A Bristol school which supports young people with behaviour challenges to re-engage with their education has earned national recognition for its support for students who have experienced childhood trauma.
Lansdown Park Academy in Stockwood is a pupil referral unit (PRU) which offers a tailored curriculum in short-term placements designed to help pupils return to mainstream classrooms or their next steps in education.
The school’s excellence in providing a safe, inclusive and aspirational learning environment, where all pupils are prepared for their next steps, has seen it accredited as a Trauma Informed School UK.
This means the school is recognised as a beacon of excellence for building positive relationships with young people and helping them to feel psychologically safe enough to succeed in their education.
It also recognises the empathetic approach of expertly-trained staff, the ready availability of support and a tailored curriculum which enables children to engage despite challenging personal experiences.
In bestowing the accreditation, Tony Sammon of Trauma Informed UK said: “Lansdown Park is a very special place. It consistently demonstrates a deeply embedded and highly authentic trauma informed culture that permeates every aspect of the school’s work.
“From the moment of arrival it was clear that Lansdown Park Academy has created a culture where psychological safety is the foundation for learning. Staff interactions with pupils are consistently warm, relational and socially engaging.
“Staff consistently demonstrate calm, emotionally attuned communication and pupils are spoken to with warmth, curiosity and respect. Behaviour is understood through a trauma-informed lens and responses prioritise regulation and connection rather than correction.
“Pupils experience consistent opportunities to build trusting relationships with emotionally available adults, develop emotional regulation skills and reflect on their experiences in a safe and supportive setting.
“The impact of this work is clearly evident in pupil engagement, attendance, successful reintegration into mainstream education and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and carers. This is a model PRU and other schools should learn from its exceptional practice.
“Lansdown Park Academy therefore fully meets the criteria for the Trauma Informed Schools UK Award. The depth of understanding, consistency of practice and demonstrable impact observed during the visit indicate that trauma informed practice is firmly embedded across the school.
“Furthermore, the quality of practice observed suggests that Lansdown Park Academy is well positioned to act as a Beacon setting, sharing its expertise and supporting the development of trauma informed practice across the wider education system.”
The Trauma Informed School accreditation has been celebrated at Lansdown Park, which has been working towards the award for the past two years.
That has involved extensive staff training and development and adoption of latest practices as part of its ambition for continuous improvement.
Paul Todd, Principal at Lansdown Park Academy, said:
“I am extremely proud to see Lansdown Park Academy accredited as a Trauma Informed School. The whole staff body has engaged with and embraced this work over the past two years, which underpins everything that we do here.
“It is all about meeting the needs of individual students. That’s something we do really well at Lansdown Park, and that is reflected in the fact students want to be here – something which is evidenced by our attendance being the highest among PRUs in the South West.
“Our goal now is to always keep improving, and to keep supporting students with a wide range of different experiences to prepare for their next steps in education and beyond.”
Picture: Principal and SENCO Esther Stephens unveil the plaque celebrating Lansdown Park Academy’s Trauma Informed School status.
