Roddensvale School now holds an Attachment and Trauma Sensitive School Silver Award, the first school in Northern Ireland to do so.
The ATSS Award is accredited by Jennifer Nock Training and Consultancy Agency and achieving the Attachment and Trauma Sensitive Schools Award communicates to all interested parties, including children and young people, parents and carers, staff, Governors and other stakeholders within and beyond the local community that the school is committed to embracing inclusion at its best, successfully removing barriers to learning and participation in the life of the school.
The Award is an external sign of recognition of the commitment of schools and to the steps they take to develop a culture of compassion and nurture, which plays a pivotal role in getting children and young people into a state of ‘learning readiness’. The award is issued only to those educational establishments that can demonstrate that they have met its rigorous quality standards and can maintain them over time.
The Award aims to ensure that everyone within the educational environment has a good knowledge of the needs of children and young people who have experienced adversity and of the strategies and resources that are available to meet such needs. This awareness of how to support children and young people’s emotional needs and development is a key factor in promoting better learning and mental/physical health outcomes for all learners.
It affirms that children and young people are firmly at the centre of all we do in Roddensvale School.