Fagus launches at the BCA
We had a wonderful evening launching the Fagus materials last Thursday at the BCA (Berkshire College of Agriculture). We had over 100 guests join us from the world of education, social care and psychology including James Wilding, Principal of Claire’s Court Schools, Walter Boyle, Head of Holyport College, Scott Casson-Rennie of Adoption UK as well as Professor Patrick Leman, Dean of Education at Kings College, London and Dr Dawn Watling, Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean at Royal Holloway, University of London. A big thank you to everybody who attended our celebratory evening.
We heard from Daniela Shanly, Proprietor of Beech Lodge School, who told us about the school and why Fagus was created. The school wanted a way to support and track children’s emotional and social development; unable to find a suitable resource the school they decided to create one. Alastair Lidster, Educational Psychologist and Co-Author of Fagus, spoke about how his idea of Fagus was born and told us about the principles behind it. Fagus uses a developmental framework and studies the child at different levels, looking at their emotional and social development as a whole and then tuning into the finer details of development. Becci Best, Assistant Psychologist and Co-Author of Fagus, told us more about the resource itself, looking at the checklists, profiles and guides. We then heard from Helen Hoban of PAC-UK who has been trialling the materials in schools in Yorkshire and Humberside as part of a DfE funded PAC-UK project. Helen told us about the success of using Fagus in mainstream settings and how the materials enabled schools and parents to gain a shared understanding of the child’s development By understanding that a child is functioning at an age lower than their chronological age, schools have adapted their approach to the child. We also learned that one school changed their entire behaviour policy as a direct result of using Fagus!
Guests left inspired and enthused about Fagus with a little gift of a Beech tree sapling as a memento of the evening.
Thank you very much to The Shanly Foundation for sponsoring the event, The Woodland Trust for donating the beech saplings, the BCA Berkshire College of Agriculture for hosting the event and Baxter Storey for the amazing spread of food!
Fagus is now available for purchase with an introductory discount until 1st November. For more information on ordering the resource please email fagus@beechlodgeschool.co.uk
