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St Richard'sCE Primary School
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Helping Hand
Before you go any further...
If you are in financial difficulties and do not have enough food to feed your family please come straight to the school office where you will be able to access our own Food Store.
For more information go to our Food Store Page by clicking here:
Welcome to our Help Page!
We are gathering links to information for children and families, including information on staying safe and wellbeing. Have a look below if you need any help – if you cannot find what you need, please contact us.
What ever your child's difficulties or experiences we want to help as early as possible
Please click here to go to the AfC Early Help and Intervention page for more information about the ways in which AfC's Early Help team may be able to help your family.
Help for children
Self-care of the summer holidays...
The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families has prepared an excellent resource for self-care.
Since the lockdown started back in March 2020, the impact on mental health and wellbeing for all has been significant. Vulnerable children and young people will need all the help they can get to come back to education in September with a sense of wellbeing. This resource is easily accessible and includes a crisis contact line families can use.
Click here to go to the Anna Freud Centre self care pack
In Safe Hands
Some of our local friends have put together this online magazine. It is called In Safe Hands and includes lots of tips about staying in touch and feeling good in Lockdown. Why not click here and take a look.
Staying Safe online
Messaging friends online and sharing pics is fun and a great way to link up out of school but it is very important to make sure that people who you don’t know do not get hold of any of your information.
If you are concerned about online abuse you can report it here or go to https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/
If you have concerns that a child is being sexuallly abuse on line go to Internet Watch Foundation for more information and to report your concerns.
The links below will help you to stay safe online – and you can always ask your teacher or school adult via Google Classroom or in school if you need help!
ThinkUKnow – click here if you are 5-7 years old
ThinkUKnow – click here if you are 8-10 years old
ThinkUKnow – click here if you are 11-13 years old
Childline – it's for for everyone! Just click here.
www.childline.org.uk comforts, advises and protects children 24 hours a day and offers free confidential counselling. Phone 0800 1111 (24 hours) Chat 1-2-1 with a counsellor online.
If you are feeling worried you could visit KOOTH, an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people https://www.kooth.com/
If you are feeling frightened in your home because of someone’s behaviour, call the Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
If you are in immediate danger call the Police on 999. If you can’t talk out loud the police operate a Silent Solution, call 999 and then press 55. The police will come and help you.
If you see something criminal online (or offline) you can report it 100% anonymously at www.fearless.org
Help for families
For the following issues please click to get the help you need.
Worried about a child?
To report your concern click here. This will take you the Single Point of Access where you can report your concern to Richmond and/or Kingston Children's Services.
Struggling Financially?
There are lots of organisations that can help you with this.
Please do not feel you are the only family struggling in these difficult times. We are here to help but there are also many sources of financial and practical support available to Richmond borough residents. If you need any help, due to Covid-19 or other factors in your life, speak to one of these organisations:
Richmond AID and Citizens Advice Richmond
Richmond Aid and Citizens Advice work together to assess resident’s needs, offer advice as well as financial assistance to support with food, utilities and other winter pressures.
Homestart supports families who are struggling financially and facing food, fuel poverty or who are struggling to meet their housing costs. They will assess the needs of families they are supporting and provide swift and easy access to funding.
The River Bank Trust supports vulnerable families in Ham and can help families with food, utilities and other winter pressures.
Crossroads Care Richmond and Kingston Upon Thames
Their grant will be used to meet immediate needs amongst individuals and families who are struggling to afford food, utilities and other essentials over the winter months with a specific focus on support for carers and the people they care for.
This is a temporary fund, made available by the Council, to assist households with children who have been affected by the COVID-19 situation, have had their normal income disrupted and have had to claim Universal Credit. The fund can help households by providing support with groceries in the form of supermarket vouchers.
Attend their pay as upi feel cage for a hot lunch, salads, soup etc and bring a bag for surplus food to take home. Open Mon, Wed and Fri 11.30-13.30 @ Rosslyn Road TW1 2AR.
