Kingslea is a specialist, composite school (aged 7-19 years) for children and youth in state care and youth justice residences in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We also have community campuses for those in care and the edge of care. 

We are located  in eight locations throughout New Zealand. Typically most of our students have not attended school since Year 7 due to suspension, exclusion and truancy. Most of our students are Māori.

It is predicted that up to 50% of our students have Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and other comorbidities exacerbated by exposure to complex trauma and attachment issues. Our Māori students and families have experienced collective, cumulative and intergenerational trauma of racism and discrimination.

To build staff capability and capacity in responding authentically to trauma, culture and neurodiversity  we created our Mana Ako Practice Framework, our formal and documented approach to implementing responsive teaching strategies.

Responding Authentically to Trauma will be the focus of this presentation. This pou  emphasises understanding and ensuring all interactions with our students integrate knowledge about trauma. Relationships are core to a trauma sensitive approach and responses to students are focused on increasing their capacity to regulate, relate and reason.

We will explore the challenges our students encounter and examine how our teachers respond in ways that mitigate the effects of trauma and actively prevent retraumatisation, an essential aspect of creating a supportive learning environment

We think deeply about what works for Aotearoa New Zealand’s most marginalised learners. The framework offers guidance and practical advice to help staff to focus on and build specialist capacity within their learning spaces, their teaching and their pedagogy. The suggestions within the framework will ideally stimulate thinking, lead to action, and provide inspiration to experiment with different ways of approaching teaching and learning.

INTRODUCTION: The Trauma responsive care model is a New Zealand based research-informed model for use in practice with children and young people. The model was first developed in a master's qualitative project which sought to address the research question “Does the quality of relationships with staff members have a positive impact on outcomes for children who reside in group home settings?” Weaving together a Te Ao Maori worldview and neuroscience lens, this presentation covers practical ways practitioners can implement a trauma responsive approach to their practice.  

METHODS: Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, eight children were interviewed regarding their experience of relationships while living within residential group homes. In order to gain multiple perspectives on this topic, six biological parents and two legal guardians of children were interviewed and focus group discussions were held with staff members from three residential group homes. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes identified from the findings.

FINDINGS: Five dominant themes were identified from the children’s and parent’s interviews. The central theme was the importance of relationships; that relationship is the key when working with children who have experienced trauma. Children who have experienced trauma need to feel safe in the context of relationships and benefit from bottom-up interventions in order to heal from their traumatic experiences.

CONCLUSION: A research-informed model of trauma responsive practice was constructed from study findings informed by two principal bodies of knowledge: (1) attachment theory; and (2) neuroscience. The trauma responsive care model is represented using a wharenui, a Māori meeting house where each part of the model tells a story of the cultural significance of the wharenui and how it relates to the healing of trauma. The trauma responsive care model provides a framework of strategies for anyone working with children who have experienced trauma and/ or attachment difficulties. 

This presentation offers practical strategies for working in Early Learning contexts to support young children who have experienced trauma. This approach has been developed after many years of study and working with children at Yuille Park Community College which is situated in highly vulnerable area of Ballarat, Victoria. This school caters for a majority of children and families from trauma backgrounds, as does the kindergarten which is located on campus with the primary school. The kindergarten has a National Quality Standard Exceeding rating.
Initially, participants will gain an insight into behaviours that indicate trauma in young children, and will be encouraged to think about their actions and interactions with children who have experienced trauma. The aim is to introduce a pedagogical approach that outlines practical ways to support inclusion and belonging that can counter the negative effects of trauma.
Secondly, the overarching leadership model that has been developed in a cooperative approach between the school, the kindergarten and allied health services, and the importance of investing in the early years, will be discussed.