Early Help At St Josephs
The purpose of early help is to prevent issues and problems becoming serious and harmful to a child or young person, their family and community. At St Joseph's we offer a range of Early Help support. Many children and their families will access some form of Early Help while at St Joseph's to increase the circle of support available for the child and family for a short spell or longer term.
Early Help for Children
Early Help for children can include - 1:1 or group emotional support to build self-esteem and confidence, to promote positive behaviour and attitudes to leaning, to support the development of positive relationships, to support with bereavement or family changes or trauma, to promote attendance and address ERSA and to support emotional regulation.
Early Help for Families
Early Help for Families can include - access to parent workshops, support with completing paperwork (eg forms for housing needs, foodbank vouchers, holiday camp access) advice and support in promoting positive behaviour at home and providing information and signposting to other services in the local area as well as support to liaise with a range of external services such as family support workers and educational wellbeing practitioners.
Who Provides Early Help At St Joseph's?
Early Help support is provided by a variety of staff across our school, however, it is usually overseen by Mrs Flower, Miss Devlin and Miss Shaw. If a parent/carer approaches a staff member about Early Help support, they will discuss this with Mrs Flower, Miss Devlin or Miss Shaw to decide on next steps and the family will be contacted for a meeting.
Where a referral to another professional is seen as beneficial, such as to Educational Wellbeing Practitioners or for Family Support, Miss Shaw will work with the family to put the referral in place and support meetings with external practitioners.
WELLBEING AT ST JOSEPH'S
Hello my name is Kate Shaw - As Wellbeing Lead for children and families I work as part of our Inclusion Team supporting children, parents and carers.
Our aim at St Joseph's is to support families and encourage children to enjoy school and feel happy and secure.
I am able to provide support for children and carers. I am also a link between home and school, and an ongoing contact as children move from school to school.
During term time, we work in partnership with parents and carers, school, and other agencies to support families - aiming to resolve current issues and prevent future difficulties.
I can help....
Children who are experiencing difficult times or who are withdrawn and anxious.
Parents or carers experiencing difficulties with their children's behaviour.
Families who are reacting to change, such as parental separation or bereavement.
Parents and carers whose children are reluctant to attend school or have been excluded.
Parents or carers who may need support on a wide range of issues or difficulties impacting on their family life e.g. illness, domestic violence, disability or financial difficulties.
I can also...
Help with links between you and school.
Support you at school meetings.
Help you towards other sources of help, advice and support.
Provide information on support groups for parents and carers.
Work closely with the Inclusion Lead to support wider issues.
Please contact me via the school office by calling 0208 546 7178 or via email at kshaw@stjosephs.rbksch.org
With your consent we will explore the difficulties your child or family is experiencing and try to find the best way forward together.
We are regularly updating this page to give you access to up to date advice and links to resources on all wellbeing Issues.
NEW MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING EVENTS AT ST JOSEPHS AUTUMN 2024
The Mental Health Support Team At St Josephs
St Josephs are very happy to be working in partnership with the Mental Health Support Team. We have an Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner called Serena Bargary who works at the school on Friday afternoons she is offering 1-1 sessions with parents who need support with their children's challenging behaviour, low mood or anxiety. Parents can self refer for these sessions using the google doc linked below or access sessions via our wellbeing lead. She also offers regular parent workshops through the year on topics that parents feel are important for them such as managing challenging behaviour and supporting your anxious child.
For more information please see the video introduction and leaflet linked below.
Leaflet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QpRD8QsKqmi4Yly-iX0MKr_tMUKAvkju/view?usp=sharing
Video Intro: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16NsYzViweG6hsvt1YxrSqNMjvnyGcNHI/view?usp=sharing
Google form for self referral to the MHST
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3NjZM6BGpmcXffV1-dVju39CZPMtyt5GP7EgO42q2X3pERQ/viewform
Serena's Tips for Parents for supporting their child's transition to Secondary School
FUEL (which stands for ‘Feed Ur Everyday Lives’) is the name for the holiday activity and food programme (HAF) in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is funded by the Department of Education and run by Achieving for Children.
There are free places at holiday clubs available during the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays for young people who receive benefit related free school meals. Young people can attend 4 sessions over Easter, 16 sessions over the summer and 4 sessions over winter.
Choosing and booking activities
You can see what clubs are running activities as part of the FUEL programme over the Easter and Summer holidays by following this link Local Offer website
To book a free place you will need your child's unique 17 digit FUEL booking code. If you have not received your child's code, please contact the school office or email fuel@achievingforchildren.org.uk.
Our School Health Team are now offering the Henry Project -
Everyone wants the best for their children, but it can be hard to know what to do as a parent as they grow up. That’s where HENRY comes in.
The Your Healthcare HENRY team offer 8 week programmes and one off workshops for parents of children between 0-12.
HENRY practitioners work in partnership with parents to set goals that work for them and support a healthy lifestyle.
Parents can self refer using the link below or get in touch with Kate to find out more.
Rainbows Bereavement Support
We are pleased to announce an addition to our School programme.
Beginning in February 2023 we will be having weekly support groups for our children who are living in single parent, step-families, or have experienced any painful loss. This programme is called RAINBOWS.
When something significant happens in a family, the entire family is affected. Even though death, divorce or other loss issues appear to be only grown-up problems, they have a profound effect on the children who are touched by such experiences. If a parent dies, a divorce happens, or some other painful loss occurs, not only do the parents grieve, the children do also. Children may find it extremely difficult to verbalise their feelings of grief because of their age and inexperience.
We have some very sensitive, caring and trained adults who have said “yes” to helping these children put their feelings into words, work through their grief, build a stronger sense of self-esteem, and begin to accept what has taken place in the family.
If your child is part of a single parent family, a step-family, has experienced the death of a loved family member, friend or sibling, or is struggling through a painful experience, this will be an opportunity for him/her to share with a special someone.
Please see the Rainbows Information for Parents leaflet below and get in touch with the school office on 0208 546 7178 to arrange a time to talk to Kate about your child joining the Rainbows program
If your financial circumstances have changed for any reason and you need to apply for free school meals you can apply through Kingston Council by pressing the link below and filling out the electronic form. If you need any support with this process please get in touch with the school office and we will help you.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS APPLICATION
Cost Of Living Crisis
We are aware that since the pandemic there have been a lot of changes to people's financial situations throughout the borough which have been worsened with fuel costs and rising food prices. We are a food bank voucher distributor and have links with local charities that can help to support families in times of difficulty. Please do get in touch and I can talk through the services that can help.
Local Charity Save the world Club offer a daily food redistribution service that anyone can sign up to -
SW London has a new website - Healthier Together which has been designed to support parents to get the right information about common childhood illnesses. The project has been led by Paul Cooper, Programme Manager and Dr Darren Ranasinghe, Paediatric Consultant, and signposts parents, carers and pregnant people to the right point of care.
https://www.internetmatters.org/
https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Ukraine Crisis
We are collecting useful links below which we hope will be helpful when talking to your children about the present crisis in Ukraine including children's news sites where you can watch the news and talk together, feeling reassured that the content is appropriate for children.
Please click on the rainbow icon below for more information about our well-being focus from previous terms.