Family Support
Hello!
My name is Steph Gilder and I work within the Inclusion Team at Woodston Primary School. My role is Senior Family Support Officer, and I am also one of 6 Safeguarding Leads within school. I work alongside Naomi Morris, our Family Support Officer, who is also one of our Safeguarding Leads.
Our role in school is to provide support, advice and information to families in our school community. We can help with any worries or questions you may have in relation to your child’s behaviour, development and wellbeing, as well as considering ways to support any personal circumstances that may be impacting you or your child/ren.
We are also here as someone to talk to if you need it. We can provide support over the phone, but where possible we always prefer a face to face meeting and a nice cup of tea!
Support we offer includes:
- A safe space to have sensitive conversations.
- Advice and support in promoting positive behaviour at home and at school.
- Promoting self-esteem and confidence.
- Promoting a positive attitude to learning in school.
- Providing information and signposting to other services in the local community, supporting with referral forms if needed.
- Liaising with external services and partner agencies such as Younited, Young Carers, housing, family support, and bereavement counselling services.
- Advocating for families in multi-agency meetings, or in discussions with partner agencies.
Advice and support is confidential and consent driven, although any concerns relating to the safeguarding of children will always be dealt with in accordance with the school’s safeguarding and child protection procedures.
Steph is in school 8-4.30 daily. Naomi is in school 9-4 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. There is some opportunity to be flexible with this to accommodate work schedules if necessary.
Please call the school office on 01733 562784 to make an appointment.
We may not have all the answers but we work closely with a range of specialist services that can provide targeted support where more specific needs have been identified.
Alternatively, you may find the advice or support you require below:
Safeguarding Information for Parents
As part of the Safeguarding team in school, part of our role is to ensure that our children and families are safe, and have access to any appropriate further support they may need.
What to do if you are concerned about a child, family or your own safety or well-being:
If you think you or the child is in immediate danger and needs urgent help, please call the police on 999
If it is not safe for you to speak, you can dial 55 into your phone when prompted so the operator knows you need help
Seek advice from school:
There are 6 designated safeguarding leads at Woodston Primary School; Headteacher Jacki Mitchell, Deputy Headteacher Trevor Goakes, SENCo Laura Hurrell, Senior Family Support Officer Stephanie Gilder, Family Support Officer Naomi Morris, and Office Manager Sharon Davey. If you have a worry and are not sure what to do, we are here to listen and advise. Please be aware that safeguarding concerns will be dealt with in accordance with our Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures.
Peterborough Children’s Social Care:
If you believe a child is at risk of physical or emotional harm, you can contact Children’s Social Care directly, and you can remain anonymous if you prefer to do so. It is possible that information you hold, regardless of how small it may seem, may be the ‘missing puzzle piece’ that is needed to allow appropriate support to be put into place for a child and their family.
Peterborough Children’s Social Care: 01733 864180
Out of Hours Emergency Duty Team (EDT): 01733 234724
Domestic Abuse Advice
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 states that behaviour towards another person is Domestic Abuse when both parties are aged 16 or over, and personally connected to each other. Abusive behaviour is defined as physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, psychological, emotional or other abuse. It does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.
If you think you or your family might be victims of Domestic Abuse you can find further information below that may help you understand what might be happening, and what to do if you think you need help. There is a wide range of support available both at intensive and outreach levels depending on your circumstances.
Children may experience domestic abuse directly, but they can also experience it indirectly by:
- hearing the abuse from another room
- seeing someone they care about being injured and/or distressed
- finding damage to their home environment like broken furniture
- being hurt from being caught up in or trying to stop the abuse
- not getting the care and support they need from their parents or carers as a result of the abuse.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, or you are witness to a domestic in progress, please contact police via 999.
National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247
‘Operation Encompass’ allows Police to share information with relevant schools when they have attended a domestic incident where pupils of school may have been present. This professional relationship allows us to provide appropriate targeted support to our pupils where it may be needed most.
Refuge Outreach
Refuge provide Outreach support as well as emergency support. Outreach support is inclusive of legal advice, emotional support, safety planning, and the Bobby scheme.
More information about the service – including how to access and what they offer, can be found here:
https://www.refuge.org.uk/our-work/our-services/outreach/
The Bobby Scheme
This is a scheme founded by Cambridgeshire constabulary and works to provide alarms, fire proof letter boxes, cameras etc to ensure victims of crime feel more secure in their homes. You do not need Refuge Outreach support to access the Bobby Scheme, and it is not exclusive to victims of Domestic Abuse – it also supports victims of crimes such as burglary.
https://www.thebobbyscheme.org
Claire’s Law
Claire’s Law was passed following the murder of Claire Wood. Claire was killed by her boyfriend, who had a history of violence. Claire’s parents campaigned for this law as they believe Claire would not have continued with her relationship had she been aware of her partners past, and this could have saved her life.
Anyone can request a Claire’s Law disclosure for either themselves, or someone they are worried about - it can be used professionally or personally. If the police hold information on an individual in relation to violent crimes, they will only disclose this to the person intended to be kept safe. Having this information allows that person to make a more informed choice.
