“Early help” is a “system of support which aims to support children and families as soon as problems emerge” as described in the statutory guidance Working together to safeguard children (DfE, 2023a).
Schools deliver a significant amount of early help by supporting children and families directly in many creative ways and as part of groups of specialist professionals around families that offer targeted early help support.
While the main responsibilities for sourcing, co-ordinating, seeking or implementing early help support are likely to lie with pastoral and safeguarding teams, the statutory guidance Keeping children safe in education (DfE, 2023b) is clear about the responsibilities of all staff within this arena.
This key statutory document details that all staff need to understand what early help is and what their roles and responsibilities are in relation to it.
While any child may benefit from early help, Keeping children safe in education makes it clear that school and college staff should be additionally alert to the potential need for early help for children facing particular issues.
Working together to safeguard children, which details how agencies should work together, was updated in December 2023 and now includes additional points highlighting which children school staff need to be particularly alert to.
In this article, I highlight these changes and consider the roles of school staff. I also consider how schools can ensure staff are fully aware of their responsibilities and can effectively contribute to ensuring children needing early help are identified and supported.
Knowing what to look for
Staff should undertake safeguarding training regularly and it is good practice to include training opportunities and revisit key areas throughout the course of the academic year.
Any child may benefit from early help and frontline staff are invaluable in spotting new or emerging signs that a child may need additional support. In order for this to be effective, staff should be supported to:
Feel part of a team: A team that works together to support children in a variety of different ways. Your safeguarding culture is built on all staff understanding that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and everyone plays an important part – including them. Drip-feeding this message, providing guidance, support, encouragement, and feedback after they have raised a concern (as appropriate) is essential.
Understand their role: Understand how important they are in noticing if a child’s behaviour or appearance changes. They may be the only one to notice a change, so they have a responsibility to be alert to this – whether this could be a sign of abuse or neglect or another issue that a child may need help with.
Understand the context: Understand the issues within the local context that may lead to children needing early help. This may be linked to chronic issues – such as deprivation or poverty – or may be short-term, such as being impacted by flooding, for example.
Which children may have greater need?
As discussed above, the list of which children staff should be particularly alert to has recently been updated in Working together to safeguard children (DfE, 2023b).
It is important that staff know that some children may have greater need for support, including children who are disabled or have SEN, have a mental health need, or are misusing drugs or alcohol, for example.
A full list can be found in KCSIE in paragraph 20, which states: “Any child may benefit from early help, but all school and college staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for early help for a child who…”
- Is disabled or has certain health conditions and has specific additional needs.
- Has SEN (whether or not they have an Education, Health, and Care plan).
- Has a mental health need.
- Is a young carer.
- Is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups or county lines.
- Is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home.
- Is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual or criminal exploitation.
- Is at risk of being radicalised or exploited.
- Has a family member in prison or is affected by parental offending.
- Is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues, and domestic abuse.
- Is misusing alcohol and other drugs themselves.
- Has returned home to their family from care.
- Is at risk of “honour-based” abuse such as female genital mutilation or forced marriage.
- Is a privately fostered child.
- Is persistently absent from education, including persistent absences for part of the school day.
However, there is an updated list of vulnerable children in Working together to safeguard children (paragraph 124), which makes it clear that we should also be vigilant to the potential early help needs of other children including those who:
- Are bereaved.
- Are showing signs of being drawn into serious violence including knife crime.
- Are viewing problematic and/or inappropriate online content (for example, linked to violence), or developing inappropriate relationships online.
- Have a parent or carer in custody.
- Are missing education (or persistently absent from school) or not in receipt of full-time education.
- Have experienced multiple suspensions and is at risk of or has been permanently excluded.
It is a very good idea to study both these lists in full in the original documents and compare them to your training plan for the year while considering the following questions:
- Have you covered all of these areas with staff?
- Do staff understand their responsibilities?
- Do you feel confident that staff would be able to identify signs that might indicate a child is experiencing any of the above? How do you know?
- Do staff understand why they need to be particularly alert to the needs of these children and how early help could support them and work to address issues as soon as they emerge?
Being clear on school processes
As well as staff having the wider understanding of safeguarding issues and what early help is, it is extremely important that they are regularly reminded of the school policy and procedures for reporting concerns – including information or observations that may indicate that a child may require early help.
Training should empower staff to understand responsibilities and notice signs, and it is good practice – however many times staff have been reminded – to include reporting processes and reminders about how these work in your school every time. Some key questions to consider are:
- Have you made all staff aware of the points above and reminded them about reporting processes? This includes your teachers, support staff, site staff, cleaners, dining room assistants, volunteers, agency staff, contractors?
- Are reporting mechanisms clear, easy to follow and accessible to all staff?
- Do staff know to report any concern, however small?
- Do staff understand the early help support that you offer to children and families in school? An on-site food bank, for example, or a school uniform fund.
Final thoughts
Early help is an integral part of effective safeguarding practice and should be considered as being an integral part of staff training. Familiarising yourself with the updated list in Working together to safeguard children is essential, then considering the points above to effectively disseminate this to staff may help to put early help – and staff responsibilities in relation to this – front and centre at this mid-point in the academic year.
- Elizabeth Rose is an independent safeguarding consultant and director of So Safeguarding. She is a former designated safeguarding lead. Visit www.sosafeguarding.co.uk and follow her on X (Twitter) @sosafeguarding. Read her previous articles for SecEd www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/elizabeth-rose
Further information & resources
- DfE: Working together to safeguard children, 2023a: http://tinyurl.com/3zkrr7p6
- DfE: Keeping children safe in education, 2023b: http://tinyurl.com/bdehanzj