Supporting Young People and their Families

The Chase is a fully comprehensive school: We welcome students from a wide range of different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds and we celebrate diversity in our community. We recognise that the young people in our community face a huge variety of challenges in their daily lives which may at times become a barrier to learning and academic success. We firmly believe that pastoral success and academic success go hand in hand – without strong pastoral care, some students may struggle to flourish academically and can suffer socially.

Providing support for all stakeholders at The Chase means we can improve outcomes for young people and their families. If you are worried about a young person in our community, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s year leader to discuss your concern or for further information and advice.

Early help, also known as early intervention, is support given to a family when a problem first emerges to avoid any concerns or issues escalating further and impacting on the young person’s development. At The Chase, we offer a wide variety of Early Help support around a number of challenges that young people face, from Mental Health support, to support with behaviour or challenges with learning. The Pastoral Team work closely with the SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) department to remove barriers to learning and encourage independence and success. We firmly believe that ‘Inclusion Elevates All’.

Early Help can support children and their families who may be struggling with:
Routines and family rules
Families who may be not be eating healthy food
Keeping to a healthy lifestyle
Children who are caring for a family member
Children who may not want to go to school for different reasons
Disability within the family including children being a young carer
Children in the family have special educational needs (SEND)
Children who may becoming involved in anti-social or criminal behaviour
Children who go missing from home
Children or parents / carers misusing drugs or alcohol
Children at risk of being tricked, forced, or made to work in the criminal world
Children who may need support because they may live in a home and see drug or alcohol abuse or adult mental health problems.
Children who have parents who argue a lot (and sometimes might hurt each other) whether the parents live together or apart.
Children at risk of being groomed to join groups which support illegal views
A privately fostered child (a child from another family living within your family home)

Wellbeing & Mental Health

A supportive school ethos can encourage young people to feel safe and to talk about their feelings. It can:

reduce isolation in the emotions they experience;
relieve tension by enabling young people to talk and be listened to;
provide an opportunity to develop an appropriate vocabulary, making violence less likely as a way of expressing needs;
allow children to perceive situations more clearly for planning an action or change;
make children feel protected by a culture which actively promotes a ‘listening environment’ and challenges unacceptable practice.

A culture of CAREing for yourself and others is promoted across The Chase community; this is ‘The Chase Way’. Young people are encouraged to talk to any member of staff if they are worried about something. Staff recognise that building positive relationships is key to pupil engagement and attitude to learning. There are staff in school who have received training in Youth Mental Health First Aid and Adult Mental Health First Aid. All staff are aware that there is support available for those who need it.

The CARE pages of The Chase website provide information, advice and guidance for young people, staff and parents about a huge variety of issues. The CARE pages include links to the webpages of useful and beneficial organisations including online counselling support.

Delivery of high quality PSHE and Character Education programme across all year groups is integral in adopting a whole school approach to healthy relationships, healthy minds and emotional health. The PSHE programme at The Chase includes topics on families, relationships, community, conflict resolution, sex education including consent, anxiety and mental health alongside a variety of other topics. Parents are informed in advance of the programme of study for the year group so that they can support the curriculum and learning.

