Hello! My name is Lee Baker and I am the Pastoral Leader here at Garstang St Thomas Primary School.
My role in school is to provide support, advice and information to the families within our school community. I can help you with any worries you may have about your child’s education and wellbeing and I am also here as someone to talk to if you need support yourself. I can meet you at home or in school at a time that suits you. Any advice and support that I offer will always be confidential, although concerns relating to the safeguarding of children will always be dealt with in accordance with our school’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. I may not have all the answers, but I will be able to point you in the direction of appropriate people to help.
Support for families includes:
- Providing information and signposting to other services in our local area.
- Communication with external services e.g. Housing and Children Social Care.
- Attendance and support at school. Click here for attendance information.
- Help to complete paperwork and forms e.g. housing, school letters, grant applications and benefits.
- Advice and support to promote good attendance.
- Referrals to outside agencies e.g. Continence service, Paediatric team and Speech and Language Therapists.
- Emotional support for parents and your children.
- Lead on Early Help Assessment (EHA) referrals and Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings.
- Financial aid and food aid.
- Support for transitioning pupils.
I am always available and willing to help when needed and will try to respond to any emails or messages as soon as possible.
Get in touch:
- You can speak to me at school – I’m normally on the playground at drop off time
- My email address is lbaker@garstang-st-thomas.lancs.sch.uk
- Tel: 01995 603454
LINKS AND ADVICE
- Early Help – please read the section below about early help and what can be offered
- Internet Safety – we publish monthly newsletters on internet safety – click here for our newsletter page (see the bottom of the page)
- Advice for parents who are separating/getting a divorce (NHS advice) – click here for Divorce and separation advice
- Citizens Advice Click here for their website
- Refuge – for Women and children. Against domestic violence. Click here for their website
- Women’s Aid Click here for their website
- Respect (Men’s advice line) Click here for their website
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Early Help – working with you and your family
What is early help?
Early help is your choice and we all understand that every family goes through challenging times at some point. Early help means working with you and your family so that small problems don’t become big problems. To offer you a network of support for families to succeed and thrive. Early help is there to make a difference!
Early help is for everybody, for families with children and young people of any age.
Early help is not a sign of weakness but a step in the right direction to allow your family to succeed.
Why would I want early help?
There are lots of reasons why people look for early help and its important to remember that this can happen at any moment and time to anyone. 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 domestic abuse, drugs, alcohol, or crime. Perhaps your child is a carer for their SEND sibling, or maybe you’ve had a bereavement in the family that’s made life a challenge at this moment and time.
Where can I get early help?
ME!
If you feel you and your family might need support to solve some problems, please do not hesitate to contact me.
What will happen when I ask for early help?
I will give you a call to arrange a meeting to come into school and we will talk about the problems you’re experiencing. If you are not comfortable with this then don’t worry, we can always discuss things initially over the phone. I will ask what help and support you think you might need. This is called an early help assessment.
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 make sure they understand how they are feeling and anything they think they might want some help with.
The next steps following on from our initial meeting will be different for every family. If an Early Help assessment is carried out and actions are identified. This will then lead to a Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings. Again, this is nothing to be worried about and it allows all professionals involved to ensure the correct decisions and actions are taken. You have control over what happens next and can say what you want.
All of this is consent based. IF CONSENT IS WITHDRAWN THEN THE PROCESS STOPS!
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. Again, this is only to ensure the best decisions are made for you and your family. And to fully understand the journey you have experienced.
Sharing information
There may be times when the person you talked to in the meeting has to share information. This includes:
- if they think a child is at risk of harm
- if they think an adult is at risk of harm
- if they think the information could help prevent or lead to crime.
Children Social Care won’t get involved unless one of these things happens, or unless the circumstances in your family change and become more serious.
Remember, it’s your choice to have Early Help. If you have any questions please contact me.
I am here for you!