Posted on Monday 9th November 2020
Social workers have begun specialist placements in seven Staffordshire schools as part of a pilot scheme to reduce the number of referrals for specialist help.
Staffordshire County Council is one of several authorities taking part in the national trial to identify need early and provide young people and their families with the necessary support.
Each of the seven schools will have its own dedicated worker, who will be present four days a week.
Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said:
Spending so much time in school will help identify risk and need as early as possible and social workers will be well placed to intervene quickly in ways which may not otherwise be possible.”
The schools allocated a social worker are:
- Paget High School, Burton;
- Tamworth Enterprise College;
- The Wilnecote School, Tamworth;
- Nether Stowe School, Lichfield;
- Norton Canes High School, Cannock;
- Stafford Manor High School, Stafford;
- Leek High School.
As well as integrating into a school’s daily life, the social worker may also work with the secondary’s feeder primary schools.
Staffordshire is one of 21 local authorities chosen for the extended national trial, which will run until next summer and is a development of a pilot scheme conducted by ‘What Works for Children’s Social Care’, an independent charity promoting evidence-based best practice.
Social workers will build up the school’s knowledge of what support is available to children and families in the area and further afield, as well as multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
The impact on children and families of having support close at hand in this way will be evaluated through comparison with a nearby school that isn’t part of the programme and it’s also hoped that underlying trends will be more visible and possible solutions can be shared across the authority.
Mark Sutton added:
We are committed to keeping families together when it is safe to do so by focusing on prevention, early intervention and keeping more children out of care.
This initiative can play a part in that by allowing us to provide support to reduce the number of children being referred for Child Protection and Child in Need concerns.”