This can be accessed online, or by calling 101. More information can be found here:
https://www.cambs.police.uk/information-and-services/Domestic-abuse/Clares-law
Ask for “Annie”.
Anyone can walk into a pharmacy – including Boots, Superdrug, and Morrisons (full list in second link), and ask for Annie, or ANI – (Action Needed Immediately). This means they will be shown to a private room, where they will have a safe space to talk and access the help they need. For more information:
https://uksaysnomore.org/news-ask-for-ani-safe-spaces/
https://uksaysnomore.org/safespaces/
Ask for Angela:
Customers in pubs and bars can ‘Ask for Angela’ to make staff aware they feel unsafe or threatened. This has been introduced to help reduce sexual violence and vulnerability – e.g. if you are uncomfortable on a date and feel unable to move away from the situation.
https://www.met.police.uk/AskforAngela
Bright Sky App:
Bright Sky is a mobile app that can be cleverly disguised as a weather app. It allows opportunity to store records and information relating to their abuse, including notes, pictures and videos, which aren't stored on the device itself. The app also has helpful advice, types of support available and a directory of commissioned services across the UK.
What three words App:
This app gives each 3m squared a unique combination of 3 words, making it easy to pinpoint and share your exact location in an emergency – for example if you don’t know the address, or you are in a vast, remote, concealed or complex space.
Safety alarm on iphone:
- Press and hold the side button and one of the Volume buttons until the Emergency SOS slider appears. Drag the Emergency SOS slider to call emergency services.
- If you continue to hold down the side button and Volume button, instead of dragging the slider, a countdown will start and an alert will sound.
Operation Encompass:
Operation Encompass ensures that relevant school’s are notified of incidents of police attended domestic abuse where there are children related to either of the adult parties involved. This sharing of information is known as a DASH report, and enables appropriate support to be given in school, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.
Information is shared with the Designated Safeguarding Lead, where parental consent is given to police.
Clare's Law
Clare’s Law is the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. It's named after Clare Wood, who was murdered in 2009 by her ex-boyfriend who had a history of violence against women. Clare had been unaware of his past, and her family feel if she was, she would not have taken her relationship forward.
The scheme allows you to ask about the information held on a person in relation to domestic abuse offences and convictions, allowing informed decisions about a relationship.
https://www.cambs.police.uk/information-and-services/Domestic-abuse/Clares-law
Sarah's Law
The child sex offender disclosure scheme, also known as Sarah’s Law, allows you to ask whether someone with access to a child has a record of child sex offences.
https://www.cambs.police.uk/information-and-services/Child-protection/Sarahs-Law
Online Safety
Talking about difficult subjects with children
The NSPCC offers lots of advice on how to broach conversations with children about staying safe. This includes The Underwear rule. Why not follow the link below and say hello to Pantosaurus?
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/talking-about-difficult-topics/
School Learning Mentor
Our full time Learning Mentors Mr Davey and Ms Duffy provide support and guidance to children who are experiencing difficulties in learning due to social, emotional or behavioural problems or other issues outside of school. Learning Mentor support can help pupils overcome behavioural, social or emotional problems that are affecting their learning, through a play-based approach. This is sometimes as a one-off session or can for a longer period of time.
Bereavement support
Young Carers
Statistics show that 1 in 5 young people in the UK are Young Carers. By definition, a young carer is someone under the age of 18 who looks after a family member or friend who has a physical or mental health condition, or misuses drugs or alcohol. They may also look after brothers, sisters, or elderly relatives too.
Woodston Primary School are proud to support Young Carers in school. We have 2 ‘Young Carers Champions’ – Miss Gilder and Ms Duffy. Currently, Ms Duffy leads a Young Carers group in school every other Friday, from 2-3pm. The purpose of this group is to allow Young Carers to get to know each other and celebrate their caring roles, whilst taking part in fun activities, and promote positive outcomes. Once a month, these activities are lead by Melissa Matthews, from the organisation ‘Caring Together’.
‘Caring Together’ also offer lots of opportunities for Young Carers outside of school, for example day trips and experiences that may not be possible for children to access in their day to day lives due to their caring roles. Melissa is part of these activities, so it is really beneficial that our Young Carers can get to know her in school.
If you feel your child might be a Young Carer, or that you might benefit from a further conversation about accessing any of the above opportunities, please speak to your child’s teacher. Alternatively you can contact the school office, or send an email directly to familysupport@woodstonprimary.org.uk and I will ensure I make contact with you.
If you feel your child may be a Young Carer and you would like to access support outside of school, you may find useful information below:
Young Carers | Support For Young Carers and Young Adult Carers (caringtogether.org)
Citizens Advice Bureau
Citizens Advice Peterborough offers support and information in relation to things such as housing, financial support (including information on universal credit and a benefits calculator), employment advice, issues that may arise following a change in family circumstance, and more.
To find more information, click the link below:
Free School Meals / Pupil Premium
Some children are entitled to free school meals. The school can help to advise you on how to apply for them. Each case is dealt with in the strictest confidence. Please use the link below to apply for Free School Meals. You can also contact the school office for a paper form.