These guides have been designed to help practitioners to use the materials in the BBW series, that deal with so many emotional issues, to use the books quickly, purposefully and effectively.
To find out more go to https://booksbeyondwords.co.uk/shop
Category: Publications
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Books Beyond Words Summer Newsletter
Latest Newsletter from Books Beyond Words, with information about more free downloads relating to the coronavirus pandemic
Click here, or below to download and view.
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Episode 2: The Recovery Curriculum Part 2: Origins of the 5 losses and levers
In conversation, Barry and Matthew reflected on the origins of the Think Piece, and Matthew, who is Principal at Baxter College, a mainstream secondary school, shares his thinking behind the 5 levers and how he and his team are applying them to plan the recovery process at Baxter College.
Reflecting on each of the 5 levers, Mat talks about the importance of ‘nimble leadership’ and being responsive to the individual needs of the whole school community in co-constructing the post pandemic curriculum, ensuring transparency throughout the journey.
Full post – please click here or the below link
https://www.evidenceforlearning.net/2020/05/28/learningshared-episode2-recoverycurriculum-2/
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Launching – ‘The Recovery Curriculum.’
How will it be for children when they return to school? It would be naive to think that they will pick up where they left off on the day their school went into lock down.
We have been analysing the loss children have suffered during this time, and the potential anxiety and trauma it may cause, with significant impact on their ability to learn effectively.
We have built the construct of a Recovery Curriculum, enabling schools to consider the processes they will need to put in place to successfully transition children back to school. As the word ‘construct’ suggests, this is a process of building, of co -constructing, a curriculum that is responsive to the needs of children, that harvests their experience and makes sense of it emotionally as well as cognitively.
In the coming weeks six school leaders will discuss their responses to the implications of a Recovery Curriculum in their school setting ( Primary, Secondary, and Special) In particular the pedagogy, resources and also the mental health of the children, will be considered. This podcast series will be available on: https://www.evidenceforlearning.net/recoverycurriculum
More details will be posted in the coming days.
We hope you find this thought provoking and insightful.
Stay well – stay strong.
Barry Carpenter
Professor of Mental Health in Education,
Oxford Brookes UniversityMatthew Carpenter
Principal, Baxter College, KidderminsterClick below or here to download & view.
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Emotional well-being at home
These journals, are perfect for home schooling. There are 4 journals – one for each key stage.
Being Me: KS1/2 (Yr 1-6)
https://www.butterflyprint.co.uk/product/being-me-emotional-well-being-journal-single/Understanding Me: KS2/3 (Yr 3-9)
https://www.butterflyprint.co.uk/product/understanding-me-a-mental-wealth-journal-single/Live Out Loud: KS3/4 (Yr 7-11)
https://www.butterflyprint.co.uk/product/live-out-loud-a-self-awareness-journal-single/It’s All in the Mind: KS 4/5 (Yr10-13)
https://www.butterflyprint.co.uk/product/its-all-in-the-mind-dont-sweat-the-small-stuff-single/It is important at this challenging time that we look after our children’s’ emotional well being too. I have used these journals many times with children in all types of schools , and across the ability range, ( including those with Special Needs/ Autism). They allow children, in engaging ways, to explore and deepen there understanding of complex emotions.
In support of the Coronavirus campaign the publisher, Butterfly Print , and its kind MD, Neil Walsh, are allowing single copy purchase by parents, and the delivery charge has been removed.
These are a perfect way of building a child’s emotional resilience in these turbulent times.
Barry Carpenter,PhDProfessor of Mental Health in Education,Oxford Brookes University
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Online professional learning around Children and Young People with Complex Needs
At this present time , when teachers and teaching assistants are home based, and looking for worthwhile on line professional learning , you may like to visit http://www.complexneeds.org.uk
16 modules of teacher training , at 4 levels . Level A is specifically designed for Teaching Assistants. Level D , for example , is for those in Leadership roles, whether as SENCO, Assistant, Deputy or Headteacher/Principal.
The attached article details what the modules are , and their aims and purpose.
