Sharing Leading Practice: CARE-ing to Learn with Yarborough Academy

“Relationships matter: the currency for systemic change was trust, and trust comes through forming healthy working relationships. People, not programs, change people.” (Perry & Szalavitz 2017).

Think back to when you were at school, what do you remember the most? Was it a lesson, a moment, a teacher? We rarely remember the minutiae of lessons, instead we remember how we felt, the experiences we had and the relationships along the way, whether that was a frightening teacher or a nurturing lunchtime supervisor. Indeed, the famous Maya Angelou quotes suggests the same “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Relationships are central to all that we are and a projective mirror for all that we will become, it is through relationships that we are shaped socially, emotionally and academically.

Caring for students sounds like the easiest thing to do in the world – after all that’s why we are working in education, right? What if I tell you that the way we care and how our care is woven throughout the school culture, day and interactions can change developing brains for the better; settling them to learn. Simply, we CARE (Create Attachment Relationships in Education) to get the most out of our brains. This seminar will introduce you to the impact of attachment and relationships in education and the application of universal interventions in school to boost teacher and child wellbeing, attainment and reduce behavioural worries. The session will take a fresh look at the interrelatedness of whole school behaviour, wellbeing, relationships and learning and share evidence-based strategies to apply in your school and examples of how it looks in our mainstream primary setting.