Advice Links for Children
Do You Need to Talk?
In school, we have an open door policy, which means you can come in and talk to us at any time. It is very important that we keep the lines of communication open to support your child in the best way possible.
However, you may sometimes need to speak to somebody outside of school. If you are worried about anything, you should always talk to someone you feel safe with. It is important that you feel happy and safe talking about your worries, fears, and problems. If you prefer, there are also organisations that you can speak to:
Advice for Families with Disabled Children
In this section, you will find links to helpful information and advice about a variety of disabilities, including deafness, blindness, and learning difficulties.
General Information
- Family Fund
- Aiming High: Short Breaks for Disabled Children
- Disability Law Service
- Disability Living Allowance
Disability-specific Links
Deafness
- Hearing Times
- Advanced Bionics
- Med-el
- Cochlear Implants
- NCDS Family Sign Language Project
- DLA
- Action on Hearing Loss
- Signed Stories
- BBC See Hear
- GWH Audiology
- BSL Dictionary
Blindness
- Royal National Institute of Blind People
- Blind Children UK
- Guide & Buddy Dogs
- RNIB Information & Advice
- RNIB Financial Support
Physical Disability
- SCOPE
- Rainbow Trust- Swindon Team
- Whiz-Kidz – Children’s Mobility
- Swindon Dolphin – Swimming Project for Disabled Children
Learning Disability
Family Support Worker - Key Documents
At Southwold School, we offer the services of a family support worker, Sky Graefe. Sky can be contacted via the school office. If you have any concerns that Sky could support you with, please speak to our SENCO, Gemma Penny. Situations that Sky can assist you with include, but are not exclusive to:
- Challenging behaviour.
- Picky eaters.
- Poor sleepers.
- Concerns about your child’s emotional well-being.
- Money worries.
- Housing difficulties.
Service Families Learning Mentor
Our Learning Mentor is Sky Graefe. The main role of the Learning Mentor is to support children and families; this can be due to periods of transitions, in and out of Southwold Primary School, deployments and during other times of need.
Support is provided for all of our new Service Children within their classrooms, this involves providing a buddy to help them settle into their new environment. During their first few weeks, the Learning Mentor will meet with new service children 1:1 to support their transition and get to know each child by completing a ‘my passport’ workbook that will be reviewed and updated throughout Southwold and transferred to the next school.
Sky Graefe is also the schools ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant). ELSAs help children and young people learn to understand their emotions and respect the feeling of those around them.
During your child’s time at Southwold they may also access the ELSA concerning a variety of issues including dealing with emotions, self-esteem and friendship, social skills, bereavement and anger management. A keeping in Touch club is also run at lunchtime for Children that have a family member away from home due to detachment, deployment or training.
Children have the opportunity to write or draw pictures to send on a bluey or ebluey to their parent. We would also like to invite Parents with a partner away to join in with the club along with your child.
Useful Links
- Applying for a School Place in Oxfordshire
- Abingdon and Bicester Hive Blog
- Service Children’s Education (SCE)
- Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS)
- Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help
Useful Contacts
- Sky Graefe – Learning Mentor – 01869 324061
- Captain Henry – 1 RLC Unit Welfare Office – 01869 256457 - [email protected]
- Emma Teasdale – HIVE- 01869 256158 - [email protected]
Young Carers
At Southwold School, we believe that all children and young people have the right to an education regardless of their home circumstances. We acknowledge that there are likely to be young carers among our pupils and that this can have an adverse effect on a young person’s education. We have a young carers charter and policy to support these children and help reduce their worries so they can focus on their education.
Who are Young Carers?
Young carers are children and young people whose lives are affected by looking after someone at home. They are carrying out tasks and responsibilities in addition to those appropriate for their age. The person they look after may have one or more of the following:
- Physical disability.
- Mental health issues.
- Learning difficulties.
- Alcohol- or drug-related problems.
- Long-term illness.
The person they care for may be a parent, sibling, or grandparent, and the care they give may be physical and/or emotional. Young carers’ responsibilities may include:
- Personal care (e.g. bathing, dressing, feeding).
- Giving or prompting medication/injections.
- Shopping.
- Housework.
- Emotional support.
- Looking after younger siblings.
- Budgeting and paying bills.
If you feel that your child may be a young carer, please feel free to get in touch with Sky Graefe, our learning mentor, to discuss the support that we can put into place.