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.

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 Food Bank Voucher Here!

As a school we are now able to give parents and carers a foodbank voucher for your nearest Trussell Trust Food Bank if you need emergency food. This doesn’t include the privately run foodbanks.

We will need to pass on some basic information about you in order for the food bank to understand why you need support and to ensure you are given the right emergency food. If you would like to talk this through or you would like to request a voucher then please contact the school directly and ask for Michele Haigh, Family Support Lead or alternatively email Michele.haigh@oaktreeschoolcornwall.co.uk.

More information on the Trussell Trust can be found here.

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.