Early Help

What is Early Help?

Early help means identifying needs and providing appropriate support for children, young people and their families, early on, to prevent future problems and help them achieve their potential. Early Help is a support approach and not a service. 

All staff at Theale Green School recognise their role in ensuring safeguarding practices are maintained for all children and young people at all times. We believe that information sharing, and timely effective support can ensure that all children and families continue to thrive. Families may need support from a wide range of agencies for difficulties that they experience at certain points in their lives, but may not require intervention via a social worker. 

We recognise that other agencies are best placed to support children, young people and their families based on their specialised work. Therefore, our role is often to signpost families to the resources that will best support their needs.  

Theale Green School understands their responsibilities and as a school we will carry out our duties in ensuring the effectiveness of Early Help Services for students in accordance with the requirements of the Children Act 2004 and within the statutory guidance “Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023”.  

 In summary, these are to: 

• Identify children and their families who would benefit from Early Help. 
• Undertake an assessment of the need for early help which considers the needs of all members of the family 
• Ensure good ongoing communication, for example, through regular meetings between practitioners who are working with the family. 
• Co-ordinate and/or provide support as part of a plan to improve outcomes. This plan will be designed together with the child and family and updated as and when the child and family needs change. This may involve the use of evidence-based interventions as set out by the Early Intervention Foundation and summarised within The West Berkshire My Family Plan documentation. 
•  Engage effectively with families and their family network, making use of family group decision-making, such as family group conferences, to help meet the needs of the child. 

Our Early Help Approach- The TGS Way 

1. Hearing what children and young people have to say and using their voice. The school can provide a neutral place where the student feels it is safe to talk. We value belonging and respect and all staff are trained to listen to members of our student community. The school has a dedicated team of pastoral staff whose role it is to work with and support student wellbeing. Whilst we cannot promise confidentiality, we are sensitive to our student’s needs and narratives. Staff listen carefully to what is said, take what is shared seriously, and value these connections with students. 

2. Hearing what parents/carers have to say and signposting support agencies. Sometimes you or your children may need extra support.  The school may be able to help you or signpost you and your family to other partner agencies such as CAMHS (Child and adult mental health service), PCSOs (police community support officers), school nursing team, Occupational Therapy or The Edge amongst other services. The West Berkshire Children’s Services Local offer, provides a directory of support that families can be signposted to, which can be found at  https://directory.westberks.gov.uk/kb5/westberkshire/directory/home.page 

3. Using the Early Help Assessment: This starts with an Early Help conversation. As a parent or carer you will talk with a member of the Safeguarding Team, or other suitable member of staff, about what’s going well and what’s not going well for you and your family, and they will let you know what sort of help is available. This conversation may lead to a My Family Plan assessment, which provides a holistic picture of the whole family. We can use this to help understand what is working well and identify any areas that may need extra support.  

A My Family Plan Assessment (MFPA) will: 

• Help everyone see what’s going well and not so well for your family 
• Help you and others to see what support you might need 
• Create a picture of your family’s circumstances, which can be shared with your permission, so you don’t have to repeat yourself to different workers 
• Help you to be part of a team of people working together on the same plan to support everyone within the family.

4. What happens after the My Family Plan Assessment? With your permission, people from different organisations working with your family will share information and work together to help support you and your children. This could be school, health visitors, drug advisory service, or housing support amongst other agencies. This will then be followed by scheduled My Family Plan meetings. An appropriate professional will lead these meetings and will invite other support agencies to attend in person or provide reports as appropriate. 

5. What is a My Family Plan meeting? The family and workers involved come together, either in person or via written reports to build a support plan, which is reviewed at regular intervals, to ensure that progress is being made for your family and that the right support is in place. The lead professional arranges the review meetings and is someone you can speak to at any point about concerns or issues. 

6. Valuing safeguarding training at all levels: Our Designated Safeguarding Team undergo full training every two years and attend refresher training annually. All other staff members receive annual refresher training at the start of the new school year covering: 

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 
• Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy 
• Prevent
• FGM
• Cyber Security 

7. Seeking advice from credible sources: The Safeguarding Team readily seek advice from the safeguarding partners in the event of a disclosure or if they are concerned about a student’s wellbeing. If a student is at risk of harm this information may be shared prior to consent being given. 

8. Being knowledgeable and aware: The Safeguarding Team receive alerts from the safeguarding partners, attend safeguarding briefings and keep their knowledge and awareness of safeguarding up- to-date and at the heart of their professional practice.

9. Understanding links: Staff understand that young people can be vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation from those who are closest to them, those within the community or online. Staff know how to recognise signs of abuse, neglect and exploitation and report this accordingly. 

10. Sharing risk management practice: The school is fully engaged with the multi-agency risk assessment conference process (child in need and child protection) and works closely with both West Berkshire and Reading (Brighter Futures) local authorities to support our students and families. 

11. Raising awareness: The school raises parents’ awareness of reasons for out of character behaviours such as becoming withdrawn, anxious, continually tired etc. to increase their understanding of the correlation between behaviour and safeguarding risks such as grooming, internet safety, bullying etc. We offer a number of Parents Information Events throughout the year and a termly safeguarding newsletter. 

12. Identifying risks at the earliest opportunity: All staff are aware of the risks which may indicate the need for early help – this includes children who: 

• Are disabled or has certain health conditions and has specific additional needs 
• Has special educational needs (whether or not they have a statutory Education, Health and Care plan)  
• Has a mental health need  
• Is a young carer  
• Is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups or county lines  
• Is frequently missing/goes missing from education, home or care  
• Has experienced multiple suspensions, is at risk of being permanently excluded from schools, colleges and in Alternative Provision or a Pupil Referral Unit  
• Is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual and/or criminal exploitation  
• Is at risk of being radicalised or exploited  
• Has a parent or carer in custody, or is affected by parental offending  
• Is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse  
• Is misusing alcohol and other drugs themselves  
• Is at risk of so-called ‘honour’-based abuse such as Female Genital Mutilation or Forced Marriage  
• Is a privately fostered child. 

13. Recognising where early help is effective: Staff understand that, where a statutory intervention is not required, early help may be used to address non-violent harmful sexual behaviour to prevent escalation of sexual violence. 

14. Understanding our professional responsibilities: School staff are particularly important, as they are in a position to identify concerns early, provide help for children, promote children’s welfare and prevent concerns from escalating.  

•  All staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn. 
•  All staff should be prepared to identify children who may benefit from early help.  
•  Staff should expect to support social workers and other agencies following any referral. 
• The Teachers’ Standards 2012 state that teachers (which includes headteachers) should safeguard children’s wellbeing and maintain public trust in the teaching profession as part of their professional duties.