Developing a screening tool for school readiness to improve preventive and supportive care

Our work in designing and testing new ways of improving health focuses on addressing these inequalities and supporting children and young people who are most in need.

Developing a screening tool to identify vulnerable children 

In this project we will be developing a screening tool to help identify at an early stage vulnerable children and children with low school readiness.

We will use the results of this screening tool to develop a package of support and advice tailored to the needs of the child and their family. This could include:  

• Advice on how to manage health conditions 
• Referral and support to specialist services, including financial advice, counselling, parenting support, school-based resilience-building interventions, mental health support, and social services
• Home visiting health and social care support.

Anticipated health and care outcomes

We anticipate that this enhanced model of care could result in a number of improved health and care outcomes. These include: 

• Uptake of identified health and social services and support
• Improvements in health-related quality of life for children and young people
• Improved parental wellbeing
• Improved child-centred outcomes, for example, better school attendance and attainment at school.