The Arete Learning Trust are celebrating seven years of partnership with the team behind The Do-IT Profiler with additional training on the screener being rolled out to new schools within the trust.

The brainchild of Professor Amanda Kirby, Do-IT Profiler allows schools to use dimensional, needs led, person-centered approaches which provides parents/carers and teachers with a thorough understanding of students specific strengths and challenges. The profiler was born out of a concern that many neurodiverse children and young people fail to have their Neurodivergent conditions diagnosed, or that a diagnosis only uncovers part of a students strengths and challenges.

Use of the Profiler across the Arete Learning Trust is designed to ensure that the support provided for students is personalised rather than label led. The potential impact of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis is well documented. The trust believe that the profiler is an important part of a toolkit to provide inclusive support for all students within their schools. 

Kath Lawson Lead for Inclusion says ‘As a trust we care about the inclusion of all students. This is why we monitor closely students’ attendance, their progress and their engagement. If there are concerns about a student the profiler allows us and their parents/carers to get a better understanding of their strengths and challenges. Exclusion in it's broadest form may be lack of engagement in homework tasks, or disengagement in lessons. We do not need a diagnosis to make reasonable adjustments, and we take our legal responsibility in line with the Disability Act very seriously.’

Professor Amanda Kirby says: " Working with Arete Trust over the last few years has allowed us to see firsthand the benefits of seeing where educators taking a child centred approach seriously and understanding each child can mean delivery that is equitable and has long term impacts for all."

As part of their whole trust strategic work linked to inclusion the Arete Learning Trust are working with Durham University to design a questionnaire to identify the knowledge and understanding of Neurodiversity within trust schools in order to support training needs and promote good practice.

If you would like to know more contact Kath Lawson klawson@arete.uk or Lynne Peters lynne@doitprofiler.com