Tools to Prepare a Safe Place to Land

Meet-up with caregivers

In the initial meet-up with caregivers, to ensure you are asking the right questions to prepare the family and the new teacher, use this tool.

It is a collection of key questions with tips and guidance to support families as they join your school. This tool can be used retrospectively with a student who has been at your school for a while, but you lack key information on.

Buddy programme resources

Use our ready-made resources to set up a sustainable and well-organised buddy programme in your school. This pack includes application forms, training slides and a mini-handbook for buddies to ensure the project is meaningful to those involved.

Staff–student mentoring programme

Similar to a student–student buddy programme, a staff–student mentoring programme can provide that one person to confide it and know you are not alone in school.

Example programmes are:
Year 7 Vulnerable New Starters mentoring project
Potential School Refusers mentoring project
Aspirations mentoring project
Refugee Newcomer mentoring project

Staff mentoring schemes work best when they are:

Click on each number to reveal more.

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1. Properly structured with aims and objectives. 2. Involve regular meetings in a calm space. 3. Students are rewarded for taking part. 4. Students are paired with staff who don’t teach them. 5. Inclusive of social emotional learning competencies. 6. Led by the individual child’s needs (with space for them to speak freely about their concerns). 7. Focused on non-academic areas for development. 8. Providing a good role model to the child.

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Use the IRC’s Emotion Tracker to start a conversation with students about their day, check for any moments to celebrate and any concerns to support them with.

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Tick the emotion you felt at the time. Monday morning. Afternoon. Tuesday morning. Afternoon. Wednesday morning. Afternoon. Thursday morning. Afternoon. Friday morning. Afternoon. Are you? Happy. Shy. Disappointed. Confused. Nervous. Sad. Scared. Angry.

 

Try out the IRC’s Weekly Reflection Sheet to structure your meetings. Staff can share appropriate examples from their week, so the conversation is not one-sided (for example, “when I’m tired, I find it difficult too, because I don’t have much energy to concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing”).

Other tools that can be useful to have to hand for these meetings include the IRC’s Zones of Regulation Worksheets, Feelings Volcano Sheets, Feelings Thermometer Sheets and Check-in Cards. Download and print any of these resources for free.

Tools and resources

Positive behaviour management