Supporting families

Resources you can use to support families who require extra help or support.

Mental Health and emotional wellbeing

The NHS provides 5 steps to mental wellbeing provides useful resources you can share with parents or carers if they need support themselves. You can also find information and links to other sources of support on the Sussex MSK NHS Partnership health and emotional wellbeing web page.

West Sussex wellbeing for parent carers offers emotional wellbeing and mental health support for parent carers.

Anna Freud is a mental health charity for children and families. They have a range of resources available to support families develop their emotional and mental health including:

Families can visit the following sites for health and wellbeing support and resources:

Integrated health and learning reviews

Progress check at age 2

When a child is aged between 2 and 3, practitioners must review their progress and provide parents or carers with a short written summary of their child’s development in the prime areas.

Beyond the prime areas, it is for practitioners to decide what the written summary should include, reflecting the development level and needs of the individual child.

The purpose of the progress check at age 2 is to:

  • identify the child’s progress, strengths and next steps in order to promote positive outcomes in health and wellbeing, learning and development
  • identify any support needs as early as possible and facilitate appropriate intervention and support for children and their families, especially those for whom progress is less than expected
  • generate information which can be used to plan services and contribute to the reduction of inequalities in children’s outcomes

For more information about the progress check at 2 years old visit GOV.UK.

Integrated reviews

An integrated review can be carried out at the progress check at age 2. This is where a practitioner carries out the check alongside a Healthy Child Programme practitioner, who is carrying out the child’s 2 year health screen with the parent and child.

You can find more information on the help for early years providers integrated reviews web page.

For details of the process and guidance on how to complete an integrated review in West Sussex, refer to the document below:

You can record Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) outcomes, whether or not an integrated review is taking place, on page 38a of the child’s ‘Red Book’ (Personal Child Health Record) or you can use the template below:

You can record an integrated review for a child in your setting using the template below:

Starting school questionnaire

Each autumn, early years settings will be provided with information about the process of applying for a school place by West Sussex County Council. We ask that this information is shared with parents or carers of children due to start school in the following academic year.

Further information about applying for a school place, including the deadline for applications, can be found on the starting school places web page.

You may wish to share the starting school questionnaire below with families to identify any needs that will further support the child and their family to be ready for school.

Using the questionnaire is optional, but all early years and childcare providers should work with families to identify any areas of need at the earliest opportunity in order to improve outcomes for the child.

Children’s Learning and Well-Being Audit

The aim of the Children’s Learning and Well-Being Audit (CLaWBA) is to improve children’s life chances by preparing them for school and their adult lives. For our youngest children this means to improve their readiness for school and ensure that their parents and carers are accessing early education as well as health and family support from Children’s Services.

Identifying those who are potentially more vulnerable at the earliest opportunity is essential to provide the right support at the right time to meet their needs and narrow any attainment gaps as early as possible. This is key to improving the opportunities and experiences children have through early years, school and into their adult lives.

The CLaWBA is designed to complement and enhance the work already undertaken by professionals working with early years children and their families giving a holistic view of the child and family need.

It should be used alongside the West Sussex Continuum of Need - Threshold Guidance to identify a child’s level of need and consider whether additional support may be necessary to help them achieve their potential and keep them safe.

The tools can be used to support you in identifying children who may be vulnerable to poorer outcomes and then planning the support that they need to narrow the attainment gap.

The information gathered is not collected by West Sussex, but you may wish to share it with other professionals when considering the support needs for a child and their family.

The following documents are provided to support early years and childcare providers in gathering information about individual children in order to identify need and plan next steps.

These documents can be printed or completed online:

Families in need of additional support

The sooner a family receives the right support, the sooner they are able to improve their situation, preventing the need for prolonged support.

Early Help includes support for parents-to-be and very young children. It describes interventions and support provided to families where:

  • their needs are not being met by routine or 'universal' services
  • they do not meet thresholds for statutory interventions

For support and advice for practitioners see our Early Help services web page.

Support for families who have a child with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Families can find information about support services available from our West Sussex Local Offer.

Accurate up to date and impartial information about the law on SEND is available on our SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS).

The West Sussex Parent Carer Forum (WSPCF) is a formal group of parents or carers of children with SEND. They work with the local authority, education settings, health providers and other providers to make sure that the services they commission, plan and deliver meet the needs of disabled children and families.

You can find out more on the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum website, or you can contact them by: