FREE RESOURCES
Become a SPAN Fan!
You bring the passion for positive transitions-care. We’ll help you share it!
Whether you’re speaking at a conference, working with a school, or connecting with colleagues, the SPAN Fan kit gives you ready-to-use materials to introduce SPAN and connect others with resources to support students, families, and staff through transitions. No membership or formal role needed, just your voice!
Look Inside:
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What it means to be a SPAN Fan
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SPAN Brochure
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SPAN Fan Slide
Get the Language!
This SPAN Essential Reference guide offers information on the language of positive transitions-care, questions around where you may find yourself on your SPAN journey and more information around SPAN.
Sudden Move?
At SPAN, we recognize that positive transitions-care is essential at the best of times in any school environment. When schools or their communities face a sudden crisis, it becomes all the more critical to support families in their transitions.
We hope this SPAN Crisis Support Toolkit equips families and staff with understanding and strategies, whether they are a Stayer or a sudden Leaver. Our goal is to proactively engage in the process of transition amidst the short-term, medium-term and longer-term challenges of moving or being moved away from during a crisis.
If you or those you care about are affected by a crisis, we hope the actions outlined here validate, educate and empower all involved to take appropriate action to improve your unique situation now and future transitions, as well.
Transitions: A Whole School Approach
Your Guide to Transitions is here! Designed by Jane Barron, Valérie Besanceney, and Catalina Gardescu as an introduction to positive transitions-care, this ManageBac Guide provides insights on the What, Why and How of adopting a whole school approach, and Where to go for further information, learning opportunities and support. It’s an ideal resource for individuals and international schools looking to strengthen the wellbeing and learning of their students, families and staff.
Begin your journey towards creating conditions for your school community to thrive. Share this Guide with your colleagues to enhance their understanding of positive transitions-care and gain inspiration for taking action together.
Dig Into the Research
What happens to attachment and relationships when students experience repeated mobility, separation, and loss?
Safe Passage for Attachment Systems is the doctoral research of SPAN founder Dr. Douglas Ota, published in January 2024 through Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research explores whether the repeated separations experienced in highly mobile international school communities may affect young people’s attachment security and their ability to develop and maintain deep relationships.
This research provides an important foundation for SPAN’s work and our belief that how schools care for people through transitions matters—not only during the move itself, but for belonging, relationships, and well-being over time.
Explore the research to better understand the connection between:
- Mobility and separation
- Attachment security
- Relationships and belonging in international schools