Haytor View Children’s Centre
Service Plan 2012/13:
Introduction
This document outlines the targets that have been set for the above Children’s Centre in 2012/2013 financial year. These targets form part of the formal contract between Devon County Council and the above Children’s Centre. The service plan also feeds into a Teignbridge Strategic Plan that seeks to ensure a more cohesive and co-ordinated approach to service delivery. This may lead to direct sharing of resources – particularly staff – so that children and families have access to similar services across the whole district.
The following service delivery plan has been developed in consultation with parents, partner agencies and staff. The plan will seek to determine appropriate service delivery that will, we believe, enable us to produce outcomes that evidence the positive impact on children and their families. It should be acknowledged and recognised that the service plan can only be delivered in direct partnership with Haytor View Children’s Centres and our other partner organisations, including health and HighweekSchool
Clearly, this is a fluid document. There are significant changes and challenges ahead that we know will have a direct impact not only on what services are delivered, but by whom and where.
This service plan is, therefore, a ‘best guess’, and will undoubtedly develop over the coming months.
Please also refer to the attached programme of activities and events that detail specific sessions and where they take place
Tim Collins
Service Manager
Sure Start Children’s Centres, Teignbridge
March 2012
Safeguarding/Engagement with the Neediest Families
County Target/Priority / Children’s Centre Baseline as at Autumn 2011 / Children’s Centre Target 2012/13 / What services/ activities will be delivered to ensure you meet your target? / Who is responsible for ensuring that this activity is delivered? / Expected ImpactTo continue to increase CAFs undertaken with children aged under 5 years / Data not available / 11CAFs have been initiated by the centre between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013
Ensure all children’s centre outreach staff are trained in CAF
Seek to develop a stronger multi-agency team approach to the CAF process and initiation through regular CAF Practitioner meetings / To enable us to be in a position to identify those families where a CAF could be beneficial, we clearly need to be in a position of regular, direct contact with children and families, where relationships can be developed that enable us to identify any concerns. We also need staff that are suitably trained and have access to other agencies and organisations to support in any CAF activity we might initiate.
Primarily this can be achieved through the following services and activities:
- Home visiting
- Stay & Play Open Access Groups
- Little Buddies/Little Gems
- Early days group
- Music Rhythm and Rhyme
- Baby Massage
- Book-Start Corner Scheme
- Regular baby clinics available
- Wider rollout of the 2Gether programme for eligible children which will include CAF as part of the assessment process.
- Regular meetings between Children’s Centre staff and Public Health Nursing Team have recently been initiated. It is hoped that a similar arrangement can be in place with the Midwifery Service. We are seeking agreement that the Children’s Centre would support both teams through undertaking initial assessment paperwork. (would we have capacity) The meetings would also seek to develop more effective referral and identification of concerns processes. This can build on the Inter-Agency Communication Form, which the midwifery teams in Teignbridge use. The introduction of a named health visitor and midwife for liaison with the centre would help develop our relationships with the health teams
In addition, training and refresher courses in Integrated working and CAF delivery will be available to all staff having contact with children and families. / A multi-agency approach, through newly established practitioners forum, will ensure that there is a clear focus on CAF across the learning community.
The children’s centre will work closely with the Newton Abbot Public Health Nursing Team to help identify families where a CAF would be beneficial
Identified Social Worker for children’s centre
Family Intervention Practitioners
Multi-Agency practitioners
Volunteers / The provision of CAF provides an opportunity for co-ordinated service delivery between agencies and organisations, that will best serve the needs of families. It is expected that:
- At least 75% of parents who engaged in the CAF process will express a high level of satisfaction with a) the process and b) the outcome.
