In brief
The Recording and Reporting Train the Trainer is a 2-day course that qualifies your staff to teach The Recording Formula, our 7-step method for writing clear, factual and defensible incident reports. Your trainers can then train every colleague who writes reports, on your timetable.
- Length: 2 days
- Your trainers deliver: The Recording Formula, accredited by Highfield
- Content: six modules, from the legal context to applying the formula in your own recording system
- For: children's homes, schools, adult social care and healthcare
Why recording deserves its own trainer
An incident report is often the only lasting account of what happened. Inspectors, managers, families and sometimes courts read it later, and it has to show what staff saw, what they did and why. Vague or opinion-led reports leave staff exposed and miss the patterns that help prevent the next incident.
Most staff are never taught how to write a good report. Having your own trainer means every new starter learns the same clear method, and the trainer can coach colleagues on real reports long after the course.
What your trainers will deliver
Your trainers will deliver The Recording Formula, built around six modules:
1. An introduction to incident recording
Why high-quality recording matters, legally and for the person being supported.
2. The law and legal context
Why effective recording is so important, and how to create evidence of defensible decision-making.
3. Quality recording
Reports that are complete, concise and factual, reducing the potential for legal complications.
4. The 7-Step Formula
Our step-by-step method that anyone can use to write consistently high-quality reports.
5. Recording specifics
Accurately capturing times, people, duration and the other details that are easy to miss.
6. Applying the formula
Using the formula on written or electronic reports, tailored to your current recording system.
What the 2 days cover
- Knowing the Recording Formula and its legal background well enough to answer any question
- Delivering each module confidently, using video, case studies and group exercises
- Adapting examples to your setting and your recording system
- Giving useful feedback on colleagues' real reports
- Practice delivery, with feedback and assessment before you are signed off
A note on accreditation
A train the trainer course is not accredited in its own right. The accreditation belongs to the course your trainers deliver, and The Recording Formula is accredited by Highfield.
Pair it with physical intervention training
Good recording is part of safe practice. If your organisation is training physical intervention trainers, the same people can be qualified to teach recording, so staff learn what to do in an incident and how to write it up from one trusted voice.
What people say about our training
“The result is a more settled start to the day for the staff team and pupils. Clear direction for the team on how to approach analysis of behaviour and troubleshoot proactively rather than reactively. An increase in stability within each team, increased attendance and focus in lessons, better communication and ultimately it has empowered the team and my SLT to take responsibility and ownership. We are only half a term in and the indications are that this is a brilliant process for our school. My team have relished the consistency and space to have these discussions and it has been nothing but a positive drive forwards towards outstanding.”
“Ofsted was very successful, I am very pleased with the judgement. I have always known that we are on a journey that would take five years. So with two years complete, we have made remarkable progress. Once again, thank you for all your help and support. What you've brought to the organisation is what Aristotle would call phronesis: the complicated interplay between theory and practical judgement. Thank you.”
“Everyone left the course feeling inspired and motivated. Thank you, the course was, in my opinion, excellent and I felt that everyone left the course feeling inspired and motivated thinking ‘what can I do better to be a superstar?’. That in itself gives a clear indication of the quality of the material from the course and the way you delivered it.”
“The trainers knowledge and experience are phenomenal. No questions went unanswered. I think anyone who works with any kind of vulnerable adult or child will benefit from this course.”
Other Train the Trainer courses
Children's homes
8 daysYour trainers deliver BILD Act (RRN) certified courses
Our flagship programme for residential children's homes, built on trauma-informed practice and delivered as two blocks of four days.
View the children's homes course →Schools
5 daysYour trainers deliver BILD Act (RRN) certified courses
For special schools, PRUs, mainstream schools and trusts that want their own staff to train colleagues in line with the April 2026 DfE guidance.
View the schools course →Adult social care
5 daysYour trainers deliver BILD Act (RRN) certified courses
For residential care, supported living and learning disability and autism services that want in-house trainers who know their people.
View the adult social care course →Healthcare (PMVA)
5 daysYour trainers deliver BILD Act (RRN) certified PMVA courses
For NHS trusts and healthcare providers, run by our sister organisation ProActive Healthcare Group.
Visit ProActive Healthcare Group →Safeguarding
2 daysYour trainers deliver a Highfield accredited course
Qualify your staff to teach safeguarding for children and adults at risk that explains how trauma shapes behaviour and disclosure, not just the procedures.
View the safeguarding course →Compare every course on our Train the Trainer courses page.