Training

Due to the impact of Covid-19, Northamptonshire Educational Psychology Service will not be offering any in-person local ‘drawing and talking’ training this year. If you would like to access this training on-line, then please visit the Drawing and Talking website.

Foundation training

‘Drawing and talking’ is an experiential rather than theory based training programme designed for anyone working with children, young people or adults who may be suffering from trauma or poor mental health. Participants learn how to put this simple technique into practice including how to get started, how to run a session and how to deal with common problems which can arise. The training also aims to enable participants to:

• Understand the importance of giving pupils time and space to draw and talk in the presence of a supportive and attentive adult
• Know how to use the process to help children who are struggling to process difficult emotions and possibly displaying worrying behaviour
• Know where further help and resources can be accessed
• Experience on the training day how to deliver a session online

Upon completion of your online training day, you will have everything you need to implement drawing and talking within your school setting, online and offline.

Advanced training

This training enables adults to gain a greater understanding of the therapeutic nature of the work involved and to be able to apply it in a variety of situations, including groups and sand play. Questions can be asked about current work you are doing 1:1 with children, building and affirming the skills already learnt in foundation training.

The advanced training also aims to enable participants to:

• Review the process of Drawing and Talking (Foundation Level)
• Learn how to use Drawing and Talking with small groups of children
• Evaluate the progress of pupils using this process
• Access support/advice in running group interventions

Upon completion of your online training day, you will have everything you need to implement drawing and talking within your school setting, online and offline.

Professionals must have completed the foundation training in order to access the advanced training.

Due to the impact of Covid-19, Northamptonshire Educational Psychology Service will not be offering any in-person local ‘Zippy’s Friends’, ‘Apple’s Friends’ or ‘Passport’ training this year. If you would like to access this training on-line, then please visit the Partnership for Children website, as they will be offering dates in November and December.

Zippy's Friends, Apples Friends and Passport are evidence-based international programmes for teaching primary school children social and coping skills. Developed by 'Partnership for Children', they are engaging mental health promotion programmes which are suitable for children of all abilities.

Zippy's Friends

Zippy’s Friends teaches children aged 5 to 7 years old (years 1 or 2) how to cope with everyday difficulties, to identify and talk about their feelings and to explore ways of dealing with them through using role-play, drawing and discussion activities and games, and stories featuring characters of a similar age: Tig, Leela, Sandy, Jill and Tommy – as well as Zippy, a stick-insect.

The programme covers themes: feelings, communication, friendship, solving problems, changes, and moving forward. It also encourages children to help other people with their problems. The programme is based on extensive research and has been evaluated in many countries. It has also been endorsed by the World Health Organisation and national governments.

Apple's Friends 

Apple’s Friends builds on what has been taught in Zippy’s Friends and is suitable for children aged 7 to 9 years (years 3 or 4).

The programme covers themes similar to those in Zippy’s Friends. The activities in Apple’s Friends give children the chance to practise and develop effective coping and social skills. Once again, there are role-play, drawing and discussion activities and games, and stories featuring the same characters; but this time with Apple the hamster. However, in Apple’s Friends sessions, children have to contribute more of their own ideas – particularly when it comes to the stories. These are unfinished, and the class decides how each story ends.

Passport 

Passport is for 9 to 11 year olds (years 5 or 6).The programme is based on the same theory as Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends – the Concept of Coping – but looks quite different. It consists of 17 sessions and covers the following themes: emotions, relationships, difficult situations, change and loss and fairness, justice and what is right.

Engaging comic strip stories follow the adventures of Olya and Milo as they discover a secret world of fantastical creatures in the company of their friend, Elly the dragon. Children develop their own positive strategies to deal with problems through engaging activities: reading the comic strips, discussion, role-play and games. They use the colourful game board to find as many solutions as possible. There are also Home Activities to reinforce learning at home with the family.

Further information

Schools will need to purchase their own resources to deliver these programmes.

• Apples Friends: £250 +pp
• Zippy’s Friends & Passport: £325 +pp

Once initial materials have been purchased, subsequently consumables per class cost:

• £60 +pp for Apple’s Friends
• £150 +pp for Zippy’s Friends

Information about Promoting Positive Transitions:

Thinking forward to September, as Year 7's start to settle into their new environment and routine it can be a challenging and overwhelming process for some. Last year Northamptonshire Educational Psychology Service (EPS) developed a four-session programme to support this transfer which is specifically designed to be delivered by Year 7 class teachers.

This programme recommends a range of activities with pupils including group discussion, written work and practical tasks. This programme can help tutors build a rapport and get to know their students whilst allowing the class to get know each other better through the group tasks. Students are encouraged to reflect on their strengths and achievements and to capture their important memories of primary school. The sense of loss they may experience in leaving their friends, staff and the familiarity of their previous school is normalised alongside their worries and the sense of excitement they may feel about starting their new school. The implications and effects of COVID 19 are recognised too.

Coping strategies are explored and the children are encouraged to find out facts about their new secondary school and to identify a network of support to reduce their potential anxieties. The webinar explains the rationale behind the programme, psychoeducational information and lesson content.

• To understand the theoretical underpinnings of the programme.
• Provide staff with knowledge and skills to deliver the programme to support their students in settling into their new school.
  

Please note:

Places are limited to 25, and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.