Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice: Children and Young People

• Schools:
  • Going to school or college
  • Free school meals
  • Clothing and school uniform grants
• Childcare support for critical/essential workers
• Safeguarding children
• Keeping our youngsters safe online
• Health and wellbeing:
  • Important notice about NHS Paediatric services
  • Kooth - wellbeing support for children and young people
  • Healthy London Partnership - A mental health toolkit for schools
  • What is coronavirus? A fact sheet for kids
  • Staying healthy at home - Information sheet for parents and carers
  • See also our COVID-19 Health advice and Staying Positive pages
• Learning resources to support your child
• Early Help support to children and families - videos

See also: SEND COVID-19 advice | Stay creative

Going to school or college

School pupils and students in further education should attend school and college.

All schools, colleges and other further education settings are open for face-to-face teaching during term time. It remains very important for children and young people to attend, to support their wellbeing and education and to help working parents and guardians.

• Find out more about going to school and the current guidance at GOV.UK (external link)

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Childcare support for critical/essential workers 

If you are a critical/essential worker and you need childcare support in order to continue working, we are here to support you during this difficult time.

• Find out more on our Childcare options page. 

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Safeguarding children

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges in effectively safeguarding children and promoting their welfare.

Children’s social care are conscious that many children will be well looked after by their families, however for some of the UK, lockdown has increased the exposure to risk vulnerabilities and isolation for children and young people.

A number of families are experiencing financial hardship and the service - along with partners - is working towards ensuring access to food and essential supplies does not place children and their families at a further disadvantage.
 
It is vital that all professionals and members of our wider community are vigilant in supporting the safeguarding of children and young people in Haringey.

Haringey has a multi-agency safeguarding hub called the MASH that worked with all partners and the community over the COVID 19 lockdown period to ensure Safeguarding Children is everyone’s business.

The MASH will advise anyone (professionals and members of the public) observing or coming into contact with any concerns about a child. The MASH can be contacted on:

• Tel: 020 8489 4470
• Email: mashreferral@haringey.gov.uk

The MASH has a dedicated team working alongside Early Help and Connected Communities to support children and their families with a wide range of support and interventions, including offering food parcels, parenting advice, financial support and access to essential services during the COVID-19 period.

If you are not sure and need to talk to a social worker about a concern, you could also call MASH Consultation line on 020 8489 4430.

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Keeping your youngsters safe online

The National Crime Agency (NCA) (external link) and Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) (external link) have produced a toolkit (available for download below) that aims to promote their #OnlineSafetyAtHome campaign.

The toolkit has been designed to give children, parents and practitioners the best advice on how to keep children safe and do everything to stop online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

• Download the  CSA COVID-19 Campaign Toolkit (PDF, 993KB)

Health and wellbeing

Important notice about NHS Paediatric services

There are important temporary changes to children and young people’s services across North Central London.

See the Healthwatch Haringey website for details (external link).

Kooth - wellbeing support for children and young people

For those who need it during this difficult time, Kooth.com provides free, online mental health and wellbeing support to 11-18-year olds, and up to 25 years for those with additional needs.

The platform is available via any internet accessible device and allows children and young people in a crisis, or need of support, the opportunity to receive one-to-one support from a qualified counsellor, write in a daily journal and interact with other young people.

For schools, Kooth also offers video conference teacher training, and information sheets that can be shared on school online portals.

• To find out more, please visit the Kooth website (external link)

• What is coronavirus? A fact sheet for kids
• Staying healthy at home - Information sheet for parents and carers

Healthy London Partnership - A mental health toolkit for schools

A summary of resources relating to COVID-19, including guides to help manage mental health, advice guides and personal stories from organisations aiming to support better mental health and wellbeing for children and young people.

• Find out more at Healthy London Partnership (external link)

What is coronavirus? A fact sheet for kids

Have you been searching for basic information to let your children know what is happening with coronavirus?

Public Health England have created a Coronavirus fact sheet for kids (PDF, 3.6MB) and a video animation (below) in partnership with Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

Staying healthy at home - Information sheets for parents and carers

The files below include some useful suggestions for staying emotionally, physically and mentally healthy during this challenging time. We hope this information provides you with helpful ideas you can adopt:

• Information Sheet - Staying Healthy at Home (PDF, 164KB)

The Educational Psychology Service have also provided some fact sheets to help parents and children:

• Tips for calming anxiety using mindfulness (PDF, 111KB)
• Tips for helping teens with sleep (PDF, 71KB)
• Supporting Transition into Primary School - Information for parents and carers (PDF, 715KB)

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Learning resources to support your child

There are a range of online resources and materials to keep your children educated and entertained.

Here’s a few taster samples for starters (note these are all external links and may require registration or be offering paid for services):

• 100 Things To Do Indoors - free eBook
• Audible Stories - the service is currently offering a number of free audiobooks for children
• BBC History for Kids
• BookTrust HomeTime
• Cypher
• Hungry Little Minds
• Quizlet - learning flashcards for school age children
• Perlego
• School of Spurs - download a fun, entertaining and educational resource pack for kids
• Seneca
• Twinkl - free learning materials aimed at children aged 3-11
• White Rose

YouTube channels:

• Emmatheteachie
• Freesciencelessons
• Mr Bruff
• Physics Online
• Primrose Kitten
• Stacey Reay

Literary Pirates - help for children falling behind at school

Literacy Pirates is a charity, working to improve the reading, writing, confidence and perseverance of children who are falling behind at school. Their incredible pirate themed learning centres offer specialised teacher and volunteer support.

There are weekly writing challenges that give children the chance to get creative, a special ‘Diary of an Extraordinary Spring’ which allows children to record their thoughts at this time, and a selection of ways to motivate children to read every day.

Find out more on the Literacy Pirates website (external link).

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Early Help support to children and families - videos

Our Early Help team have produced some videos - both to provide some fun for your children and to make sure you are all taking good care of your wellbeing.

• Watch the Early Help videos

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