Supporting Schools

 The Annex are passionate about supporting and developing a safe place for children and young people to build relationships and achieve their potential in schools

We work closely with schools and local authorities to create the right environment for children who struggle to be in school and access education

Education does not have one size that fits all. Young minds are unique and it is our responsibility to create a safe place for children to fell able to explore and take risks.

• Teaching Attachments

This 5 day interactive training supports schools to understand the impact of trauma on children and young people

• Exploration of early experiences
• Understanding developmental trauma
• Experiencing attachment
• How to connect to pupils who have experienced trauma and attachment difficulties
• Using PACE to build relationships and facilitate learning

• Key Connectors

This is an in-depth training and on-going support to key staff members to facilitate a safe, trauma sensitive place for complex pupils to learn. This training is suitable for professionals who support young people with complex difficulties within the school

This training will cover

• Attachment
• Trauma
• Looking behind behaviour
• Understanding neuroscience and relationships
• Creating a safe space to be
• How to connect
• Reflection and supervision

• A menu of inset and training

The Annex is able to offer a wide range of bespoke trainings which can be delivered as half or full days training including:

• What’s Going On?

• This interactive inset days brings to life behaviour issues, and helps teaching and support staff to understand and make sense of what lies beneath the behaviour. By linking attachment theory and behaviour issues with neuroscience, staff are better able to make sense of what may drive challenging behaviours in our children.
• The cost of this training is £200 for twilight sessions; £350 for a half days training; £600 for a full day.

Testimonial from Schools

 Annex Project (TAP) can arrange bespoke inset days for your school or organisation.

We offer an understanding of how life can impact on a child’s learning and look at ways to work with this

Our training can be full days or twilight sessions and covers a range of topics which you can TAP into including

• Attachment in schools
• Behaviour and how to understand it
• Resilience
• Emotional Understanding
• The impact of divorce and separation on the classroom

We can tailor a course to meet your needs

If you would like information about our inset days please email annemarie@theannexproject.com

Attachment Assessments

Care-Index

The CARE-Index assesses mother-infant interaction from birth to about two years of age based on a short, videotaped play interaction of 3-5 minutes.

It is used to evaluate attachments and assesses mothers on three scales: sensitivity, control and unresponsiveness. There are also four scales for infants: cooperativeness, compulsivity, difficulties, and passivity.

The scales

The information derived from the CARE-Index can be used as quasi-continuous or categorical data by researchers. In addition, however, the procedure is easily applied to “live” observations made by nurses, infant teachers, clinicians, and social workers. Needless to say, such observations cannot be treated as reliable when video is not used, but the method is effective in the same way that other guided observations or interviews are; furthermore, specific training of what to look for sharpens both one’s observation and one’s ability to tell others exactly what the dyad did and why it should be interpreted in a particular manner.

Story Stem Assessments

The story stem assessment profiling tool consists of a structured series of  narrative stems. These present children with a range of different family scenarios as the beginnings of a story, using doll and animal figures as well as language. The child is then invited to complete the stories in whatever way they like. This allows assessment of the child’s expectations and perceptions of family roles, attachments and relationships, without asking the child direct questions about their family which might cause them conflict and anxiety. It also has the advantage for younger children of allowing both verbal and non-verbal means of representation.

Who Can This Help?

• Where there are concerns about the impact of parental difficulties (e.g. mental health, substance misuse, domestic violence) upon a child
• Where there are concerns around the possible impact of past experiences upon a child
• When a deeper understanding of the behavioural, social and emotional development of a child and his or her wishes and feelings, is required
• Where Local Authorities are considering the appropriate plan for children who are hard to place: e.g. long-term fostering or adoption
• Where Local Authorities are considering whether siblings should be placed together
• Where foster or adoptive placements are at breaking point
• With children who have had multiple placement breakdowns
• With children whose parents are struggling
• With children who have behavioural problems
• With children who are struggling in the context of parental separation or divorce