Recommended Reading
Adoption UK is the leading charity providing support, community and advocacy for all those parenting or supporting children who cannot live with their birth parents. Click here for Adoption UK website. It is full of useful information, downloads and resource links for schools and parents.
Beacon House is an integrated mental health and occupational therapy service offering a range of assessments and therapies for children, families and adults. It has a vast array of free resources for schools to support understanding of trauma and attachment. Please visit their website by clicking here for more information.
Braveheart Education educate and support those living with or working with vulnerable children – whether they are looked after, adopted or in challenging home environments. Free educational resources and podcasts are available on their website. Please visit their website by clicking here for more information.
Coram Life Education is part of the Coram Charity and is the leading provider of high quality Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education and works to support 475,000 children nationally. Please visit the Coram Life Education Website for more information by clicking here.
The Adoptables School Toolkit - Click here to register for the toolkit
Created by adopted young people aged 13 to 25 with specialist educators from Coram Life Education. It explores the issues highlighted by the young people as particularly sensitive or challenging, such as friendships, relationships, family, certain lesson topics, and also what they would like teachers to know.
First 4 Adoption is the national information service for people interested in adopting a child in England. Click here to visit the First 4 Adoption website. It is a good source of information for Pupil Premium Funding and educational links.
PAC-UK is the ‘country’s largest independent Adoption Support Agency with an Education Service working with children, parents and schools to improve the educational experience of previously LAC/adopted children.’ The PAC-UK website has a vast array for educational resources. Click this link to visit the website
PAC-UK’s guide for school staff Meeting the needs of adopted and permanently placed children: A guide for school staff covers a range of topics including: what we know about our children in education, a background to early developmental trauma, whole school approaches, and support for schools and families. The guide is accompanied by easy to use resources that can be implemented in individual classrooms or across whole schools. Click this link to access the guide.
Stonewall provides information on developing an inclusive curriculum, resources and examples for storybooks to use in the classroom. Please visit the Stonewall website by clicking this link
Education Advice for Parents, Guardians and Carers of Children who have left Care through a Permanency Order - Please click on the link below to access the whole document
Recommended Books and Classroom Resources
The diverse nature of today’s family structures means that schools need to be inclusive to all types of families as well as providing education as to the importance of social acceptance. There is a vast array of books and classroom resources for all age groups. These can be used, not only in PSHE lessons, but across the curriculum. The list below is a good starting point, but there are many more available. Coram and PAC-UK also offer school resources. Click on this link to access a list of books on family diversity