Family Wellbeing / School Early Help
School Early Help Support
Riddings Junior School works to provide Early Help to families in our school community. From October 2019 we have been providing Early Help through our Inclusion Team headed by Mrs Godfrey. We work alongside a variety of agencies and are provide support through the school setting.
Our Early Help support aims to both provide advice and support where there is evidence of children and/or their families needing some extra help. Our aim is to provide support as early as possible to help stop difficulties becoming worse and preventing the need to involve other services at a higher level.
If you feel that your child or your family might benefit from additional support then please talk to any member of staff or specifically Mrs Godfrey, Mrs Patrick, Miss Smith or Miss Fox, at any point.
At Riddings Junior we have approximately 240 children on roll in our school. All of our members of staff recognise their role in Safeguarding and we work together to provide Early Help and services to support children and families.
School provides Early Help to families in our school community. We provide support through school and have additional support from the Early Help Advisory Team. We aim to provide Early Help services supporting in the school setting wherever possible we have appointed 3 Wellbeing Mentors in school (Mrs L Patrick, Miss Smith and Mrs Fox) who help support the children and families. This particularly offers support for children suffering from anxiety and other issues affecting their well-being.
Our Early Help support aims to both provide advice and/or intervene where there is evidence of emerging needs with the objective of preventing escalation to higher level services.
Early Help
Our primary aim is to identify needs early and to make sure that appropriate support is put into place. ALL staff recognise their role in ensuring safeguarding practices to ALL children at ALL times. We believe that information sharing and timely, effective support can ensure that ALL children and families get the best opportunities. Families may need support from a wide range of agencies and services and we know that other agencies will be able to support families based on their specialised work.
Therefore, our role is often to signpost families to the resources that will best support need.
If you have any concerns about your child, please email us at:
info@riddings-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk
How will we know if we think that Early Help is needed?
- Our staff team has daily contact with all our children and many families throughout term time. All of our staff recognise their role in identifying needs of vulnerable children and their families need for Early Help.
- Staff are clear that acting on rumour is not appropriate. All our staff will advise anyone who informally reports concerns to report their safeguarding worries to Starting Point (the county’s single point access for safeguarding referrals). However, all reports of concern are logged on the school reporting system called ‘MyConcern’. The Designated Safeguarding Leads monitor concerns.
- If appropriate staff will assess the needs of a family and this may help us identify that support may be useful. It may be that an an Early Help assessment is required.
- The Headteacher and staff monitor attendance in school.
- They are active in their role to ensure that families recognise the importance of their children attending school regularly.
Where there are immediate Safeguarding concerns it will be taken to Starting Point following consultation with the Designated Safeguarding Leads in school.
Early Help Interventions
- We have 3 Wellbeing Mentors who provide support for children and families.
- Our school website contains information for families actively seeking advice and support.
- Support can be offered during the school day for both children and families. In some circumstances, a home visit may be appropriate.
What sort of support might happen?
It will depend on what the need is and might include services you already get. We will discuss these with you and make sure it all makes sense.
Recording, Reporting and Referrals
Based on the needs of each family, staff will coordinate the support of the appropriate services. If appropriate we might hold a TAF (Team Around the Family) meeting to make sure the work of all the agencies is happening.
Joint working arrangements with agencies, such as school health, CAMHS (Child and adolescent mental health service) and with the PCSOs (police community support officer), are in place and information can be shared where necessary.
The Headteacher (DSL – Designated Safeguarding Lead) has case management responsibility. He identifies needs based on the safeguarding thresholds e.g. low level, emerging, complex/serious (Section 17) or Child Protection concerns (Section 47). If emerging needs are identified then the Derbyshire Safeguarding Children’s Board approved Early Help Assessment Form can be used and is then reviewed under the single plan format with reference to the safety and wellbeing grid.
Our recording system, ‘MyConcern’ is available online for staff to record information and concerns, this is closely monitored – identifying patterns/ frequency of concerns and the actions that have been taken.
If one of our vulnerable children moves school, we will ensure that information is shared with the receiving school. Depending on the level of safeguarding need it may be appropriate to hold a meeting, have a telephone conversation.
Where there has been no improvement to the welfare of the child, and there are escalating concerns around the safety and wellbeing of a child, staff will step up the Early Help Assessment to Starting Point. The Welfare Officer and the Headteacher meet regularly to discuss the children and families and the progress that is being made.
Next steps after Early Help
Following a review of a family’s needs, or if there is a crisis, it may be appropriate to escalate the level of support. At the stage where our support has not been successful a social worker may become involved although we will continue to support children and families. Ongoing communication with all services involved continue to be essential.
The Headteacher or representative will always be available to represent the school at Case Conference or Child in Need Reviews should these be called.
PLEASE NOTE: Over the school holidays sign posting for other early help support is available on our school website (see below).
If you are concerned about the safety of a child or require urgent help or advice Call Derbyshire on 01629 533190.
Requests for early help can be made face to face, via the school office or by using the contacts below:
Mr D Cates - Head teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead
Mrs N Godfrey - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead & Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
Mrs Linda Patrick - Wellbeing Mentor
Miss Georgie Smith - Wellbeing Mentor
Mrs Fiona Fox - Wellbeing Mentor
Telephone: 01773 528492
email info@riddings-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk
If you need advice or support with something please use the links below