Barry Carpenter Education

  • SSAT’s Childrens Charter webinar series

    Children’s childhoods have been reconfigured by the pandemic.

    To explore this more fully SSAT are launching a free webinar series. Details are on this weblink: https://www.ssatuk.co.uk/childrens-charter/what-our-learners-need-now/

    SSAT’s Children’s Charter webinar series: What our learners need now

    The webinars build on their recently published Children’s Charter.

    The attached blog was published recently to further promote and stimulate discussion around the issues and challenges currently facing Teachers, And the Children they teach.

    “Relationships and Rebuilding; Schools as Congregations of Compassion”

    ssat-piece-june-2023Download

  • Event: Advancing Comprehensive Early Childhood Intervention

    https://www.issa.nl/content/advancing-comprehensive-early-childhood-intervention

  • FASD Awareness Month

    May this FASD Awareness Month bring greater understanding, compassion, and support to all affected. Let’s unite in our efforts to educate, prevent, and uplift. Wishing a brighter future for every individual touched by FASD.

    Why dont you check out some of the websites :-

    EUFASD – www.eufasd.org

    National FASD (UK) – https://nationalfasd.org.uk/fasd-awareness-month-2023/

  • Trauma Informed Insights – Exploring Sports Sanctuaries

    In this blog Vicci Wells from the Youth Sports Trust , and discusses the creative use and development of her concept of Sports Sanctuaries .

    Using the Inquiry Cycle developed by Professor Barry Carpenter, Riverside School in Northern Ireland, went about researching the impact of co-creating sanctuaries with learners with special needs, to support their wellbeing.

    The positive outcomes are described below

    Trauma Informed Insights – Exploring Sports Sanctuaries (futureaction.net)

  • Fathers on Caring

    Fathers on Caring
    https://nipinthebud.org/films-for-parents-carers/fathers-on-caring/

  • ADHD and Girls

    ADHD is one of many conditions which can make it harder to learn in a traditional classroom and exam environment. With the right adjustments many children with ADHD will thrive, but first we need to be able to recognise a child’s needs and how to support them to do their best.

    In this new film from ‘‘Nip in the Bud‘ , you’ll hear directly from Debbie about her experience having undiagnosed ADHD in school, and the impact this had on her.

    “From as young as I can remember, I’ve always thought there was something wrong with me…If I’d had my diagnosis at school, everything would have been different.”

    As a young black girl, Debbie didn’t fit the stereotype of a child with ADHD. As a result, her learning differences weren’t recognised and she would get into trouble at school. Because ADHD typically presents differently in girls, the signs can be overlooked, and it is thought girls may also be better at ‘masking’ their difficulties to fit in. 


    “It’s well known that women with ADHD are really good at hiding things.”
    As Debbie got older she was able to find some coping strategies which work for her. However, her story shows how it can be life-changing to receive a diagnosis from a younger age, and highlights the importance of challenging our assumptions about a child’s behaviour and experiences.

    * Debbie volunteers for ADHD Babes, a community group for Black Women and Non-Binary people of African-Caribbean descent with ADHD.

    “We’re just wired differently… someone getting there in a different way can also open up something new that people didn’t know, and that can be really amazing.”

  • SSAT Children’s Charter: A Pledge for Children

    “On Wednesday 26th April 2023 school leaders across all phases and settings, along with partners and organisations joined the online launch of the SSAT Children’s Charter: A Pledge for Children.

    SSAT Chief Executive, Sue Williamson, welcomed Professor Barry Carpenter, and Matthew Carpenter, Principal of Baxter College who, together, shared the rationale and context behind the creation of the charter and what our children and young people need now: our response to a reshaped, redefined 21st century childhood.

    SSAT, with Professor Barry Carpenter and Matthew Carpenter, led a seminar in December 2022 ‘Thinking about Children’; where leaders from secondary, primary, special schools and universities, together with partner organisations met to consider the daily lived reality of children and young people now, post pandemic, in order to shape the detail within the Children’s Charter.  We are delighted to be able to share our charter and those six principles with you now.

    Individually, we all bring our unique experiences and expertise but together we are stronger.”

    A call to action

    1. Join us in making your pledge to all children and young people:

    By making your pledge to our Children’s Charter, you are recognising the needs of children and young people now, and making your commitment to the 6 principles that underpin the charter.  

    Sign up here

    1. Spread the word:

    Share the document Children’s Charter: A Pledge for Children widely with your colleagues and networks and invite them to join us with these calls to action. 

    Join us in spreading the word on social media using the hashtag #ChildrensCharter.  Don’t forget to tag us @ssat

    Download a copy here

    1. Share your voice to bring the Charter to life:

    We invite you to share how your school or organisation is seeking to make a difference to children and young people and the impact that your work is having. 

    We will bring your voices together to share best practice, recommendations and actions to policymakers. 

    Get in touch

    1. Keep up to date:

    Look out for further opportunities to be involved and upcoming events we will share through email or on our website.  Be part of the response and help build momentum – together we are stronger.

    Children’s Charter webpage

  • Whole School Approach to Mental Health – Free Webinar

    FREE webinar bringing together experts from a range of settings to consider both classroom and whole school approaches on supporting pupils in the school to understand pupil mental health.

    Tuesday – Click here to book.

  • Are they in your school? The rise and impact of children born prematurely on the school SEND register

    I find during SENCO training, and conversations with colleagues,  that there is still a lack of recognition of the significance of prematurity , as an underlying cause of the changing pattern of childhood disability in the 21st Century.


    For those wishing to either revisit, or update on this fact, attached is a position statement I wrote a few years ago, which, combined with the new Report posted on this website on Prematurely Born Children, from Dr Patricia Champion in New Zealand , will give and overview of the developments we have seen in the last quarter of a century .

    ms-word-logo-download-link
    position-statement-on-prematurity-sen-neuroscience-forum-ssat-may-2013.docx

  • National FASD Welcomes New Trustees | National FASD

    National FASD Welcomes Three New Trustees After National Search