• ABConnect Education

    We're passionate about supporting adults and children to thrive in Education

    ABConnect provides trauma informed and responsive training,
    supervision, coaching and policy development to nurseries,
    schools and colleges across the UK
Get to know us

ABConnect Education

ABConnect provides trauma informed and responsive training, supervision, coaching and policy development to nurseries, schools and colleges across the UK. With over 30 years of education experience, including 15 years in the Looked After and Previously Looked After sectors, we are qualified teachers, and reflective supervisors committed to improving educative outcomes for both pupils and staff. All our work is relational, systemic and co-created with the school to provide a bespoke training and/or supervision experience for the needs of the setting and the whole community. Based in West Yorkshire, we can work with you both face to face or virtually.

We are passionate about supporting children to be successful in education. We set up ABConnect Education as a response to a recognition of the need to better support teachers and other education staff in schools, in order for them to support the children to thrive. Our ambition is clear; to support and safeguard adult and child wellbeing and progress in schools through access to high quality reflective supervision, training, policy and practice development.
  • Experienced Trainers
  • Qualified Supervisors & Coaches
  • Trauma Informed Approaches
  • Inclusion Focused
Get to know us

ABConnect Education

Amelia

With almost 30 years experience working in Education specialising in Inclusion, SEN and in particular the educational experiences of Children Looked After and Previously Looked After, I now provide training, supervision and systems development for schools and settings across the UK. I began my education journey as a 1:1 SEN support assistant, then spent 13 years as a Primary Classroom Teacher, Subject Lead and SENDCo. I have also been a Medical Needs Teacher and have a further 13 years experience working as a phase co-ordinator and training lead for a Virtual School. It was at the Virtual School that I met Suzanne.

I have a degree in Sociology and Social Psychology, a PGCE in Primary and Special Education, a Post Graduate Certificate in Clinical Supervision and I am qualified in the Neurosequential Model of Reflective Supervision. Having worked for many years supporting schools with Trauma Informed and Responsive Practice, I am also a qualified Attachment Lead Teacher with Touchbase. I am experienced in working with schools, school leaders, governors, social workers, foster carers, adopters, Educational Psychologists, SEN and therapeutic teams nationwide.

Suzanne

I am a teacher, trainer, coach, supervisor and mediator. I have had many years’ experience learning about the impact of early life adversity and the benefit of a relational approach, both in the classroom and at a Virtual School. I started my education journey, after working in the business world for 10 years, as a Primary Classroom Teacher, Subject Lead with Early Years specialism. I have a further 8 years experience working as a phase co-ordinator, lead for previously looked after children and trainer for a Virtual School. It was at the Virtual School that I met Amelia.

I am passionate about sharing this knowledge, but more importantly, I know, and research confirms, that trauma informed knowledge and practice improves child and staff wellbeing, learning outcomes, attendance, and attainment (as well as joy!).

I have worked with schools, school leaders, governors, social workers, foster carers, adopters, Educational Psychologists and SEN teams nationwide.

I have a degree in History and English Literature, a PGCE in Primary Education and I am an Early Year specialist. I attended the Attachment Lead Teacher training with Touchbase and I am an qualified NLP Practitioner (coaching).

Our Services

  • Training
    We offer training to schools and settings across the UK. Centred on inclusion and helping your staff to perform their role to the best of their ability. We can provide training in trauma informed and responsive practice and associated topics that meets you where you are and takes you to where you need to be.
  • Supervision
    Supervision is reflective space to consider particular challenges based around children, colleagues or families. As the demands on school staff have increased, so has the need and requests for supervision within the education sector. We work with staff at all levels to support professional and personal development and wellbeing. Supervision can be 1:1 or group and has overwhelmingly positive benefits for individuals, teams and the wider school context. We are passionate about providing staff in the education sector with the same benefits of supervisory support as that received by our health and social care colleagues. We have developed a model of supervision that is bespoke to the education sector and we know will bring huge benefits to your setting, as it already is doing in other settings.
  • Coaching
    It’s a complex world we live in that makes many demands of us, particularly in education... sometimes you just need to step back, reconnect and reframe in order to thrive. Coaching is a space to consider particular challenges you face and will help you achieve those things that really matter to you, so that you are living your values, paying attention to your aspirations, and turning your dreams into realities. You will experience structured time to think, help to define and set goals and practical support to achieve them.
    Whilst paying attention to what is going on for you now, our focus will be on looking ahead and moving forward, realistically, practically and with aspiration.
    We will work through whatever is holding you back at this time and develop a plan to move you forward. Whatever is holding you back, change is possible, and you have the power to overcome it.
    We are trained in a range of solution focussed therapies designed to improve mental wellbeing, resilience and emotional intelligence.
  • Policy Development
    We work with schools across all sectors to develop trauma informed and responsive relational behaviour policy. We will support you to work with what you already have and also enhance your policy and practice to meet the needs of all within your school community, ensuring equity, inclusivity and progress.
  • Early Years Support:
    We work with Early Years Teams, Leaders, Teachers and TA’s providing bespoke trauma informed and responsive training, supervision or mentoring, or a mixture of all. This encourages all practitioners to understand behaviour is communication. Particularly in this post pandemic Early Years world, where we can see that the children’s communication and language and social and emotional abilities have been impacted.

    We focus on these key aspects - relationships and our need to belong and feel connected, regulation both co-regulation and self-regulation, sensory processing difficulties, emotion coaching for children and the power of language.
  • Trauma Informed Behaviour Support:
    We offer bespoke behaviour support advice on a case by case basis. This usually involves a short observation and/or discussion with key members of staff, a reflective session on the impact of key life experiences and a plan of support incorporating a trauma informed approach to behaviour change.
  • Home / School Mediation Support:
    We offer a bespoke service to support all adults around a child when relationships are becoming, or are, fractured.

Our testimonials

What they’re
saying about
Us