Early Help

Welcome

Hello and welcome from Dickens Heath Community Primary School Child and Family Liaison Team.

At Dickens Heath, the health and wellbeing of our families and children is of paramount importance. We recognise the impact these can have on home life. We all understand that life is a journey and sometimes there are bumps in the road and we are here to help families navigate the challenges that they may come up against. By working together, we can develop links between home and school.

Our Team

Our team in school is made up of: Miss Hull, Child and Family Liaison Team Leader with responsibility for safeguarding; Mrs Wild, Wellbeing and Family liaison co-ordinator; Mrs Donaghy, Deputy Head and Nurture Lead and Ms Coombes, Wellbeing and Nurture Support.

Our team can provide an ‘Early Help Offer’ for families with support, guidance and information to help make informed choices for the best outcome. We are here for all families who would benefit from advice and support, no worry is too small- even if it is just to listen. By working together, we can help provide the right support at the right time as early as possible, making sure every child continues to thrive both at home and in school.

We are available in school Monday to Friday during term time and can be contacted by emailing us directly on familyliaison@dickens-heath.solihull.sch.uk or via the school office, and a member of the team will contact you.

Our Offer:

For children:

• Promoting positive attitudes to life and learning
• Promoting self -esteem, confidence and resilience
• Promoting good attendance and punctuality
• Providing an opportunity for children’s voices to be heard

For families:

• Advice and support in promoting positive behaviours at home
• Attendance, punctuality and support
• Change in family circumstances such as separation or divorce, bereavement, finance and budgeting
• Liaising with external services such as Early Help, SOLAR and Young Carers
• Providing information and signposting to other services within the local area
• Encouraging and supporting families to be involved in their child’s life within school

Our graduated offer to families comes in three layers:

1. Support for all, where resources are available to everyone in our school community such as free parenting courses (online and face to face), the food pantry or school nurse services
2. School based provision where we find the right support for particular issues that can be addressed through advice and guidance or arranging a Team Around the Family meeting. These meetings co-ordinate support for families and school from different partner agencies such as SEND, health or housing
3. Externally led support where we are part of a team supporting families with more difficult issues to resolve that need the help of other agencies like SOLAR mental health team or Front Door services. They provide bespoke, targeted child and family support
4.  

Support for families at Dickens Heath works under the umbrella of our school policies covering GDPR, confidentiality and safeguarding.