Death by suicide of ‘lovely kind’ Raunds schoolboy, 13, leads to five recommendations following safeguarding practice review

An official report following a Raunds schoolboy’s death by suicide has recommended five steps to improve safeguarding for Northamptonshire’s children and young people.

The Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership’s Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) into the death of Callum Woodcroft looked into the actions of different official agencies.

Callum – referred to as Child Bj throughout the report – and described as ‘lovely, with a kind and caring heart’ took his own life in March 2022.

The report said his parents got support for their son from multiple agencies including his GP, his primary and secondary school and outside organisations.

But a second Early Help Assessment – recommended by the county’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub – to document Callum’s meetings with the agencies wasn’t effective.

The report said: “The completing of an Early Help Assessment would have provided documentary evidence of what interventions had been tried and not worked and what was planned to be tried. This could have assisted partners in making subsequent threshold decisions.

“It was unclear from the information agencies provided when the Early Help Assessments were put in place or which agencies attended and contributed to it. It is also unclear as to who had professional oversight and was responsible for following up step down processes / active support plans.

“This is the clear finding from this review, that agencies and professionals don't always know what is available. There is also a need for individuals and agencies to ensure that they work collaboratively and make best use of available resources to be able to effectively engage with Early Help Assessments. This is an impasse that needs to be resolved."

Regarding enacting the Early Help Assessment, the report said: "The school make a considered decision not to commence as they already had a number of key actions in place."

Callum’s parents had engaged with his schools and his GP attending appointments, but in January 2022, two months before his death, he self-harmed by taking an overdose.

In a note after the overdose Callum said that he ‘got worse punishments by some teachers than others within school and he was mocked by other pupils because he couldn’t do full lessons’.

The report, which said he had run away from school several times and been kept in isolation, said: “Child Bj suffered from low self-esteem in school; he was getting incredibly behind with his learning which compounded this feeling for him. He suffered from acute school phobia.”

He was assessed by an education psychologist and was eventually seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) - he was discharged by them and referred to the Frank Bruno Foundation, who specialise in strategies to manage and control anger.

Callum was due to move to a new school but at the end of March 2022, he tragically took his own life.

The Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership was given five recommendations:

– They must ensure, with the support of Northamptonshire’s Children Trust, that agencies and professionals know and understand how they can utilise the Early Help Framework and how they are expected to contribute to individual cases.

– They should ‘seek assurance from partners’ that services be available to children that self-harm and those with or who have suicidal thoughts, not just those children that attend hospital settings and if possible, ‘those children suffering from acute emotional distress, including those children suffering from chronic school phobia’.

– All frontline staff working with children and young people who are 10 years and over are supported to access learning related to suicide prevention and ensure they are aware of the findings from the National Child Mortality Database study into child suicide. And all that frontline staff who are affected by the suicide of child that they are/were working with, are suitably signposted for support for themselves.

– They should support the work being undertaken by Northamptonshire Public Health Department to update the Counties Suicide Prevention strategy

– They should seek assurance from partners ensuring that the child's ‘voice’ is captured in cases of ‘acute emotional distress’, including those self-harming and expressing suicide ideation, and the child is at the centre of all planning, all schools are aware of the learning from Child Bj’s case, and improve information and advice available to parents/carers about signs to be concerned about for their children in relation to suicide ideation.

Matt Coleman, director of school improvement at Nene Education Trust, that manages Manor School in Raunds, said: “Our condolences and ongoing support remain with the student’s family and friends.

"We are committed to making some positive change out of something so tragic that has impacted so many in our community.

“The trust has since taken significant steps, in collaboration with suicide prevention charity Kelly’s Heroes, to instigate a pioneering programme to provide in person, specialised suicide awareness training to more than 400 teachers and trust staff.

“We have taken this proactive approach to highlight the help and support that is available for students and staff suffering mental health issues and welcome the news that schools across the region are now following our lead as part of a countywide programme focusing on suicide prevention.”

Yvonne Higgins, chief nursing officer, Northamptonshire ICB said: “This is an extremely sad case where a young person has taken their life, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of Child Bj.

“As a statutory partner of the Safeguarding Children Partnership, we welcome the publication of the learning review and are committed to increasing understanding and learning relating to prevention of child suicide and awareness of associated risk factors.

“The NHS in Northamptonshire is absolutely committed to playing our part in trying to reduce suicide in our county, and NHS partners have actively inputted and supported the work driven by the Suicide Prevention strategy.”

Cllr Scott Edwards, North Northamptonshire Council’s executive member for children, families, education and skills, said: “This is a desperately sad situation and our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of this young student on the publication of this report.

“The council has worked with partners in the production of this safeguarding review to ensure that all learning is taken from these very tragic circumstances.”

Help is available from PAPYRUS (Prevention of Young Suicide) https://www.papyrus-uk.org/ a UK charity dedicated to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people.

Or contact The Samaritans at https://www.samaritans.org/