Pastoral Support
Mendip Green Primary School is a family school. We believe strongly in caring for our children, families and wider community. As part of our School Based Early Help offer, our Pupil Family Support Workers support parents and children both in and out of school.
Lorraine Young, Sarah Handcock and Angie Griggs are our Pupil and Family Support Workers. This pastoral role includes working closely with children, parents/carers, staff and outside agencies to ensure the well-being of individual pupils is fully supported.
For the child, they are someone supportive to talk to, share successes with, or to provide help with difficulties or worries. They offer a 'safe' place and work with children to raise self-esteem, remove barriers to learning and thus allow children to reach their full potential.
For the parents/carers, they offer a listening ear, can share positive parenting skills, lend resources and, where needed, refer families to external agencies for more in-depth advice.
Some of the areas we can offer support includes:
- Domestic Abuse
- Bereavement
- Low-self esteem
- Food issues
- Loss and Separation
- Conflict resolutions
- Routines at home
- Online Safety
- Healthy Relationships
- Understanding identity
- Friendships in school
- Anxiety and Emotional Wellbeing
- Transition between classes
- Transition between schools
- Attendance
- Young Carers
- Hygiene and self care
- Self Harm
Identified children can have the opportunity to spend designated periods with Mrs Handcock or Mrs Young on a 1:1 basis or within a small group to share information confidentially or talk through issues that concern them.
What are the benefits for pupils?
- Improved motivation
- Raised self-esteem
- Increased confidence
- Reduced challenging behaviour
- Developed social skills
- Coping skills
- Knowing what safe behaviour is
- Increased positive attitudes
- Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Establishing and maintaining friendships
- Empathy for others
- Reach full learning potential
- Manage their own feelings successfully
Free School Meals
Free School Meals
There are two schemes for free school meals:
- universal infant free school meals for all children in EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 – you do not need to apply for these meals. Children are automatically entitled to them
- free school meals for people on qualifying benefits – you will need to apply for these
If you claim qualifying benefits and your child is entitled to universal infant school meals, you should still apply for free school meals so:
- you are eligible for other financial assistance for items such as school trips
- the school can receive funding for the free school meals
The local authority have details of support available for free meals during school holidays.
Qualifying benefits for free school meals
Your child will be entitled to free school meals if you get any of these benefits:
- income support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on, paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit with annual take home pay/met earnings below £7,400 (which equals £616.67 per month) benefits not included
How to apply
Free school meals entitlement is for the child, not the family, so you will need to apply for each child when they start school.
If your child is starting school in September, you should apply during the summer holidays as an application cannot be dealt with by the authority any earlier. Applying too early could result in your application being removed.
If you are moving into North Somerset from another area you will need to apply.
You will need your National insurance number to apply.
Follow the link to apply for free school meals through North Somerset Local Authority.
What will happen if my child is eligible for Free School Meals?
- If your child is eligible you will be able to download an eligibility letter from North Somerset to confirm this.
- If you require free school meals immediately, please bring this letter to school to show us - you can print it, download it or screenshot it and show a member of the admin team in the school office.
- Remember to keep a copy of the letter in case we need see it again in the future.
- We will will also be notified by the local authority of any new eligible pupils via a report. This may take up to 10 working days, so please do download your eligibility letter so your child can start receiving their free meals immediately.
- Under the current rules, eligibility will last until the end of your child's time with us in Year 6.
Please do not re-apply at any point whilst your child is with us at Mendip Green as you may lose your entitlement based on a new assessment.
What can I do if my application is not successful?
- If your application isn’t successful, check your National Insurance number and try again.
- If this doesn’t work, select the ‘referral’ button to let the local authority know what benefits you are on - they will contact you to ask you for evidence.
- During this time, please get in touch if you require any support or advice - we are here for you.
When to reapply
Due to the roll-out of Universal Credit, all pupils who are currently eligible for free school meals will be protected until the end of the primary, secondary or sixth form school they are currently in.
This means:
- You will not need to reapply until your child leaves Mendip Green at the end of Year 6 – please do not reapply as you may lose your entitlement.
- If your child moves school before the end of Year 6, please email in to fsm@n-somerset.gov.uk and so the local authority can update your free school meals record for you – please do not reapply as you may lose your entitlement.
- If your child's homes address changes, please email fsm@n-somerset.gov.uk so the local authority can update your free school meals record.
- During the summer holiday before your child starts secondary school, you can reapply for Free School Meals to ensure they have their entitlement when they start in Year 7.
We will update this page should the guidance change.
Goodwill at Mendip Green
We know that the cost of the weekly shop is going up at the moment and it is likely that energy prices are going to rise significantly in the coming months.
We are engaging with local supermarkets and Weston Foodbank to ensure that our ‘Goodwill Shelf’ is fully-stocked and ready to support our families.
If you are struggling to make ends meet, or you know somebody who is, PLEASE take whatever you need.
The shelf is in our entrance foyer and accessible from 7.15am to 6pm. No questions asked. Just turn up and fill some bags.
We are also able to support families by:
- helping you apply for Free School Meals
- providing Foodbank vouchers
- supporting with uniform
- offering payment plans and support for trips and events
If it is easier, you can email support@mendipgreen.extendlearning.org
Your email will be seen by a limited number of pastoral staff, who will treat it with confidence. We can even deliver food to your house if it helps.
PLEASE don’t struggle alone or think that someone else’s need is greater. We have enough resources to support everybody.
Food Bank
If you are ever worried where your next meal is going to come from, are going without meals so that your children can eat or finding it hard to feed your family, there is support available for you.
Please speak to our Pupil Family Support Workers or any other member of staff who you feel comfortable discussing your worries with.
If it is easier, you can email us at support@mendipgreen.extendlearning.org. Your email will be seen by a limited number of pastoral staff, who will treat it with confidence.
As a school we are able to issue food bank vouchers for you and your family. During the holidays, we can issue food bank vouchers just to cover the meals your children would usually have received at school.
Please note that food bank vouchers are signed and authorised by the Designated Safeguarding Lead, and therefore cannot be handed out immediately. However we will always get this to you as soon as we can. We are now able to issue foodbank vouchers via email and over the phone by giving you a code.
If you are in need of extra help during this difficult time we are here for you!
Please send us an email for more info or to request vouchers.
Email: support@mendipgreen.extendlearning.org
In the email please include:
- Your full name and address
- How many people live in your household and the ages of these people
- If you have valid ID that you can take to the food bank (recent utility bill is accepted)
- Brief reason as to why you require vouchers
All of the above are required for us to complete the application online for you.
Uniform Support
Should you find that you need help or assistance with uniform, please contact Lorraine Young or Sarah Handcock via the school office or speak to your child's class teacher..
You can also contact us confidentially via support@mendipgreen.extendlearning.org.
How can we help in school?
- We have a number of uniform items in school which we can be given to families (branded and unbranded).
- Each term we put unnamed lost property on tables for families to take what they need.
- All stationery is provided by the school.
- Book bags are provided to all new EYFS starters as a gift from our PTA.
- We can support you by providing water bottles and branded book bags (Year 1 and Year 2).
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Families regularly offer uniform for free or a few pounds when it is in good condition but their child has grown out of it.