Merton Early Help offer; How can I get support?
Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life.
At Harris Academy Morden we recognise that early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children, than responding later and we offer a range of intervention as detailed below: If you would like your child to access any provision detailed below please speak to your child’s tutor, Faculty Coordinator or Mrs Edwards Designated Safeguarding Lead or send an email to: l.edwards@harrismorden.org.uk
Harris Academy Morden Pastoral Intervention offer:
Level 1: In-house support:
- Careers Advisor
- Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA)
- Emotional Regulation intervention
- Food parcels
- FSM uniform voucher
- Hardship fund for school uniform and shoes.
- Lego based Therapy (Social Communication programme)
- One to one support
- Phone-calls home by Tutor/Faculty Coordinator
- Mediation between students /between a child and their parent
- Meetings by Tutor/Faculty Coordinator
- Music therapy for those students who are anxious – Delivering support during breaks through playing the piano and offering music for them to listen to at home/play at home. – Ms O’Leary
- Part-time Timetable (individual support for a pupil – tailored to meet their specific need)
- PSHE, SMSC and Wellbeing programme
- Medical cards
- Safe space in school
- Safer Schools Police Officer
- Safety Plan: Initiate a plan to support the student to keep safe.
- Strengthening Minds /Life After Lockdown programme
- Team around the Child/Family meeting
- Truancy bus - support for parents who are struggling with their children who refuse to come to school in the morning.
- Welfare visits to family home
Provision by: Mrs Clark:
- One to one support for a vulnerable student.
- Anger management and emotional regulation workshops.
Provision provided by the Student Referral Centre (SRC)
- Anger Management workshop
- Girls support Group (Anxiety/mental health)
- Football Beyond Borders intervention
- Individual Intervention Plan
- ‘Loved Valued Able’ programme to concentrate on self-esteem/managing emotions (small group work).
- One to one friendship support group.
- One to one support and advice sessions –(Extended targeted sessions conducted with students completing long stay SRC)
- Pastoral Support Plan
- Peer mentoring
- Self-Esteem workshop
- Strengthening Minds programme (small group)
- Y7 Transition programme – (small group work)
Level 2: Early help:
- CATCH22 - work with young people and families in trouble, providing early intervention, targeted and specialist support services to those in crisis, leaving care, missing from home or with substance misuse or mental health problems
- Children Missing from Education
- Counsellor – in-house Catch22
- Free2B offer support to LGBTQ pupils and their families
- Glasshouse Project – for students with family members in prison or are victims of crime.
- Headlight Project – Delivering emotional resilience in schools.
- Jigsaw4u - bereavement and emotional support
- Life Course (London Fire brigade)
- Merton Medical Education Service (MMES) – for students struggling with significant medical or mental health needs
- My Futures Team (support young people aged 13-19 in Merton at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).
- Signpost families towards ‘One stop Shop’ which is a confidential service for people experiencing domestic violence or abuse in Merton. Venue: Morden Baptist church – 9.30-12noon every Monday.
- Referral to Rape Crisis South London (RASASC) for children who have suffered sexual abuse
- Off the Record counselling service
- Parenting programme
- School nurse – Elizabeth Opoku-Ware
- Social Worker in Schools Project – Alice George – Alice can offer support to any family residing in Merton.
- Spectra (Sexual health and emotional wellbeing).
- Young Carers
Level 3:
- Referral to Children’s social care (CSC) for targeted intervention. Student placed on a Child in Need Plan
- Contextual Safeguarding Intervention: Child Sexual Exploitation, Child Criminal Exploitation, Missing, Serious Youth violence.
- Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND):
- Educational Psychologist to consider whether an assessment of student’s SEND is required
- SENCo to complete an assessment for an Educational Health Care Plan (assessment of students SEND)
- Referral for a Speech and Language assessment
- Consultation with a CAMHS clinician for a student displaying mental health concerns.
- Referral to Child Adolescent Mental Health service (CAMHS) for a mental health or neurodevelopment assessment
- Youth Offending team intervention when a student receives a Youth referral order
- CAMHS crisis line number: 020 3228 5980 – Open between Monday -Friday 5 -11pm and Saturday – Sundays and Bank holidays 9am -11pm.
Level 4:
- Referral to (CSC) for targeted intervention requiring a student to be placed on a Child Protection Plan – DSL will attend every meeting on and off site. The student will be monitored closely, and the DSL will work as part of a multi-agency team to support the student and their family.
Local Safeguarding Partnership:
Please visit Merton’s Safeguarding Partnership (MSCP) for further information on how the Local Authority are working towards keeping residents and students who attend Merton Schools safe.
The Merton Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (MSCP) priorities for 2023-25 are: 
- Early Help
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Contextual Safeguarding
- Domestic Abuse
- Neglect
- Strong Leadership and Strong Partnership
The MSCP cross-cutting themes for 2023-25 are: 
- Voice of children, young people, and families
- Think Family
- Addressing disproportionality
- Pressures on families including cost-of-living and impact of Covid-19
- Learning from reviews & embedding reforms
