Is it time to review your parent communications strategy?

Texting parents is one big step beyond sending a letter home with the child, but technology is moving fast and apps are offering more secure and engaging routes, argues Geoff Jones.

According to a recent report published by the government, “Attempts by schools to engage parents in their children’s learning are unlikely to be successful if they represent a ‘bolt-on’ to mainstream activities.”

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      string(280) "How do you work with parents with severe alcohol and drug problems while getting the best for their children? Steve Bambrough and Sophie Kershaw report on how the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) have pioneered non-adversarial approaches which have delivered benefits for all."
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      string(366) "... lifestyle froma substance misuse centred one to a family-centred one. Its transparency and fairness isevidenced in the ‘therapeutic trial for change’ which are individualised, time limited andhighly co-ordinated methods of testing a parent’s actual capacity to change within theirchild’s timescales and evidencing this for court. So ..."
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      string(5663) "has a clear focus on the impact on the child of their parents’ substancemisuse and parents are expected to aim for abstinence from street drugs and alcohol.n The treatment and support plan for the parent is grounded in what we know fromresearch about effective interventions.www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 4.6Families Every Child Journal87n Parents will receive support and encouragement as they address their substancemisuse and other problems, including transparency about the problems they need toaddress and how, and with strong support and information available for wider familymembers, such as through family group conferences and direct work with fatherfigures and other adults close to the children.n All parents will be given the opportunity to enter the programme but, in cases wherethe specialist team considers that prognosis for change is poor, the timescale forshowing engagement and commitment to the programme is appropriate for the child,and should include provision for parallel planning of alternative options for the child’sfuture placement.The diagram below illustrates the model for assessment and intervention:Working togetherThe clinical team which operates as the FDAC’s expert assessment and intervention teamis made up of child protection social workers, a clinical nurse specialist, substance misuseworkers, a child psychiatrist and an adult psychiatrist and is thus a combination of adultand child specialists which is of great importance for this team’s work. In addition, we havea team of ‘parent mentor’ volunteers who, crucially, have been through similar experiencesof crisis and addiction to the parents we work with. Schools were also involved both inmonitoring parents’ relapse into substance misuse where this came to their notice. Otherexamples of school involvement included developing new practice, such as providingcounseling, and holding supporting children’s need meetings at school, as well as helpingchildren with communications and speech issues.Vol 4.6 n www.teachingtimes.comFamiliesEvery Child Journal88The practice of the team is based on rapid and intensive support and assessment anda delivery and brokering of interventions aimed at changing the parenting lifestyle froma substance misuse centred one to a family-centred one. Its transparency and fairness isevidenced in the ‘therapeutic trial for change’ which are individualised, time limited andhighly co-ordinated methods of testing a parent’s actual capacity to change within theirchild’s timescales and evidencing this for court. So, as well as regular testing and treatmentfor substances, the parents could be involved in individual or group therapeutic work, suchas mentalisation-based treatments, video-interaction guidance, and/or group which istailored to their needs. In addition, the team also delivers treatments such as motivationalinterviewing, Social Behavioural Network Therapy (SBNT), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT),harm-minimisation, anxiety control and individual key working.This approach has led to the social workers in the team delivering therapeutic workand intensive engagement with a family, which can be difficult to deliver in other types ofsocial work in the modern climate. It is difficult and demanding work as one would expectof working with such vulnerable and damaged families where there are striking andunexpected successes and disappointments. Child protection work, as shown in recentresearch by Ruth Neil in the University of West Scotland, is corrosive and damagingto social workers’ lives and emotional and physical health, and it is no less so for theFDAC team but the use of a transparent and fair model, which gives the best evidence-based chance for change, contributes significantly to the teams’ sense of purpose andachievement and commitment.This has been recognised in The Home Office Drug Strategy, the MunroReview of Child Protection and the Family Justice Review where FDAC is cited asan example of excellence. It has also received awards, including the 2011 LondonSafeguarding Award, the 2011 Guardian Public Service Award for Service Delivery toChildren, and the 2012 Working in Partnership Award at the BMJ Improving HealthAwards, among others.Case study: MillieA London borough issued proceedings for a baby girl, seven weeks old, whose mother(we will call her Millie) was 27 years old and the father (Jack) was 26. The parents wereseparated during pregnancy.The family were first referred to children’s services by the mother’s drug worker whenshe became pregnant, and she had refused to engage and had a transient lifestyle.Millie had a decade of class A drug use. At assessment, FDAC concluded she was adependant drug user, who used heroin and crack two to three times daily for the majorityof her pregnancy. She was entrenched in a drug using lifestyle – her use was chaotic, shewas currently homeless and was not claiming benefits. Her engagement with prescribingservices was poor and so her methadone prescription ceased. Millie has an extensivecriminal history, with more than 25 convictions and was sentenced to a term in prisona year before her pregnancy. Millie did not access ante-natal care, the child was bornwithdrawing and treated on a neo-natal ward with Oramorph (an oral morphine that treatsopiate withdrawal) for four weeks after birth. Millie returned to her prescribing service formethadone during this time.Jack has a similarly long history of class A use, although was not a dependent orchaotic user at the point of FDAC assessment.The baby was placed into foster care upon"
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Special Needs

