Building an
Emotionally Available School
Roger Mitchell first started talking to colleagues about what an Emotionally Available School might look like in 2023, but the story starts much earlier than that, when he took on his role as Headteacher at Ripple Primary School in East London in the summer of 2005.
Nearly 20 years later Roger announced the school to be
“An Emotionally Available School where Everyone is Welcome and Everyone Belongs.”
Now Roger is increasingly being asked to tell the story of the journey that he and his school have been on to get where they are today.
A school that successfully implements a “Behaviour Through Nurture and Relationships Policy”.
A school that, despite being in the most deprived part of the sixth most deprived borough in the country, achieves academic results significantly higher than the national average.
A school of which Ofsted (April 2025) said:
“Pupils are safe and happy in this nurturing community. They appreciate the caring support that they receive from all staff.”
“Pupils with special educational needs… achieve well alongside their peers.”
“(Pupils) behave well in classrooms and around the school. They play together harmoniously in the playground.”
“The school’s behaviour policy fosters strong, respectful relationships throughout. Pupils want to behave because they know it is ‘the right thing to do.'”
“The school’s values are important to pupils, and they respect and embrace everyone’s differences.”
“Staff are very positive about working here. They know their well-being is a key consideration in school decisions.”
A visitor to Roger’s school, consulting on the SENDAP Review for the DfE, has written to say:
“At a time of negativity around SEND and inclusion, you and your school are a beacon of hope and proof that it can be done. It seems like this is your time to take your ideas to the world. We certainly need them.”
Roger's Profile
In order to achieve this, he is continually pushing for ALL who work with or on behalf of children and young people to gain a good understanding of Attachment, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Informed Practice.
But he also believes that, to make a real difference, we need to move from being Trauma Informed to being Trauma Responsive.
This is why his main focus is on empowering as many Emotionally Available Adults as possible in our schools so that we can create truly Emotionally Available Schools for our pupils and their families where everyone has a real sense of belonging.
Because, in his words...
Roger has provided training and spoken to many audiences locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, including presenting the Opening Keynote Speech for the "Children's Health and Mental Wellbeing" conference at the World Inclusion Congress 2025 in Amaty, Kazakhstan.
Roger doesn't charge a fee for providing online and face-to-face training or speaking at events…
“Because it’s not about me. It’s about getting the message out there”
But Roger will ask for his travel expenses and subsistence to be covered, if necessary.
Multilingual Chatbot
I am Roger’s multilingual chatbot.
Got a question?
If you click on me to connect, you can speak to me to ask me anything, in your home language, about Roger and his Emotionally Available School website and I will do my best to answer your question, in your home language.
If the multilingual chatbot has been unable to give you the answer you are looking for, please use the “Get in touch” form below to contact Roger directly.
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