Trauma Perceptive Practice (TPP)

TPP Values:

Compassion and kindness instead of blame & shame

Hope instead of hopelessness

Connection and belonging rather than disconnection


How have children experienced trauma?

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can be:

  • physical abuse

  • sexual abuse

  • emotional neglect

  • emotional abuse

  • neglect

  • parents alcohol/drug dependency

  • domestic violence at home

  • divorce/separation

  • parent's poor mental health

  • imprisonment of a parent

Effects of Childhood Trauma

How trauma impacts the brain and brain development

  • The brain is like a house – upstairs can monitor the actions of the downstairs and help calm strong feelings and impulses.

  • Children whose upstairs brain isn’t fully developed due to early trauma are prone to getting ‘trapped downstairs’ which can result in them (the emotional/reactive part) – flying off the handle, making poor decisions, lack of empathy & understanding.

  • Watch these videos to find out more...



Trauma and Barriers to Learning

How can we help?

As adults we can we can do some simple things to bring the children's reflective brain parts back ‘on-line’ and bring them back closer to the relative emotional safety of their own ‘window of tolerance’;

What is the window of tolerance in trauma?

The Window of Tolerance is space within which we are comfortable, and feeling safe. We are able to deal with the daily stressors of life without anxiety, exhaustion, or feeling out of control.

When out of our Window of Tolerance the hyper-arousal response clicks into action, the smart thinking/reflective parts of our brain effectively go ‘off-line’ the result being we may feel, think, act and speak in ways that are very unusual for us (i.e. feeling panicked or having a ‘short fuse’).

Should you have any questions or be affected by any of the information on this page, please contact Miss Edwards, the school's SENCo, on 01702 218961 or admin@barlingmagna.essex.sch.uk