Have you been following my Therapeutic Classrooms Approach? Last Year the amazing Paul Dix interviewed me on Teacher Hug Radio! We managed to get a copy and so here it is,  just for you on our Therapeutic Teacher Podcast.  In this quick 15min chat, Paul and I talk about the first school who was brave enough to hand their classroom over to me to be transformed, what a therapeutic classroom is and why we need more of them in the UK!  Find out more about The Therapeutic Classroom Approach: Follow Shahana's Head Teacher Update diary entries which follow the story of Shevington Vale ..read more

Dinner time and break time is a chance for children to blow of some steam and have a run about, right?.. Hang on.. Is that right? Or is it a time where many feel anxious and unsettled? Where the fast pace and demands to join in with games and run about can be the opposite of what they actually need. A time when they find themselves in trouble because they are struggling to manage the chaos that break time brings. The truth is we need to reinvent break and dinnertime and acknowledge that some children need that time to self-regulate. To be calm and gather their thoughts. To refocus and jus ..read more

It has been a rough year for our children and sometimes happy hormones have been hard to come by. This week's episode is all about doing random acts of kindness for the children but also with the children for others.   Encouraging kindness is part of developing emotional intelligence and a very important skill for life. This week we will look at specific random acts of kindness to try which will :    1. Increase feelings of happiness, connection, joy and positive mindsets in the children! (Which is what we all need right now)   2. Encourage the children to promote acts of g ..read more

Lockdown has been a rough year for us all, we have felt anxious and powerless. We have felt alone and at risk.. many of us have battled with our wellbeing and our mental health as a result. Feeling low, teary or withdrawn, getting angry, frustrated and snappy. We can feel the effects. One year of collective trauma has impacted us all emotionally and mentally. But it is important to remember, we have had one year...just one… what about those children who have had a whole life of trauma? Who feels alone, anxious, powerless and at risk every single day? This is a good opportunity to step into the ..read more

This week is children’s mental health week and the focus is expressing yourself. It is a great time to do lessons and assemblies on this with the children BUT it goes well beyond that. In order to learn something we have to do it over and over again, it takes time and repetition to really take on a new way of doing something. This is why we spend so much time focusing on handwriting and reading. If we really want children to learn to take care of their own mental health by expressing themselves then we have to teach them how to do that in a multitude of ways to help them truly learn how. A les ..read more

The number of children with some sort of attachment disorder in school is rising. You may well have had many an inset day on attachment over the years but I often find people don't actually know how to support and guide the children in their class who might be struggling. In this podcast episode, we are going to take a close look at 3 specific things that can trigger a child's attachment style behaviour and result in them shutting down or not learning. If you want to know more about attachment disorder. Enrol in our online CPD module - attachment disorder in the context of the classroom for £2 ..read more

On today’s podcast, we are going to look at 4 ways children communicate stress that you might not know.   As a collective, children’s stress levels are likely to be higher now than they have been in a long time. This episode explores different factors that can cause higher stress levels in children and then we will unpick how this might manifest itself day to day. When you see a child in the classroom fidgeting or messing with their shoelaces it is easy to assume this child is being silly or even that they are choosing to behave that way. However, if we look a bit closer, there is often m ..read more

"I am not a leader" you might say. But you are!!   It is so easy to forget that we are all leaders in our own unique way. Whether you are an Executive Head, Headteacher or SENCO, whether you are the CEO of a business or employee..a mother or a father.. You are leading. What you say, what you believe and how you communicate influences the people around you. It has meaning.. Imagine you are stood in the sea, what you do creates small ripples around you that extend out and impact others. Those ripples can become waves. What waves are you creating? This year, choose to lead with more intentio ..read more

Happy New Year's EVE!!!   Today’s episode is really special because we are going to set our new year's intentions together! This year has been rough but it is important that we look back and take stock. Let’s think about what we have learnt and how we have grown and then lets set some intentions for 2021.   Did you sign up to take part in this challenge in advance? If so, check your emails – you will have received a workbook from us. You can download this, print it off and join in! If you missed the signup link, then you can download the workbook.   https://support.tpcteach.co.u ..read more

Merry Christmas! This year has been a crazy one, full of ups and downs but as we walk into the Christmas holidays. Let us remember that Christmas is a time of peace and joy. You deserve to laugh, play silly games, eat too much food and focus on yourself for a little while. Forget the news, forget what tier you are in, don't give it the power to ruin this much-needed festive time. You deserve to down tools and rest. We are wishing you lots of happiness in 2021 and we'll see you in the New Year ..read more