School service kick-starts new term with range of support packages 

As schools settle into the start of a brand-new term, our team is preparing to support school staff, children and families from across Greater Manchester and Lancashire.  

Our School Service team, which supported 2,703 children and young people last year, offers a range of services to support children experiencing challenges and promote their wellbeing and improve access to education.  Our work has included working with school teams to address challenges around behaviour, bereavement, safeguarding, emotional wellbeing, reducing anxiety and building confidence.  

Rebecca Underdown, head of our school service, explained: “We have a diverse team of professionals made up of social workers, counsellors and therapists who can support schools in a whole range of ways.   

“Feedback from the schools we work with across Greater Manchester and Lancashire is that our work enables teachers and headteachers to concentrate more of their time and energy on the school learning and education work, and that a flexible approach is key.  

“Our support packages for the new term mean we’re able to sit down with schools and get to understand exactly where we can add the most value – whether through specialist group interventions, one-to-one direct work with children, or family support sessions and interventions.  

“We understand schools have really tight budgetary requirements, so we’ve been really keen to ensure flexible patterns of work that can meet their needs in the most cost-effective way possible too.  

“We also recognise that providing support to children and families is not always a linear process and we can be there for the long-term to accompany and assist schools in their broader mission of equipping young people to ‘live life to the full’.”  

The service, which also supports children to overcome barriers to fuller participation and learning in school, aims to bring a greater sense of achievement and enjoyment in all aspects of school life.  The specialist team works to support young people to build their confidence, enabling them to develop their social and communication skills.  

Last year the team delivered more than 7,000 one-to-one sessions with children and young people, and an additional 1,321 family support sessions were also carried out.  

Rebecca added: “We also work alongside staff in schools to help with assessing the needs of children and young people who may need ongoing support in place or who may be at risk of abuse or safeguarding issues.  

“We help find the right services and support schools with processes and access to additional resources as needed.  Meetings such as ‘Team Around the Family’, can be extremely valuable when making a plan and enabling school, family and Caritas to work together to improve circumstances.   

“It’s a real team effort and the main, underlying purpose is to ensure that the needs of the children and young people we work with are central to every decision made.  They are the reason we all do what we do.”  

To find out more about our school service and accessing the support of our social workers, counsellors or therapists, please get in touch.