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Steps4Ward Programme for Schools

We particularly specialise in providing services for maintained and independent schools and academies at primary and secondary school level, children’s centres and nurseries, special schools, and sixth form colleges and further education establishments across South Yorkshire and Derbyshire. As a result, we have an excellent understanding of the national and local agendas currently affecting the education sector, the structure within the sector, and the various pressures and changes at work that staff within the sector face.

Why STEPS4WARD?

THE STEPS4WARD VISION

…is to create steps forward in the quality of emotional wellbeing, mental health and continuous professional development provision for schools and to empower steps forward in wellbeing, aspiration, resilience and development across the whole school community through supportive, therapeutic and educational services for senior leaders, staff, pupils and pupils’ families.

Our aim is to create the above STEPS4WARD through providing a high quality and effective programme that is:

  • Cohesive – We will provide a range of services for your school/family of schools under the one programme and through one organisation.
  • Bespoke – Each service will be tailored to the needs of each individual school and their staff, pupils and families.
  • Flexible – Each school can choose the services that are appropriate to them.
  • Evolving – We will respond to each school’s feedback and further develop the programme and its services in accordance to ensure we are meeting the needs of each school and its staff, pupils and pupils’ families as best we can.
  • Cost-effective – The programme will be competitively priced and you only have to pay for what you need. We will work with you to develop the best possible package to suit your budget. The programme will create savings for schools in the long-term, as well as for the governmenand society as a whole, through building an emotionally resilient workforce and emotionally resilient children and families.
  • Responsive – Each school will be allocated their own Consultant who will communicate with the Headteacher, the SLT members, staff members, pupils and their families every step of the way. This will include providing the reports, plans, support, advice and data that the school requires to best meet the needs of every pupil.
  • Accessible and timely – We will endeavour to provide the services you need when they are needed, including responding to queries within 24 hours and minimising waiting times for therapeutic support for pupils, families and staff.
  • Professional yet approachable – Our team of highly experienced and professional Consultants want to break down barriers between specialisms and work hand in hand with school staff to meet the needs of the school, its pupils and pupils families. We aim to become part of your school communities.
  • Based on best practice – Our Consultants undergo regular CPD as part of their professional requirements and are extremely knowledgeable and up to date in terms of the best evidence-based practice within their field.
  • Passionate – Our Consultants believe in the importance of empowering wellbeing, aspiration, resilience and development for the whole school community and are passionate about improving emotional wellbeing, mental health and CPD provision in schools.
  • Accountable – Our Consultants are CRB/DBS checked and receive in-house supervision and external clinical supervision in accordance with their role and specialism. There will be clear accountability, governance and complaints policies, procedures and protocols supporting this programme.
  • Holistic – Our programme will respond to the bio-psycho-social needs of your staff, pupils and pupils’ families and it will do so through a whole school approach.
  • Reactive and preventative – Our Consultants will work with the Headteacher and SLT members at each school to promptly identify and respond to the emotional and mental health issues of its pupils and their families and the professional development needs of its staff. We will also provide preventative services that will enable the whole school community to develop their resilience to emotional and mental health issues. Plus, our Consultants will work with the Headteacher and SLT members to avert the risk of issues such as stress at critical points (e.g. Ofsted inspections, times of change and SATs/GCSEs).
  • Ethical – As a Consultancy we have strict ethical guidelines that we adhere to and our Consultants are also guided by the professional standards and ethical codes of their respective professions and governing bodies.
  • Equal - Our programme will provide equal services to all service users and will be guided by our in-house equality and diversity policy and procedures. Our services will take into account the cultural diversity within your school’s catchment area and we are happy to look at ways to evolve our services to ensure they are as effective as they can be for differing cultural communities.
  • Transparent – The programme will be rigorously evaluated through qualitative and quantitative research methods and the monitoring of key targets, objectives and performance indicators. Plus, the family of schools and/or each individual school will receive regular updates on service usage.

The Services

SECTOR A: SERVICES FOR PUPILS

SECTOR B: SERVICES FOR PARENTS & FAMILIES

SECTOR C: SERVICES FOR SENIOR LEADERS & STAFF

Details for each category of service can be found below.

Sector A: Services for Pupils

INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT

Therapeutic support can be provided for children and young people aged 3 to 18 years. This can include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), integrative counselling, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and dog therapy. Each therapeutic session will last from 30 minutes to 1 hour depending upon the abilities of the pupil/group of pupils and will take place within the school. Parents/caregivers can be involved

in these sessions where appropriate. Issues that can be addressed through the therapeutic process include anger, self-esteem, confidence, assertiveness, anxiety, separation anxiety, stress, phobias, OCD, depression, bereavement, eating disorders, abuse, trauma, PTSD, body image issues, self-harming, suicidal ideations, behavioural issues, ADHD, conduct disorder, attachment disorder, sleep disturbance, coping with difficult life issues such as bullying, parental separation, illness, disability, pain, parental mental health issues, domestic violence, etc.

