We are required to provide an Early Help Offer to all children and families within our school community.

'Early Help’ means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as problems start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes.

Early help…

• Is for children of all ages and not just the very young,
• Can be provided at any point of need and;
• 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.

Early help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools. 

Specifically within St Laurence this will look like:

• Contactable and accessible safeguarding staff, who will be able to assist families in accessing available resources in the community.
• An Early Help Programme run by P4YPS, a dedicated service that provides support to families. Our Early Help Advisor is Melissa Still.
• A Positive Play programme to provide a safe space for children who may face challenges outside of school.
• TAF (Team Around the Family) meetings, held in school, that may involve outside agencies (health visitor, school health, family support worker etc) where families have been identified as requiring additional support.
• CAMHs referrals for children requiring support with mental health.

We at St Laurence are supported with Early Help by Laura Kaminski, our Early Help Advisor, who is part of the Erewash and South Derbyshire Transition Team. 

Where Early Help is not successful, escalation to outside agencies may be required. This will be discussed with you as a parent except in cases where a child is considered to be at immediate risk of harm. 

If you would like additional information about Early Help please email: safeguarding@st-laurence.derbyshire.sch.uk