Free, safe, confidential support for young people

Children and young people in Newcastle and Gateshead can now get help from mental health counsellors using a free online service supported by the NHS.

Kooth.com is an award-winning online counselling and support service which is now available to all young people in Newcastle and Gateshead aged 11-18 years.

Overview

Newcastle College is a training provider that offers apprenticeships, traineeships and employability skills training. Newcastle College also offer a Sixth Form provision and further and higher education.

Newcastle College can offer the following support:

What is the service?

NHS England has developed an in school eyecare service for all children in special schools across England.

The service will enable every child to get the most from their vision, including sight test, and the dispensing and fitting of glasses – all completed on the school premises.

Why the need?

This is important because:

Public Health School Nurses provide a range of health improvement and health promotion activities including confidential health advice for children and young people, an immunisation programme and assistance to school staff in the delivery of PHSE (personal health and social education). 

Every school in Newcastle has access to a School Nurse.  School Nurses also provide information, advice and support on a range of health issues including:

The Visual Impairment Additionally Resourced Provision (VIARP) for severely sight impaired (SSI) and sight impaired (SI) pupils is centrally funded by Newcastle City Council. Some of the pupils from neighbouring local authorities can also be placed in the VIARP.

The VIARP is staffed by one Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment and two specialist Learning Support Assistants.

It is a fully inclusive provision and pupils with VI are included within mainstream classes with support from VIARP staff. This support includes -

The Visual Impairment Additionally Resourced Provision (VIARP) for severely sight impaired (SSI) and sight impaired (SI) pupils is centrally funded by Newcastle City Council. Some of the pupils from neighbouring local authorities can also be placed in the VIARP.

The VIARP is staffed by one Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment and two specialist Learning Support Assistants.

It is a fully inclusive provision and pupils with VI are included within mainstream classes with support from VIARP staff. This support includes -

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires each local authority in England to appoint at least one person for the purpose of discharging the local authority’s duty to promote the educational achievement of its Looked After Children (LAC) and Young People (LAYP). The Virtual School head teacher (VSH) leads on this and the Virtual School is the support service for undertaking this role in supporting the education of all our looked after children and looked after young people.

Based in Newcastle, we provide dyslexia testing and diagnosis, specialist dyslexia and learning difficulties support, along with behaviour and educational consultancy for parents, individuals, private sector, state and private education.

Ofsted registered.

Tyneside Women’s Health was established in 1985 with the key aim of helping women to improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing.  

Tyneside Women’s Health offers a range of interventions for women including drop in sessions, support groups, mental health courses, counselling, and various therapeutic activities such as relaxation.  We have also introduced a range of online and virtual support services. Please visit our website for more information.

Our main Centre is based in central Gateshead, and we have a second Centre in Byker, Newcastle.

Fortune College, part of The Fortune Centre Of Riding Therapy, is a specialist college for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities aged 16-25. The college’s Further Education Through Horsemanship (FETH) Course offers an educational residential/day programme, working with horses, that prepares young people with learning disabilities to live as independently as possible and participate in their local community.

Are you looking after someone who needs help and support?

If you are caring for someone who cannot manage without your support and you're not employed to do this, then you are a carer. Anyone can become a carer at any point in their life. We're here to listen and support you.

Newcastle Carers is an independent charity supporting adults, children, and young people who look after someone living in Newcastle upon Tyne. Our services are free, confidential and non-judgemental, helping carers find ways to make their caring situation easier to manage.

Family Advice and Support Team at Skills for People

Services Offered:

Skills for People helps disabled children and adults and their families to be in control and to have better lives. We also work with children with special educational needs.

We offer help with planning, meeting other disabled people and their families, advocacy, advocacy groups, social activities, self help meetings and individual development. We work with people who have an individual budget and those who do not.

Help and Connect is a service offered by Skills for People.

If you live in Newcastle upon Tyne and are aged 16 or over, our Help and Connect team can help you to get your support right and to make the most of what’s going on in your area.

What does Help and Connect offer?

Our team will help you make the most of the information we have. You can find out about:

Children North East exists because growing up can be hard. We want all babies, children and young people to be happy and healthy and to grow up feeling: 

• Safe and loved

• Resilient to the challenges they may face

• Valued and confident  

We have a strong children’s rights ethos and believe that real social change is achieved when those who are, or have, experienced issues lead the change.  

Family Fund supports families living across the UK who are who are raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young person up to the age of 17. Our support is focused on those on low incomes with a child/children who have a high level of additional support needs.

At Family Fund, we believe that all families raising disabled or seriously ill children and young people should have the same choices, quality of life, opportunities and aspirations as other families.

Autism North East is a Social Enterprise, non-profit-making organisation providing assessment, diagnosis and intervention for children, young people and adults where this is a concern related to an Autism Spectrum Condition. 

Nystagmus Network is a charity that helps people with nystagmus, a condition where the eyes move uncontrollably. They offer many services to support families and children with nystagmus.

Support Services

Hawthorn is a continuously improving school with children making Outstanding progress between Reception and Year 6.

We are proud to be part of the nationally famous In Harmony project, every child in the school learns an orchestral instrument and we have our very own Symphony Orchestra.

We hope you can find all the information you need, if you want to know more please get in touch.

Latest Ofsted Inspection

Inclusion North promotes the inclusion of people with learning disabilities, their families and carers.

The world is a better place when people with learning disabilities are included in everything.

We try to make this happen by:

ASLI is the Association of Sign Language Interpreters in the United Kingdom. Established in 1987,

We are here to offer support to D/deaf, Deafblind, Hard-of-Hearing and Deafened people and their families across the North East. We provide some services and can signpost you to others.

Deaflink is an open, inclusive and supportive organisation. We work to empower and improve the quality of life of D/deaf people. We do this through providing forums, opportunities to learn and provide feedback in safe places.

For brothers and sisters of disabled children and adults

Sibs is a UK charity for siblings who may be finding it hard to cope with a brother or sister who is disabled, has special educational needs or a serious long term condition.

It is the only UK charity representing the needs of over half a million young siblings and over one and a half million adult siblings.

Sibs can give information and advice both over the phone and online. Sibs also runs YoungSibs, an online only support service for siblings in the UK aged 7 to 17. 

Retina UK is the national charity for families living with inherited retinal dystrophies. We fund research and provide information and support to those affected by inherited sight loss and the professionals who support them.

We support anyone with the following visual impairments: Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), Rod Cone dystrophy, Cone Rod dystrophy, Choroideremia, Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease.