Those affected by war and conflict or seeking refuge

Scottish Government (2022). Ukraine Psychological Wellbeing Advice Pack – Guidance for Services. 

Beacon House (2022). Information for families seeking refuge from conflict in their home country. (Available in English, Russian Ukrainian)

Children who have parents in the Armed Forces – Forces Children’s Education website;  Forces Children’s Education (November 2021). Supporting Armed forces families in Scotland: Teacher Toolkit.

Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS) (2022). Supporting child refugees and their families.

Falkirk Council interpretation and translation support (updated 2022)

Transgender

Supporting transgender young people in Scottish schools guidance (Scottish Government, August 2021)

LGBT Youth Scotland

Mermaids website

 

Selective Mutism

The Educational Psychology Services of Aberdeenshire Council and Aberdeen City Council produced guidance with health partners that can really assist school based practitioners work with children who have or may have selective mutism. Their guidance is available here.

Self Regulation

Supporting Children to Learn Self Regulation

Sensory barriers to learning

Forth Valley Sensory Centre

Scottish Sensory Centre webpages

Falkirk Council Children with Disabilities Team Occupational Therapists have produced the following guide: Making Sense of Sensory Behaviour: A practical approach at home for parents and carers

Social Skills

Circle of Friends – 2001, Circle of friends Training Pack 2

Solution Oriented Approaches

Solution Orientated Approaches

Severe and Complex Learning Needs

Falkirk Educational Psychology Service provide link Psychologist support to two Primary School Wings and a Secondary provision within Falkirk for pupils with severe and complex needs. Our team also provide strategic consultation and training to this sector such as input on the Low Arousal Approach to behaviour, the Star Analysis framework for analysing behaviour and An introduction to Positive Behaviour Support.

A useful framework for practitioners supporting pupils with severe and complex learning needs was developed by South Lanarkshire and can be referred to on their website by clicking on the link. Aberdeen have developed advice on Extending the Early Level Curriculum and NICE offer useful guidance on supporting challenging behaviour and children, young people and adults with learning difficulties.

CALL Scotland (Communication, Access, Literacy & Learning) based at the University of Edinburgh have a range of materials to help children and young people across Scotland to overcome disability and barriers to learning including assisting with: Android Apps for Complex Communication Support Needs, iPad Apps for Complex Communication Support Needs, iPad Apps for Learners with Complex Additional Support Needs,  Eye Gaze Software Curve, Eye Gaze Setup Guide

Augmentative and Alternative Communication – CALL Scotland has produced a series of 2 online learning modules on Augmentative and Alternative Communication accessed AAC Modules (aacscotland.org.uk)

Communication Matters has access to resources, research and a support forum for practitioners who support learners with significant communication needs, including those who use alternative and augmentative communication approaches.

Sexualised behaviour – Guidance

Guidance that was developed across Forth valley to assist practitioners in Managing Sexualised Behaviour.

The Brook Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool (2012 – due to be updated 2020) and Guidance for using the Tool (2015 – due to be updated 2020) can be used for reference, although these do not have priority over the Falkirk Child Protection guidelines being followed as required.

Scottish Government (2020). Harmful sexual behaviour by children and young people: Expert Group Report.

Speech and Language Therapy Service

Information and seeking advice

Helpline poster

Request for assistance form

Occupational Therapy Service

Offending

Supporting learners who offend or are at risk of offending

Disclosure: What educational practitioners should know

Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice website including updates on age of criminal responsibility 

Online safety

Education Scotland (2022). Cyber First Aid Box (Digilearn). The site will ask a series of questions to help families determine the best response to a harmful online incident, including how to approach the subject with children & young people, possible solutions, and the first steps to recovering from it.

Care experienced children and young people

The Independent Care Review (2020) made a number of recommendations, generated The Promise is a commitment to change and re-organise how Scotland thinks, plans and prioritises for children and their families (based on foundations at the heart of this change). ‘Children must be listened to and meaningfully and appropriately involved in decision-making about their care, with all those involved properly listening and responding to what children want and need. There must be a compassionate, caring decision- making culture focused on children and those they trust’                      Useful infographics

The Children’s Hearing: What practitioners should know – This resource provides educational practitioners with information about the Children’s Hearing System and resources to help them more effectively support children and families going through this experience.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) (2022) have updated information materials about the role of the Reporter

• New pages on our website for children and young people
• Two cartoon animations – one on the role of the Reporter and another about contacting the Reporter
• An easy read guide for parents and carers
• A BSL video with subtitles and audio

Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care & Protection (CELCIS) Education Forum  

Children’s and Young People’s Voices

Falkirk Council Inclusion and Wellbeing Service have produced a booklet to assist conversations with children about the wellbeing indicators and gather their views.

