Early intervention helped two York pupils return to school after dealing with the effects of domestic violence, poor housing and bereavement, those working in the field have heard.

At the launch of the organisation’s latest Early Help Strategy, details of the work from teachers and others in York’s Safeguarding Children Partnership - which meant the girls were able to return to school - was shared.

City of York Council’s children lead Martin Kelly told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the strategy aimed to tackle problems before they escalate and require more serious intervention.

It comes after representatives of the council, North Yorkshire Police, the NHS and charities gathered on Friday, September 27 to discuss how they could work together to help struggling children.

Topics included the police’s work to divert young people away from criminal behaviour, how GPs and other health professionals can help families and their children and helping them at school.

The meeting heard the pupils, whose identities were not disclosed, were helped after their attendance started slipping at school and intervention efforts began.

Professionals intervened to help a girl in Year One after her attendance fell to 79 per cent.

They found that she and her mother suffered from separation anxiety due to their experience of domestic violence.

They were also found to have problems with damp in their home and the girl’s mother was also unaware of the importance of her child going to school every day.

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Her attendance increased to 96.5 per cent after the girl and her mother were put in touch with professionals.

Another Year Four pupil’s attendance dropped to 80.2 per cent after going through the death of her father and then her step-father in a six-year period.

Her mother suffered from mental health issues and the behaviour of an elder sibling was also causing problems at home.

Help from professionals including putting the family in touch with a bereavement charity resulted in the child’s attendance rising to 92 per cent.

Martin KellyMartin Kelly

Council children’s lead Mr Kelly told LDRS early help was becoming all the more important as more families fall into difficulties.

The director said: “Early help is about looking at a young person who starts coming to school looking dishevelled and tired for instance and sitting down with them and talking to them about what’s going on, rather than letting things escalate.

“If we then find out that they’re living in difficult conditions at home and they’re sharing their room with two or three of their siblings their teacher at school can bring in experts on housing or in other cases a social worker could be brought in and they spend time building up trust with them.

“We’re living in a society that’s increasingly suffering more poverty and families are finding it harder to manage.

“York probably hasn’t experienced this as much as other areas but we do have pockets of deprivation so we’re not immune.

“If you know someone who needs help with this then talk to them and go to a trusted professional, we’re in tough times so it’s really important to support our communities and reach out.”

More information about the Safeguarding Children Partnership including what to do about a child who may be struggling is available from the organisation here: https://www.saferchildrenyork.org.uk/ and from York Council here: https://www.york.gov.uk/EarlyHelp.