ARC Chair Update - September 2025

As I welcome all ARC members at the start of a new academic year, I trust that you have had a relaxing and enjoyable summer break. There continues to be a lot of activity around the broad area of ‘Inclusion’ at a national, regional and local level. I continue to strive to ensure that the views, approaches and work of ARC is represented in a full range of forums. ARC continues to contribute to the SEND review, linking with a number of All Party Political Groups (APPG’s) and working in partnership with a growing number of organisations and agencies. Most recently it has been a privilege to act as one of the judges for the NACPE Pastoral Wards.

The newly recruited ARC Ambassadors are making a valuable contribution in helping to develop the ARC offer for the new academic year. I would like to thank our growing team (link to website list) who will help introduce a refreshed and expanded programme from the Autumn Term including:

• Research library
• Primary Phase Support Network
• ARC self-help toolkit

The full list of current ARC Ambassadors can be found here. I would be delighted to hear from any colleagues/members who are interested in making a contribution as an ARC Ambassador, please contact me at andrew@the-arc.org.uk

This year’s ARC annual conference will respond to the views and requests of delegates and members to maximise the opportunities for networking and identifying effective practices. The workshop choice has been broadened, the exhibitors extended, the key notes focussed upon individualised and relational approaches, as well as the first national ARC Timpson Award winners to emerge from the newly introduced regional awards. I look forward to see you there, and the full details are here.

The end the last academic year saw the presentation of the new regional ARC Timpson Awards, in partnership with Equal Education. It has been both a pleasure and privilege to be able to visit so many schools, settings and events to see the great work that is taking place and the highly positive and effective impact that relational approaches are having for our children, young people, their families, the staff and across learning communities. There is an overwhelming sense of pride in each and every setting that was visited. Furthermore, the quality of the nominations was so high that we were able to present commendations to schools/settings that had not won the regional category. Well done to those that have been nominated and the list of winners and commendations can be found here. 

The offer to ARC members continues to grow and develop. We are very pleased that a number of business partners are keen to offer discounted rates to our members here. Also, the ARC Learning programme has grown once again with an extensive national webinar offer and a number of local face-to-face learning events. The full programme can be seen here.

ARC continues to work alongside key agencies and partners. The work with Violence Reduction Units/Partnerships is allowing relational approaches across schools, settings and the wider ‘system’ to grow and flourish. In the West Midlands the VRU have recently presented “Trauma to Resilience: The Social and Economic Case for Transformational Change. A Report for the Wes Midlands Trauma Informed Coalition ” (Download your copy via the West Midlands Combined Authority here.

Whilst in London they are building a website for the Trauma Informed London project.  This will include the showcasing of the TI Champions group.

The second SE & London Conference was hosted in July and attended by over 300 delegates. The focus on ‘inclusion’ took centre stage with key notes from David Whittaker (Director of Learning for the Wellspring Academy Trust) and Stuart Guest (Head Teacher, Colebourne Primary School), a panel (Lib Peck, Florence Kroll  CBE, Matthew Cooke, Serena Richards, and Adam Gladstone) and a full range of workshops. It was a fantastic event that also publicly recognised the ARC Timpson Regional Award winners supported by Equal Education.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Zoe Byrne for the immense contribution she has made, as Director of Partnerships, across the ARC community over the past 18 months. I am confident that all ARC members will join myself and the ARC Trustees in wishing Zoe the very best as she moves back into working within the criminal justice system.

Finally, I was very pleased to represent ARC at the Westminster launch of the Arts & Minds Campaign, led by the NEU. This work very much aligns with Include Me – I Want To Belong, Developing a Cultural Entitlement for all children approach that is growing around the Virtual School across the Midlands in partnership with The Mighty Creatives. These areas of work recognise the importance of the Arts in enhancing an individual young person’s well-being, self-worth, sense of belonging and their employability skills and pathways.

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