For those who don't know me and a reminder for those that do, I am the Pupil and Family Support Worker here at Wellfield Church School. My working hours are Monday to Friday 8.45-3.45 and I work term time.

I have an open door policy but it is better to make an appointment to be sure I am available.

I have a great deal of knowledge and experience that is beneficial in supporting the children and families at our school. Although I don't always have the answers I can find out the answer to your questions or signpost you to relevant services for support. My role of the Pupil and Family Support Worker (PFSW) in school provides support, advice and information to the families within our school community. The PFSW can help with any worries you may have about your child’s education and wellbeing and is also here as someone to talk to if you need support yourself. We can talk on the phone or in school at a time that suits you. Any advice and support that is offered will be confidential, although concerns relating to the safeguarding of children will always be dealt with in accordance with school’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. We do not have all the answers but we will always try to signpost you towards services who may be able to help. Sometimes, as parents or carers, we need someone to talk to, to offload any worries or challenges we face and I am hear to help with that and be a listening ear.

Being a parent or carer isn't easy at times and comes with challenges. I do understand, I am a parent myself and have worked with children and their families for a long time. 

I work closely with your children, families, school staff and outside agencies to remove barriers to children's learning to help and guide children to meet their full potential. 

Some of the support we can provide includes: 

• Friendships
• Financial support
• Bereavement
• Parental separation
• Wellbeing support
• Providing information and signposting to other services in the local area. 
• Liaising with external services.
• Attendance and support at school.
• Help to complete paperwork and forms e.g. school letters, school applications and benefits.
• Advice and support to promote good attendance.
• Referrals to outside agencies e.g. Occupational Therapist, School Nurse and Speech and Language Therapists.
• Guidance with access to training and parent workshops.
• Emotional support for pupils and parents.
• Lead on Early Help Assessments and TAF's. 
• Support for transitioning pupils.
• In-school workshops.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on f.bramald@wellfield.lancs.sch.uk or on 01282 436935.

Early Help - working with you and your family

What is early help?

Everyone can need some help and support at times. Early help means working with you and your family so that small problems don’t become big problems. Early Help is there to provide a blanket of support for families to succeed. Early help is for everybody, for families with children and young people of any age. It is a co-operative support process with next steps made in agreement with yourself. Sometimes you just need a helping hand to help guide you.

Why would I want early help?

 It could be that you’re worried about your child’s health, development or behaviour, or how they’re doing at school. It may be that you’re worried about money or housing and how that is affecting your family. Maybe your child or family is affected by problems at home or relationship issues or maybe you’ve had a bereavement in the family that’s made life a challenge.

Where can I get early help?

If you feel you and your family might need support to solve some problems then contact school to speak to the Pupil and Family Support Worker. Other people who can help in school are the SENDCo and Designated Safeguarding Leads. Sometimes if someone is worried that you’re having some problems, they might ask you if you would like to talk about Early Help.

What will happen when I ask for early help?

We will give you a call or you could come into school and we will talk about the problems you’re experiencing. We will ask what help and support you and/or your family think you might need. This is called an Early Help Assessment.

An Early Help Assessment is nothing to be worried about. It’s just a conversation to work out how to help you determine what it is you feel you need support with and how this can be done. You can talk about things that are going well and things that you’re proud of as well as things that you’re finding a challenge. We will also discuss your child or children in your family to understand how they are feeling and anything they think they might want some help with. 

What happens next will be different for every family. We might make a plan together to sort out the problems. You might want to meet with other people who might be able to help. This is called a Team Around the Family meeting. Or you might want to get a service (like family support, therapy, or wellbeing) to give you the help you feel you need. If an Early Help Assessment is carried out and actions are identified we will then call Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings usually every 6 weeks. Again this is nothing to be worried about. It just ensures we have a regular meeting with yourself and anyone else involved in supporting you to get the best outcome for you and your family and make sure you feel that progress is being made.  You have control over what happens next and can say what you want.

If you decide you’d like some help, the person you talked with will ask if they can share details of your conversation. You need to be happy with this and give your permission. This is to make sure that people who will be supporting you are able to support you in the best way possible and understand the journey you and your family have been on. Please remember that all of this is consent based, the process stops if you do not provide consent.

Sharing information

There may be times when we need to share information. This includes:

• if we believe a child is at risk of harm
• if we believe an adult is at risk of harm
• if we believe the information could help prevent or detect a serious crime

Children’s Social Care won’t get involved unless one of these things happens, or unless the circumstances in your family change and become more serious.

Please remember, engaging with Early Help is your choice and is there to support you and your family in a way that has been agreed by you.

Local Support:

School Uniform:

We have a range of preloved uniform items available in school. Please speak to the office staff if there is anything you need.  

Too Good To Go' App.

Too Good To Go lets you buy unsold food from places that sell food around you —restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries, etc. Anything that is left unsold at the end of the service time and would otherwise go to waste can be bought through this app. Too Good To Go provides an alternative to throwing away perfectly good food.

Curry on the Street Burnley:

It is free to everyone, just turn up and get free food and bags of essentials, food and toiletries:

Colne (Wednesday 5.30pm) Unique House, Shed St, Colne BB8 8AH, United Kingdom

Nelson (Thursday 6.00pm) Broadway, Nelson BB9 9AN, United Kingdom

Burnley (Sunday 6.30pm) Keirby Walk Burnley