Family Support

My name is Michele and I am the Senior Parent and family support lead at Oak Tree School. I have been at Oak Tree School since October 2018 when I started as a Teaching Assistant. I am honoured to be given the opportunity to do this really important job for the school and I am extremely proud to say I work here.

I have worked with young people and families for over 15 years within the youth offending team, drug and alcohol services and in schools. When I am not working I enjoy spending time with my family in the outdoors, playing tennis and I love baking!

As a Parent and family support lead I am available to support with a wide range of matters to include:

Home routines
Behaviour
Emotional well being
General issues regarding children
Support with completing forms/attending meetings
Signposting to other agencies or help to access information about services in the area

These are just examples and my door is always open! I am available to have an informal chat to discuss your needs and to help you to get the support that is right for you and your family. Equally, if you have any ideas yourself or feedback that would add value to what we already provide at school with family support then please let me know I would love to hear about it!

You can contact me on the school number 01872 264221 or by email Michele.Haigh@oaktreeschoolcornwall.co.uk

My name is Kiah, and I am a Parent and family Support Worker here at Oak Tree School. I am very excited to begin this new journey and work as part of a great team doing such an important role within the school. I have cared for and supported young people and their families for 4 years in my previous role working in a day nursery.

When I am not at work, one of my favourite things to do is take my dog for walks on the beach with a hot chocolate. I also enjoy reading and spending time with my family!

As a Parent and family Support Worker, I can provide support with a wide range of matters that range from transport queries, attendance, signposting to external agencies, assessing family’s needs on an individual basis and helping to develop support plans when needed.

Hi – My name is Rob and I have just started my adventure here at Oak Tree School as a parent and family support worker. I have a long history of support roles, both as a police officer (in Hertfordshire) and within colleges in Cornwall as part of the safeguarding response. I come to the school from my role as a team leader with a charity supporting victims of sexual and domestic violence. I have also been a youth Rugby coach and spent 20+ years within scouting primarily as an Assistant County Commissioner.

I am excited about the role and hope all of these life experiences can help to support the students and their families to gain the most from their time with the school.

I moved to Cornwall after retiring from the police in 2012 with my family, I have 6 children and currently 5 grandchildren and love being together with them. I also love travelling and am always planning the next adventure.

Interesting fact to finish with – I attended a Queens Garden party (few years ago now) due to recognition of my work within scouting.

My name is Nancy Richards, and I am one of the Family Support Worker’s at Oak Tree School. I am looking forward to working within the team and getting to know the families we support.

I have worked within mainstream school previously as a Pastoral Manager and Reflection Manager. When I am not working, I enjoy sea swimming, walking my dogs, spending time with my children and knitting.

As a Parent and Child Support Worker I am available to support with attendance, accessing external support and general issues regarding your child.

Please feel free to contact me with any concerns or questions.

SPACE – Supporting parents and children emotionally

SPACE is a new free programme for any parent and carer who wants to better understand and support their children’s emotions as well as their own.

To book contact the school and ask for Michele Haigh- Family Support Lead

Request A Grocery Bag Here!

The Family Support team are excited to announce that we now have our very own school pantry in place to support our families and young people. The school pantry is being supported by MCKS Charitable Foundation.

How do parents/families access this?

You can request a grocery bag through your child’s tutor team or the family support team. Please see the email contacts below.

The family support team will then put together a grocery bag that can be sent home with the young person or given to the you if you collect your child from school.

Is there a limit on how often a family can request a grocery bag?

We want this to be a facility that all parents and carers can access and particularly in times of need. However, we have no way of telling how quickly supplies will last between the deliveries to school, so this will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

What will be included in the grocery bag?

Dried foods, tins, cereal/cereal bars, pasta, long life milk, cooking sauces etc and on occasions we will get toiletries. We cannot, however, accept requests, a grocery bag will be made up of a variety of the foods listed above.

For more information please contact: 01872 264221

familysupport@oaktreeschoolcornwall.co.uk

Oak Tree School are proud to announce that we achieved the Leading Parent Partnership Award in April 2023.

What is LPPA?

The Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) is a national award that shows our commitment to Parents, carers and our community. The award is recognised by the DFES and externally validated.

What we had to do to achieve the award

Oak Tree School had to work towards meeting 9 different objectives to achieve this award as below:

The school demonstrates a commitment to work toward the LPPA
The school makes and implements effective plans to achieve and maintain LPPA
The school is a welcoming and friendly place for parents/carers
The school promotes an awareness of and participation in lifelong learning opportunities available in school and the community to all groups of parents & carers.
The school actively promotes enrichment opportunities or events for joint parent-child participation.
The school provides good induction for all parents & carers
The school provides parents/carers with relevant and user-friendly guidance and information to help them support their children’s learning
The school produces and implements parent carers friendly policies to establish effective home-school links and improve pupils/student attendance, punctuality, behaviour and progress and positive participation in school
The school provides good support for transition for parents/carers when their children Leave Oak Tree school
The school evaluates performance against the LPPA objectives and key performance indicators

What are the benefits of gaining the award?

Improve student attendance
Behaviour & Progress
Increased parental participation and engagement
Key parental support for children’s learning
Improved home & school communication

The LPPA provides a challenging framework to enable schools to strengthen their partnership with parents and carers. It is a developmental process which, through the involvement of parents, aims to enhance children’s life chances at all stages from nursery to secondary. The Award is a key tool for school self-evaluation, complements the standards required by Ofsted, Investors in People and other national awards and provides ongoing evidence relevant to the school Self Evaluation Form (SEF).

What can families do to help our partnership?

Read all letters and publicity we send out
Come along to our events if you can—a mix of online and face to face.
Complete any questionnaires or surveys we send out.
Talk to us about any ideas you have to make Oak Tree School even better

Thank you to all our parents and carers for your support, without your feedback, attendance to events and honest and open conversations, we could not have achieved this.

We will continue to work with you to develop our communication and partnership and will be reassessed in 3 years time. If you have any suggestions about helping us to improve then please contact Michele Haigh who is our LPPA coordinator.