Education CommitteeFurther written evidence submitted by Action for Children
Outcomes for Children
There was much debate at the Committee session about outcomes for children. I wanted to share with you our learning and some of the systems that Action for Children has designed. We have developed our own internal outcomes framework which covers areas that are key to improving children’s lives; safety, health, achievement and relationships (further information is available on request). Our internal data-gathering system, e-Aspire, allows professionals to record an individual child’s progress against identified outcomes. This enables us to provide evidence of impact. We compliment our internal data by commissioning external research, such as the King’s College London (2011) evaluation of our children’s centres which I believe has already been shared with you in our previous evidence submissions. e-Aspire data for 2012–13 shows that our children’s centres successfully:
reduced indicators of neglect and concern about a child in 93% of cases;
had a positive impact in 94% of cases where physical, sexual or emotional abuse of a child was an issue;
improved a child’s outcomes in relation to school readiness in 78% of cases;
improved a child’s communication skills in 77% of cases; and
improved a child’s physical health or individual milestones in 74% of cases.
Within our centres we deliver a range of evidence-based programmes and use outcome tools with parents, carers, children and young people to jointly assess areas of strength and for development. The tools are also used to agree shared outcomes that are to be reached as a result of intervention, as well as monitoring progress and results. Tools include the Outcomes Star and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.
Our children’s centres are able to measure children’s development through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Profile. For example, Tree Tops Children’s Centre in Worcestershire was rated outstanding by Ofsted in October 2012. The inspection report highlighted that Tree Tops prepares children for transition to school: “The percentage gap between the lowest achieving 20% of children and the rest, as indicated by the points score in the EYFS Profile, has reduced steadily from 41% in 2008 to 32% in 2012. The county council…compared the individual scores of children who attended the children’s centre with a control group of children from similar backgrounds who did not… analysis shows that in each case those who had attended the children’s centre outscored the control group”.
Over the past four years, our South Molton Children’s Centre in Devon has seen an improvement in EYFS Profiles from 32% to 74% of children achieving 78 points and the gap has reduced from 53% to 26%.
Leadership and Safeguarding
Key issues that I raised in the evidence session were around the importance of strong leadership and efficiencies. In response to the external environment and current economic challenges, Action for Children has developed a clustering approach to the management and running of our children’s centres in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiencies. From consultations carried out in various local authorities, including Norfolk, Norwich, Devon and Kirkless, the benefits of a cluster approach include greater efficiencies and improved sharing of resources. Further benefits are better consistency of approach, greater leadership capacity and greater outreach. We have found that clustering also improves integrated working and facilitates the promotion of best practice.
These benefits are achieved through strong leadership and governance, together with joined-up provision. Clusters may consist of a combination of phase one, phase two and phase three centres and aim to maximise the use of resources and reach vulnerable children in the area. Each cluster has a designated lead for safeguarding who has a direct link to the local authority equivalent. All our early years support staff work closely with the Healthy Child Programme and Early Year’s Framework, the designated lead health visitor and the lead on early years across the cluster. Our Lead Practitioners support quality of practice and fidelity of delivery of programmes.
An example of where we have successfully delivered clustering is in Warwickshire, where our outstanding Westgate and Newburgh Children’s Centre is part of a cluster of six children’s centres managed by Action for Children. Ofsted praised the children’s centre for its “excellent leadership, rigorous and comprehensive governance arrangements, excellent working relationships with a wide range of partners and a small but knowledgeable and dedicated team of staff that combine really well to provide services which are highly successful in improving outcomes for families who live in the area”. Ofsted also highlighted the “outstanding working relationship with the health visiting team”. Weekly meetings bring together centre staff, health visitors and other professionals to share information and agree actions; making the best use of the available resources. This has resulted in the centre having an excellent understanding of the needs of families within its area.
Through services like Westgate and Newburgh, we know that children’s centre leaders must have a range of skills, including knowledge of safeguarding, the ability to work in strategic partnerships as well as data analysis to ensure a thorough understanding of local need and improved outcomes for children. We have high quality, trained managers and staff who not only lead within the centre, but also drive partnership working and ensure our centres are responding to local needs.
Action for Children supports managers to gain the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) qualification. We run regular children’s centre network meetings throughout the year to keep managers up-to-date with national guidance, inspection requirements, innovative practice and evidenced-based practice that has been proved to result in improved outcomes for children. It may be helpful for Government to support the development of a modular programme that covers these core skills and enables Children’s Centre Leads to select from a menu of learning and development opportunities in order to meet individual needs.
Through our children’s centres we support young people into training and employment, in effect “growing our own” staff from the heart of the local community. For example, in the Dewsbury and Mirfield locality we run an apprentice scheme where young people can achieve Level 2 and 3 through the Children and Young People’s workforce qualifications. Two young people, aged 17 and 20 years old, are currently completing the apprenticeship which can take up to three years. Two young people have successfully finished their apprenticeship and are now working in our children’s centres leading crèche sessions and supporting family learning.
In response to the Munro Review, Action for Children has implemented the Lead Practitioner role within our services across the UK. These are front-line supervisory staff that drive high-quality delivery by practising and modelling reflective supervision for practitioners, thereby achieving and demonstrating high quality intervention and improved outcomes for vulnerable children.
Children’s centres have a vital role to play in safeguarding children. In all areas our children’s centres will have links with the local social work team and some local authorities place social workers in our children’s centres. We recently completed the Action for Children Children’s Centre Social Worker (CCSW) Pilot based at our Ashington Children’s Centre in Northumberland. It trialled a unique role, the CCSW, acting as the designated lead for coordinating services across centres to prevent the escalation of need. One CCSW was employed by Action for Children to work in the local Initial Response Team (IRT) and a second employed by the local authority was based at the children’s centre. The CCSW completed pre-birth parenting assessments and provided safeguarding training for nursery staff.