SERVICES TO ACCOMPANY THE THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT

We will:

- provide reports, plans, advice and support for the Headteacher, SLT members, SENCOs, LMs/TAs, teachers on how they can best support the needs of the pupils in question.

- provide advice and support for the pupil’s family on how they can best support their child.

- conduct classroom observations, produce psychological assessments and referral reports, and refer pupils on for additional specialised professional support where appropriate.

- attend multi-agency meetings, case conferences, parents’ evenings, etc. where appropriate/possible

- provide safeguarding reports.

PUPIL SUPPORT GROUP

We can facilitate a support group for pupils with specific issues, such as ADHD, to allow them to offload, develop strategies and learn from and support each other. This would provide a “triage” point, enabling us to identify pupils in need and signpost accordingly.

GROUP EMOTIONAL LIFE SKILLS WORKSHOPS 

These workshops aim to give pupils an emotional life skills toolbox to draw on for the rest of their lives. They can be run for a group of pupils with similar needs together with becoming part of nurture group programmes where appropriate.

Topics can include learning about and managing feelings, anger management, stress management, anxiety management, building 

self-esteem, being confident and assertive, building a positive body image, coping with bereavement, coping with ADHD, coping with a disability or chronic illness, coping with bullying, communication skills, relationship skills, decision-making skills, problem solving skills, coping with difficult life events, drug and alcohol awareness, domestic violence awareness, etc.

Our standard costing is based upon a workshop for a group of up to 10 pupils aged 3 to 18 years. However, we can provide similar workshops for larger groups and can provide a price for this where required.

RESEARCH

Research of both a qualitative and quantitative nature can be conducted with your pupils on a variety of topic areas to meet your school’s needs, such as bullying or transition.

Sector B – Services for Parents & Families

INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT

We can provide therapeutic support for parents, caregivers and families. This can include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), integrative counselling, relationship counselling, family therapy, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Each therapeutic session will last from 30 minutes to 1 hour depending upon the abilities and needs of the individual/group, and will take place within the school.

Issues that can be addressed through the therapeutic process include relationship issues, parenting issues, coping with their child’s mental health/behavioural issues, domestic violence, communication issues, anger, self-esteem, confidence, assertiveness, anxiety, stress, phobias, OCD, depression, bereavement, eating disorders, abuse, trauma, PTSD, body image issues, self-harming, suicidal ideations, coping with difficult life issues such as illness, disability and pain, etc.

SERVICES TO ACCOMPANY THE THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT 

We will provide reports, plans, advice and support for the Headteacher, SLT members, SENCOs, LMs/TAs, teachers on how they can best support the needs of the parents/families in question where appropriate and agreed to by the parents/families. We will produce referral reports and refer the parents/families on for additional specialised professional support where appropriate. We will attend multi-agency meetings, case conferences, etc. where appropriate and possible.

FAMILY DROP-IN CLINIC

We can run a drop-in clinic for parents and caregivers to come along and discuss any issues they may have. We will provide key tips and strategies to deal with the issue that they bring on the day. This would provide a “triage” point, enabling us to identify families in need and signpost accordingly.

FAMILY DROP-IN CLINIC

We can facilitate a support group for parents and caregivers of children with specific issues, such as behavioural difficulties, to allow parents to offload, develop strategies, and learn from and support each other. This would provide a “triage” point, enabling us to identify families in need and signpost accordingly.

GROUP EMOTIONAL LIFE SKILLS AND PARENTING SKILLS WORKSHOPS 

These workshops aim to give parents and caregivers an emotional life skills toolbox and a parenting skills toolbox to draw on for the rest of their lives. However, the workshops will be given positive and empowering names to improve engagement and to reduce any sense of stigma in relation to attending.

Topics can include key parenting skills, anger management, stress management, anxiety management, building self-esteem, being confident and assertive, work-life balance, communication skills, relationship skills, coping with bereavement, coping with your or your child’s disability or chronic illness, decision-making skills, problem solving skills, coping with difficult life events, drug and alcohol awareness, domestic violence awareness, awareness of children’s emotional wellbeing, mental health issues and learning disabilities (including anxiety, behavioural issues, and ADHD) and how to better support their children. We can also run focus groups with parents/caregivers to identify what topics they would like such workshops to cover.

Our standard costing is based upon a group of up to 10 parents/caregivers. However, we can provide similar workshops for larger groups and can provide a price for this where required.

RESEARCH

Research of both a qualitative and quantitative nature can be conducted with your pupils’ families on a variety of topic areas to meet your school’s needs.

Sector C – Services for Senior Leaders & Their Staff

INDIVIDUAL THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT 

This can include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based therapy, integrative counselling, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), relationship counselling and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Each therapeutic session will last 45 minutes and will take place at our offices in Sheffield or via phone, Facetime, Skype or email.