Highland Council (2020) have produced Tools for Gathering the Views of Children and Young People.

Children in Scotland (2022) is working with Education Scotland and the Scottish Government to build knowledge and influence practice development around support for young people with additional support needs in an education setting. Engagement pack available and information about contributing to the project.

Scottish Government (2020) collated access to children and young people’s views, ideas and experiences that have been gathered on a range of topics. If you are planning to engage with children and young people, check for previous engagement on that topic and look at this previous engagement to assist you in considering the different methods that could be used.

NSPCC Learning (2015). Solution-focused practice toolkit. The toolkit provides inspiration for worksheets and activities to use, adapt or devise for the children and young people you work with. The worksheets and activities are designed to be used with children and young people aged 5-19 years old. Ideally for practitioners who already have some training in solution-focused practice.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)

Forth Valley Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service includes CAMHS contact details, information about coming to CAMHS, sources of advice for parents & carers and information about Healios Assessment Services.

ThisMayHelp (NHS) website has a short video and advice called ‘How to prepare for your child’s first CAMHS appointment’

Child Protection

Falkirk Council and Forth Valley child protection policies, procedures & guidelines

Education Scotland have provided Domestic abuse information for educators.

Domestic abuse learning resource for professionals –  awareness-raising resource serves as an introduction to domestic abuse and coercive control. The tool provides an overview of the main considerations when responding to domestic abuse, however it does not replace specialist domestic abuse training.

See also sections below: Nurture, Trauma and Adversity & Risk Assessment and Management

Children’s Rights

Education Scotland (2023). Recognising and realising children’s rights: A professional learning resource to promote self-evaluation and improvement planning.

Scottish Government/Parents Club & UNICEF. Your Guide to Children’s Rights and the united nations convention on the rights of the child: A booklet for parents, carers and family members.

Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Services

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Falkirk Community Mental Health and Wellbeing  (glowscotland.org.uk)

Critical incidents in school communities

UK Trauma Council and Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families have provided various resources for events that are potentially traumatic and affects a large part or whole of an educational community. The five key principles that can help recovery are safe, calm, connected, in control, hopeful. There are resources for supporting children and adults. The resources are informed by research and best practice to provide a compassionate response to assist children and adults to cope.

Families

Cost of Living – Scottish Government (2022) launched a one-stop website which provides information on a range of cost-of-living topics. This includes information on benefits and income, debt, health and wellbeing, advice for businesses, and has dedicated sections for children and families, and older or disabled people. Cost of living crisis – Cost of Living Support Scotland Young Scot also have a webpage with information on new offers, tips on saving money, benefits and links to support.  Coping With the Cost Crisis | Young Scot

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

The main advise is to be confident in the schools assessment of teaching and learning with additional support needs; use the positive behaviour and relationship based practices of the school and consider specific targeted intervention based on assessment. This is a series of helpful guides from the National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome-UK.

Forth Valley Neurodevelopmental Difficulties (NDD) Assessment Pathway

Guidance for Local Authority Staff across Forth Valley (2023) Assessment Requests Guidance and information on Supporting referrals to the Forth Valley NDD pathway and Do’s and Don’ts to making an NDD referral (posters).

Forth Valley Practitioner Pages

Information about the Forth Valley Practitioner Pages , 7 minute briefings and website.

Young Carers

Education Scotland (2020). Supporting Young Carers in Education.

Carers Trust (2021). Supporting Young Carers in Schools.

Reading at home

Shared reading is a great way to develop children’s language and communication and to boost their reading skills. The Education Endowment Foundation have 7 top tips to support reading at home. This is also available in the following languages: Bengali, Lithuanian, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu. You can access the translations here.

Resilience

The Journey: Adventures in Resilience a resource from Education Scotland written for 13-16year olds to be used by practitioners or parents/carers.

Resilience Alphabet (primary) (secondary resource pending)

Risk Assessment and Management

Falkirk Council and Forth Valley child protection policies, procedures & guidelines

The National Risk Framework to Support the Assessment of Children and Young People (Scottish Government, 2012) is a ‘toolkit’ for child protection to support practitioners in identifying and acting on child protection risks in children and young people.

