News

We’re delighted to recognise Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron as the first school in Ceredigion to achieve the TIS Award. 🏆

This isn’t just about an award, it’s about creating a school where every child feels seen, safe, and supported.

With trained TIS practitioners leading the way, trauma-informed practice has been embedded across the whole school community. From leadership to the classroom, playground to the staffroom, this approach is shaping a culture of compassion, connection, and growth.

Congratulations to the whole team for building protective factors into everyday practice and putting wellbeing at the heart of learning. 💛

As we get ready for the next term, whether it’s a new class, new school, or new start, it can be helpful to pause and reflect:

💭 What am I carrying with me?
💭 What have I learned this year?
💭 What memories do I want to keep?
💭 What coping strategies will help me on my journey?
💭 What do I need for the next steps?

Working with your young person, you can use a real backpack, draw one, or imagine it. The important part is recognising the tools and experiences that support us, and leaving behind anything that no longer serves.

Reflecting on this with an Emotionally Available Adult can help ease the transition process through connection, support and empathy, looking back at the highs and lows of the year.

What’s going in your backpack?

Sometimes using the word "tired" doesn't cover it... as we near the end of term, children and staff alike might feel stretched thin, less patient, more sensitive and as if they're running on empty.

With the support of an emotionally available adult, words like depleted can help children recognise what’s going on inside and help move beyond “fine” or “okay” and into real reflection. 💬

Let’s keep helping children name it, so they don’t have to carry it alone.

As for the adults, trauma informed practice also reminds us that compassion fatigue is real. Emotional energy isn’t limitless. Pausing to rest isn’t selfish, it's essential.

Tell us how you may re-fill your empty cup when this feeling hits.

[*Biophilia: the innate tendency to affiliate with nature]

Nature is more than a backdrop, it can be a regulating force, a source of safety, and a relational reflective space. Whether it’s climbing a tree, digging in soil, or noticing the rhythm of the seasons, nature offers vital opportunities for co-regulation, curiosity and the all important activation of positive neurochemicals.

This month's book club explores why biophilia and forest school can play such a powerful role in supporting children and young people.

The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris
50 things to do before you're 11 3/4 by The National Trust
Blue Mind by Wallace J Nichols
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones
The Nature Fix by Florence Williams
Why the Wild Things Are: Animals in the Lives of Children by Gail F Melson
Vitamin N by Richard Louv
The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris

Tell us in the comments, what you've been reading this sunny July!

Nid yw'r disgyblion yn unig sy’n profi'r trawsnewidiadau, rydym yn gwybod bod pawb yn yr ysgol yn gallu teimlo effaith hynny hefyd. Wrth i'r tymor ddod i ben, mae'n gyfle i bwyso a mesur a myfyrio cyn i'r tymor newydd ddechrau.

O fannau tawelu i ddiweddaru gwybodaeth am ddisgyblion, gyda lens sy'n ymwybodol o drawma, mae'n bosibl y bydd camau gweithredu bach bellach yn hwyluso'r broses o ddychwelyd yn ddiweddarach.

Gadewch iddwyn wneud lle ar gyfer cysylltu, gofalu a bwriad, er mwyn ein hunain gymaint â'i gilydd.

Nid oes rhaid i brosesau pontio deimlo fel terfyniadau, gyda chydweithwyr cefnogol a hunanreoleiddiol effeithiol, gallant ddod yn bontydd i'r tymor newydd. ✨💛

Dilynwch i gael rhagor o syniadau a rhowch wybod i ni os oes gennych ragor i'w rannu!

Transitions aren’t just experienced by pupils, we know everyone in the school can feel the effect of them too. As the term winds down, it's a chance to take stock and reflect before the next begins.

From calming spaces to updating pupil info with a trauma-informed lens, small actions now may ease the return later.
Let’s make space for connection, care and intention, for ourselves as much as each other.

Transitions don’t have to feel like endings, with supportive colleagues and effective self-regulation they can become bridges to the new term. ✨💛

��Follow along for more ideas and let us know if you have any more to share!

We’re thrilled to celebrate Plas Derwen PRU, the first Pupil Referral Unit in Wales to be awarded the Trauma and Mental Health Informed Schools Award 🙌

Led by a committed headteacher and senior team, Plas Derwen has created a nurturing, reflective, and deeply attuned culture where every child’s story is known, valued and supported.💛

Staff at Plas Derwen don’t just understand trauma-informed practice, they embody it. From forest school sessions and regulating time with school dogs to truly personalised support. Protective factors are woven into every part of the school day; beginning with a daily meet-and-greet to ensure every child feels seen and safe.

“The school strives to provide a safe and supportive environment that will support individuals’ well-being; knowing and understanding that happy children learn.”

Congratulations to the whole team at Plas Derwen PRU for modelling what it means to lead with compassion, consistency and connection. We’re so proud to celebrate this moment with you.

All TIS Award Schools are linked in the bio. 🔗