Affinity 2020 CIC is a Rotherham based Community Interest Company, focused on supporting and working with care-experienced children and young people from 0 to 25 years old. The provision comprises young people who are in Key Stage 4 to Key Stage 5. All of Affinity’s young people have Educational Health Care Plans for Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs as their primary need, and often with other needs such as ADHD and ASD. Affinity follows a trauma-informed, needs-led approach that encourages positive behaviour by proactively recognising and flexibly supporting pupils’ holistic individual needs. 

Prior to working with When The Adults Change, Affinity had been incorporating trauma-informed approaches into their practices, but had encountered challenges in ensuring that external professionals fully understood the methods and why they play a crucial role in fostering positive outcomes for care-experienced young people with an EHCP for SEMH. 

The decision to further develop the approach was triggered by the opportunity to be supported by the When The Adults Change team, combined with Virtual School funding, making it possible. Once the Affinity team had deepened their understanding of When The Adults Change and the trauma-informed/relationship-centred approach that it encompasses, it became clear that the opportunity was an ideal fit. As well as providing a valuable ‘health check’ on existing practices, it also presented a chance to further develop their approach. 

Through coaching and expert support, they were able to explore how to share their practice more widely with external professionals, something that they had wanted to fine-tune for some time. It provided the opportunity to ensure that anyone visiting the provision could clearly understand and adhere to the unique culture of Affinity 2020 CIC. They have been able to spell out ‘This Is How We Do It Here’.

Clear expectation and consistent boundaries are important, with staff taking the time to communicate expectations through speech, visuals and modelling. Routines and structure are integral to the school day, with clear timetabling. Calm, welcoming and clean spaces take into account the sensory sensitivities and needs of students. Affinity’s version of ‘Zones of Regulation’ is utilised to support a shared language approach within the provision and to help learners to process, share and express their emotions. 

Reward and recognition is important at Affinity, with initiatives like ‘value student of the month’. Efforts and achievements are also shared with the wider community, such as parents/carers/social workers and personal advisors. 

During weekly staff reflections the staff are able to reflect and share expertise on incidences of behavioural distress and emotional dysregulation. This helps to avoid exclusion or rejection-based strategies. A non-punitive and no sanctions-based approach to consequence is embraced at Affinity. Positive reinforcement, combined with natural and logical consequences support a positive and whole provision culture. Punitive sanctions, for example detentions, are not used. There is an understanding that these can promote a sense of shame and don’t help pupils to learn what to do instead. Consequences are always be linked back to the behaviour to provide a learning opportunity and restoration is utilised.

Affinity have recently completed a comprehensive exercise in creating a new, person-centred behaviour policy that separates suspension and exclusion into a distinct policy. This change was introduced to prevent a behaviourist approach that leads to punitive measures and contradicts the vision of supporting young people to be fully prepared for society. 
Alongside the new policy, a detailed programme has been developed for both staff and pupils, embedding the culture into everything they do and ensuring that all new staff members are onboarded with these principles. This program will go live after the February 2025 half term, with a dedicated evening session for staff as part of a new CPD process. Additionally, in January 2025, they launched a work experience week, where the pupils' program will be rolled out and used as the foundation for the new student council process. This reflects their commitment to nurturing both the personal and academic growth of the young people, ensuring that they are equipped with the skills and confidence to succeed in society.

Advice to others embarking on the journey would be to “Ensure you are giving yourself the time to reflect truly on policy and practice, and the space to staff to embed the process via a structured change management process”.
 

Affinity 2020 CIC are excited to become a When The Adults Change Partner School. They have found the collaboration so far to be “transformative”, giving them “the tools to make a lasting impact on our school community and the lives of our young people”. At When The Adults Change we are delighted to hear that and look forward to deepening our partnership.