Case Study
Copeland Road Primary School
We supported pupil safeguarding with ‘Sometimes it Hurts’ resources and training
Evidence shows that one in seven children is exposed to domestic abuse during childhood (Joseph Rowntree Foundation). This poses a significant barrier to children thriving educationally, resulting in reduced school attendance and poorer engagement when in school, both likely to negatively impact educational outcomes. The earlier an intervention is enacted, the lesser an impact abuse will have on a child’s future life.
Supporting pupils who have experienced domestic abuse
“I have been a teacher since 2004 and safeguarding lead for the past 5 years; through this time there have always been situations where pupils were the victims of Domestic Abuse, both directly and as witnesses.
However, I had never had any training on how to support them through these incredibly difficult times – you were just expected to do it.”
“This is extremely challenging as each situation is unique and there are complex interactions between the pastoral and learning dimensions.
We are a small school, where the supervision for our safeguarding team is from ourselves – the 3 of us!”
What we delivered together
Co-design
Year 5 pupils from Copeland Road Primary School were amongst 42 young people who participated in our Youth Creative Action Group stage, taking part in creative workshops that involved creating a brief for our illustrator, giving advice to our web developers and engaging in creative activities to help shape the worksheets that link to the stories.
Learning development
Deputy Head and Safeguarding Lead, Joanne Murray, attended a development day designed to familiarise teachers and youth workers with the Sometimes It Hurts books, materials, concepts and activities created as a result of the youth co-design phase. She signed up to trial the content with her pupils over the next term.
Evaluation
Joanne trialled the stories and activities with her Year 5 and 6 pupils and has signed up to the next stage of resource development and testing, as we look to differentiate how to use the resources in a pastoral or classroom teaching context.
Project Outcomes
Teacher benefit
Teachers’ knowledge of the ways domestic abuse impacts children increased, whilst the provision of the Sometimes it Hurts stories as a way into such themes increased their confidence to broach them.
Pupil Benefit
Involvement in the process of co-design meant pupils felt their voice was heard, whilst the use of stories based on real children’s experiences of abuse signalled that help is available.
Learning benefit
This increase in pastoral support and responsiveness meant that pupils’ engagement in learning is supported and improved even when they are facing extreme challenges at home.
