Our whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing changes practice, supports teacher development and empowers you to put wellbeing at the heart of your school.
The therapeutic school award process gives you a step-by-step roadmap to follow that will help you respond to difficult behaviour in a trauma informed, attachment aware way without getting lost in the science.
Embedding a whole school culture and ethos
Create a culture where all teachers are confident at recognising the signs that children are struggling, and know how to respond. Create an environment where children are taught to understand their own mental health and are given the tools they need to flourish in the world.
This programme includes our signature Therapeutic Teaching course which is underpinned by neuroscience and trauma theory and will upskill you to become trauma-informed and attachment aware in a practical, tangible way.
The Therapeutic School Award helps you to embed the advice, strategies and responses we teach in the Therapeutic Teaching Course with accountability and with our support. Helping you to stay on track and make the changes necessary to have a lasting impact on the children and staff. You will be given a step-by-step process to implement our whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, complete with tools and resources to help you along the way.
The award usually takes an academic year, but you can choose when to submit your evidence and take longer if you need it! Upon successful submission, you will be awarded Therapeutic School status with us and will be sent a certificate, banner and badge.
“If you are in any doubt, believe me, it is fantastic”
Head Teacher
What do we need to do?
Everyone in school will complete our therapeutic teaching course modules throughout the year. These will act as pillars to help initiate change.
Alongside the course you will:
We will support you throughout the process and will help you make a plan for your school, stay on track and be there to answer any questions
Although this award is self-initiated through our online training platform, you are not alone! We will allocate a member of our team to support you and they will be there to guide you along the way, helping you stay on track. Your TSA support will arrange visits and calls to help you embed this approach in a way that will benefit every child.
What do we get?
Frequently asked questions
Assessment
Throughout your journey, you will need to collate evidence of changes to your practice, policies and environments, this will help us monitor impact and outcomes and ensure that your school meets the expectations and standards to receive Therapeutic School status. This is a graduated process and we have made sure it feels manageable along with everything else you have to do in a school year!
You will need to evidence:
- Your use of language with the children
- Development of a whole school approach and culture
- Changes to your environments
- The PSHE lessons
- Your policies and procedures
- Self-reflective practice
- Impact on children
You will find a series of assessment forms, questionnaires and information to help you gather all of the relevant data ahead of submission.
Once you submit your evidence, we will begin the assessment process. This can take between 1-2 months. We may come back to you with questions or requests and will then complete an impact report based on the initial and final data received. You will then receive the impact report and the outcome of the process.
You will be awarded Therapeutic School Status and receive a banner, badge and certificate
Training Course
The 6 modules from our signature Therapeutic Teaching Course are included
Module 1: Childhood Trauma and the Brain
Module 2: Insecure Attachment in the Context of the Home
Module 3: Therapeutic Response Skills
Module 4: Connection Vs Disconnection with Regard to Behaviour
Module 5: Creating an Emotionally Intelligent Class
Module 6: Creating a Therapeutic Environment
Impact
- Improved outcomes, socially, emotionally, and academically
- Improved staff wellbeing
- Clear whole school approach can be evidenced with specific examples of where changes have been made and how this will be maintained
- Increased staff skillset and confidence to support children
- Children will be more emotionally intelligent and understand their feelings
- Children will have specific strategies to manage their own mental health and wellbeing needs and will be confident to use them in their day-to-day practices.
- The school environment will cultivate inspired learners
- Teachers feel confident to build positive relationships with students
What are the outcomes
What is the impact of our award?
Ongoing Support
At TPC we want to ensure our approach is life long and so once you have completed the TSA we won’t just disappear, you will have ongoing access to our training platform at a yearly fee of just £50 so that you will be able to train all new staff in the approach and ensure continued standards even as people leave and new people join. You will also have ongoing access to the lesson plans and resources so you can continue to support the children.
You will also have the option to renew your therapeutic school status with us every 2 years, to evidence your continued commitment to the approach year on year.
What is the Wellbeing Curriculum?
A whole school approach means upskilling the children too! After all, they are going to need the insight, awareness, and tools to support their own wellbeing and mental health long after school ends. Our lessons will help with this.
The wellbeing curriculum is designed to complement your current PHSE lessons rather than replace them. For primary schools, introducing daily practices and year 5+6 online lessons are a mandatory expectation of the award. All other lessons are optional.
What is included?
The Wellbeing Curriculum puts mental health and emotional wellbeing at the core of education. It complements the government’s PHSE and sex and relationships guidance and It is underpinned by the 4 key qualities we believe children need to learn about in order to flourish in life.
Their mental health
Self-belief
Positive mindset
Emotional intelligence
Each key quality is taught and explored through written lesson plans for all year groups. It also has 10 Core Happiness Project lessons for year 5+6 which are recorded, interactive sessions with Shahana Knight.
These lessons are:
Understanding feelings
Anger management (the brain)
Self-concept
Body image
Social media and technology
Mindset
Success vs failure
Stress buster
Mindfulness
Positive relationships
The curriculum includes:
The wellbeing curriculum guide
10 online core happiness project lessons
Additional activities to complement the core lessons
Daily practices
Online calming stories read by Shahana Knight
Lower year lesson plans
Seasonal additions such as Christmas and world book day related resources and videos
The impact assessment paperwork
Observation forms
Self-assessment form
What is the cost?
Therapeutic School Award
What’s included
check_circleAccess for the whole school training (includes TA’S, Support staff, office staff, and lunchtime organisers)
check_circleAdding new users as they join your school before your submission date
check_circleThe wellbeing curriculum and lesson plans
check_circleAll course modules, resources, and support
check_circleOngoing support from TPC Therapy that continues long after you have completed the award
Additional Costs
Workshops
You can book additional workshops with us to embed learning and discuss real cases for an additional charge of £200 for a two-hour session. These are linked to specific modules and can be booked virtually or face to face. Please be aware that these are subject to availability and depend on location.
Platform fee
We want to ensure you can enrol staff for years to come following your award process with us. You will be able to add as many new users a year as you need and continue to have access to both the award platform for a small £50 yearly fee.
Maintaining Standards
It is really important that after all of your hard work you do not lose momentum or dip in standards. You can renew your therapeutic school status every two years for £400. In order to qualify for renewed status, we will need to see evidence of your continued commitment to the approach. Re-submission includes
- A meeting / visit with us to talk through your continued work
- Evidence of any other work you have done to further embed or support the approach- this might be through other providers/ initiatives / projects
- Evidence of continued therapeutic language/ behaviour policies and therapeutic environments and updates as to how this has been maintained or evolved
