Parrenthorn High SchoolEarly Help
What is the Early Help offer at Parrenthorn High School?
The definition of early help is intervening early and as soon as possible to tackle problems emerging for children, young people and their families. Effective intervention may occur at any point in a child or young person’s life. By not intervening early to tackle emerging problems, we risk long-term damaging impact on children and young people.
Parrenthorn High School’s Early Help offer identifies the need for help for children and families as soon as problems start to emerge or when there is a strong likelihood that problems will emerge in the future
What is a Story So Far (SSF) assessment?
The use of a SSF must be discussed with the parents/carers and or the child/young person and consent obtained to progress the early help process. It is important for the family to be involved in the process as well as the development and review of any plans. The SSF can be used to document conversations with a family, taking into account their worries, explore what is working well and not so well, identify their strengths and their support needs, and co-produce an early help plan to help them move forward.
The completion of a SSF requires an integrated approach with the child/young person and their family, alongside any services that are currently involved. The benefit of this integrated approach is that it helps to give a full understanding of a family’s strengths and needs, avoids families having to tell their story repeatedly, stops duplication of services and maximises positive outcomes for children/young people and their families.
The SSF is a choice available to the family to help them to feel empowered and to be more self-reliant in finding their own solutions to the problems. The SSF will identify the outcomes the family agree they need to achieve, build on their strengths and set out support based on what families have identified as being most relevant and necessary for their individual situation.
The SSF can identify needs that could be met by a single agency; if this is the identified outcome then a single agency review should be held within 12 weeks to establish if the family’s needs have been met. If further support is required then the SSF can be updated to determine whether a multi-agency approach is now required which would be reviewed as a Team Around the Family (TAF) plan.
What is a Team Around the School (TAS)?
All schools across Bury have an allocated Early Help social worker. Parrenthorn High School’s allocated Early Help social worker is Claudine Green.
TAS is a local network consisting of schools and other family support services (such as the Education Welfare Office and School Nursing Team) that meet on a regular basis to have a shared conversation about children and young people that they may be worried about and that early help and intervention may stop concerns escalating.
In order for children, young people and their families to be discussed at a TAS meeting parental consent must be given for multi-agency checks. Please contact Miss J. Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher) if you require support at TAS level.
Useful Services
Community Liaison Police Drop-in - Parrenthorn High School has a strong link with Greater Manchester Police. Our community liaison officer regularly drops into school to work with young people and their families. School can initiate this support but it can also be requested by parents and carers if they feel their child is in need of some informal police guidance. Our school liaison officer is PC 12726 Katie Hall. For further information or if you would like a drop-in appointment please speak to your child’s Head of Year or Mr M. Hunter (Assistant Headteacher).
School Attendance Team - The local authority Education Welfare Team (EWT) offer support to young people and families when attendance to school is a concern. The EWT is a supportive service which will attempt to resolve any issues and remove barriers which are preventing young people from attending school. The pastoral team at Parrenthorn High School work closely with the EWT to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to access the education that they are entitled to whilst taking into consideration any barriers which may exist. Our Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) is Natalie Burke. An appointment to speak to the EWO should be made through your child’s Head of Year or by contacting our school attendance officer via the main school office
School Nursing Team – Health Issues - School nurses promote and maintain the good health of all school age children and enable them to reach their full potential. The school nurse works in partnership with parents, children and young people, school staff and other professionals. The School Nursing team can offer advice and support on a range of issues and has links to other services that work with children and families. Our school nurse is Zoe Wilkinson. For a referral to the school nursing team please speak to your child’s Head of Year or Miss J. Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher).
Early Break – Substance Use - Early Break provides support to young people regarding substance use. Referrals to the service can be made through your child’s Head of Year or Miss J. Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher).
Virgin Care – Sexual Health - Virgin Care provides 1 to 1 support programmes for young people aged 13-24 years old who require additional assistance in respect of their sexual health awareness and sexual development. Referrals to the service can be made through your child’s Head of Year or Miss J. Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher).
Bury Youth Service - The Youth Service in Bury works to promote the personal and social development of young people between the ages of 11 and 19 years old to enable them to fulfil their potential as empowered members of society.
The Youth Service targets its work and provision to the most vulnerable young people and priority is given to the 13-19 age groups. The Bury Youth Services offers a mentoring programme and referrals to the service can be made through your child’s Head of Year or Miss J. Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher).
If you are unhappy with the Early Help offer provided by Parrenthorn High School please raise these concerns directly with Miss J. Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher).