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Early Help

Graduated Response to Early Help

Our graduated Early Help response ensures that the support provided is appropriate to the level of need identified for our children and their families. 

It strengthens Early Help practice by ensuring that emerging concerns are identified promptly, appropriate support is provided at the earliest opportunity, and additional services are accessed when needs become more complex. The approach promotes effective partnership working with families, external agencies and community services, creating a coordinated and holistic response that places the needs, welfare and wellbeing of our children at its centre. 

Ultimately, it ensures that our Early Help provision is targeted effectively, improving outcomes for our children by addressing needs before they escalate. It reinforces a culture of prevention, early intervention and support across the whole school community, ensuring that every child receives the right help, at the right time, in the right way, enabling them to thrive both in school and beyond. 

Tier One – All children 

Tier one represents the universal support and provision available to all children and families as part of everyday school life. 

Tier Two – Targeted support for families   

Tier two represents the additional support provided for children and families with emerging needs, offering additional intervention to prevent concerns from escalating. 

Tier Three – Intensive and specialist support   

Tier three represents the intensive and specialist support for children and families with significant or complex needs, ensuring access to targeted interventions and multi-agency support where required.

  1. Graduated Response to Early Help.pdf
    PDF File

Family Support and Take Care Team

Our Take Care Team

If a child is experiencing difficulties, our Take Care Team works together to identify and provide the most appropriate support for their individual needs. The team consists of:

  • SENCO
  • Two Family Support Workers
  • ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)
  • Anti-Bullying Co-ordinator

What is Take Care?

Take Care is a system through which staff can raise concerns about any child in the school. It is an early intervention process designed to make sure that effective communication about a child’s needs takes place and that effective and co-ordinated support to meet their needs is planned and implemented. There is system to review the effectiveness of provision and to change and develop support through a ‘plan, do, review’ cycle. The overall aim is to ensure that any child who requires support at a particular point in time has their needs considered, and that no child’s individual needs are ‘missed’. Some children referred to Take Care may have lots of support in place already, but staff may be concerned about a particular aspect of the child’s development or a particular incident that has taken place. Some children referred have had no previous additional support in school.

What sort of support might be arranged for a child?

The referrals made to Take Care are wide ranging; worries about bullying, concerns about learning progress, an increase in detentions, concerns about self-care and many more. Therefore, the support arrangements agreed are individual to the child. Support offered could include:

  • Referral to other services e.g. Educational Psychologist;
  • Positive Play;
  • ELSA;
  • Nurture Group;
  • Drawing and Talking
  • Young Carer group called "Caring Hearts, Bright Futures." 
  • Early Help assessments- provide an early help package;
  • Meeting with parents/carers;
  • Learning Interventions;
  • Individual behaviour plan;
  • Safety plans;
  • Risk assessment;
  • Anti-bullying team;
  • Child and Family Support Worker involvement;
  • Applications for additional funding from the Local Authority.

If you have any concerns please speak to our Family Support Workers or School SENCO.

Our Family Support Team

Our Family Support Team, consisting of our two Family Support Workers, is available to support all families. They can coordinate assessments and plans to ensure the right support is in place for the whole family, not just the child in school. This may include Early Help Assessments (EHA) and Team Around the Family (TAF) plans.

Where appropriate, families can be signposted to a range of services, including:

  • Early Help
  • Health services
  • Counselling services
  • Domestic abuse support
  • Food banks
  • Housing support
  • Mental health services
  • Substance misuse services

The team can also provide advice and guidance on parenting, behaviour management, finances, housing concerns, relationship difficulties and other challenges families may face.

Safeguarding Support

Our Family Support Workers play a key role in supporting safeguarding and child protection processes within school. They attend safeguarding meetings, work closely with families and other professionals, and where necessary can support referrals to Children's Social Care.

Here to Help

Everyone needs support from time to time. Whether you are facing a significant challenge or simply need someone to talk to, we are here to help. No concern is too big or too small.

Please speak to a member of our Family Support Team if you are worried about your child, your family, or if you feel that additional support may help. Together, we can work to find the right support and achieve positive outcomes for your family.

Please note: If parents or carers do not attend two scheduled support meetings, the support process will be closed due to non-engagement. This ensures that resources are allocated effectively to families who are actively participating. However, in cases where the support being offered is specifically for emotional health and wellbeing, the threshold for closure is slightly extended. In these instances, support will only be closed after three missed engagements, recognising the additional sensitivity and complexity often involved in emotional health matters. Continued engagement is essential to ensure the best outcomes for the child.

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