A bit of background

Thirty five years of working with young people in settings including mainstream, special and psychiatric and working for eight years as a Virtual Head teacher for children in care, have convinced me that the biggest difference we could make for children and adults is to support all settings to be ‘Attachment Aware’ – a term which has already got many practitioner champions. The ARC website – https://the-arc.org.uk – has a film which aims to capture what this looks like in practice. We use a working definition that an Attachment Aware setting is a place in which everyone feels safe enough to learn – including those who have experienced trauma, neglect and abuse. The concept of attachment is simple and profound. For schools and other settings to take on the challenge, we must provide a rationale, an action research driven evidence base and support. That is the purpose of ‘The-ARC’, which any setting interested in becoming Attachment Aware can join from 1^st June.