'FASD Informed' Mainstream School: Stage 4 Programme

Sep 9, 2025
5 min read

Build a confident, compassionate and effective classroom or whole-school response for children and young people affected by prenatal alcohol exposure, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and complex needs.

Programme Overview

Give your team the knowledge, confidence and practical tools to respond earlier, understand need more clearly, and improve outcomes.

Our FASD Informed™ School Programme equips education professionals with an evidence-informed framework for recognising vulnerability, reducing misunderstanding, and delivering support that is responsive, realistic and effective.

Whether your setting is at the beginning of its journey or looking to strengthen existing practice, this programme helps staff move from uncertainty to clarity and from reactive responses to purposeful support.

Designed for the classroom staff or the whole school team

This programme is designed for everyone who plays a role in helping children feel safe, understood and able to learn. It is ideal for teachers, teaching assistants, SENCos, headteachers, senior leaders, designated safeguarding leads, therapists, school nurses, counsellors, administration and reception teams, lunchtime and playtime staff, volunteers, technical support staff, and direct student support professionals.

A Different Lens.

At the heart of FASD-informed practice is a simple but powerful shift, asking

“What does this child or young person need?” instead of “What is wrong with this child or young person?”.

This reframing helps teams move beyond behaviour-led assumptions and towards support that is more thoughtful, compassionate and effective.

We tailor delivery around your setting and the child/ren you support, helping staff connect theory to practice in ways that make an immediate difference. From classroom strategies to therapeutic thinking, the programme provides practical approaches that help staff understand neurodevelopmental need, reduce overwhelm, and create environments where children can feel more regulated, more secure and more able to participate.

Why Schools Choose This Programme

FASD can have a profound and lifelong impact on learning, regulation, communication, adaptive functioning and emotional wellbeing. Without the right understanding, children’s needs can easily be missed, misread or mislabelled. This programme helps schools respond with greater confidence by combining neurodevelopmental insight with practical, education-based strategies aligned with current UK guidance and quality standards.

For many children, prenatal alcohol exposure does not sit in isolation. Overlapping developmental, sensory, communication, health and safeguarding needs can make support feel complex and stuck. We help teams make sense of that complexity, recognise the meaning behind symptoms, and build responsive plans that reduce risk, improve consistency and support better outcomes across the school day.

Programme Structure

Delivered through live online bite-sized sessions, the programme is designed to fit around the realities of school life. We work to your timetable, with flexible delivery during or outside school hours, including inset days, so your team can access high-quality training in a way that is manageable, engaging and sustainable.

Stage 1: Understanding FASD

Create a shared foundation of understanding across your team. This introductory stage explains what FASD is, how prenatal alcohol exposure affects the brain and nervous system, and why these differences can have such a significant impact on learning, behaviour and everyday functioning.

Stage 2: Translating Theory into Practice

Turn understanding into action. This stage explores processing speed, curriculum access and practical differentiation, giving staff strategies they can use straight away to respond more effectively, reduce frustration and better support children across the spectrum of need.

Stage 3: Forward Planning and Transitions

Plan ahead with greater confidence. This stage focuses on anticipating emerging needs, supporting transitions, using switching techniques, and adapting provision for both short-term and longer-term success. It also recognises the needs of parents, carers and professionals supporting complex presentations.

Stage 4: Quality Standards, Safeguarding and Multi-Agency Practice

Embed good practice across the whole setting. This advanced stage supports schools to strengthen personalised planning, risk assessment, safeguarding, reflective practice and multi-agency working, helping teams build a more consistent, informed and FASD-responsive culture.

What Your Team Will Gain

By the end of the programme, your team will have stronger shared language, greater confidence in recognising and responding to need, and a practical toolkit that can be applied across the school environment. All participants receive FASD Informed certification and supporting resources, and on completion of all four stages your setting can join our network of FASD Responsive Schools.

Tailored to Your Setting

No two schools are the same, and no two children present in exactly the same way. That is why our bespoke packages are shaped around your context, your team and the needs you are currently trying to meet. Every session is designed to be relevant, practical and immediately useful, helping you make progress where support has previously felt complex or stuck.

The Difference It Can Make

“This course gave us the confidence to move forward when needs had become overlapping and stuck. It helped our team focus on strengths instead of increasing demand, and that shift made a difference across the child’s whole day. The impact went beyond what we expected and supported more positive outcomes for both school and family.”

Deputy Headteacher & DSL

"This has shifted everything. Once we began reflecting, we became far more attuned to the needs of so many children with PAE in our school community; it was staggering how many we were able to recognise and consider. It has transformed the way we work, the way we think about every child, and the impact of doing so has been incredibly powerful.

Since the training, we have used the “let’s stop until we start” model several times, and it really works. Children who had been drifting, as well as those at the other end of the spectrum who were bouncing around the classroom, began to pause with us. Little by little, we saw real change emerge. It has been powerful to witness.

We truly see this as the future of giving our children the very best opportunities to connect with learning, but in a language that reduces demand. I want to share this message far and wide, to encourage schools to tune in and to say loudly just how life-changing this training is. It has made the difference we needed and has brought renewed energy to every area of our school. Thank you.

Headteacher

Beyond Training: Ongoing Specialist Support

Alongside training, we offer one-to-one consultation, attendance at meetings for complex or stuck cases, and specialist support for schools seeking to embed a whole-school FASD-responsive approach. We also provide transition support for post-16 settings, helping teams build continuity, clarity and confidence at key points of change.

Book a Placeholder Date

Take the next step towards becoming an FASD Responsive School. To reserve a placeholder date or discuss a bespoke package for your setting, please contact us at info@fasdinformed.co.uk

FASD Informed™ also provides specialist education, training and consultation for schools that want to respond more effectively to prenatal alcohol exposure, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and complex neurodevelopmental need. With the right understanding, the right strategies and the right support, better outcomes are possible.

Drawing by our FASD Friend @Charlie Mackesy