Our school Family Team are here to provide support for a wide range of issues.
Our aim is to empower our local community and provide support to families in many ways.
Food and clothing bank
We have accessed funding enabling us to provide families in need of warm clothing, shoes and school uniforms free of charge. We were also able to secure funding to set up and run our own in school food bank. This provision is based at Morpeth Road, but accessible to all families from Malvin’s Close and Croftway Academy. This is something that the older students are invited to support, and recently the school received donations from parents and carers during our harvest festival food collection.
We work closely with local organisations to secure gifts that families can access to support with presents for birthdays and Christmas, as well as securing Christmas food parcels for families in need.
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
One member of our family team has recently trained as a Citizen’s Advice worker. She is able to help families with their finances, housing and benefits. She has also teamed up with the Bridge Project Northumberland to support parents to access training and employment.
Young Carers
We are working closely with Young Carers Northumberland to ensure that we can identify any children in need of support.
A young carer is someone under 18 who helps look after a family member or friend who is ill, disabled, has a mental health condition or misuses drugs or alcohol.
A young carer may help with practical tasks such as shopping or cooking, or may support with physical or personal care such as helping someone get dressed.
They may help provide emotional support, help someone communicate, or provide support in other ways.
Young carers Northumberland support in lots of ways; children can access grants to take part in activities, go out on day trips, spend time with other young carers, along with many other things.
If you feel that your child may benefit from support please contact the school family team.
Peer Mentors
In school we have a group of year 6 students who applied to be part of the Peer Mentoring program.
The children took part in an 8 week training programme helping them to develop the skills and knowledge to provide support for children in lower year groups.
Studies have shown that often children feel more comfortable speaking to their peers about their worries, and it has been shown to develop resilience and help improve attendance, behaviour and social competence.
The children started their work this term, and will begin to work with other groups of children throughout the year.
Parent/Carer Sessions
Our family team offer regular online parent/carer sessions around a range of topics. These sessions reflect the content being taught to children during our school PSHE days. Topics so far have included;
- NSPCC PANTS
- Anti-bullying
- E-safety
- Mental health
Please keep an eye for future sessions which will be sent out to you via text or email.
Parent Learning Zone
We are in discussions with local colleges to provide learning opportunities for parents and carers within our school. We plan to look to deliver maths and English courses within school in the near future, as well as courses focussed on parenting, managing challenging behaviours, and managing mental health. We regularly share information on our school Facebook page. This includes advertising external sessions, courses and support on a wide range of subjects relevant to parents and carers from local and national organisations.
Counselling Service
In September 2021 we set up an in-school counselling service in school one day per week. We have trainee counsellors working in school throughout the year to provide play therapy for children in school. This is closely supervised and managed by the Family Team.
Parent Support
Our Family Team are here to support parents and carers with a wide range of issues, we can provide emotional support and advice to parents, carers and children, and support families to access a wide range of services through signposting and making referrals.
If you have any questions or would like any support with any of the above services or to talk through any other issues please contact the school office and ask to speak to the Family Team.