Pastoral Team

Our pastoral team are available on a daily basis to support children and parents/carers. In our team we have  Mrs Goymer -SENDCO who is available three days per week to support children with SEN. Mrs Goymer is passionate about supporting children and families. Please contact the school office to book an appointment with her. Mrs Goymer organises Coffee Mornings and this is an ideal opportunity to put any ideas forward you may have or to discuss any issues with her and other members of the pastoral team.

Mrs Nicholls is our Children's Wellbeing Lead and is available Monday-Thursday. She is trained in a Restorative Approach to managing children's behaviour. This is a very empowering and solution focused approach to dealing with conflict and helps children to accept responsibility for their actions and to reach a solution together. Good communications skills are at the heart of this approach. Mrs Nicholls supports children to deal with difficult emotions and has also supported children through bereavement/separation and anxiety. She also carries out group work with children in school.

Miss Prendergast is our Senior Learning Mentor and has a wealth of experience of supporting children with SEN & Social & Emotional Mental Health (SEMH). She is trained in ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) which supports children with regulating their emotions, self esteem and confidence.She is trained in Lego-Based Therapy which supports children to build thier communication and friendship skills. She is a Wellbeing Champion for children and is passionate about supporting them with their mental health.  Miss Prendergast is also trained in mental health First Aid for adults and children and is a real assest to the pastoral team. 

Mr Hemraj is a class teacher and our School Restorative Behaviour Lead. He works closely with parents and staff to support pupils in managing their behaviour and in achieving their social, emotional and behaviour targets.  

Esther Finn is the Pastoral Manager and works closely with all of our colleagues in the pastoral team to support children and families across our school community. Between us we can offer a range of support for children and parents including......advice on managing children's behaviour, support with attendance,  mental health advice and signposting, bereavement support for children in school, applications for funding to support parents/Foodbank referrals, applications for White Goods. Esther has supported parents by applying for the Household Support Fund. She often attends meetings with parents and outside agencies. She also can also make referrals to agencies such as School Nurse Team, Forward Thinking (who help with children's emotional development) and Homestart (who can offer practical support in the home). 

In addition to the above, we have a counselling service here in school for children twice per week. Twotentherapy have worked here at Court Farm Primary for over 5 years. They have kindly extended their service to offer free counselling to parents/carers who have a child in our school. Please see below for further details.

All of the staff in the pastoral team are DSL 's (designated safeguarding leads) and can offer guidance and support on safeguarding matters.

We are a very friendly team and always happy to help. We can arrange a confidential telephone call, Teams meeting or an appointment here in school if you prefer. Please get in touch if you need support.

News

ASD/ADHD

Nora Young from Brewsters Education runs a support group for parents who have a child with ASD/ADHD. Last year Nora delivered a 10 week course here at Court Farm Primary for parents and children and provided so much useful information and support. Nora gave advice to parents on managing children’s behaviour but also worked directly with the children and gave them tools to help them to regulate their emotions. Nora has kindly offered to run another course for us here at school. Please contact Esther if you are interested and your name will be placed on a waiting list.

BENEFIT ADVICE

Many thanks to Abdul Hye from the DWP who held a support session on Benefit Advice on 17th October here in school. This was very well attended and so many parents/carers were advised they were not receiving their correct entitlement. Abdul has kindly offered ongoing support to Court Farm so please contact Esther if you need support with this and she can forward your query on to him.

HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT FUND/SUPPORT

The Household Support Fund has started up again.Please note, you will not be entitled to this funding if you have received it in the last 12 months. Parents/carerscan apply directly on https://www.bvsc.org/hsf.Alternatively, please contact Esther if you need support with this.

Please note this scheme has now closed but may re-open later in the year and we will keep you informed.

COUNSELLING SUPPORT FOR PARENTS

Twotentherapy offer free counselling to parents/carers who have a child at Court Farm Primary. They can offer support on a wide range of issues including bereavement/depression/low mood/addiction/childhood trauma and domestic abuse. They offer their counselling service in person, on the telephone or on Zoom. Please contact Esther if you would like a referral made.

DREAM TEAM

Birmingham City Council have set up this new scheme in collaboration with local businesses to help families by providing new beds and bedding. Please contact Esther who can make an application on your behalf if you need this support.

Please note this support will pause on 15th December and start again in January 2024.This scheme runs until 31st March 2024.

THE SAFE SLEEP SCHEME

There is a new Safe Sleep Scheme which recently launched to help babies and toddlers to sleep safe. The scheme offers parents/carers free items includinig:Cots, Travel Cots, Moses Baskets, Toddler Beds, Sterilisers, Baby Gates and Changing Mats. Please contact Esther for further details.

This scheme runs until 31st March 2024.Please note this scheme has now closed but may re-open later in the year and we will keep you informed.

FOODBANK

Our local Foodbank (who we work in partnership with) would like to thank the parents/carers and staff at Court Farm Primary for our recent donations to their organisation. We will be doing an appeal again soon to support this very valuable charity in our community.

EVENTS

Thanks to the Parent Fundraising Group who organised 2 Walk and Talk events for parents in the community recently.  Esther also took part in the event. The benefits of walking are well known both for physical and mental health and we are hoping to make this a regular event if there is enough interest from parents/carers.

TRAINING FOR PARENTS/GRANDPARENTS/CARERS

The Clewer Initiative is offering free online training on 28th February for parents, grandparents and carers around County Lines. This workshop will help adults to understand County Lines and the risk this poses to children and young people. It will help you to identify signs that children may be involved and where to seek support from. Please register for this event on: https://www.evenbrite.co.uk/e/understanding-county-lines-for-parents-guardians-

WOMEN WITH ADHD

There is a new support group starting in Erdington for Women with ADHD or suspected. This often goes undiagnosed and with more information available now, many women are realising they may have this condition. This group will explore how it affects women and learn what strategies can help.

Nora Young from Brews Education is passionate about supporting people with ADHD and she is running this support group (free) for the local community. 

It starts on 10th April and runs until 15th June every Wednesday 1-2.30pm in the Community Room at Erdington Leisure Centre. For more information: please contact Nora on 0731 167485-contactus@brewseducation.org