Home School Link Workers

At Pond Meadow we have 2 Home School Link Workers. Louise Gilks supports our Primary School families and Nicola Cossey our Secondary School families.   

Louise and Nicola provide support for a range of topics including but not limited to:

  • Applying for school transport and concerns.
  • Form filling including DLA or PIP
  • Referrals to external agencies including social care for personal assistants
  • Support in meetings both in school and externally
  • Housing
  • 16-19 bursary and other financial support advice
  • Home visits
  • Writing supporting letters as needed
  • Attending parents evening
  • Short breaks and playscheme and resource information
  • Barriers to attendance
  • Parent workshops
  • Period products
  • Emotional support
  • Supporting key transitions

They work closely with the school and community teams including; teachers, phase managers, school nurses, the ECHP team, therapists and surrey county council to achieve the best outcomes for your child and family.

As part of their role they are working on the school achieving the Leading Parent Partnership Award and would welcome any ideas and suggestions you may have on how to improve this across the school.

They can’t promise to always know the answer but will work with you to ensure we achieve a positive result. 

They are in school every day from 8.15am – 4pm and are happy to be contacted in whichever communication style suits you best including phone call, emails or drop in visits.

Contact Information:
Louise Gilks (Primary Home/School Link Worker): primaryhslw@pond-meadow.surrey.sch.uk

Direct dial – 01483 362982

Nicola Cossey (Secondary Home/School Link Worker): secondaryhslw@pond-meadow.surrey.sch.uk

Direct dial – 01483 362983                                         

Transport:

Please note the process for pre and post 16 transport are slightly different and are advised on separately. We are very strong on our transport response, which some may find unnecessary however, due to previous issues causing students to miss whole terms we would rather be too strong than have a child left behind.

Pre 16 transport:

Post 16 transport needs to be applied for every year.

To apply for pre 16 transport please use the following link: https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/transport/under-16

The form will ask if you would like to receive fuel allowance, please only say yes if you are prepared and able to bring your child to school yourself. Where you are bringing your child yourself you will still need to complete the form too in order to receive reimbursement.

Post 16 transport incurs a cost of £801, reduced for families with low income or in receipt of certain benefits. Evidence will need to be provided to Surrey Transport in order to receive the lower amount. Payment will be requested via invoice and no payment will need to be made until December/January time.

The transport cost can be covered by the 16-19 bursary which you can apply for when applications are sent out by myself in September. Once your application has been received and accepted, we will request a copy of the transport invoice which will be paid by our finance team. You will receive confirmation via email that the payment has been made on your behalf.

We advise parents to apply yearly in order to ensure your child has transport in place for September, ensuring you keep written confirmation of eligibility especially where the eligibility lasts a few years. If applications open again and your child’s eligibility should mean you do not need to reapply, we ask that you send your confirmation to Surrey Transport to reconfirm. This is again asked to previous issues with children advised to be eligible having that eligibility end unknowingly.

Your case officers:

North East (Elmbridge, Epsom & Ewell and Spelthorne): NESEN@surreycc.gov.uk

North West (Surrey Heath, Runnymede & Woking) NWSEN@surreycc.gov.uk 

South East (Mole Valley, Reigate & Banstead and Tandridge): SESEN@surreycc.gov.uk

South West (Guildford & Waverley) SWSEN@surreycc.gov.uk