Timpson Schools Programme

The Timpson programme was a five-year research programme funded by the Alex Timpson Trust, which evaluated the impact of ‘whole school’ attachment and trauma awareness training on experiences and perceived outcomes for vulnerable young people.

The programme ran between 2017 and 2022 involving 305 primary, secondary and special schools across 26 local authority areas in England.

The training offer was decided locally by Virtual School Heads.

As part of the evaluation, we gathered the following data from schools:

• online survey responses from over 7000 members of staff in schools including teachers, admin staff, teaching assistants, caretakers and kitchen staff.
• an online survey of 112 headteachers.
• interviews with with 214 school staff and 33 pupil focus groups across 39 case study schools.

Interviews with school staff indicated there were three core elements helping schools to work in an attachment and trauma informed way.

• Overall, school staff perceived training to have had a positive impact on their schools in a range of ways, including on pupil wellbeing and relationships, engagement and learning.

• Attachment and trauma awareness training is not a ‘quick fix’ – incorporating attachment and trauma awareness into a school’s ethos is an ongoing process rather than a one-off event and change is gradual.

• A whole-school approach promotes consistency of practice and can seed a school-wide ethos around attachment and trauma awareness.

• All schools should expect to face challenges along the way such as the logistics of training all staff; engaging resistant or reluctant staff members; and introducing new practice when schools face competing priorities and demands.

“It has to be evolution rather than revolution. Just as we’ve got to try and bring these kids along slowly, you have to bring members of staff along very slowly.” Teaching staff, Secondary

“Not an intervention for half a dozen children, its actually how we can be inclusive in how we support all of our children.” Headteacher, Primary