Early Help Offer at Kennington Primary School
Most families, most of the time, need little or no external help or support. If they need help it is usually provided by universal services, such as schools and the NHS. However, all families can have times when difficulties arise and they either may not recognise it or may not know how to start putting things right. At Kennington Primary School, we believe in working with families to provide early help and support. This can involve a range of simple ‘in-house’ services such as:
Free Breakfast Club
Pre-loved uniform
Support with applications for visas, free school meals, housing etc
Advice on a range of issues centred around the family and child
Subsidised school trips
Children’s Nurture groups
Signposting to other organisations
Making referrals
If we feel that outside help may be needed, we may ask you to complete an Early Help Assessment with the support from our Learning Mentor, Mrs Nuttall
What is an 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 Lancashire, 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. At Kennington, we believe that we are a key partner in any multi-agency work to support families due to the excellent relationships we develop.
What is Early Help?
Early Help means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as difficulties start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes. At Kennington Primary School, we follow the Lancashire County Council guidance and protocols in terms of the Early help offer.
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.
Lancashire County Council recognises that Early Help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools.
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/practitioners/supporting-children-and-families/
Early Help Assessment
On 6 September 2021, the ‘Your Family’s Early Help Assessment’ replaced the ‘Common Assessment Framework’ (CAF) across Lancashire.
The Early Help Assessment is an intervention with a family to gather, explore and analyse with them information about all aspects of the child or young person (and their family’s) life and then to identify areas where change will address support needs and positively impact on their lived experiences.
This is recorded on an Early Help Assessment form which includes the family’s Early Help Plan.
The Early Help Assessment is not a referral form for professionals to complete to access other services supporting children, young people and families. The Early Help Assessment should be completed by the professional supporting the family to identify the family’s unmet needs and develop a plan of support with the family.
Your Family’s Early Help Assessment is available to all practitioners and professionals working with children, young people, and their families across Lancashire.
Working alongside families from a holistic, strength-based approach when areas of support are first identified will stop escalation towards crisis and the need for more intensive and specialist intervention.
Through the Early Help Assessment, Plan, and reviews via Team Around the Family meetings the wider partnership of services can provide families with the right support at the right time.