The Family Drug and Alcohol Court

11 Dec 2014

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      string(374) "... others in the school, the loc al andwider community should be link ed to the curriculumwhenever possible. This could be done throughcoursework, goal setting and review. Schemes of Workcould b e reviewed over time to include serviceopportunities with accreditation as appropriate. Teacherswill need to plan different kinds of service opportunitiesin ..."
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      string(5637) ".The Ser ve to Lead programme,with itsreliance on team work, can bring thisvalue to life. It shows a commitment todoing, not just saying.Curriculum links and inspection. Projectsand initiatives to serve others in the school, the loc al andwider community should be link ed to the curriculumwhenever possible. This could be done throughcoursework, goal setting and review. Schemes of Workcould b e reviewed over time to include serviceopportunities with accreditation as appropriate. Teacherswill need to plan different kinds of service opportunitiesin order to involve pupils with a wide range of abilitiesand interests. In this way, Ofsted requirements on practicalcitizenship, moral and spiritual developmen t becomemuch more achievable. Pupils and teachers shouldcollaborate on target setting (goals for service and goalsfor learning) for significant projects. Pupil self-assessmentand teacher assessment will be impor tant. School andexternal accreditation should be sought when possible.Sk ills de velopment across the curriculum. To ols forthink ing, communications and leadership c an beintroduced to pupils in ordinary lessons, tutorial p eriodsand special off-timetable activities. A pupil service andleadership programme enables these tools to be applied,their use reviewed and learning reinfor ced, in keepingwith modern ideas on training in a ‘Learning Organisation’.Examples of useful to ols include:● Agendas for planning● Charts for organising information● Mind Maps for reviewing● Target diagrams for applying criteria● Flow charts for problem solving stages● Questioning for thoroughnessPar tnership and serving the community. Par tnershipshould be a core principle and operating practice. Thisincludes planning and implementing partnership withparents, pupils, staff, industry, government, the local LEA,chur ches and other faith groups and voluntar yorganisa tions. Partnership should include seek ingma terial support, funding and time from partners, andoffering benefits in return. Having a structure for pupilparticipation and service really helps when creating apr ogramme of voluntar y and charitable pr ojects,applying for national awards or seeking sponsorship andfunding. Success becomes likelier if a strong frameworkalr eady exists in scho ol for pupils t o ent er intopartnerships responsibility. All pupils will have provenrecords of fulfilling commitments.Building self-respect and skills to improve behaviour andattendance. Potential exists for a pupil service and leadershipprogramme to improve pupil behaviour for the better. In turn,this could have implications for parent choice and academicresults. Disaffected pupils with poor self-esteem (and hencepoor conduct records) may find, in the Serve to Lead initiative,an encouraging environment for positive self-development.Pupils who have tidied up, cleaned desks and scrapedchewing gum off them as part of a team taking a pride intheir form room, or taking environmental responsibility foranother part of the school, may be less likely to drop litter.Being trusted with responsibility and the chance to lead, andto be thanked and acknowledged for serving others in theschool and local community, may have a positive impact onself-respect. If success at school is about more than justTwice now, an assessor has descr ibed the ordinary organisationof routine activities by pupils as “the best registration period Ihave ever seen in over twenty years of teaching”53CitizenshipCitizenshipCitizenshipCitizenshipCitizenship ‘Service’ rolesNovember/December 2005 Managing Schools Todayclassroom learning every day,then incentives to attendmultiply for low achieverswho feel unsuccessful inacademic life. School mayseem more relevant if real,transferable, job-related skillscan be learned and practised.Regular use of even a fewtools for thinking andcommunication over severalyears can broaden theoutlook of pupils and helpthem see their problemsdifferently.Most schools with lots ofbadly-behaved pupils haveto rely on sanctions as a main strategy for controllingpoor b ehaviour. A pupil ser vice and leadershipprogramme will not succeed in a school where disciplineis weak but, by definition, the need to apply sanctionsregularly means many pupils are not yet at one with theschool’s values. Many paren ts and teachers wouldwelcome new ideas on positive ways of promotinghigher standards that fo cus on pupil engagement. If apupil service and leadership programme wor ks for evena few pupils, it may be worth the investment.Primary to secondary and KS3 t o KS4 transfer. Dips inlevels of performance in Year 7, after the peaks of Year 6,are well k nown. Year 6 pupils have of ten been holdingpositions of formal and informal responsibility in theirprimary schools. They have been expected to exemplifysound school values and set an example. With Serve toLead, this can be built upon, rather than lost through theshock of being the youngest again, without seriousresponsibilities and exposed to the harsher, cruder, lesswork-focused peer pr essure of much secondary schoollife. Similarly, the transition from Year 9 to Year 10 couldbe more seamless and attractive if pupils are used to theform-jobs system and can lead exciting projects in Years10 and 11. These projects c an involve younger pupils,including the new Year 7.Morale – the winning qualityMorale can be thought of as a positive willingness towork for goals and for the team. Morale is the definingcharacteristic of a healthy ent erprise, form or school. I tis the single factor most likely to lead to its success."
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Leadership

