Skip to content

Atkinson Secure Children’s Home

Helping young people to understand and manage their emotions

Author: lucy.gray


Bale, Arthur and Gracie, the Atkinson therapy dogs

Bale and Arthur have been visiting the Atkinson School since early March and the benefits and transformations have been incredible.  Bale and Arthur are therapy dogs, brought in by Bale’s Buddies who supply therapy dogs to schools, residential homes, and children and families with special needs all over Devon. The young people at Atkinson have […]

Atkinson artwork at the Koestler exhibition

The Koestler Awards for arts in criminal justice started in 1962. Each year over 3,500 people in custody and in the community share their creative work by taking part. The Trust provides feedback and encouragement to entrants of all abilities in visual art, design, writing and music.  Every year, the young people from Atkinson submit […]

Christmas collection for Exeter Foodbank

In the run-up to Christmas, one of our young people took the lead on a collection for the Exeter Foodbank. As well as creating posters and speaking to staff to encourage them to donate food items or money, he also spent some of his own pocket money to buy much needed items. All of his […]

Ofsted assurance visit

We are delighted with feedback from the recent Ofsted assurance visit which consisted of two days virtual inspection and one day on site.  The inspectors said that “the children benefit from well-planned care provided by a staff team which shares a common drive to improve their outcomes and to keep them safe” and “warm, trusting […]

Just Right State

The Just Right State (JRS) is being delivered as part of a programme to support the staff and young people at Atkinson to explore and develop self-regulation and co-regulation skills.  The programme is eight weeks long and includes exploration of individualised physical activities, the regulating properties of food, and self care strategies, all to support the ‘Just […]

Refurbished living areas at Atkinson

We were lucky enough to attract a grant from the DfE in 2019 to help with the financing of our refurbishments.  Works commenced to transform the living areas of the home late 2019 and continued over the Christmas break into the New Year (2020).  Unfortunately, the project work stopped abruptly due to the Covid-19 pandemic […]