This is for all educators who work with highly vulnerable children or in very challenging environments. I will be drawing on my experience of education in youth prison, of running a unit for students at risk of exclusion, and of managing whole-school behaviour in a large mainstream school. We will look at why it is so hard to “switch off”, the impact of being a “school guardian” to vulnerable children, and most importantly focus on strategies that support our guardians at an individual and organisational level.

Kat Stern is currently a Therapeutic Education Consultant in a Young Offenders' Institute and consults on all aspects of behaviour within secondary schools, with a specialism in trauma-informed education (see www.expectopatronumconsultancy.com). She has a long history of leadership in pastoral care and behaviour, with previous roles as associate member of SLT, Director of Teaching and Learning for Behaviour and Lead Teacher for Behaviour, which included four years managing an alternative provision for students at risk of exclusion. She has guested on the Trauma-informed Educators Network podcast series and recently completed a randomised controlled trial of trauma-informed education within a prison setting. @KatStern4