DEFRA emergency assistance grant
Richmond AID and Citizens Advice Richmond (CAR) may be able to help with a grant for food and essentials. This grant can support people who are struggling to afford food and other essentials due to COVID-19, subject to available funds up to 31 March 2021. The fund is for residents of Richmond who have reduced pay, lost their job, benefit issues, struggling to afford food or have extra costs as a result of COVID-19.
For those residents in receipt of welfare benefits, there are crisis grants available to help in an emergency for household items, food and baby essentials.
No recourse to Public Funds Hardship Fund
We will make awards available from the Covid-19 Hardship Fund, which does not count as public funds, to Richmond residents whose income has been affected by Covid-19 and have no recourse to public funds. The fund can help households by providing support with groceries in the form of supermarket vouchers.
Domestic Abuse
We are part of the Operation Encompass Project which means the Met Police liaise with our Child Protection Office/Designated Safeguarding Lead, prior to the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident; this enables us to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by these children, or their families.
Local Help
https://www.richmond.gov.uk/one_stop_shop - The One Stop Shop is a weekly drop-in for anyone who has experienced domestic abuse in Richmond upon Thames and is run by Refuge.
https://www.kingston.gov.uk/DVhub - The Kingston DV Hub supports Kingston residents who are experiencing domestic violence
Below are links to some other useful websites which offer information and support to anyone experiencing domestic abuse.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-and-domestic-abuse/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse – the latest Government advice and support site.
www.womensaid.org.uk –provides information on domestic abuse and also has a ‘Survivor’s Handbook’ which is free and provides information for women on a wide range of issues, such as housing, money, helping your children, and your legal rights. ‘The Hide Out’, created by Women’s Aid, is a space to help children and young people understand abuse. It also helps them learn how to take positive action.
https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/Contact-us and https://www.refuge.org.uk Refuge provides specialist support to women, children and some men escaping domestic violence and other forms of violence. Refuge’s specialist services include refuges, independent advocacy, community outreach projects, culturally specific services and the 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline.
https://mensadviceline.org.uk/ – advice and suport for men experiencing domestic abuse.
https://www.relate.org.uk/relationship-help/talk-someone – you can speak to someone about your relationship, including issues around domestic abuse. Also provides counselling for children.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/domestic-abuse/– provides information on domestic abuse and also where to seek support for adults as well as children.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/getting-help-for-domestic-violence/ – provides information on domestic abuse, how to seek help and provides further helplines.
www.victimsupport.org.uk- if you’ve witnessed or been a victim of a crime, you can talk to Victim Support on their free and confidential helpline 0808 1689 111.
Keeping your child safe from abuse online
Children are spending a lot more time online – do you know who they are talking to?
The following resources are very useful for parents, carers and children:
Thinkuknow provides advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on staying safe online.
Parent info is a collaboration between Parentzone and the NCA providing support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations.
Childnet offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support.
Internet matters provides age-specific online safety checklists, guides on how to set parental controls on a range of devices, and a host of practical tips to help children get the most out of their digital world.
London Grid for Learning has support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online, including tips to keep primary aged children safe online.
Net-aware has support for parents and carers from the NSPCC, including a guide to social networks, apps and games.
Let’s Talk About It has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
Need help with you or your child's mental health?
For urgent mental health support Click here.
Samaritans
If you are having a difficult time the Samaritans may be able to offer help: Call for free:116 123 from any phone or click here.
Children and Adolescent Mental Health team
Click here to get find out more about CAMHS
Young Minds Online and helpline support for anyone worried about the emotional wellbeing or mental health of a young person aged 0-25
The Good Thinking is an NHS-approved website developed by the Healthy London Partnership provides a range of useful guidance and online apps to support mental health and wellbeing. This resource is funded and endorsed by the NHS and is focused on supporting cognition, anxiety and low mood.
For information and support regarding mental health try clicking here to get to MIND
For Bereavement advice for you or your child
Need Help with family life?
Click here to get to Family lives, an organisation that offers a free help line, support and advice on any aspect of parenting and family life – they have volunteers working from home 9am-9pm Mon-Fri and 10am-3pm Sat/Sun 0808 800 2222
For help with substance misuse or addiction
For support with addiction click here.
For support with alcoholism try going to Alcoholics Anonymous or click here for other help.