Early Help Offer

Early Help is the support that is offered to all our pupils to prevent problems developing and targets support to particular children and families with additional needs.

The purpose of Early Help is to support the well-being of children and families by tacking emerging needs at the earlies opportunity and prevent them from getting worse. This means working with children and families to identify any support needed and gain access to additional services that can promote positive outcomes.

Effective Early Help may be delivered at any point in your child’s life about any issue which is impacting or could affect their development and well-being including education and health.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 (a guide to Inter-agency working) identifies that supporting children to achieve positive outcomes is more effective when local agencies work together to:

• Identify children and families who would benefit from Early Help;
• Undertake an assessment of need (known in Bolton as the Early Help Assessment);
• Provide Early Help services to address the assessed needs of a child and their family to improve outcomes.

We will ensure that:

• We gain your consent and are open and honest;
• We will seek your views and opinions;
• With your consent, we will work jointly with other professionals and services already working with your family;
• We allocate a lead person to help co-ordinate any support put in place;
• We consider the age and stage of your child’s development to make sure that actions are appropriate and inform or expectations and concerns;
• We keep you and your children involved and informed