Resource/support	What Is It?
Youth Mental Health First Aiders (All Pastoral Team)	Trained to spot the signs of mental health issues in a young person, offer mental health first aid and guide them towards the support they need. Not a therapist, but trained to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis - and even potentially stop a crisis from happening.
Adult Mental Health First Aiders (R Ali, L Massam)	Trained to spot the signs of mental health issues in adults, offer mental health first aid and guide them towards the support they need. Not a therapist, but trained to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis - and even potentially stop a crisis from happening.
EMHP – Educational Mental Health Practitioner	EMHPS are qualified in delivering a Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) informed interventions. The interventions are delivered in either 1:1 or in a group work format over 6 – 8 sessions. It can include individual work with parents/carers too. Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LICBT) is suitable for mild to moderate mental health needs and is different to counselling. It requires a degree of motivation and involves children/young people practicing skills outside of the sessions. There is an expectation that parents/carers will support their child with some home-based tasks between sessions.
School Counselling Service	We are very fortunate at The Chase to be able to offer counselling sessions to young people who require mental health or emotional wellbeing support. The counselling sessions are with Kate Finch, Independent Counsellor offering counselling for Mental Health Support, Guidance & Counselling for Children & Young People Private sessions with Kate Finch are also offered in an attempt to reduce the waiting time for students accessing support through the school. These sessions are privately arranged but take place in school.
Intervention and Prevention	We recognise the need to make reasonable adjustments for individuals who find it challenging to conform to societal norms. Our Behaviour Support Officer works with students to analyse their behaviours and provides structured support to affect positive changes.
Online Safety Ambassador	Providing information, advice and guidance about keeping safe online to students and parents. It is recognised that online bullying, grooming and unsafe behaviours online can seriously impact mental health.
CRUSH	CRUSH was formed by Women’s Aid and is aimed at 13-18-year olds who have experienced unhealthy relationships. In its early days the focus was around abusive relationships but more recently the workshop looks at all types of relationships and how we can form healthy relationships. These relationships may be girl/boyfriend, peer or family relationships
CH&RM (Coaching Healthy and Respectful Relationships Programme)	A mixture of the CRUSH project and Love Rocks, this workshop is run by local Policing Community Support Officers. The programme helps boys and young men themselves promote healthy, respectful masculinity. It empowers boys to better understand healthy relationships; more effectively negotiate peer-relationships and make better decisions for themselves and those around them.
Peer Mentors	Peer Mentoring has been evidenced as having a positive impact on the emotional health and well-being of young people in the following ways: Improved self-esteem, confidence, communication skills, and problem-solving skills Improved sense of belonging in school Improved pupil attendance Reduced behaviour incidents Improved grades/academic achievement
Learning Centre at lunch	Students can develop their social skills while eating their lunch in a quiet and supported environment.
Reach4Wellbeing	The Reach4Wellbeing Team is part of the Starting Well Service in Worcestershire; promoting and supporting emotional wellbeing for children and young people aged 5-19 years old. It is a short-term group support programme for those experiencing emotional difficulties, specifically anxiety, low mood and self-harm. These programmes are based on skills which research has discovered helps children and young people with these difficulties.
School Health Nurse & School Sexual Health Nurse	Nurses see students on an individual basis to discuss any health, mental health, or sexual health related concerns.
Drawing & Talking Therapy	A gentle, non-intrusive method of working with students who need a little help to support their emotional and learning needs.
Bereavement Support	School can refer students who have experienced the loss of a loved one to free, school-based support with Footsteps, St. Richard Hospice or Acorns. In most cases, support can be offered 6 months after the loss.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant	ELSA programmes support the emotional development of children to reach their potential socially, emotionally and academically. ELSA receive specialist training and supervision by educational psychologists who use knowledge of how children develop socially and emotionally and apply this knowledge to the needs of pupils. ELSA can help with Emotional Literacy, Loss and Bereavement, Self Esteem, social/friendship skills, anxiety, conflict, growth mindset, emotional regulation, emotional regulation.
Heads Up Anxiety Mentor	Empower and equip young people to look after their mental health and develop a whole set of personal strengths and skills that prepare them for adult life.
Colwall Youth Project (Empower)	We will provide early intervention based interactive sessions which will aim to improve individual’s mental health by focussing on topics which are affecting individuals at their specific are range
Action for Children Blues Programme	The Blues Programme is an internationally acclaimed wellbeing programme for young people aged 13-19 run by Action for Children and funded by Royal Mail. Over six weeks, it teaches emotional resilience, and reduces low mood and anxious thoughts. Crucially, it gets teenagers talking. On average, every classroom in Britain has three children with a diagnosable mental health illness. So far, they have delivered The Blues Programme in over 150 schools, to more than 5,500 young people. 76% of students say it improved their wellbeing. 80% feel comfortable talking about their mental health. 98% would recommend Blues to one of their friends.
Here4Youth (Cranstoun)	Here4YOUth is an integrated service supporting young people to be healthy, safe and happy. We offer free individual support by listening to the choices that are important to you.
WMRASAC/Branch Project	Support for victims of rape and/or sexual abuse.

