered by Dr. Pooky Knightsmith who has delivered many assemblies as a visiting speaker in schools and colleges across the UK and internationally both face to face and online.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are many times more likely than their peers to have a diagnosable mental health issue, but these often go undetected and there is much uncertainty about how best to help.  This course tackles the issue head on; first exploring why prevalence is high and recognition is low and the implications for this on our practice.  We then go on to consider how a very simple, three question plan can form the basis of our recognition of and response to those children who are struggling.  We acknowledge throughout that children with SEND are highly diverse, and you are encouraged to consider how best to apply the ideas in the course to the particular children you have in mind. The course has been developed and delivered by Dr Pooky Knightsmith who has a PhD in child and adolescent mental health and has spent many years as a governor at a range of special schools and who has led many training events for staff and parents supporting children with SEND.  This course is based on training originally commissioned by the Department for Education in Gibraltar.

This course highlights a series of warning signs that might indicate that a child or young person is in need of support with their emotional wellbeing or mental health.  The list has been specifically devised to draw on the warning signs that are most easily picked up within a school setting and as well as exploring each individual warning sign, we also explore exactly when to worry – and when not to as well. The course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, an internationally recognised child and adolescent mental health expert and author of The Mentally Healthy Schools Workbook.

This course explores a range of simple and highly practical steps that individuals can take to promote their wellbeing in the workplace.  It recognises the unique challenges faced by those in education and considers some tried and tested strategies for overcoming these.  Each module ends with a challenge – these are simple small actions which should be relatively easy to execute and which will enable you to take a step in the right direction.  For example, can you find a few precious minutes to sit down and focus on eating your lunch… without talking about work?  Challenge accepted? The course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, an internationally recognised mental health expert and author of The Mentally Healthy Schools Workbook.

Presenting your ideas as part of a conference or training day is a really exciting opportunity to make a difference to others.  It can be nerve wracking though and we can get caught up in knots about the things that might go wrong, worrying what to say and how to say it and working out how to prioritise what to include and what to leave out. This course gives you clear guidance and advice about how to get your next big presentation right so that you can prepare and present with confidence and enable colleagues to really benefit from your wealth of experience and ideas. The course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith who is an established keynote speaker who has delivered presentations across the UK, internationally and to a wide range of different audiences.  This course is inspired by a course Pooky developed for the Bromley Wellbeing Service who were keen to build the skills and confidence of their newly established mental health in schools support team.

This course walks you through a range of practical strategies that can be used by adults or children in order to create a sense of relaxation and wellbeing.  Each strategy stands alone, though there is huge benefit to learning a range of strategies for use in different situations. It is best to learn self-soothe strategies at a time of relative peace and calm and to become familiar with them so that they can be turned to at times of stress in order to bring some relief.  The ideas are all simple and safe and can be practised alone or with the support of a trusted friend or adult.  Many of the ideas could be used in a group or class setting in order to help children to reset and ready themselves for learning following busy, noisy or unstructured periods in the day such as breaktimes and lunchtimes. This course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, an internationally recognised mental health expert and author.

Four practical strategies for promoting positive body image are explored in this course which aims to help school staff boost the self-esteem and body image of the children in their care.  The ideas translate to both primary and secondary school and are applicable to children or all genders. The course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, former chair of the expert reference group on body image which reported into UK government and lead author of Department for Education funded guidance for PSHE teachers about promoting positive body image in learners.

This course will boost your confidence in having difficult conversations with the children and young people in your care.  We consider how to talk about tricky topics, the power of saying thank and why and how you should listen to understand.  Whilst the course is aimed at form tutors, the ideas herein will be applicable for anyone keen to have supportive conversations with young people. This course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, an internationally recognised mental health expert and author and is based on a course originally delivered as part of a cluster INSET day for a group of schools in the South East of England.

Communicating calmly is easier said that done when we are faced with a child is anxious, angry or aggressive.  This course walks you through some simple strategies to enable you to keep your cool and to outwardly be the supportive, calm adult that a child in distress needs even if you’re inwardly panicking or screaming!