Early Help and Guidance

Please click to expand the boxes below to find out more about Early Help and Guidance at Hillside Special School

Attendance Monitoring

Hillside’s Attendance Lead monitors attendance data daily to ensure that we are able to recognise concerns at the earliest point. Where attendance is a concern, meetings are held with the family where they have the opportunity to discuss any concerns that they may have.

Please go to our 'Policies' page to view Hillside's Attendance Policy.

Behaviour Support Team

At Hillside our Behaviour Support Team consists of staff from across the school that are highly skilled and trained to support pupils when they are finding communication difficult or have reached sensory overload. These events can sometimes be portrayed as challenging behaviour. The Team is able to support other school staff to ensure that everyone remains safe including pupils and staff. The Team is also able to support the pupil to regain control as quickly as possible.

Please go to our 'Policies' page to view Hillside's Behaviour Policy.

Breakfast Club

We recognise that some of our pupils have long journeys to school each morning. We provide all pupils with the opportunity to access appropriate food when they arrive to school to ensure that they are in the best place for learning throughout the remainder of the day.

Early Help Assessment (EHA) also known as Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

There are times when children and their families may need support from a wide range of local agencies. Where it is felt that a child and family would benefit from support with more than one agency (e.g. education, health, housing, police), an Early Help Assessment will be offered to agree and coordinate that support.

The Early Help Assessment is an evidence based, family friendly tool designed to support solution focused conversations between professionals and the family. Its purpose is to identify strengths and difficulties, engage and empower individuals to achieve positive change and prevent needs escalating.

Please click on this link to view Suffolk County Council's 'Common Assessment Framework (CAF) information for families' webpage.

Enhanced Curriculum

At Hillside we provide a range of additional activities to support pupils with their ongoing development. These include Therapeutic Horse Riding, Rebound Therapy, Therapeutic Art, Aromatherapy, Lego Therapy and Tacpac. Activities are delivered on a 1:1 basis or in very small groups and pupils access provision specifically based on their needs at the time e.g. support with mental health for a pupil in care.

Please click on this link to view further details about our BRAVE Curriculum.

Home/School Communication

We pride ourselves on our communication with families. Families have access to either Class Dojo (online platform) or a Home/School Communication Book to use on a daily basis. This enables them to find out about their child’s day as well as being able to communicate any concerns regarding the pupil at home. Families can also email or phone Pathway Leads and Class Teachers to discuss any issues.

Mental Health First Aiders

We have two staff members trained in Mental Health First Aid to support our entire staffing body with their own mental health and in turn ensure that they are able to work effectively with all of the pupils at Hillside.

'Parents Evenings'

Families are offered two 'Parents Evenings' each year plus an Annual Review of EHCP meeting each year (a yearly meeting to review their child's Education Health and Care Plan ). During the 'Parents Evenings' we offer opportunities for other services and providers to be present e.g. Post 16 provisions, therapists, Governors etc. to provide opportunities for open dialogue and questions.

Safeguarding Team

Our Safeguarding Team is in place to ensure the safety of pupils is at the forefront of everything we do. They train staff to recognise safeguarding concerns and how to report them quickly and effectively.

Please click on this link to see further details on Safeguarding at Hillside.

Therapy Provision

We work closely with our NHS therapists to ensure professionals are communicating with each other on a regular basis and are sharing information frequently. We can raise concerns regarding a pupil’s development and troubleshoot as a team, to make sure that all stakeholders are involved and are able to support the family and pupil moving forward.