Pupils as school leaders

1 Nov 2006

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      string(322) "... other specialist services.The importance of school-based counselling has recently been recognised at a political level. In March this year, the DfE said:‘Over time we would expect to see all schools providing access to counselling services.’1This statement comes hot on the heels of the Future in Mind ..."
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      string(5654) "In multiple studies, when young people are asked questions such as “What would make life better?” they repeatedly say it would be having someone they can trust to talk to.Having easy access to a professional, qualified counselling service within their school can dramatically improve the wellbeing of a child or young person who has emotional, behavioural or social difficulties. Counselling within the school environment can successfully alleviate or prevent problems from becoming more complex, costly and requiring referral to other specialist services.The importance of school-based counselling has recently been recognised at a political level. In March this year, the DfE said:‘Over time we would expect to see all schools providing access to counselling services.’1This statement comes hot on the heels of the Future in Mind report, published by the Department of Health and NHS England, which identifies that in an average class of 30 children, 10% will have a diagnosable mental health disorder. The report goes on to stress the importance of schools in improving the mental health of pupils, adding that the DfE is:‘Developing an evidence-based schools counselling strategy to encourage more and better use of counsellors in schools.’2What this call to action makes clear is that it has never been more important to consider your own school’s counselling provision. In this article I’ll review the evidence and offer you advice on implementing a counselling service as well as sharing examples of good practice to inspire you.School-based counselling: what it is and why we need itSchool-based counselling is one of the most prevalent forms of psychological therapy for young people in the UK, with approximately 70,000–90,000 young people accessing services every year. School-based counselling services provide early intervention in a way that non-school based ones can’t. There is much evidence to suggest that young people may be as much as ten times more likely to access a school-based mental health service as compared with a non-school-based one. Combined with short waiting times, convenient location, and broad intake criteria this creates a compelling argument for school-based counselling as an effective early intervention. All secondary schools in Wales and post-primary schools in Northern Ireland provide access to school-based counselling services. In fact in Wales there is now a statutory duty for authorities to provide reasonable provision of counselling services for children and young people aged between 11 and 18 in their area and pupils in year 6 of primary school. Counselling improves not only pupil wellbeing but it is also associated with improved attainment and school attendance, with secondary school students reporting that attending school-based counselling services positively impacted on their studying and learning. Reports from school management reiterate this, with perceived improvements in the attainment, attendance and behaviour of young people who have accessed school-based counselling services.Implementing a whole school approachA perception of school-based counselling by the school community as “non-stigmatising” and a normal part of school provision is vital to successfully integrating the service into the school community. If counselling services are to be accessed in schools, young service users need to see them as approachable, trustworthy and effective. A school ethos in which counselling is understood as a professional activity and which regards counselling as an important part of its student support services is essential.School staff members are very good at knowing their pupils, but they don’t usually have the time or specific expertise to help adequately when emotional health problems come to light. When counsellors are involved soon after problems are identified, they are part of an integrated process, rather than fulfilling a completely separate function within the school.Breaking counselling intervention in a school into three stages can be a useful way to break down the process. 1.  Identification: A teacher, parent or another pupil notices a change in a child. For example, they may be unusually angry, aggressive or withdrawn. Alternatively, a child may themselves become aware that they are struggling with a problem and could benefit from counselling support. 2. Referral: A member of school staff may discuss counselling with the child or young person, and suggest an appointment with the school counsellor, or the young person could request an appointment themselves. In a primary school setting parents may need to be involved at this stage. If the counsellor and the young client are able to achieve a positive change through counselling there may be no need to continue to the next step.3. Onward referral: In some cases, following an assessment with the counsellor, it may become apparent that the child may have a serious mental health condition and in this case it’s important that the school counsellor has good links with other specialist mental health services so they can make contact to discuss the case and refer on to the most appropriate service. As can be seen from this model, the key is communication and making sure that teachers, parents and pupils are aware of the role of the counsellor and their place in the school structure. It is important that proactive work is done to address any stigma attached to counselling service so that it is seen as an everyday, accessible part of school life.Case Study: The Academy at"
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Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Introducing school-based counselling

