Early Help at Walsham le Willows CEVCP School
What is Early Help?
Early Help’ means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as problems start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes.
Early Help:
Is for children of all ages and not just the very young,
Can be provided at any point of need and
Can be very effective in supporting a child, young person and/or their family to step down from statutory services as well as preventing the escalation of issues.
Is important because there is clear evidence that it results in better outcomes for children.
Early help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of Walsham le Willows CEVCP.
Day to Day Support
Most families, most of the time, can get on with their lives quite happily with little or no outside help. If they need help it is usually provided by universal services, such as schools. This can include the day-to-day support provided to pupils and their families by staff within the school.
Focused Pastoral Support
All families can have times, however, when difficulties arise and they either may not recognise it or may not know how to start putting things right. Without the right support early on, situations can easily get worse very quickly. Walsham le Willows can play a role in supporting families to address these difficulties through more focused pastoral support, which might include bringing in support via an external agency.
Early Help Assessment
For those children and families whose needs and circumstances make them more vulnerable, or where the school need the support of other agencies to meet the needs of the family, a coordinated multi-agency approach is usually best. In Suffolk this is achieved through undertaking an Early Help Assessment and assigning a Lead Practitioner to work closely with the family to ensure they receive the support they require. Walsham le Willows could be a key partner in any multi-agency work to support families.
Identifying a child or young person who may benefit from early help
Signs that a child or young person may benefit from early help include:
- Displaying disruptive or anti-social behaviour
- Being bullied or bullying others
- Having poor attendance at school
- Being involved in, or at risk of, offending
- Having poor general health
- Having anxiety, depression or other mental health issues
- Misusing drugs or alcohol
- Having a particularly challenging relationship with parents or appearing to be unusually independent from their parents
- Experiencing difficulties at home, such as domestic abuse, parental substance abuse or parental mental health problems
Some examples of Early Help at Walsham le Willows:
- Different learning materials or specialist equipment to support in class
- Additional adult support with learning or behaviour support
- Some group or individual support, which may involve small groups of children being withdrawn to work with qualified teachers or trained TAs on specific interventions (such as Beat Dyslexia or Nessy)
- Additional focused support within class from class teacher or learning buddy
- Staff development and training to introduce more effective strategies to support children or families
- Use of a positive behaviour chart
- Access to a trusted adult- to talk things through with or to keep an eye on them during play and lunchtimes
- Access to time out
- Roles and responsibilities to carry out around the school.
- Use of a home/school diary
- A child log book- to record worries and concerns about bullying
- Access to the school nursing team
- Support from a trained support worker- via time to talk.
- Support from external agencies- CISS (County Inclusive Support Service), EWO (Educational Welfare Officer), School Nurse and Primary Mental Health Worker.
- Support via a CAF (Common Assessment Framework) and access to a Family Support Practitioner.
- Access to services from the Parenting Hub and other signposting processes
- Access to child care and extra-curricular activities.
Any child or family at the school can access Early Help. Should a parent/carer feel that they or their child would benefit from Early Help they should contact the school to arrange a convenient time to discuss their worries and needs so that support and a way forward can be agreed.
Contact the school on 01379 259319 or email admin@walsham-le-willows.suffolk.sch.uk to request a meeting with your child’s class teacher and Mrs McGarr.