Forth Valley Managing and Preventing Harmful Sexual Behaviour guidelines and resources

Falkirk Council Care and Risk Management (CARM) procedure recognises the link between young people’s offending/risk taking behaviour and unmet need. It applies to young people between 12-18 years within Falkirk Council who present a serious risk of harm to others as a result of sexual and/or violent behaviour.

The Framework for Risk Assessment, Management and Evaluation (FRAME) (2014) is for local authorities and partners working with children and young people who offend (managing high risk and transitions).

Falkirk Council risk assessment pro-formas

Scottish Government (2020). Harmful sexual behaviour by children and young people: Expert Group Report.

Parenting

Multiple online, self-directed modules for parents for children/young people of all ages and specific modules for children/young people with additional support needs.                Free access using the code TARTAN

Positive, Sustained Post-School Transitions

Skills Development Scotland website

Scottish Transitions Forum: Principles of Good Transitions for young people with Additional Support Needs

Autism Toolbox transitions section

Promoting positive post-school transitions for deaf young people in Scotland

My World of Work including School Leavers Toolkit

ThisMayHelp is a collection of very short videos and clear advice for parents/carers who have are looking for help for a wide range of concerns about young people, including understanding teenagers, teenagers safety, school avoidance, gaming and online activity, building resilience, self-care tips and much more.

Preterm babies

Supporting children born preterm in school – link to a project partnership by University of Leicester, University of Nottingham, Loughborough University, University College London, and Ulster University.  The website contains five online modules for education staff and can be completed in approximately one hour.  The modules are:

1. What is preterm birth?
2. Educational outcomes following preterm birth
3. Cognitive and motor development following preterm birth
4. Behavioural, social and emotional outcomes following preterm birth
5. How can educational professionals support preterm children

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/helm/dev/prism/index.html

Numeracy

Guidance for assessment and intervention for identifying and supporting specific learning differences in numeracy (dyscalculia) is available from East Dunbartonshire Council. It is based on the specific learning differences (literacy) pathway designed by Falkirk Council available above. East Dunbartonshire Dyscalculia Guidance (2018)

CALL Scotland (Communication, Access, Literacy & Learning) based at the University of Edinburgh have a range of materials to help children and young people across Scotland to overcome disability and barriers to learning including iPad Apps for children/young people with numeracy difficulties (including dyscalculia).

Nurture

Applying Nurture as a Whole School Approach

• A framework to support self-evaluation
• Nurturing Schools Pack FINAL
• Nurture Training Materials
• Education Scotland Applying Nurture As a Whole School Approach – A framework to support self-evaluation

Nurture and transitions

• 6 principles of nurture for phased education return (South Ayrshire Educational Psychology Service)
• 6 principles of nurture for return to education (Ed Psych Insight)
• Self-evaluation tool for considering inclusive transitions to ensure effective support for children and young people during the covid-19 pandemic (from Inverclyde Educational Psychology Service).

Nurture, Trauma and Adversity

Trauma-informed practice toolkit (Scottish Government, March 2021)

National trauma training programme for the Scottish workforce

Improvement Service. Adopting a trauma-informed approach.

DOs and DONTs TICC

Trauma Sensitive Schools Checklist

Emotionally regulate before we educate (British Psychological Society)

Education Scotland have developed a range of curricular materials targeted at upper primary to support pupils learning: The Compassionate and Connected Classroom: A health and wellbeing curricular resource for upper primary

Psychological Services are piloting an Education Scotland training resource to support practitioners in this area and more details are available here: CCC-training-launch-leaflet

Mental Wellbeing and Health

A Whole School Approach Framework for Schools to Support Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing (published by Scottish Government August 2021).

Falkirk Educational Psychology Service Anxiety Toolkit Resources

Wellbeing Pack: symbol-supported books and activities to support children’s wellbeing.

Self Harm Leaflet

Penumbra have created an online portal about self-harm for professionals and the public. The portal was created to provide recovery-focussed support, tools, and information that anyone can access to enable people to support themselves and others. This includes sections for those who self-harm, people supporting someone who self-harms, and professionals working with someone who self-harms.

Information on referrals to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Forth Valley.

Stress and mindfulness – a post for Christmas on stress

An e-learning module called ‘We All Have Mental Health: an introduction for teachers’ is available from the Scottish Association for Mental Health website

Animated Learning Resources – Promoting Children and Young People’s Mental Health and preventing self harm and suicide.

Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing: A professional learning resource for all school staff (2021).

Children in Scotland wellbeing resource for teachers and practitioners to support children and young people’s understanding of their wellbeing. The resource is divided into sections for different age groups.