The practice system
The WILD Framework™One methodology, from first contact to progression
The Framework is not an ethos statement. It is the operating system of the provision. It decides how a young person is assessed, how a plan is written, how a session is recorded, how progress is evidenced and how practitioners are trained and supervised.
Part one
The order of practice
Safety, Connection and Change is a sequence, not a set of values. Working out of order is the most common reason placements break down elsewhere, and the first thing we check when a young person is struggling here.
Safety
Nothing begins until a young person is regulated and feels physically and emotionally safe in the environment and with the adults in it.
Connection
Trusted, consistent relationships come next. Behaviour is communication; connection is what makes it legible and workable.
Change
Learning, accreditation and preparation for adulthood follow once safety and connection hold. Progress is the outcome, not the entry requirement.
Part two, the delivery cycle
Understand, Support, Engage, Develop
Every placement runs on the same repeating cycle. It gives practitioners a shared language, gives commissioners a predictable evidence trail, and gives young people consistency between adults, sites and stages.
Understand
The whole young person: strengths, needs, history and context, before any plan is written.
Support
Personalised support with clear aims, review points and the barriers to engagement named honestly.
Engage
Recognise learning and development wherever it occurs, not only in academic form.
Develop
Evidence meaningful progress, then reflect and adapt practice on what is and is not working.
Part three
Five strands of development
Every aim, activity and piece of evidence maps to one of five strands. This is what makes non-academic progress reportable, and what allows a young person's growth to be recognised even when it does not look like a grade.
Wild Minds
Emotional wellbeing, self-regulation, therapeutic education and personal development.
Wild Bodies
Physical development, outdoor education, health and adventure learning.
Wild Vocations
Animal care, construction, horticulture, hospitality, enterprise and employability.
Wild Living
Independent living, cooking, money management, travel training and home skills.
Wild Futures
Preparation for adulthood, careers, supported internships and employability skills.
Guiding principles
Non-negotiables
- 01Every young person is capable of growth
- 02Relationships come before outcomes
- 03Behaviour is communication
- 04Learning happens everywhere
- 05Progress is personal, not comparative
- 06Practice must be evidenced, not assumed
Part four
How the Framework becomes evidence
Baseline
A whole-person baseline across the five strands at the point of entry: strengths, needs, history, context and the barriers that are actually in the way.
Individual support plan
Aims written in framework language with named review points, so every practitioner is planning against the same sequence.
Daily practice records
Session notes, observations and welfare records captured in The WILD Portal and tagged to strand and aim.
Review and reporting
Progress reports for schools, local authorities and EHCP annual reviews built from live practice evidence, not retrospective recollection.
The Framework, the Portal and the Academy are one system: practice, record and training built on the same spine.
See how the system fits together