Attitude & Engagement

We recognise that most young people come into school ready and willing to learn. At The Chase we aim to foster and strengthen this disposition to ensure that when our students leave our school they have the skills, determination and adaptability to continue learning throughout their lives: without the development of these skills students will not be prepared to acquire the new skills that are necessary for a successful life.

The school promotes Growth Mindset across the curriculum to encourage students to become resilient learners.

In school, teacher’s manage learning and the learning environment, however, learning is enhanced if students can manage this themselves and we recognise that some of our students may need some additional help and support to develop this key skill. Students need to be able to set goals, monitor their learning and their learning behaviours and adjust their learning strategies to suit the circumstances that they are in. To that end we offer a variety of Attitude and Engagement Programmes to help our students became autonomous learners who are able to regulate their behaviours to ensure positive outcomes.

Resource/support	What Is It?
Choice programme	The Choice Programme has been developed in order that students can learn management and coping skills that will enable them to succeed in the classroom environment. Students concentrate on five skills areas: Concentration Listening Communication Sitting Co-operation We recognise that learning to behave well is a basic requirement in preparing our young people to function effectively in communities. We want all of our students to be able to progress onto their next stage of education with confidence, resilience, adaptability and an understanding of how our actions can impact on the life choices we have ahead.
Attendance workshop	Students who are at risk of being persistently absent (an attendance of below 90%) are invited to participate in 4 sessions of ‘What a Difference a Day Makes’. The sessions look at barriers to regular school attendance, support available in and outside of school, the law, the impact to academic progress and also as an employee using The Bradford Indicator.
Attendance Support (led by Attendance & Welfare Manager)	The attendance team oversee day to day attendance and register keeping alongside working with students (Year 7-13), staff and parents in identifying barriers to regular school attendance. The attendance team work with the wider school community in promoting good attendance and punctuality. Early Help Assessment meetings and action plans are used to identify intervention and support and we also work closely with external agencies. We encourage parents to contact the attendance team with any worries they have about their child so we can work collaboratively to ensure appropriate measures are in place allowing all children to access a full education provision.
Academic mentors	Peer Mentoring has been evidenced as having a positive impact on the emotional health and well-being of young people in the following ways Improved self-esteem, confidence, communication skills, and problem-solving skills Improved sense of belonging in school Improved pupil attendance Reduced behaviour incidents Improved grades/academic achievement
Empower programme	Overall, studies of adventure learning interventions consistently show positive benefits on academic learning (Education Endowment Foundation). The Chase have developed a year-long programme of support for some of the school’s vulnerable students. This will involve 5 afternoons of adventure learning and finish with a 2-day residential. Benefits of this programme will include: Improved self-esteem, confidence, communication skills, and problem-solving skills Improved sense of belonging to the school On average, pupils who participate in adventure learning interventions make approximately four additional months’ progress Improved perseverance and resilience
Intervention from PCSO	The Chase is fortunate that there is a Community Support Officer based at the school who is able to deliver intervention in the following areas as necessary: Inappropriate use of social media Internet safety Anti-social behaviour Prevent (delivered by Prevent team)
Malvern Cube Youth Mentor	Malvern Cube is run by a charity, Malvern Youth and Community Trust. They are a volunteer led organisation, operating ‘for the community, by the community’. This means that community benefit is the governing principle at the heart of all that we do. Youth Workers from Malvern Cube offer weekly mentoring sessions with students at The Chase and we support Malvern Cube by promoting their activities to parents and students in our community.

It is important that families know where to go and get help in the Worcestershire area. Worcestershire County Council have developed the Virtual Family Hub offering a range of resources that are available to you online, on the phone or face to face that you can access directly yourself.

Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Year Leader for further information or support with accessing local services.

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