Education Impact Academy Trust
A multi-academy trust of nine schools built one training model, then ran it school by school over a single academic year.
Staff stopped asking why a child behaves that way and started asking what happened to them. That shift took one session.
The challenge
The trust had nine schools with very different starting points. Two had a trauma-informed behaviour policy in place; the others had none, and staff turnover meant training delivered once did not hold.
Leadership wanted one model that every school could run, with enough consistency that a member of staff moving between schools would recognise it.
- 340 teaching and support staff to reach in one academic year.
- No central training budget for supply cover.
- A previous e-learning rollout had a 41% completion rate.
The solution
Two practitioners per school were certified first, using the standard two-session course over Teams. Each pair then ran a 60-minute INSET using the staff CPD plan on attachment, with six headsets shared on a carousel.
Pupil delivery followed in the spring term, starting with Key Stage 3 and the adolescent brain session. The trust used the 2D versions where headset numbers were short.
- Certification: 18 practitioners, two per school.
- Staff CPD: one 60-minute session per school, repeated for part-time staff.
- Pupil delivery: three sessions per year group, mapped to RSE and KCSIE.
The results
All nine schools completed staff CPD within the year. Practitioners reported that the VR session changed staff-room language faster than written policy had.
- 340 staff trained, 96% completion.
- All nine schools now hold a trauma-informed behaviour policy.
- Fixed-term exclusions fell in six of the nine schools over the year.
Figures supplied by the trust. See measuring impact for the forms used to collect them.
