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Presenting at the Children in Scotland #KeepThePromise Pupil Support Staff Training Day

We were so delighted to be asked to present at the Children in Scotland #KeepThePromise Pupil Support Staff training day at the Bonar Hall in Dundee on Friday 15th November.

Amber Mann
Keep the Promise Change Officer
November 20 2024 - 5 min read

As described on the Children in Scotland website:

“Funded by the Keep The Promise Fund, since March 2023 we’ve been planning and co-designing #KeepThePromise Pupil Support Staff learning programme. Over the past year, we’ve worked with care experienced children and young people and a group of Pupil Support Staff to gather their views on what should be in the programme. The programme has been shaped by what they’ve told us about support for care experienced pupils in schools and what they think needs to improve further. It includes a range of in-person training events, online practice-sharing sessions, eLearning modules and online resources. All the learning opportunities are free for Pupil Support Staff.

The Promise tells us about the importance of supportive schools for care experienced pupils, and we know that Pupil Support Staff don’t always get consistent professional development opportunities. The #KeepThe Promise Learning Programme will provide a platform to improve awareness and understanding of care experience and bring Pupil Support Staff together to network and share best practice about supporting care experienced learners.

The event is open to anyone working in a role with a specific Pupil Support remit nationally. This could include roles such as: support for learning worker, pupil support assistant, classroom assistant, ASN assistant, home-school link worker, behaviour support staff and others. The event is also open to teaching staff who line-manage pupil support workers.”

The event was both insightful and thought-provoking, featuring excellent keynote speakers such as:

  • Jimmy Paul (Head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit)
    As the Head of the Violence Reduction Unit, Jimmy reflected on the need for children feel loved. Jimmy discussed key findings from the workforce group that he co-chaired as part of the Independent Care Review as well as some of his personal experiences, and how we must ensure the realisation of young people’s rights (including those who have care experience).

  • Nicola McAlister (Consultant and Founder of The Regulated Child)
    Nicola’s workshop explored how trauma can impact children and young people’s brains, bodies and behaviours focusing on the importance of understanding how adverse childhood experiences can result in trauma, how this impacts a child’s body and brain, toxic stress and responding to behaviour signals.

We were then invited to take part in a panel discussion, considering a whole-school approach to supporting care experienced children and young people, and the role of pupil support staff, alongside:

  • Jude Turbyne (CEO, Children in Scotland)
  • Kerri Abbott (Pupil Support Worker for Care-Experienced Young People)
  • Beth-Anne McDowell (Senior Development Officer at Includem)

Having the opportunity to listen to and learn from these individuals who all have a wealth of knowledge in regards to understanding trauma and supporting care-experienced young people with their education, was invaluable.

We were able to take this opportunity to share more information about our School Through My Eyes  project, highlighting some of the key themes we have identified following our consultations with children, young people and professionals and share the exciting news about our next steps. It was excellent to be able to share the details of our course with Pupil Support Staff across Dundee and the surrounding areas, and look forward to sharing our completed resource in spring 2025.

Lizz, event co-ordinator, shared the following feedback with us: “Just a quick note from me to thank you again for being part of our training day for pupil support staff on Friday. Your presentation was a really powerful end to the day encouraging everyone to reflect on care experienced children and young people’s experiences in the here and now, and the live issues they’re facing.”

Public speaking is neither Cassie or I’s favourite pastime, however, we were so grateful to have been given the opportunity to shine a light on our exciting project with some of the key professionals who support our young people with their education. We are looking forward to more opportunities, like these, in the future.