13 Mar 2017

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      string(5641) "The training would involve learning how to manage problems that children face at school such as “bullying, exam stress and low moods”. The research suggests placing graduates with a 2:1 degree or higher into a school for two years of on-the-job training. Adopting this type of framework to train mental health specialists would help attract “high-calibre candidates”, the report claimed. Main Findings: NHS figures suggest that those with mental health issues have the same life expectancy as the general population did 50 years ago. Mental health issues can have a knock-on impact on school attendance behaviour and engagement – all of which in turn hamper educational attainment. Suicide is the leading cause of death, for five-nineteen year olds. One in three CAMHS referrals by schools are turned down, and one in six are turned down overall. 75% of mental health problems begin before the age of 18 and where early signs are unaddressed, escalation can lead to long term struggles with physical health, education and work. Yet the incidence of mental health problems amongst young people is sky rocketing and services cannot cope. There is considerable uncertainty as to the cause of the increased incidence of mental ill-health amongst young people and the phenomenon is not unique to the UK. Posited explanations include the role of social media, a high-pressure education system and labour market uncertainty. A combination of under-resourcing, lack of expertise in schools and difficulty commissioning and accessing the right kind services has led to patchy and insufficient access to support. Schools cannot be expected to tackle these serious issues single handed, but at present teachers do not know how to help students access mental health services outside of school. Cutting schools loose from their local authorities has made commissioning and accessing specialist support harder, particularly where academies are not part of a multi-academy trusts that provide mental health expertise. A number of structural changes within the health sector have sought to improve provision. However, whilst well intentioned, these changes have yet to be properly implemented. Moreover, severe lack of funding and a shortage of adequately trained specialists mean the government is likely to miss many of its own targets in relation to mental health. Recommendations: A new school-based mental health development programme should be established to create a new cadre of pre-clinical mental health specialists working in schools. This could build on the successes of Teach First, Think Ahead, Unlocked Grads and FrontLine. Campaigns and careers outreach programmes for school-aged pupils should be developed to encourage more young people to consider careers in youth mental health. The government should call a halt to real-term falls in per pupil funding by ensuring school funding keeps pace with increasing costs and pupil numbers. Ofsted should publish an audit how inspectors are reporting on its new judgements relating to pupil mental health and wellbeing. Ofsted should draw on this to provide inspectors with improved guidance and training so that judgement becomes an effective lever for improvement. Plans to make PSHE teaching a statutory requirement should be accelerated and PSHE teaching in relation to pupil wellbeing should be delivered solely by teachers with the skills and expertise to skilfully handle sensitive issues. PSHE teaching should focus on specific issues such as learning to deal with stress or learning about healthy use of social media as per the latest PSHE Association Curriculum. Schools should recognise that mental health problems can constitute a Special Educational Need or Disability and ensure they identify relevant needs as such, so that pupils can access support and so that school funding can be adjusted and targeted accordingly. Schools should ensure they have in-house mental-health experts, potentially shared between a number of schools to make support more affordable. Multi academy trusts should either advise their schools on mental health commissioning or commission support centrally across their schools. 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Tools such as the NCB’s school wellbeing framework can help with this. Unless there is a clear reason (such as safeguarding concerns) not to do so, parents should be placed at the heart of decisions taken about their child’s wellbeing and mental health. Teaching about issues such as stress and social media should happen alongside communication with parents so that they can play a full role in reinforcing healthy routines such as limiting screen time. Safeguarding leads and SENCOs should receive thorough mental health training and should work closely with parents (where appropriate) to implement appropriate"
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Leadership

Schools And Youth Mental Health: A Briefing On Current Challenges And Ways Forward

2 Jul 2018