I believe that the Lead Practitioner and CCSW Pilot models could be implemented across all areas to ensure that safeguarding remains central to the children’s centre offer.
Another way in which Action for Children safeguards children is the delivery of our Family Partners service through our children’s centres, for example in Bristol and Derby. Family Partners involves staff working intensively with families where there are concerns around possible neglect, intervening in a timely way as soon as concerns have been expressed, and before there has been an escalation to a formal child protection referral. Outcomes included 72% of children experiencing an improvement in their emotional wellbeing and in 68% of cases, the indicators of neglect were addressed and concerns about the child reduced. We are talking to local authorities to develop Family Partners, this includes Sandwell and East London where we will be delivering family partners from Spring 2013.
Governance
Another issue that was discussed during my evidence session was the governance of children’s centres. I believe that Action for Children children’s centres have developed effective governance arrangements that bring together professionals and parents to share information and effectively plan services to meet local need. One way in which we do this is through ensuring that all staff are involved in governance through the planning and evaluation cycle. Accountability is built in at several levels, both internal and external, and the local authority is given clearer timescales for monitoring. All members of staff are clear about their roles, responsibilities and contribution to overall aims and targets.
Action for Children involves parents in the governance of children’s centres through advisory boards. Our Dewsbury and Mirfield Children’s Centre runs a regular forum where parents can share their thoughts on the service and raise key issues in the community. Two parents from the forum attend the children’s centre advisory board meeting. The advisory board is a two-way platform where professionals and parents can share information and ideas ensuring that the centre can adapt to meet local need. The Children’s Centre is able to evidence the positive impact of parent involvement on service development and delivery. For example, in response to requests from father’s to access training, the centre provided basic English courses for fathers in the evening.
Parent Champions and Volunteers
As mentioned in the evidence session, Action for Children engages parents in our children’s centres in many ways including the Parent Champions scheme which we deliver in partnership with the Family and Daycare Trust. Parent Champions are parents who have positive experience of using childcare and/or supporting their child’s early learning, they volunteer to act as advocates and peer advisers to other parents in their community. This involves using different outreach techniques to engage parents; this may include drop-in information sessions, informal workshops in community locations and making initial contact at children’s activities such as library reading programmes or even being available in the playground at drop off and collection times to make conversation with parents about the support they can provide.
Parent Champions for Childcare can:
help parents to understand the benefits of quality childcare and early learning for their children;
encourage parents to participate in early learning activities with their children;
help parents to find out about and take up formal childcare places for their children; and
encourage parents to participate in local childcare and early learning services eg by volunteering to help out at play sessions, becoming a parent representative on their children’s centre advisory board.
Action for Children is running Parent Champions in partnership with Oldham, Oxford, Sheffield and Kirklees. I see the potential of this model to be rolled-out across all areas.
We run innovative volunteer programmes such as those in our Cowgate and Blakelaw Children’s Centre, Newcastle. Since 2010, it has recruited and trained people from local estates to support families with children from 0–12 years of age through home visits, peer support and assisting them to access services. Volunteers support local families to make positive changes and build parenting capacity. The key aspect of this programme is that it is embedded in the community. It enabled parents who live there to reach out and support others who may not otherwise engage with the children’s centres.
The project has supported volunteers to complete accredited training including safeguarding, domestic violence and welfare rights. It has provided 641 hours of volunteer time and supported 100 children through one-to-one work in their own homes. Volunteers have contributed to the running of 11 groups, such as sensory groups and stay and play sessions. Funding for the project has come from Action for Children and Newcastle City Council’s community budgets.
I would suggest that the Cowgate and Blakelaw model of volunteering is one that could be replicated in other areas.
Integrated Provision
In the evidence session we discussed the importance of high quality, integrated provision. Action for Children has entered into a new partnership project with PACEY. Funded by the Department for Education, child-minders and private, voluntary and independent childcare staff will receive ICAN’s Early Talk training to enable them to positively identify children with speech and language difficulties. They will then be in a position to support the development of young children’s communication skills through a range of strategies and techniques. The project will focus on increasing the availability of wraparound childcare and support for families with children who have additional needs in areas where there is currently insufficient childcare for these families. Children and families will gain from increased access to high-quality childcare, as the project will also assist in the recruitment, training and professional development of child-minders.
In Cumbria, our children’s centres work in partnership with a number of agencies who provide services directly from a centre or within the local community and at other venues. Multi-disciplinary teams within a centre comprise of health visitors, midwives, the early year’s team, the social care team and a speech therapist. Through this approach, staff are able to make appropriate and timely referrals or signpost families to help available within the children’s centre and organisations we work in partnership with. This ensures better outcomes for children and families access the service. The centre managers within the cluster meet regularly to share information, develop collaborative working and work on joint projects.
Effectiveness of data sharing with health can vary but we have found that this can be improved through developing relationships and timely sharing of birth data. In many of our centres, such as in Cumbria, health visitors are based within the children centre and provide weekly baby clinics and joint weaning parties at the centres. This enables families to have there baby’s weight checked, seek advice on parenting issues and encourage the children’s positive physical development. Two funded Midwives also work for Action for Children, creating quality services and stronger partnership with Health.
Other examples of how our children’s centres work with health are through anti-natal programmes, breastfeeding support, working with young parents and linking in with the two-year old checks.
July 2013