How we help

Working with the family

We recognise that welfare issues do not begin and end with the school day or term; the staff in the welfare department therefore have school mobile phones which enable them to be more accessible to parents and carers.

As welfare staff work throughout the year, support is not limited to the school term. Home visits can be arranged as and when to support families experiencing particular difficulties. During times of crisis, the welfare department can offer additional support beyond normal working hours. This does not replace the statutory services but can assist parents and carers to seek help from these services more effectively.

We are happy to represent parents in instances where they feel they may benefit from support, including meeting the needs of siblings attending other schools. Our Welfare and Family Support Practitioner runs weekly parent and carer coffee mornings. These include workshops which equip parents and carers with information and resources for dealing with key issues and challenges faced by their children.

By working with the family, we build awareness, collaboration and resilience as well as providing opportunities for parents to improve their own education and employment prospects.

Creating support networks

Our Welfare team often works as a mediator and point of connection between those who need and those who can give help. We join parents and carers at inter-agency meetings. We provide students, parents and carers with links to other professionals such as social workers, education psychologists, the Youth Offending workers and therapeutic workers from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Attendance

Attendance is a crucial part of school life. High school attendance helps prepare students for adulthood and gives them access to the full range of activities on offer at school. Our Attendance and Welfare Coordinator is responsible for checking the daily attendance and liaises with parents and carers to help address obstacles to attendance. The school receives support from an Attendance and Welfare Advisor (AWA) who has fortnightly meetings with the Attendance and Welfare Coordinator to ensure that the school is meeting the students’ support needs around attendance and that poor attendance patterns are challenged.

Safeguarding

Our Welfare department leads on safeguarding, taking appropriate measures to protect our students from harm. All our staff are trained to be aware of potential safeguarding issues and follow the school’s safeguarding procedures. The designated safeguarding lead is based in the welfare department and liaises with senior leadership staff.

The Department Safeguarding Leader (DSL) and deputy DSL(s) liaise with the relevant statutory professionals in each local authority the school works with. We recognise that partnership working is more than compliance with statutory processes and meaningful collaboration with other professionals is key to the success of interventions delivered to the families we work with.

Looking after health

We ensure students’ basic medical needs are met by working closely with the school nurse and other medical professionals, assessing a student’s health and drawing up and implementing care plans for students with specific medical conditions. Our school nurse is on-hand on a weekly basis to be a first point of contact for any health-related concerns.

The Attendance and Welfare Coordinator liaises with the school nurse, monitoring student health issues within school as well as helping students and their families to access health services outside of school. Our Attendance and Welfare Coordinator regularly attends dentist, optician and hospital appointments with students and their caregivers to facilitate access and engagement. We also liaise with an immunisation team, ensuring vaccinations are available and kept up-to-date at school.