COMMUNITY AND FAMILY WELFARE TEAM AT MEDWAY

Research shows that educational disadvantage becomes entrenched by age 11, that early intervention is not just about literacy and numeracy but also about developing children’s social and emotional skills, and that improved schooling will not, on its own, combat the disadvantage because many parents need help, support and challenge to bring up their children. 

The number of children and families presenting as particularly vulnerable at Medway is rising significantly and one of the ways we seek to address their additional needs is through the work of our  Child and Family Welfare Team (CFWT). At Medway we have a culture of openness and transparency which encourages vigilance and shared sense of responsibility for the protection of our children and families. The CFWT is a supportive structure that aims to take care of children’s physical, psychological and social wellbeing. Working closely with SEND, Pupil Premium, Child Protection, Home-school liaison, pastoral TAs and teacher colleagues, we identify our most vulnerable children and their parents and, where appropriate, target them for complementary and tailored personal support to prevent, recognise, moderate and remove barriers to learning and social development as early as possible.

We believe that our school can be the first port of call when children and their families need additional help and support, and we offer these through activities such as breakfast club, after-school clubs, social and emotional support interventions, one-to-one sessions for children, support, advice and sign-posting for parents, multi-agency work with others, such as behaviour support teams, social workers, educational psychologists and many more.  Please do not hesitate to come on and speak to us if we can be of any help!

We see our school and our parents as partners working in our children's best interests and we actively seek out opportunities to create partnerships with all parents to support them in dealing any salient issues they may have, and in supporting their own children’s learning and welfare needs at home as well as in school.

To date, we have identified children and parents in need of the CFWT’s support, designed and implemented a support package for each of them, and begun to identify some of the training implications for the CFWT’s members. We meet weekly with SLT to provide a clear focus and honed support for achieving better outcomes.

If you have any questions or queries regarding The CFW Team, please contact them via  email below: 

CFW Team Contact Details 

Mrs P Pemberton: ppemberton@medway.leicester.sch.uk

Mr M Atkinson: matkinson2@medway.leicester.sch.uk

Mrs D Alam: dalam@medway.leicester.sch.uk

Mrs A Pleasant: apleasant@medway.leicester.sch.uk

Mr R Duda: rduda@medway.leicester.sch.uk

At Medway we support the use of CPOMS, a revolutionary software application for monitoring child protection, safeguarding and a whole range of pastoral and welfare issues. Working alongside a school’s existing safeguarding processes,  CPOMS can ensure that children are safe and fully supported.

Every member of staff across school has an obligation to report any concerns which they may have. CPOMS provides a central repository and have relevant people alerted immediately. Senior leaders are able to build a chronology around a student and produce robust reports.