HeadStart are now working in the Dover district with schools, young people, practitioners and community organisations. The four HeadStart secondary schools are Astor College, Goodwin Academy, Sir Roger Manwood’s School and Elms School. There will also be ten identified HeadStart primary schools. Over the next two years, these schools will work towards establishing their whole-school approach to resilience and emotional wellbeing, train staff, develop safe spaces and run peer mentoring programmes.

Practitioners in Dover will also be able to access HeadStart funded training opportunities in Resilience Theory, Mindfulness and Youth Mental Health First Aid. Kooth online counselling and support (www.kooth.com) is now available for all 10-16-year olds in the Dover district and HeadStart commissioned services and grants will be available from July.

There will initially be four HeadStart staff making up the project team in Dover: Vicky Saward (Project Manager), Grace Dennis (Project Officer), Matt Burgess (Participation Worker) and welcome to Georgie Couchman (Business Administration Apprentice). An 18-month vacancy (part-time) will also be advertised in the summer on KCC’s recruitment website.

The team are looking forward to working in the Dover district – do come and say “hello” to us and contact us with any queries.