Meeting the needs of complex pupils

2021 marks seven years since I set up Create Learning, our specialist service for the most complex and vulnerable pupils. Through Create we provide 1:1 or very small group education to these special children which is rooted in our TCES therapeutic principles and recognises their often-disrupted attachment histories or early relational trauma. Many of our Create pupils have SEND arising from neurodiversity, and may also be involved in highly risky behaviour and at substantial risk of harm, or harming others.

Create Learning has become a service for those children who Local Authorities struggle to know where to place. Over the years pupils have come to us as an alternative to out of county placements, and as part of a family or community re-engagement process, often straight from acute mental health units, or secure accommodation of some kind.

I’d love to tell you that the demand for Create Learning has fallen over the years, but the reverse is the case. Our referrals show that complex needs are intensifying, and the age at which children need the most specialist provision is falling.

That’s the stark reality behind our decision to launch Create Learning Primary this April.

Create Learning Primary will become one of just a tiny handful of schools to be a full nurture environment, and we’re working closely with Nurtureuk. Having seen the damage caused to complex children at the other end of their school career, when needs have not been met in this comprehensive way early on, we are convinced this is the right approach. We expect the result of this approach to be that 50 per cent of pupils will be ready to step down into one of our schools after at least three terms in Create Learning Primary.

If you’d like to know more about our Create Learning Primary provision do drop me a message. You’re also warmly invited to join our free webinar with Nurtureuk on Tuesday 2nd March, where we’ll be exploring the Six Principles of Nurture and explaining more about our new provision that will be available from April.