The Bridge School

Early Help Offer

We believe that all of our children and their families are entitled to access Early Help support and as a school ensure that appropriate support and guidance is offered to parents/carers at any time. It is important that children and their families get the right support at the right time.

The Bridge School offers a wide range of its own Early Help services and is committed to promoting positive outcomes for pupils and their families within our school community. There is an onsite Family Room that we welcome our parents/carers to access. The offer includes:

• Referrals to appropriate services as necessary e.g. Physio, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, BEE U (dependent on the criteria for their services).
• Time for a family to talk through any pressures that they have.
• Signposting to support groups and organisations
• Signposting or materials to support issues such as sleep management.
• A library of resources such as books in relation to communication support etc.  
• Advice in relation to strategies used with individual pupils to support their engagement and behaviour.
• Support for families relating to attendance issues in school e.g. around transition or changes for a pupil.
• Parent training sessions planned for the year including Makaton, ‘Challenges of Adolescence’, sleep course, online safety and many others.
• Coffee mornings where information is shared and parents/carers can network.

There is a range of information and services that can be accessed (some of these may be dependent on locality). Please see below links for the ‘Local Offer’ and other useful websites that can offer support.

• Telford SEND Local Offer https://www.telfordsend.org.uk/site/index.php
• Shropshire SEND Local Offer https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/the-send-local-offer/
• Staffordshire SEND Local Offer https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/education/Access-to-learning/Local-Offer-SEND-Pathway.aspx
• Wolverhampton SEND Local Offer https://win.wolverhampton.gov.uk/kb5/wolverhampton/directory/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0
• Walsall SEND Local Offer https://send.walsall.gov.uk/
• Parents Opening Doors https://www.podstelford.org/
• Cerebra Sleep Advice Service https://cerebra.org.uk/get-advice-support/sleep-advice-service/
• The Sleep Charity https://thesleepcharity.org.uk/

In addition to the above, any family can request a referral for an Outcomes Based Assessment (through their local council Children with Disabilities) through Family Connect and school can also support with this referral.  

Parents/carers can also request an Early Help Assessment by contacting the linked Head of Phase.