Family Support | Fosse Primary School

The school Family Support Facilitator, Edwina Osborne, is available for parents who need support for a huge range of issues from housing, access to benefits, support with applications, signposting to other agencies, support with childcare issues. She can be contacted at the school or her mobile number is below.

Phone: 07540100127

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 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.

Leicester City Council recognises that Early Help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools.

Early Help in Leicester

The vision of all partner organisations working with children and families in Leicester is to improve children’s lives by working in partnership to raise aspirations, build achievement and protect the most vulnerable.

This is based on the belief that:

Children, young people and families develop resilience if there are protective factors in place such as: a positive relationship with an adult; good literacy and communication skills; good school attendance; and, parents in or actively seeking/ready for work
Children’s needs are best met when help is offered in a universal setting within a socially mixed group and early on when problems start to emerge
Children and young people’s needs are best met when addressed in the context of the whole family, meaning that parents/carers/siblings’ needs are addressed with consent as part of a holistic and integrated Early Help response

Early Help services should support and strengthen families so that they can thrive.

The Role of Schools

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.

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. Schools 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 schools need the support of other agencies to meet the needs of the family, a coordinated multi-agency approach is usually best. In Leicester 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. Schools should be a key partner in any multi-agency work to support families.

The following four commitments are the core elements to Fosse Primary School’s Early Help Offer. Through these, we aim to ensure:

Pupils, parent/carers and staff are clear on the Early Help support available through the school
Clarity for partners, supporting improved multi-agency working
Delivery approaches of Early Help support for more vulnerable families are up to date with local offers
Commitment to the personal development and well-being strand of the Ofsted Framework

Attendance

Our Offer

Attendance data is monitored by the Headteacher, Inclusion Manager and Educational Welfare Officer
EWO (Educational Welfare Officer) attends regular threshold meetings
First day texting and calling
Home visits for attendance concerns requiring investigation carried out by Education Welfare Officer at the school’s request
Weekly Class Rewards for good attendance and punctuality
School nurse referrals for medical conditions that affect attendance.
2020 – support for children self-isolating due to Covid-19

Measurable outcomes across key stages:

Overall and individual pupil attendance improves
Improvement in PA (Persistent Absence) data
Reduction in number of leave of absence requests
Reduction in number of penalty notices issued
Improvement in punctuality
Whole school targets are met

Transition

Our Offer

Extra visits / induction for vulnerable students to their new school
SENCo meetings with Health visitors / school nurse, EYST (Early Years Support Team) for vulnerable pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage before entry to school
Induction Days
Support for online application for parents
Transition programme with designated link teachers e.g. for pupils with special educational needs or disability
Visits for prospective families
Work with key partners

Measurable outcomes across key stages

Pupils obtain a place at their chosen school
Support for families with appeals
Family needs are met whilst awaiting placements

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs

Our Offer

Referrals to Primary Social, Emotional and Mental Health Team (at New Parks House)
Referrals to CAMHS (Children, Adolescent Mental Health Service)
Referrals to Educational Psychology Service
Family Support worker support
Pastoral Support Programme for individuals and small groups
Nurture provision for pupils with specific difficulties
Access to Virtual School Team for Looked after Children
Counselling service for school staff

Measurable outcomes across key stages:

Pupil learning data shows improvement
Reduction in number of safeguarding disclosures
Reduction in number of both high and low level behaviour incidents
Increase in pupils self-help skills
Reduction in fixed term exclusions

Staying Safe

Our Offer

Relevant policies and procedures e.g. Safeguarding, Child Protection, Special Educational Needs, Anti-Bullying, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in place
Advice point and Early Help response through SENCo
Commitment to anti-bullying champion
Assemblies on themes around staying safe e.g. ‘Stranger Danger’ ‘Anti-bullying’
Care plans for vulnerable pupils and individual healthcare plans for pupils with medical needs regularly monitored and reviewed with SENDCo
‘Bikeability’ programme for road safety
EVOLVE system to ensure safety on school trips
DAS (Duty and Advice Service) for safeguarding concerns
E-safety policy and procedures and filtering system
Home visits for families of children starting nursery and reception
PEP (Personal Education Plan) and LAC (Looked After Children) review meetings led by designated safeguarding teacher
Prevent issues awareness and training for concerns around radicalisation
FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), CSE (Child Sexual exploitation), Forced marriages awareness and training
School nurse drop-ins and referrals
Tracking, recording and analysis of incidents e.g. through CPOMS
Annual whole school safeguarding training

Measurable outcomes across key stages:

Increase in turn-over of families accessing Social Services / Family Support Worker
Welfare and neglect issues on Social Services caseload is reduced
An up-to-date rolling programme of CPD (Continued Professional Development) in relation to Safeguarding / Training for all staff

Supporting Families

Our Offer

Open door policy from school leaders
Support for form completion including financial support and housing
Home visits for families with children starting nursery and reception
Parents meetings twice an academic year
Daily contact with parents
Pastoral support from Inclusion Manager
SENCO support for families of children with special educational needs or disability
Access to SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice Support Service)
Signposting to external agencies and training
Family Support Workshops led by Family Support Worker

Measurable outcomes across key stages:

Pupil learning data shows improvement
Uptake of support services increases
An increasing percentage of parental engagement

The Curriculum

Our Offer

Access to one-to-one support, paired and group work where needed
Themed Assemblies
Academic coaching
Interventions for vulnerable pupils
Citizenship and PSHE delivery
Votes for Schools to develop pupils understanding of social issues while developing oracy skills
Commitment to No Outsiders program to meet all the requirements of the Equality Act.

Measurable outcomes across key stages:

Pupil learning data shows improvement
Improved behaviour outcomes