Early Help to Safeguard Your Child

Providing Early Help to children and families at St. Bernard's means we are more effective in promoting early support as soon as is needed. Early Help interventions and support can be vital for a child and their family. That little bit of extra support can go along way!

Early Help is a strength, and means support can be provided as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child’s life -  from the foundation years through to teenage years.

St. Bernard's Catholic Primary School

Early Help relies upon local groups and people in the community, sometimes we work together to help children, young people, and their families. Everyone needs help at some time in their lives and therefore a safeguarding ethos of early help is important for any school.

Early Help can support children and their families who may be struggling with:

• Routines and family rules
• Keeping to a healthy lifestyle
• Children who are caring for a family member
• Children who may not want to go to school for different reasons
• Disability within the family including children being a young carer
• Children in the family have special educational needs (SEND)
• Children who may become involved in anti-social or criminal behaviour
• Children who go missing from home
• Children or parents/carers misusing drugs or alcohol
• Children at risk of being tricked, forced, or made to work in the criminal world
• Children who may need support because they may live in a home and see drug or alcohol abuse or adult mental health problems.
• Children who have parents who argue a lot (and sometimes might hurt each other) whether the parents live together or apart.
• Children at risk of being groomed to join groups which support illegal views
• A privately fostered child (a child from another family living within your family home).

When St. Bernard's SLT meet regularly, we always discuss safeguarding issues and how we can improve the pastoral care and opportunities for children in the school. It's about doing our best to create a culture of safeguarding that's best for your child, and all children in school. We discuss:

• How a certain child is feeling and their behaviour and attitude to learning
• Friendships, family issues, additional needs, attendance, bullying 
• Any support pupils may be receiving for mental health or anxiety
• Other agency involvement

This allows us to identify any pupils and families that would benefit from Early Help and allows us to help them access the services in the school and beyond the school. It is all about opportunities for the child, your child!

St. Bernard's can offer support to children in a range of ways:

• 1:1 counselling
• After school enrichment clubs
• Family Support Worker 1:1
• Wellbeing social groups
• Social breakfast club
• Wellbeing programmes with the pastoral lead/DHT (or trusted adult staff member) 
• Sensory circuits
• Zones of regulation support and quiet space rooms (Rainbow room)
• Sessions with Forward Thinking Birmingham - Mental Health, Anxiety, Online Safety (children and parents)
• Links with PCSOs and talks for children - Prevention of County Lines, Anti-social Behaviour
• Food and clothes donations
• Home visit support led by the Head Teacher, Deputy Head, Family Support Worker and School Nurse
• Voucher schemes for families
• Nurse Jo's 1:1 medical discussions for children with specific needs, and parents with medical needs
• Monday morning attendance meetings with parents

It's all about your child and the children in our duty of care.

If you need help, if you need a little more support, simply call us at school - 0121 464 3795