Care and Welfare

Named Person

The Named Person Service must be made available to all children from birth to 18 years of age.

As part of the school’s support system we have a legal obligation to make available an identified Named Person for every child and young person in our care. Your allocated Named Person for Primary School aged children is Mrs Lacey MacDonald, who is also the School Child protection Coordinator. The Deputy Child Protection Officer is Mrs Amy Brough.

If you have any wellbeing concerns about your child or any other child you would like to discuss with your Named Person, please do not hesitate to contact them on 01343 830281 or admin.hopemanp@moray-edunet.gov.uk . We look forward to working together in partnership with you and your family. For Nursery aged children, your named person is your Health Visitor.

During the holiday period the Named Person Service for school aged children will be covered by the Local Authority centrally. The Duty Named Persons can be contacted through the general enquiries line on 01343 563374 or via the generic e-mail address educationandsocialcare@moray.gov.uk.

As always if the Named Person is not available and there is a concern for a child, a call must be made to Duty Social Work on 01343 563900 (08457 565 656 out of office hours) and/or the Police on 101.

Dandelions Military Support

This is a 3 year funded project, through a £370,000 grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. The initiative is in partnership with RAF Lossiemouth, 39 Engineer Regiment and Moray Council, to support armed forces children in primary and secondary education from regular, reserve and veteran families.

Our school has received some of this funding to provide support, when needed, for children from a service personnel background. Mrs Hannah Taudevin is employed as our Pupil Support Worker to support our forces children during some of their time in school.

Our Dandelion Group supports children of regular, reservist and veteran parents. The support offered can be both academic and social.

The academic year 2023-2024 is the first year of this funding and at Hopeman School we have started a ‘Dandelion Club’ for pupils. This is an opportunity for our forces children to engage in social activities with other who may have similar experiences to them and to help develop friendships.

At the start of each term the young people create an ideas board for activities for our Dandelion Club. The ideas are collated and a termly plan is made that has so far included: biscuit and cake decorating, celebrating festivals and historic events, arts and crafts, photography and a community litter pick.

For the next academic year, we have teamed up with Reading Force and Elgin Library so that we can offer a number of book clubs. At these regular groups we will come together to share books, ideas and create art relating to our reading.

Sometimes children can find periods when a parent or carer is deployed or away for a period of time for work commitments challenging. As part of Dandelions we also support in the lead up to, during and just after deployments. If a parent or carer is deployed or aware of an upcoming deployment and feels their child would benefit from additional support, please contact the school.

If you find your child / children have not been added to the Dandelion Group and you feel you should be, then please contact Mrs Jack in the office using the school email address: admin.hopemanp@moray-edunet.gov.uk.

Below are a selection of photos from our time together:

Arts and Crafts:

Dandelion Art:

Community Litter Pick:

Sharing Experiences:

Celebrating St David’s Day:

Home School Link Worker

Our Home School Link Worker is Derri Chamberlain.

We believe that an effective home–school partnership is essential for the successful education of children. By working together we can ensure that each child becomes happy, confident and secure and will grow up to be a valuable member of the community.

During term time, Derri will work in partnership with parents/carers, schools and other agencies to support families, aiming to reduce current issues and prevent future difficulties with the aim to ensure that all children enjoy school and are happy and secure.

Derri, is able to provide support in school to our children in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons. She will also provide support for parents, carers and families, is able to help with improving attendance and punctuality and also help with promoting positive behaviour.

Our HSLW role includes the following:

Offers support and encouragement to children and their families, parents and carers
Helps to improve communications between families, school and agencies
Enables children and parents to discuss concerns or worries in a safe and secure way
Work with individuals in a flexible way to best support children and their families
Helps children grow in confidence and enable them to enjoy participating in life at school and beyond.
Helps families and children to access services, resources, local community information and support
Offers individual guidance and parenting support
Helps children and families to improve attendance and punctuality at school
Listens in a non-judgemental environment and offers support and solutions
Helps children from across the Lossiemouth ASG, to get the best out of their time at school
Helps children and their families who are experiencing changes and offers support on a wide range of issues that may impact on family life
Offers help with completing forms and other official paperwork including relevant referrals for children to outside services.

The aim of the HSLW is to:

To ensure all children enjoy coming to school and are happy and secure.

Our HSLW can help by providing:

One to one support and advice
Therapeutic sessions with children and families
Young Carers group.
Signposting to other agencies
Support groups for parents/carers

Our HSLW can support:

Children who are withdrawn or anxious
Children who are Young Carers
Parents/carers experiencing difficulties in managing their child’s behaviour
Parents/carers whose children are not attending school or who have been excluded
Parents/carers and children who are reacting to change, such as parental separation or bereavement
Parents/carers who may need support on a wide range of issues impacting on their family life eg illness, separation, domestic violence, bereavement

What to expect:

Before starting to work with your children, your consent will be obtained. The HSLW will offer you a confidential service regarding personal issues. If necessary she will seek your permission to share the information with staff at the school or with other agencies. If other agencies support your family she will attend meetings to help you plan positive changes.