The School & Family Works and King's House Partnership

King’s House has been working in partnership with The School & Family Works since 2017. The School & Family Works are a social enterprise utilising an evidence-based multi-family therapy model, creating Family Group (FG) communities of up to eight families in schools whose children are struggling at school because they are unable or unwilling to engage with the services that the school offers.

In almost all cases, the children come from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds and many of their families have experience of some trauma, poverty, mental or physical health issues, domestic violence, addiction, or involvement with the criminal justice system. These under-resourced families also struggle with systemic challenges, such as cuts to early intervention or community support services, long waiting lists for mental health services, racism, and inadequate housing provision.

Aims

To improve the outcomes of disadvantaged children in the local community.

Background

King’s House set up a bursary fund around 10 to 12 years ago, but struggled to identify suitable candidates who would be willing to travel from outside their normal catchment, and this made socialising harder for them. The school, therefore, started to review its community support work. KH was looking for ways to impact a wider range of pupils and those most in need, and enhance children’s educational experience in the broadest way possible. Fortuitously, at that time the school was put in touch with The School & Family Works (SFW), a social enterprise led by Mark Griffiths.

King’s House has been supporting a Family Group (FG) since 2017, and a governor visited a FG in one of the partner schools and was extremely impressed by the work they’re doing.

Resources

King’s House makes a financial contribution to The School & Family Works each year, alongside the staff time crucial to the success of the partnership - including the Head, Bursar, and Governors.

Impact

The financial contribution KHS makes to SFW is also able to impact the outcomes of a wider number of pupils and their families than is possible through bursaries. Partnering with SFW provides an alternative way for independent schools to reach out and support the most vulnerable in their communities, and we are so pleased to be supporting the work they do.

The partnership has developed over the years, with SFW providing training for King’s House staff on pupil behaviour and communication skills to benefit our pupils. More recently, SFW has developed links between King’s House and a local primary school that is part of the SFW network, and we support them with their pastoral set-up and an apprenticeship scheme.

Pupil Involvement

Primary school aged pupils at partner school are impacted by the partnership, as well as children in each Family Group.

Frequency

Ongoing support since 2017, plans to continue indefinitely.