Early Help

What is the Early Help offer at Parrenthorn High School?

The definition of early help is intervening early and as soon as possible to tackle problems emerging for children, young people and their families. Effective intervention may occur at any point in a child or young person’s life. By not intervening early to tackle emerging problems, we risk long-term damaging impact on children and young people.

Parrenthorn High School’s Early Help offer identifies the need for help for children and families as soon as problems start to emerge or when there is a strong likelihood that problems will emerge in the future

What is a Story So Far (SSF) assessment?

The use of a SSF must be discussed with the parents/carers and or the child/young person and consent obtained to progress the early help process. It is important for the family to be involved in the process as well as the development and review of any plans. The SSF can be used to document conversations with a family, taking into account their worries, explore what is working well and not so well, identify their strengths and their support needs, and co-produce an early help plan to help them move forward.

The completion of a SSF requires an integrated approach with the child/young person and their family, alongside any services that are currently involved. The benefit of this integrated approach is that it helps to give a full understanding of a family’s strengths and needs, avoids families having to tell their story repeatedly, stops duplication of services and maximises positive outcomes for children/young people and their families.

The SSF is a choice available to the family to help them to feel empowered and to be more self-reliant in finding their own solutions to the problems. The SSF will identify the outcomes the family agree they need to achieve, build on their strengths and set out support based on what families have identified as being most relevant and necessary for their individual situation.

The SSF can identify needs that could be met by a single agency; if this is the identified outcome then a single agency review should be held within 12 weeks to establish if the family’s needs have been met. If further support is required then the SSF can be updated to determine whether a multi-agency approach is now required which would be reviewed as a Team Around the Family (TAF) plan.

What is the MAFH Approach?

mafh approach flyer for professionals.pdf

Useful Services

School Attendance Team: 

Our School Attendance Team offers support to young people and families when attendance to school is a concern. They work to resolve any issues and remove barriers which are preventing young people from attending school. Our Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) is Mrs L Jones. An appointment to speak to the EWO can be made by contacting attendance@parrenthorn.co.uk  

School Nursing Team 

School nurses promote and maintain the good health of all school age children and enable them to reach their full potential. The school nurses work in partnership with parents, children and young people, school staff and other professionals. The School Nursing Team can offer advice and support on a range of issues and has links to other services that work with children and families. For a referral to the school nursing team, please speak to our Pastoral Managers.

Early Break 

Early Break provides specialist advocacy support for young people and families facing challenges related to substance use. From one to one counselling and group work to whole-family interventions and advocacy, their services are trauma informed, compassionate and confidential. Referrals to the service can be made through our Pastoral Managers.

HCRG Sexual Health 

HCRG provides one to one support for 13-24 year olds who require additional assistance in respect to their sexual health awareness and development. Referral to the service can be made through your child’s Head of Year or Miss J Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher) 

Bury Youth Service 

The Youth Service in Bury works to promote the personal and social development of young people between the ages of 11 and 19 years old to enable them to fulfil their potential as empowered members of society.  

The service targets its work and provision to the most vulnerable young people and priority is given to the 13-19 age groups. The youth service offers a mentoring programme. Referrals can be made via your child’s Head of Year or our Pastoral Managers.   

MHST  

MHST supports people who are experiencing anxiety, low mood, worry, or other difficulties affecting wellbeing. The aim is to help young people reach their full potential by offering the right support, in the right place, at the right time. Referrals can be made via your child’s Head of Year or Ms S Bodkin (Senior Mental Health Lead) 

Useful Links

https://www.bury.gov.uk/social-care-and-support/child-care-and-support/early-help 
https://earlybreak.co.uk/bury 
https://thesexualhealthhub.co.uk/oldham-bury-and-rochdale
https://www.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk/our-services/school-nursing-1?q=%2Four-services%2Fschool-nursing-1
https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/burymhst