Trauma Met with Soft Hearts and Hard Feet

Trauma is an individual's experience and response to an event. There are three main types of trauma: acute - single, unexpected events, chronic - repeated and prolonged, and complex - multiple occurrences, varied ways and invasive. In addition to these are vicarious trauma and intergenerational trauma. All forms of trauma can impact young people. The physical, social, and emotional impact on a young person can be unforgiving.

The presence of traumatic events and the number of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that a young person experience can dysregulate the nervous system, disrupt brain development, impair cognitive functioning, making it difficult for them to manage their behavioural and social, emotional, and sensory needs.

Students who have and/or continue to be impacted by trauma and ACEs often find mainstream school settings challenging. Due to the demands placed on educators, particularly in mainstream secondary school settings, where students have many teachers in one day, it can be an almost impossible task to cater for the unmet needs of every student in every classroom.

At Cire Community School (Cire), our approach is one of Soft Hearts and Hard Feet. Wellbeing and Teaching and Learning are equally important, and we meet our students where they are on any given day at any given time. Our young people know that we will walk alongside them and offer support and practical strategies that will not only assist them in the classroom but in life outside of school.

Many students who join Cire arrive with a negative connotation of education due to carrying unmet needs, fractured trust, and overwhelming experiences from previous school settings. These and other related childhood events all contribute the varying degrees of trauma in a young person’s life. Therefore, there is no atypical type of trauma but rather each student carries their own personal story and experiences with the impact varying.

Our approach is evidence-based and supported by research rather than the latest and newest approaches. Our mission is to create a safe and supportive school where every student can grow academically, socially, and emotionally. We understand the impact of trauma on development and respond with empathy, care, and respect. By building strong relationships and connecting students with their community, we empower them to feel valued, provide opportunities for growth, and prepare them for a positive future.

Soft Hearts, Hard Feet
When a student is impacted by trauma it can have a detrimental effect on their engagement with education. Regulating emotions, building connections, and remaining engaged in education require significant support through a lens of trauma-informed practice and unconditional positive regard. When a new student expresses an interest in attending Cire a consistent routine is in place to provide a smooth and supported transition.

Firstly, students attend a pre-enrolment meeting with their parents or carers, a member of the principal team, and a wellbeing staff member. During this meeting they are provided with information about how Cire operates and taken on a tour of the campus. Our goal is to engage with the young person during these meetings, so we attune to their needs and draw on their interests whenever the opportunity arises. While parents and carers have a wealth of knowledge and information to share about the young person, we provide an opportunity for this to occur when the student is out of the room. Whenever we can, we bring the focus back to the student so they can see they are our priority from day one. Following this meeting, an engagement meeting occurs. This takes place in the classroom where the student meets the teacher and learning assistant. A wellbeing staff member is also present to offer support and help the young person to identify any unmet needs and provide a range of strategies to help them meet these needs in helpful ways.

Soft Hearts speak to empathy, compassion, and an unwavering belief in the potential of every young person and caregiver. Holding unconditional positive regard is a guiding practice that honours a deep understanding of young people including their academic growth, social connections, life experiences, and emotional wellbeing. Effective practice means looking beyond surface behaviours and developing a deeper understanding of what our students need. Meeting them where they are and attuning to their needs through kindness and respect, even in the most challenging moments, is foundational. Hard Feet symbolise grit, resilience, and the courage to walk alongside others through difficult landscapes. High expectations, consistent routines, clear boundaries, and a strengths-based approach, applied not as rigidity but as a protective force, create the conditions for Soft Hearts to flourish. The duality of Soft Hearts and Hard Feet is essential in our trauma-informed practice, therapeutic care, and educational leadership.

In an ideal world, we believe that strengths-based, trauma-aware practice should inform and underpin the work of all education settings including mainstream. The decline in student wellbeing and engagement, and the rise in school refusal, demands action. Moving beyond traditional mainstream systems and responding to the complex needs of our young people through a holistic approach that is informed by research and allows us to cater for the needs of young people so they feel safe, seen, supported, and capable of succeeding however that may look, feel, and sound for them. It’s about providing a wraparound support that focuses on student wellbeing and leaning simultaneously while attuning to the varying needs of individual students.

Teaching young people about how to identify and regulate their emotions through a range of strategies is a life skill that will help them well beyond the classroom. Some of the strategies that we use include consistent, predictable routines, focus plans with strategies to help young people to meet their needs throughout the school day, explicit teaching of Emotional Intelligence, stamina building, and how to set meaningful, measurable goals that consider possible roadblocks and offer workaround strategies to allow students to experience success even when things don’t go to plan in the first instance. At Cire, we show up every day, ready to start fresh, through a lens of unconditional, positive regard. We ensure that our students know that regardless of what happened yesterday, we reset and repair relationships. This helps our young people to feel seen, heard, and safe.

Whether you work in a mainstream school or in a specialised trauma-informed setting, our goal as educators ultimately remains the same- to support the students we work with to allow them the best possible experience at school while setting them up for a future where they feel connected, a sense of belonging, and experience success in whatever form this may take for them.

Success is Individual to Each Student
We have high expectations for all students - although these can look very different depending on the student and their needs. For one student, success may be getting to school on time and in appropriate clothing due to the significant complexities they face outside of school on a daily basis. For another student, success may be opening up to a teacher, sharing where they feel stuck, and asking for help.

Beyond daily classroom interactions, at Cire we define success as our students leaving with a set of tools and strategies that they can carry with them, wherever they go in life. These help them to contribute positively to their community, remain connected, and feel a sense of purpose within themselves and with something greater than themselves. Such strategies and tools would help young people to regulate their emotions during challenging times, articulate how they are feeling, seek help when needed, set goals and see them through, and feel that they have found their place.

Vocational Training and Career Pathways
We have a dedicated Year 10 program that explores a variety of vocational pathways that provides students with a broad spectrum of industries. We are very fortunate to have staff dedicated to supporting young people with different career goals and pathways.

Finding and Motivating staff to go the Extra Mile
The motivation for staff comes from an intrinsic desire to support young people and provide the best possible outcomes. Generally, educators who seek out roles at Cire have passion and a deeper understanding for this space regardless of the complexities. It is staff who are seeking true purpose in their profession that are attracted to Cire. We are a purpose-driven organisation with a genuine desire to provide access to education for all young people.

We focus on self-care and staff wellbeing as we cannot successfully support the students we work with unless we are taking care of ourselves and our colleagues. We ensure that we make space to celebrate and acknowledge successes and work through challenges together.

Cire Post-pandemic
The pandemic has impacted all education settings. One of the positives to come out of this has been our ability to think more flexibly about delivery modes to support students who find it difficult getting to school every day for a variety of reasons. Our hybrid model allows students to feel a sense of belonging and connectedness while understanding that, due to their needs, they may not always be able to attend on-site.

What’s coming for Cire in 2026
•    Our model of education is evolving and attuning to the needs of our students.
•    Flexible and modified content with a delivery based on the needs of individual students and cohorts.
•    Hybrid Campus- a balanced blend of on-site and online education to support student needs
•    Opportunities to share our growth and learning in this space through presentations at a variety conferences including the upcoming Doing School Differently conference in Melbourne later this year.