Helping Schools Support Students Experiencing Separation and Conflict
Every day, teachers, wellbeing staff and school leaders have to assist students whose families are navigating separation, conflict or complex parenting arrangements. These transitions can significantly affect a child’s emotional regulation, concentration, attendance, behaviour and sense of safety.
Schools want to support these students — but they are often left without clear guidance, coordinated information or a framework for engaging with both parents during challenging periods.
Our School Engagement Initiative has been created to fill that gap. Grounded in trauma-informed practice, conflict psychology and child-development science, the initiative gives schools practical tools to respond with confidence, clarity and care.
Why Schools Need Support
Family separation is no longer a rare or silent issue. It directly impacts:
a child’s ability to learn
their social connections at school
their behavioural and emotional stability
school attendance and engagement
staff capacity to respond safely and consistently
When conflict between parents is high, schools are often drawn into the middle — receiving conflicting instructions, fielding complaints, managing access issues or trying to interpret parenting orders.Without a clear framework, schools can unintentionally become part of the conflict. This initiative helps prevent that.
Resources For Schools
What We Provide Schools
1. Practical Guidance for Supporting Students in Transition
Step-by-step guidance for staff on how to support a student whose family is experiencing separation, including:
Emotional regulation strategies and scripts
Understanding children’s behavioural responses to conflict at home
Classroom strategies for safety, predictability and connection
How to communicate appropriately with both parents
2. Clear Processes for Managing Parental Conflict
Schools too often feel caught between parents. We provide:
Protocols for communicating with both parents
Guidance on interpreting orders, agreements and court directions
Scripts for de-escalation and boundary-setting
Policies for handling repeated complaints or inflamed communication
How to respond when parents use the school as a battleground.
3. Trauma-Informed Training for Staff
Workshops and online training grounded in trauma-informed principles help staff understand:
How conflict and instability at home impact a child’s brain, learning and behaviour
How to identify signs of stress, emotional overload or difficulty coping
How to respond with calm, containment and clarity
When and how to escalate wellbeing concerns
4. Tools to Help Schools Feel Confident & Consistent
We offer ready-to-use resources, such as:
Parent communication templates
Checklists for school administration teams
Decision-making flowcharts
Scripts for difficult conversations
Guidance notes for transitional care, handovers and authorised pick-ups
Partner With Us
We work with:
primary and secondary schools
wellbeing teams
school leadership
teachers and support staff
school councils and governance bodies
Whether your school is seeking training, resources,or a clear framework for responding to family separation, we can help you build a child-centred, conflict-aware approach that benefits students, families and staff.
Start Here
If your school wants to support students more effectively during family change, protect staff from conflict spill-over, and strengthen wellbeing practices, we’d love to work with you.
Book a consultation
Request our School Toolkit
Enquire about staff training for 2026