Family Support Worker

'My name is Sandra Orme and I am the Family Support Worker in school.

My role is to provide support, advice and information to the families within our school community. I’m not just there for when times are tough, I can also help you with any worries that you may have about your child's education, behaviour and wellbeing. I am here for parents and carers to talk to and you can contact me for support or to just chat things through. At the moment it’s hard (but not impossible) to meet in person, but I call you on the phone or we can try meeting face-to-face online using Microsoft Teams.

Advice and support is confidential, although anything relating to the safeguarding of children will always be dealt with in accordance with the school's Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

I won’t have all the answers, but I can help you to work out how and where to find them, or just give you someone to talk to when the going gets rough.'

Support for pupils includes:

promoting good attendance and punctuality
promoting self-esteem and confidence
promoting positive behaviour and positive attitudes to learning
providing one-to-one support

Support for parents and carers includes:

providing information and signposting to other services in the local area
liaising with a range of external services such as housing and Social Care
helping with completing paperwork and forms e.g. housing, special educational needs, school places and benefits
attendance and support at school and other agency meetings
advice and support in promoting positive behaviour at home
guidance with career and personal development and access to training

Handy Guide - What can I try?

It might be you have just had one of those exhausting days when you feel like no matter what you try, you are just getting nowhere with a particular behaviour. It might be that you have an ongoing issue with things like repeated melt downs and you don’t know what to try next. Perhaps you are having ongoing niggling things that you’d like to get a better handle on. Maybe you have a child with additional needs and are just looking for other ideas.

Whatever the reason, please remember you are NOT ALONE! I have been there and done that… and as a parent I have attended parenting advice classes and parenting support groups.

What I’ve put together here is some of the things I found useful and some tips on further reading ideas or stuff to look up online if you want to.

What else can I try?