Welcome faith in families I am delighted to share with you the range of bespoke services to children and families being delivered by Faith in Families. Sumerjit Ram In an ideal world every family would be stable and supportive; every child would be happy at home and at school. Yet, in reality, many children and families face daunting challenges. Schools are seen as hubs for the community and play a pivotal role in helping children and families stay on track so they can lead healthy, happy lives. Our team of school social workers help children and families cope with social and psychological problems that may arise at school, at home or in the larger community. We also understand the many challenges schools are faced with when trying to reduce challenging behaviour in classrooms, supporting vulnerable children and improving outcomes for these children. The demands on school leadership teams have steadily increased and the pressures on them continue to grow. We believe that we can work closely with your leadership and teaching staff teams to help build and empower their capacity to realise the full potential of all the children in their schools. Our approach is a 360 one in which we look to address the needs of the students, teaching and leadership staff and the wider community. We make no profit from the delivery of these services but simply charge what it costs us to deliver them. Through our research and rigorous monitoring and evaluation we have found that early intervention, and in particular our approach, does make a sustainable difference as highlighted within the many testimonials about the positive experiences of both staff and students. We continuously aspire to excellence and this was recently acknowledged in our latest Ofsted rating of Outstanding. Our belief in family life is as strong today as it was when Faith in Families was founded in 1948 and we continue to underpin all our activities with the ethos of keeping children and families at the heart of our work. Sumerjit Ram CEO We work hard as a school to support and nurture the whole child. The Faith in Families service enables us to do this at a much deeper level. Communication between school and the key worker is outstanding. A caring and supportive approach from all within the service has helped to build the confidence of our staff, children and parents. Tracey Churchill, Headteacher, St. Joseph s Primary School Images in this pack are used courtesy of Monkeygrip Photography 7 Colwick Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 5FR T 0115 955 8811 F 0115 955 8822 E enquiries@faithinfamilies.org www.faithinfamilies.org Registered Charity Number: 213692 Registered in London: 461813 Chief Executive Officer: Sumerjit Ram
The Social Worker Service in school has provided additonal support service that meets the holistic needs of pupils and their families. Ann Muldoon, Assistant Headteacher, Saint Benedict s Voluntary Academy
Key Facts about Faith in Families School & Community Services Key Facts about Faith in Families School & Community Services In the fi rst two years of operation, FiF School & Community Service offered early and remedial intervention to at least 160 children with a wide range of complex issues. Faith in Families offers School & Community Services across the East Midlands region. The service offers targeted support to vulnerable children and supports their personal, social and emotional needs, where these negatively affect their ability to engage with school life and learning. This is achieved through access to one to one relationship with a social worker and may also include liaison and work with other family members/carers and extended service providers. The majority of children receiving a service were not accessing a statutory service at the time of referral as they did not meet the threshold criteria. Family issues, bereavement and self-esteem diffi culties represent the reasons for the majority of referrals to the school social work service. The service supports children with these and a wide-range of issues and needs. The services provided are school-based and may at times include home visits and attendance at external meetings. School Social Work services are provided to schools by way of a service level agreement that guarantees delivery of our service throughout the life of the contract. The menu of services available to Schools can be commissioned individually by schools and families of schools. There are also a range of packages available which represent excellent value for money. Individual, bespoke packages of our services can be tailored to meet the needs of your school. All of the professional staff working within our School & Community service have professional qualifi cations related to the service provided as well as the relevant skills and experience required. Faith in Families has a rigorous approach to staff recruitment and retention and a robust training and supervision policy which ensure the highest calibre of staff. Faith in Families is committed to ongoing and regular communication with the School within the boundaries of confi dentiality, to ensure a systemic approach to supporting the child s learning and enjoyment of school life. Having a school based Social Worker has been benefi cial to pupils, parents and staff; the support given is invaluable and is having a positive impact on those most in need within our school community. Moira Dales, Headteacher, Our Lady and St Edwards Primary and Nursery Catholic Voluntary Academy
What we can offer Leadership & Staff Support Services What we can offer Leadership & Staff Support Services These are bespoke services and independently costed when purchased Staff Support Services This service caters for the needs of the leadership teams and employed staff of an individual school or families of schools. Faith in Families provides a range of bespoke service as listed below and a fully qualified professional to meet the needs of school employees who may be experiencing personal issues that are impacting on their ability to perform their duties within work. Staff may be referred by their employer or self-refer to the service with work related or personal diffi culties that are affecting performance. Examples of some common issues include: alcohol and drug abuse; stress; bereavement; family and relationship problems; harassment in the workplace; sickness absence and other issues. The service also provides critical incident support for individuals who may have been involved in incidents of violence, aggressive behaviour or serious injury as well as support for Managers who are dealing with the aftermath of an incident. Regular reports of attendance and progress of employer referrals will be provided as well as statistical feedback on all referrals. This service is provided on a service level agreement basis, and is commissioned at yearly intervals. The cost is presented below: Annual Cost to School: 1500 inclusive of up to 12 individual sessions with a professional, providing the service either within your school or at our offi ces in West Bridgford, Nottingham. Subsequent sessions can be individually purchased at the rate of 50 per session or 180 per block of four sessions. Access to specialist training at a reduced cost will be available to ensure your school gains the maximum benefit from our service. Training is available on stress, bullying and harassment, support for employees with personal problems, and more. Services for Newly Qualified Teachers Training Faith in Families recognises the unique needs of newly qualified teachers coming in to schools. Whilst the school supports the NQT with their new role, the Staff Support service can provide a range of bespoke training sessions focussing on the development of the staff members ability to identify and manage particular issues and challenges faced when managing vulnerable and traumatised children. Our trainers will work with newly qualified teachers in small groups to ensure they have the tools to manage challenging and disruptive behaviour and learn to identify when a child might need external support. Support Support group sessions can also be offered to ensure that newly qualified teachers receive support through mentoring and peer support, and are given the space and time for reflection and expression to ensure they are able to identify when stress may be impacting on their ability and performance and to teach them strategies for managing the challenges and demands of teaching effectively. All staff are committed, very skilled, knowledgeable and child focused in all they do. Ofsted Report 2011
Our 360 approach to your support needs Our 360 approach to your support needs Each of our services for schools can be independently commissioned and the Agency is also keen to work directly with schools to develop bespoke services to meet individual requirements One to one support to students Students referred for a range of behavioural and emotional issues Social worker supports students to participate fully in school life Service regularly engages with external agencies and with the pupil s parents / carers as required Schools Social Work Services Leadership & Staff Support Services School Specialist Training Staff support services NQT training & support Leadership Skills Training Change Management Training Performance Management & Appraisal Training Diversity Training Course Stress Management Workshop Effective Fundraising & Bid Writing Developing Business Plans and Forward Strategies Community Services Bespoke workshops and training Positive Parenting Child Protection/ Safeguarding & CAF training The Teacher and the Traumatised Child Introduction to Attachment and the school-aged child Introduction to Cyber- bullying The impact of trauma on child development The effects of grief and loss on child development Having Faith in Families in our school has been an extremely positive experience. They have adapted very well to the ever changing needs of our school community and looked after our young people with great commitment and professionalism. Marius Carney, Headteacher, English Martyrs School