When first launched the user friendly nature of each module and the accessibility were highly praised.
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The Engagement Model
The DfE has now released the final guidance on The Engagement Model.
The guidance describes the formative and summative assessment of children as “not engaged in subject specific learning”. It will be statutory assessment in schools for those children and young people.The guidance is an output of the Rochford Review , who have piloted the Model. It builds on the research led for the ‘DfE’, by Professor Barry Carpenter as part of the Complex Learning Disabilities and Difficulties project.This project identified, through a systematic review of the international literature around learning in children with SEND, that ‘engagement was the single best predicator of successful learning in children with special needs/disabilities’ (Carpenter et al, 2015.)From this solid evidence based, a pedagogy evolved through systematic research across UK schools, and a series of International trials , which created the Engagement Framework for Learning, ( www,engagement4learning.com) This includes the ‘Engagement Profile’ which aids baseline assessment, and gives insight into the learning pathways of the child with Complex Needs. The Engagement Profile is a classroom based planning tool which links to formative assessment . Both are compatible, and indeed inform , the summative assessment opportunities of the new Engagement Model.
Professor Robin McWilliam , Professor, Special Education and Multiple Abilities at the University of Alabama, USA , and a prolific writer on the subject of Engagement said of this new DfE publication ,”You are to be congratulated! In the U.S., we have “alternative assessment” for what, in the U.K., is known as pupils with complex needs. But states differ on what they use and none of them that I know of are focused on engagement. So, well done!Professor McWilliam and Professor Carpenter, will present further on Engagement for Learning to an International Conference in Turkey in April, 2020 . The UK, which leads the World in so many aspects of special and inclusive education, has a major contribution to make in the area of assessment for children with Special Needs through this ground-breaking work from the Rochford Review.
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Supporting Children Born Prematurely
It is important as more children born prematurely enter our school system, (and that is some 50,000 per annum) that their story can be shared with their peers.The Champion Centre in New Zealand has been a pioneer in developing evidence based interventions to enhance and enrich the development of children born prematurely.Now their Founder Dr Patricia Champion , MBE , has collaborated in developing this beautiful and poignant story for all children, ‘Earlybird’.As she says:“As a children’s story about premature birth, it is unique internationally. Parents of premature babies frequently told me that they did not have a good, or a special story to share with their growing children about their early birth. So, we decided to create a beautiful picture book that would help parents support children born as ‘earlybirds’ to make sense of their early experience,”Champion Centre Founder and book co-editor, Dr. Patricia Champion, MBE.Earlybird is available for purchase:
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Transition from child to adult health services
A qualitative study of the views and experiences of families of young adults with intellectual disabilities. A new article on this perpetually tricky issue.
Click article image to download and view
JCN 2019 – Transitions ID and families pdf
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Resources for Social, Emotional and Mental Health in Schools
Books Beyond Words are currently running a National research project – Open Book – looking at how these innovative , wordless books can offer real life opportunities to tackle complex emotional issues with young people with learning disabilities and Autism.
Phase 1 of the Project has produced very positive evidence based outcomes , using whole group approaches. Phase 2 begins in September 2019 , and looks specifically at how the books can provide interventions to individual students , to promote positive mental health .
The Project is been directed by Professor Barry Carpenter ; the Research Fellow for the Project is Jo Egerton – jegerton@booksbeyondwords.co.uk
A selection of the books being used in phase 1 and 2 of the Open Book project , are show on the flyer below .
The information being collated is giving new insights as to the applicability of wordless books to aid development of young people with LD, in all sorts of contexts . Recently the Books Beyond Words Founder, Sheila, the Baroness Hollins , commented on the links with Theory of Mind : –
“Stories in pictures can help people who are visually literate to explore and explain their own beliefs, feelings, knowledge and intentions, and to accept that other people may have beliefs, feelings, knowledge and intentions that are different to their own. In other words, situations explained in pictures can help to develop what is often called ‘theory of mind’ .”
Click to download and view + visit https://booksbeyondwords.co.uk/
Barry Carpenter Education 