Issues that can be addressed through the therapeutic process include anger, self-esteem, confidence, assertiveness, anxiety, stress, phobias, OCD, depression, bereavement, eating disorders, abuse, trauma following a critical incident, PTSD, body image issues, self-harming, suicidal ideations, chronic fatigue/ME, sleep disturbance, coping with difficult life issues such as divorce, illness, disability, pain, domestic violence, etc.

INDIVIDUAL & GROUP PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COACHING

We can provide one-to-one professional development coaching for individual Headteachers and individual SLT members at our offices or via phone, Facetime or Skype. Each individual coaching session lasts 45 minutes. We can also provide group professional development coaching at a school’s SLT meetings.

Coaching can address areas such as leadership, management skills, effective communication, team building, dealing with conflict, reaching decisions, change management, and dealing with difficult staff behaviours.

We can provide certificates indicating the numbers of hours of professional development coaching attended by staff for CPD purposes.

ADVICE & SUPPORT CONSULTATIONS 

We can meet with Headteachers, SLT members and/or SENCOs in an individual school or across the family of schools to provide any advice, guidance and support that is required in relation to mental health, wellbeing and resilience, either in terms of individual cases or in terms of whole school/family of schools strategies, policies and protocols. We can also provide this via phone, email, Facetime or Skype.

SUPERVISION

We can provide individual and/or group supervision for SENCOs, LMs, TAs, and Pastoral staff allowing them to debrief, discuss practical solutions to the day to day issues they face and further their key skills and competencies. These can take place at our offices or at a school or via phone, Facetime or Skype. They can be for an individual school or across the family of schools. We can provide certificates indicating the numbers of hours of supervision attended for CPD purposes.

CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS MANAGEMENT (CISM) CONSULTANCY

We can provide:

- schools with our innovative training course on CISM.

- emergency advice for a school should a critical incident occur.

- group debriefing and defusing services following a critical incident.

- one-to-one therapeutic support at our offices for individual staff undergoing traumatic responses following a critical incident. 

TRAINING

We can provide a wide range of training courses, short workshops and talks targeted to the needs of senior leaders and/or staff members, which relate to:

  • personal effectiveness, emotional and psychological wellbeing, and resilience for senior leaders and their staff members
  • professional development for senior leaders and their staff members
  • understanding how to support children and young people with emotional wellbeing issues, short-term mental health issues and psychological disorders
  • understanding the psychological impact of life issues on children and young people.

We can offer any of our current courses or develop bespoke courses to meet the needs of each school or the family of schools.

We can deliver such courses within an individual school or for certain staff across a family of schools at meetings, twilights and Inset days either at an individual school or by arranging an alternative venue for you. We can provide CPD certificates indicating the number of hours of training attended.

RESEARCH

Research of both a qualitative and quantitative nature can be conducted with your staff on a variety of topic areas to meet your school’s needs, such as employee satisfaction, employee wellbeing and work-life balance.

How STEPS4WARD Can Benefit Your School

The STEPS4WARD programme can help schools to:

  • work, learn and develop together
  • raise the bar for good practice in mental health provision in schools across the city and nationally
  • become emotionally intelligent and resilient as a whole
  • achieve their vision, mission statement and core values
  • meet relevant Ofsted criteria in terms of senior leadership, classroom provision and pastoral provision and move towards becoming ‘outstanding’ in all areas
  • create a world class workforce for children and their families that are well-informed, skilled, healthy and resilient
  • enhance staff members’ abilities to contribute to national and local agendas
  • add to staff members’ CPD, thus enabling them to bring further knowledge, skill sets and competencies to their school
  • enhance teaching skills and improve the quality of teaching
  • enhance behaviour management skills
  • develop and/or enhance staff members’ personal effectiveness skills
  • raise the aspirations and attainment of staff
  • strengthen leadership and management
  • improve staff performance, working relationships, wellbeing, resilience and work-life balance
  • enable senior leaders and staff to cope with change within the sector
  • enable senior leaders and staff to respond effectively to Ofsted inspections
  • improve their preventative and early intervention strategies to safeguard the well-being of pupils
  • remove psychological barriers to learning, attainment and aspiration within their cohort of pupils
  • identify and address emotional wellbeing, short-term mental health issues and behavioural issues sooner
  • create more opportunities to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families
  • improve pupil transition from primary to secondary school
  • improve pupils’ behaviour, readiness to learn and attendance
  • raise the aspirations and attainment of pupils
  • accelerate pupil progress
  • enable pupils to improve their emotional wellbeing and resilience and cope with transitions
  • engage parents and caregivers in their children’s development, emotional wellbeing and learning
  • improve parental aspiration, confidence, wellbeing and resilience
  • influence the quality of life in the homes of their pupils
  • reduce the level of demand for other agencies, such as CAMHS.

For more information, please click here for the flyer or contact us

at collinsdonnelly@talktalk.net or on 0114 4733300.

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