At Cuerden Church School we recognise how challenging day to day family life can be. It is perfectly normal for all families to need a little extra help or advice from time to time. If you, as a family, are struggling or if you have any worries or concerns about your child, Cuerden Church School's Early Help offer can provide much needed support and advice. This may include concerns about behaviour, mental health or general wellbeing. Please come and talk to us.

Key personnel:

Mrs Nicola Sherry - Headteacher/ Designated Safeguarding Lead/ RSHE co-ordinator/ Mental Health and Well-being lead

Miss Toni Brockbank - Learning Mentor/ Family support/ Attendance lead / DSL

Ms Sara Croft - SENCo

Mrs Jennifer van Zyl - Deputy Headteacher / DSL

Mrs Dawn McKenna - DSL

Contact the school office: 01772 335033 or speak to us on the yard.

How can we help?

We can offer:

• A listening ear.
• Advice and strategies to support your family with challenging behaviour or attendance concerns. 
• Access to counselling from professional therapeutic services in school.
• Signposting for Kid's Club who run our wrap-around care services.
• Support in accessing free school meals.
• Second-hand uniform.
• Support with adult literacy needs.
• Access to local food banks and charities who can support with other household needs such as furniture.
• Advice regarding any SEND concerns that you may have.
• An Early Help Assessment (see below) to identify areas where you may benefit from support.
• Referrals for parenting support such as Triple P.
• Work with other agencies who can provide specialist help - the school nursing team, CAMHS, CANW, NEST.
• Contact details of organisations who can support with housing, financial or mental health concerns.

To ensure your family will access the correct level of support at the right time, we use the principles set out in Working Well With Children and Families document.

A brief overview of the different levels of need can be found below:

Early Help Assessment

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.

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. 

The Early Help Assessment and Plan features a family radar. The family radar is linked to the cycle of change and will help you to identify which areas of support the family need the most. By completing a family radar, we are trying to get the families you work with to understand at what point of the cycle of change they are at.