Damers First School, Dorchester, Dorset

Our Hamish & Milo Story

Part of the Wessex Multi-Academy Trust, a family of 12 schools from primary to secondary. Damers First School is a large four-entry primary school with 439 children aged 4-9 years old with provision for up to 10 pupils with complex communication-based needs.

The most recent OFSTED report rated Damers First School as a ‘good’ school and recognised that the Headteacher Catherine Smith leads ‘an effective team with a relentless drive so that pupils are successful academically, emotionally and socially.’

The vision, aim and values that underpin practice at Damers First School complement the approach of the Hamish & Milo programme where relationships and the value of being heard lies at the heart.

“The beauty is our school exists beyond the bricks and mortar and is firmly founded in strong relationships and our relentless determination to ‘find the learner’ within every single child, whatever their starting point, keeping our children at the heart of absolutely everything that we do.’

Mrs Catherine Smith, Headteacher

Damers First School Sock Puppets
Damers First School Logo

Vision

Damers First School strive to nurture an inclusive community of respectful and collaborative learners who are encouraged to constantly achieve their very best. All pupils are empowered to make valuable contributions both locally and globally and to enjoy and benefit from a lifelong love of learning.

Values

The school aims are all underpinned by our core values:

  • Intra-personal – what this value means to me personally.

  • Inter-personal – how this value can be seen in my relationships with family, friends and familiar adults.

  • Societal – how this value can be seen and shared within our communities.

  • Global – what this value means and looks like in the wider world (global citizenship).

Aims

Damers Infant School Aims

Damers First School recognises the vital and privileged role schools play in supporting children to feel safe and heard. Relationships really are the key to all they do, supported by relationships policy, STEPS training, Trauma Informed Approach and now complemented beautifully by the Hamish & Milo wellbeing programme. This allows them to work in an in-depth and meaningful way with more children, and they are seeing first-hand the ripple effect this work has made throughout the school.

Implementing the Hamish & Milo programme

As part of Damers First School’s commitment to wellbeing, staff members Sandra Scott and Sally Campbell have been implementing the Hamish & Milo programme having also been supported in completing the Trauma Informed Schools Diploma, which has become Damers standard practice.

Sally and Sandra met with their SENCO and felt a focus on self-esteem in Year 3 and Year 4 was the best place to start. They felt fortunate to be able to run two groups of six children side by side on the ‘Amazing me’ programme as they found it to be really effective – not just in what they could bring to the groups, but also in supporting each other.

Following the initial Hamish & Milo training, Sandra and Sally realised the importance of making their designated room a really special space for the children. As part of the initial session a group ‘code’ was established with the children so they felt it was a safe and secure environment and was displayed on the wall to refer to if needed.

They also found that inviting the children to make a special sign, like a secret look, meet and greet symbol or way of communicating the sense of being part of the group and that was used with each other, had a huge impact on creating a sense of belonging. Even when these initial groups ended the children have continued to still shown their special sign to each other around school.

Sally and Sandra also felt the parent communication elements were key “The information leaflet for parents was particularly useful, and we invited them to engage in the child profile, along with the class teachers. It was useful to have a well-rounded picture from all the adults that knew the children the most, as well as using the child’s voice questionnaire.” Using these tools has given the school a greater insight into the wider issues that families may be experiencing, enabling targeted support, including running a family SEAL group, so not only are the children being heard but so are their families.

Damers First School Hamish & Milo Room
Hamish & Milo Room at Damers First School

Impact of the programme

“Seeing the joy on the children’s faces when they are collected for our sessions is magical, particularly more meaningful as many of our children were often finding aspects of school life tricky.”

The importance of having a welcoming, safe and special place to come to within the school was highly valued by the children in their feedback, with many of them commenting that their favourite part was the space and being with friends, which they had made in the group, reaffirming the importance of helping the children to know they are valued.

Feedback from children

  • For one girl in the group, pre-intervention she had predominant feelings of being worried, lonely and sad. She wanted help with those feelings, being anxious and making friends. Post-intervention, she reported a decrease in those feelings, she also stated that what she had learnt about herself was that ‘I am brave and more happy now because of the group.’

  • Pre-intervention, one child said he often felt he wasn’t good at anything and always found it hard to say his feelings and ask for help. Post-intervention, he reported that this was now rarely the case. He wrote that post-intervention he had learnt to ‘like who you are.’

  • One child wrote that they had learnt ‘There are people here for me.’

  • One child identified finding friendships and asking for help tricky. Post-intervention, she had made strong connections within the group and wrote that she had learnt ‘she was a good friend.’

  • One child reported pre-intervention feelings of happy and sad, often finding it difficult to ask for help and feeling sad and empty. Post intervention, he said these had reduced and when asked what he had learnt about himself, he wrote that ‘I sometimes feel angry, but it will go.’

  • Pre-intervention a child said she wanted help with ‘calming myself down when I’m angry or sad.’ She found it difficult to say her feelings and often felt worried. Post-intervention, she recorded that these feelings had decreased and she learnt that ‘I can be sad’ and that the group ‘helped me calm myself.’

Damers First School Hamish & Milo Invisible String Activity
Damers First School Hamish & Milo Tree

“The Hamish & Milo package of resources, training and support has meant that we as staff feel empowered and confident in addressing the huge need for quality SEMH support.”

The clear and easy to follow format of the sessions has meant that we are able to adapt the activities or language we use to meet the needs of the children in the groups, whilst still meeting the desired outcomes. It has also enabled us to better support other staff, by having a wealth of ideas now at our fingertips as well as impacting on our 1:1 work.

“Providing reflective and clear data to measure how effective SEMH interventions are is notoriously difficult. We have found the supporting impact measure tools that come with the programme a fantastic resource. It has made sharing feedback to Senior Leadership Team and Governors so much easier and clearer, as well as giving us the information we need to make sure we are delivering the most impactful programme to the right children.”

“Not only do you get the 10 intervention programmes with Hamish & Milo you get so much more. It is extremely well supported by a wealth of easily accessible extra tools and resources, quality supervision opportunities and a team of knowledgeable and passionate people on hand to answer any queries. We are truly excited to continue our Hamish & Milo journey.”

Written by Sandra Scott and Sally Campbell

Damers First School Hamish & Milo Invisible String Activity

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