This year’s conference, the eighth ARC Annual Conference, has been designed to encourage a proactive approach to ‘connecting’ across services and to ensure all delegates understand the importance of a sense of ‘belonging’ is for all of our children and young people, in order to ensure that they are able to engage in a purposeful, healthy and engaged lifestyle to support all individuals develop into successful and independent adults. The voices from our stage emphasised how vital that real, consistent relationships are placed at the heart of this approach, to help model, support and include each young person.

On 19 November 2024, The Attachment Research Community (ARC) came together with fellow colleagues, psychologists, academics and schools to educate, celebrate and bring the subject of attachment and trauma awareness to the forefront of everyone's minds. The live event took place with over 500 delegates from around the country meeting in Birmingham.

The conference began with delegates being welcomed by ARC Chair, Andrew Wright OBE followed by an update on ARC current activity from ARCs Director of Partnerships Zoe Byrne.

The Alex Timpson Trust was represented by Tiffany Pigott, Timpson Group E-Commerce Administrative Assistant who joined the stage alongside ARC trustee Nicolas Mort to open the 2024 Alex Timpson ARC Attachment Awards; celebrating the best attachment aware and trauma informed practices that are embedded within schools across the country. The six category winners were awarded a winners trophy and a £1000 cash prize to help them continue their development.

Tiffany Pigott commented that over the last eight years, ARC have been spreading the word about attachment research to a considerable number of schools across the country. These awards are a fantastic way of recognising some of the outstanding schools which have gone above and beyond, to recognise those children that need special mentoring.

2024 ARC Attachment Award Winners

Early years award winner - Carlisle Infant School

Primary award winner - Parkgate Primary School

Secondary award winner - President Kennedy School

Post 16 award winner - City of Liverpool College

Special & PRU award winner - Waterside School

Collaborative award winner - The HEARTS Project

The annual conference panel discussion this year was hosted by the Chair of ARC, Andy Wright OBE. During the past 12 months, the challenges faced by both students and staff within schools and settings have highlighted the importance of inclusive behaviour and the impacts exclusions have. This year’s panel discussion focussed on these issues and topics; the new Government has indicated an interest to further these discussions.

The panel guests included;

• Jim Simon, CEO of the Restorative Justice Council
• Sue Johnson, Chair of NAVSH and Salford Virtual School Headteacher
• Arti Sharma, CEO of Nurture UK
• Stephen Gabriel, Head Teacher of St Peter’s RC High School.

Each panellist brought their own perspective, experiences and outlooks on the significant value of embedding attachment and trauma into our school communities and gave the delegates opportunities to listen to the raw realities and experiences faced by professionals everyday.

Throughout the day the conference welcomed a number of keynote speakers, including Baroness Floella Benjamin OM, DBE, DL, Paul Dix, Ellie Costello, Dr Belinda Hopkins and Maureen McKenna OBE.

“I was very moved and empowered by Floella Benjamin’s keynote speech, she so deserved the standing ovation received at the end of her difficult but in the end motivational story".  - 2024 Conference Delegate

The Annual Conference also included workshop sessions, provided by the 2023 Alex Timpson ARC Attachment Award winners, who exhibited their successful work, practices, knowledge and their schools embedded relational and inclusive behaviour policies that allow their young people to feel secure, enriched and enthusiastic about being at school. Other workshops included presentations from:

• The Mulberry Bush - transforming the lives of those affected by childhood trauma through therapeutic services; leading the session, ‘Where does explicit emotional and social teaching sit within your everyday classroom’.
• Cherished UK - Empowering communities to build meaningful relationships for the well-being of children impacted by adversity; leading the session, ‘Connection Counts’.
• Tom Ralph, Exeter University - Exploring the importance of student engagement and fostering positive relationships to enhance school environments; leading the session, ‘Student Voice and Relationships in School’.
• The ARC Audit and Matrix - Leading the session, ‘Making the most of ARC's tools and resources’.
• Youth Sport Trust - Using physical activity and play as powerful tools to reduce stress and promote emotional healing, leading the session, ‘Tackling trauma and toxic stress through sport and play’.
• Emotion Coaching UK - Providing strategies for integrating emotion coaching into school culture to improve emotional literacy and student well-being; leading the session, ‘Implementing Emotion Coaching in Schools: Key Factors for Success’.

Keynote speakers included:

• Baroness Floella Benjamin, OM, DBE, DL - Actress, singer, presenter, author, businesswoman, philanthropist, and politician. She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in 2008 and was listed in the 2020 Powerlist as one of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent.
• Paul Dix - Behaviour specialist, author, education reformer and advisor. Helping teachers and headteachers across the world with transformational relational behaviour practice.
• Ellie Costello - Director of Square Peg. Ellie works nationally in policy and practice to effect cultural and systematic change on behalf of all children who experience barriers in school attendance. She was called to give evidence to the Education Select Committee last year and has collaborated with broadcast news (BBC, Sky News) and documentaries (Panorama) to tell the stories of families and professionals struggling in the current system.
• Dr Belinda Hopkins - As a classroom teacher in the 1980s and early 1990s, Belinda sought to involve the voices of her students in decision-making and problem-solving. She loved using the circle format to develop meaningful relationships between the students once she discovered the mediation used this to support them to resolve their conflicts. Her commitment to these ideas motivated her to become a freelance trainer, spreading good practice to other schools.
• Maureen McKenna OBE - Maureen started her teaching career in the former Grampian Region, where she taught mathematics in three different secondary schools before moving back to Strathclyde and becoming principal teacher of mathematics and then assistant headteacher in Kilsyth Academy.

ARC 2024 Annual Conference Testimonials