EBSA toolkit
4. Assessing
When a child or young person is at risk of EBSA, a school staff member (like a SENCO, DSL, or Mental Health Lead) should follow these steps:
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Assess: Learn about the child’s situation, including their home life and school environment.
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Plan: Work with the child and their family to create a plan based on what you’ve learned.
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Do: Set up the needed support and keep in touch with the family.
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Review: Check how the plan is working and make changes if needed.
Use the resources provided as a guide, but also adapt them to fit what already works in your school.
Gather information quickly from the child, their family, school staff, and other professionals. This helps prevent EBSA from getting worse.
You don’t always need standard tools to assess the situation. There are free tools online that can help, like those from Anna Freud.
When talking with the child and their family, always highlight their successes to keep them motivated. Use good listening skills to understand their needs better.
Resources for assessing:
- Profile of Risk of EBSA [229.1 KB] [docx]
- EBSA Screening Tool [16.0 KB] [docx]
- Example questions for parents and carers [228.1 KB] [docx]
- Staff information gathering form [227.7 KB] [docx]
- Additional Resources
Introduction to Listen to Me toolkits
The Listen to Me toolkits, found on Pupil Voice Toolkits page, consists of questionnaires and activities designed to support adults in gaining children and young people’s views and perceptions. This may be about their strengths, interests, wellbeing, school life and learning.
There are three toolkits to choose from:
- Listen to Me with Pictures
- Listen to Me
- Listen to Me Secondary