UK’s first child trauma school planned

Children who have suffered trauma early in life and are being let down by mainstream education are to be helped by short-stay schools.

A new plan for the Your Place Academy in Norwich intends to help change the lives of children who have suffered all too much in their short lives. Ranging from domestic violence to sexual abuse and bereavement, children at the school will be given a broad programme to help them integrate into mainstream schooling following their stay.

Leading psychiatrists have had their input in creating the school’s plan of action, which includes therapy sessions for the children, and hope that the school will pave the way for a new future in helping young trauma victims.

The strategies that are used in such schools are a contrast to mainstream education, where children are often put in isolation booths for days, excluded for varying amounts of time and can even be excluded completely.

Daniel Thrower, an executive headteacher with the Wensum Trust, the academy chain behind the proposal, said: “Children experiencing significant early-life trauma have been typically failed in UK schools. This is not the school’s fault.

“We wish to use and build on the knowledge we have gained through a two-year pilot project and combine this with the findings of the latest brain-based research, to support those children more effectively and, through the training arm of the school, educate and support fellow professionals.”