Family Support/Early Help

At St. Mary’s and St. Benedict’s Primary school, we take the emotional well-being of our children and families very seriously. We are fortunate to have an experienced Family Support Worker, Julia Johnson, who is in school every day to support children and families, where a need arises.

Julia can support children by:

Remove barriers to learning and participation, and improve attendance.
Develop the full potential of individuals within the values and ethos of our school.
Nurture the emotional and spiritual development of individual children within the school and home community.
Support personal and social issues, such as friendships, self-esteem and promoting positive behaviour.
Develop new skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that assist children and young people in reaching their full potential.

Julia can support families by:

Providing information and signposting to relevant agencies
Support with any paperwork or forms
Emotional support
Addressing barriers to attendance

Early Help Support:

Face to face appointments, either before or after school.
Emotional support for children – 1:1 sessions in school with Julia which could be a single session or a series of planned sessions. This is where school or parent/carer have identified a need. Discussions/consent is always gained before these can take place with the parent/carer.
Early Help Assessment (EHA): this is a holistic process, working with the family to gather information which will lead to a Plan of support, including other agencies if necessary. This will then lead regular Team Around the Family Meetings (TAF) to monitor progress of the EHA Plan, including family members and any other professionals who are involved with the support Plan.
Referrals and signposting to outside agencies – for example, Child and Family Wellbeing Service, Children’s Social Care, CAMHS, specialist support services (such a bereavement, community safety team and victim of crime supports), as well as therapeutic service such as Child Action North West (CANW).

Advice and support is always confidential, however, if there is a safeguarding concern this will be managed by following our schools safeguarding policy (which can be found on our website).

Julia can be contacted directly by calling 07706 008 185 or via email at family.support@smsb.lancs.sch.uk Alternatively, you can call the school office on 01772 336650 and office staff will pass on a message to Julia for you. Please be mindful that the school day can be very busy, if Julia is not available when you make contact, she will get back to you as soon as she can. Julia's working hours are 8am-4pm, however this is with a degree of flexibility depending on need, so please do not hesitate to contact Julia if a call or meeting is required outside of these hours.

With regards to a safeguarding emergency, please call children's social care on 0300 123 6720, or the police on 999.

Julia has now completed Relax Kids training, and will be able to deliver this on a regular basis. This really is a fantastic way to ensure every child has the tools to be able to improve, or build upon their well-being.

‘Relax Kids’ uses mindful and relaxation techniques alongside values and positive psychology to help support children’s emotional health and well-being. It includes positive affirmations (positivity, strength-building, gratitude, resilience and compassion) to build children’s self-esteem and confidence.

To learn more about Relax Kids, please speak to Julia or visit this website: www.relaxkids.com.

Julia is also trained in Triple P Parenting Program, which is one of the most effective evidence-based parenting programs. Triple P gives parents practical strategies to help them build strong, healthy relationships and the confidence to manage their children's behaviour. In turn Children will learn boundaries to help them develop calming techniques useful for their well-being.

These are run as group sessions, which has proven to be invaluable as a supportive network; speaking with other parents and not feeling alone where behaviours at home are difficult to manage. Parenting is not easy by a long stretch! As Julia is new to school, we are still in the planning stage of implementing groups, however more information will be communicated once plans have been finalised. For more information on this program you can visit the website www.triplep.net.

Useful Links:

This has a whole host of parenting advice and a wide range of issues we may face, and the great thing about this resource, which also offers the advice in small video's!

https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk

Mental health support for children & young people, including advice for parents.

https://www.youngminds.org.uk

Parental support on a wide range of issues that families may face, includes a help line for parents/carers.

https://www.familylives.org.uk

Place2be - wellbeing resources & advice for families

https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/parents-and-carers/wellbeing-resources-for-families/

NSPCC keeping children safe -Underwear rule

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/

NSPCC Support for parents

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/

Expect Respect Educational Toolkit