Ms Clodagh Carroll:

From our perspective, it would be helpful to know what level of training schools will need to manage children who are coming in and may be highly traumatised. From a trauma-informed care perspective, that starts from the second you have your first contact with that child. It is about understanding what has happened to the child, what the child has been through or may be about to go through, and what the child may be experiencing at home. It is a question of training in and understanding trauma behaviours and what they look like. It will not be the same for every child. Some will look like perfectionists and seem to be doing fine but will be withdrawn, frozen and shut down. Others will be aggressive, volatile and easily triggered. It is about helping schools to understand that they might get any number of children at any point on the continuum of trauma. It is about providing training for schools, building capacity, upskilling and supporting them in terms of knowing what to expect and how to support these children when there may be upwards of 30 other children in the class to look after. It is also about training schools in how to talk to children about their experiences and showing the importance of being able to do that. As such, an assessment to see what supports are needed or an understanding that supports in terms of training and upskilling are likely to be necessary would be helpful.