We hope that our Early Help Offer will provide the ‘front door’ through which parents can access additional support at any level. Lever Edge Primary Academy is committed to: 

• Supporting young people and families, offering early help to avoid escalation of issues
• Ensuring a multi-disciplinary approach that brings a range of professional skills and expertise to the table
• Building positive relationships with students and their families, co-ordinating the support needed from other agencies
• Practice that empowers families and helps them to develop the capacity to resolve their own problems
• A holistic approach that addresses children’s needs in the wider family context
• A simple, streamlined referral and assessment processes – the ‘early help’ assessment

The intended benefits for young people and families are:

• Enhanced life chances as a result of the well documented benefits of Early Help in preventing issues later in life
• An all age integrated service providing continuous support across age groups and for the whole family
• Co-ordinated support resulting in maximised opportunities and outcomes for children, young people and families
• Information may be shared across agencies to ensure the right support is in place at the right time for families

Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life. For this to be effective, all agencies are required to work together to:

• Identify children and families who would benefit from support early
• Undertake an assessment of need
• Provide services to address those needs

All workers are responsible for using standard ways of working with families to identify the right support that can be delivered quickly to prevent things from getting worse. They have a responsibility to share information, work together and co-ordinate action plans.

It is essential that your child makes a positive and consistent start to school life. To enable this to happen, regular attendance is required. If your child is experiencing difficulties with his/her attendance it may be helpful to contact our Attendance Champion, Mrs James, at the earliest opportunity so that we can offer you support.

Additionally, the Early Intervention Team offers parents support around attendance issues. The primary role of this service is to provide advice, information and support to schools, children and families to raise levels of attendance. This team is located at: The Base, Marsden Road, Bolton BL2 2JW and can be reached on 01204 338173

Mrs Broadhurst is our school Learning Mentor. In this role she can offer support to pupils who may be experiencing a range of concerns from anxiety, low self-confidence and having friendship issues to bereavement and loss. If you would like to speak to Mrs Broadhurst about supporting your child, please ring 01204 333720.

Bolton Parent Partnership Service provides support and advice to parents whose children have special educational needs. They provide accurate and neutral information on the full range of options available to parents. You can contact Bolton Parent Partnership at: Lowndes Street, Bolton, Greater Manchester, BL1 4QB. Telephone 01204 848722.

Bolton Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) aims to:

• Provide the advice people need for the problems they face
• Improve the policies and practices that affect people's lives

The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. Bolton CAB can help with welfare and benefit issues and will deal with queries about community care. Bolton’s CAB is a not-for-profit charity. They have trained professional advisors assisted by trained volunteers able to help with issues such as:

• Welfare benefits and tax credits
• Money advice
• Community care
• Housing
• Immigration & asylum

You can contact CAB at 26-28 Mawdsley Street, Bolton, BL1 1LF or Tel.0808 8010011 or 03444 889 622 or see their website link: boltoncab.co.uk/

School nurses promote and maintain the good health of all school age children and enable them to reach their full potential. The school nurse works in partnership with parents, children and young people, school staff and other professionals. The School Nursing team can offer advice and support on a range of issues and has links to other services that work with children and families. Our school nurse is Antonia Trevena-Jones. You can contact Antonia on 01204 335019.

There is also a confidential service offering support and advice from a team of specialist healthcare professionals called ChatHealth. They can be reached on 07507331751 between 8am-8pm Monday – Friday.  You can also send a text to:  07507331751, They aim to reply to you within one working day and you should get an immediate bounce-back to confirm they have received your text. Texts will not be seen outside of normal working hours. If you need help before you hear back from us, contact you GP, NHS 111 or dial 999 if it is an emergency. 

For more information, go to: www.bolton.gov.uk/sendlocaloffer/public-health-nursing

Bolton Council has a duty to provide free schools meals, which comply with national nutritional standards, to eligible students. The Council also has a scheme to help families buy essential school clothing. If for some reason you feel you do not qualify but still have remaining concerns or difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact us in confidence. Ask to speak to Mrs James or Mrs Tipping on 01204 333679.