What is Early Help?

Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child's life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years. (Keeping Children Safe in Education). It can also be seen as 'nipping a problem in the bud'! Examples of when a family might need support are behaviour at home, financial concerns, separation, physical and/or mental health worries, bereavement and so on. At Buryfields, whilst our main focus is of course teaching and learning, providing support for our parents and carers is fundamental to our family-based ethos.

School is often the first 'early help' a family may need, and this is usually provided through meeting with class teachers, SENDCo, Speech and Language staff and senior leaders. We know that we do not always have all of the answers but will always endeavour to find out who best to signpost parents and carers too if we are not able to provide the support needed.

 If you or your family feel that you would benefit from early help, or even just a low-key chat and a cup of tea with one of us, please call the office. 

We have put various links on the website that may be of use, e.g. information for military families can be found here and information about mental health and wellbeing can be found here. Please see below for links to other useful websites. 

School can also signpost parents to additional support from Children's Services around:

• Challenging behaviour
• Eating
• Financial concerns
• Housing
• Parenting challenges
• Routines
• Separation/anxiety
• Sleep
• Substance misuse (of parent/carer)
• Toileting 
• Personal hygiene
• Mental health
• Violence from a child towards a parent or sibling

Please speak with your child's class teacher or with Miss English if you have concerns about any of the above or would like to discuss what support might be available.