- At least 75% of parents engaged in the CAF process will report that there has been a positive impact on them/their family
- A decrease in levels of referrals experienced by tier 3 services
- An increase in number of referrals to and participation in Family Group Conferences
To increase the number of CAFs being referred through early years settings / Delivery of Integrated Working Awareness Training
Identify additional multi-agency training needs as appropriate with Early Years Practitioners (eg Child protection Training, Working with Parents) and where possible facilitate access
Consideration given to repeating South Early Years Conference of March 2012 / Also of critical importance in the CAF process is the ability of other agencies and organisations to understand expectations, and to identify concerns. In order to address this, there will be a rolling programme of IW Awareness sessions delivered across the Teignbridge area. They will be geographically focused, but available to all across the District. These will take place on a monthly basis
The Integrated Working Awareness session will, we believe, lead inevitably to a demand for additional multi-agency training. We will signpost and facilitate as appropriate. This will lead to a better trained and informed group of staff.
In March 2012, a very successful Early Years conference looking at Playful Learning was facilitated, working closely with the Children’s Centres teachers. In attendance were over 130 early years workers and childminders. The evaluation of the conference was overwhelmingly positive, and a clear request for such an event to be repeated. / These sessions will be delivered by children’s centre staff
Children’s centre staff
Children’s centre teachers / The provision of this training will provide support to pre-schools and other early years providers to have the confidence to recognise when a CAF would benefit the families they are working with and make appropriate referrals. As a direct result, we believe that this will have a significant impact on the well-being of young children in the area.
- 100% of those attending the course report that they understand the CAF process.
- 100% report that they have the information necessary to make referrals for a CAF
- 90% of Early Years staff accessing training report greater confidence in their interaction with parents/carers
- 80% of staff attending conference report that they have gained valuable information that will be used in their settings
75% of all children aged under 5 years are registered or affiliated with their local Children’s Centre / 75% of children aged under 5 years are registered or affiliated with the centre / A minimum of 75% of all children aged under 5 years are registered or affiliated with the centre. / We will continue to seek to increase levels of registrations. Clearly this is dependent on a number of factors, most important of which is knowledge about children and families in the Children’s Centre area.
The Midwifery service and the Public Health Nursing Teams are best placed to provide information on new births or new families moving into the area.
It is important, therefore, that effective and efficient systems of communication are in place. We will respond to the Inter-agency communication form developed between a number of services in the South Devonarea and generally used by the Midwifery team to raise areas of concern about families they are working with.
There is already established a pattern of regular meetings between the Children’s Centre Strategic Manager for Teignbridge and the team leaders of both the midwifery team and the Public Health Nursing team. These will be maintained and developed to ensure that information about the Children’s Centres and registration formare provided to pregnant women and families moving into the area. The Children’s Centre will supply the Membershipforms.
Children’s Centre staff will be involved in ante-natal parentcraft sessions, alongside both Midwifery and Public Health nursing team colleagues. This will enable us to have early contact with pregnant women and their families to encourage them to register with the centre. Children’s Centre staff will co-facilitate at least one session of the rolling programme. Children’s Centre Strategicmanager, public health nursing team leaders and midwifery team leaders are in discussions to determine a consistent programme of ante-natal support and classes for the Teignbridge District. This will lead to a clear programme of advice, information and guidance.
Children’s Centre staff will take information about the children’s centre andMembership forms to all groups and activities they are involved in.
Contact with and support of early years and childcare providers should enable us to develop greater awareness of those children (and parents) accessing such support
We will look to have regular articles and promotional material in the local press – so as to develop a greater public awareness of the children’s centre in the area.
The greater involvement of parents within the centre, as volunteers, COMG and task group members and the development of parent forums and a Friends of Sure Start group should also increase the level of local awareness of the children’s centre and its activities. ‘Word of mouth’ is one of the most powerful ‘tools’ for disseminating information.
We will await the result of the North Devon pilot project set up to explore greater use of information technology eg website, Facebook, Twitter, as means for disseminating information about children’s centres and their activities. It is hoped that we will be able to make better use of social networking as a means of developing greater awareness of the centre’s work in the area
The roll out of the “Tell Us Once” schemewill provide an additional level of information sharing that should help us identify and contact families in the children’s centre area. / Parents
Children’s Centre team
Inc Volunteer Co-ordinator and Parent Participation Worker
Midwifery Team
Public Health Nursing Team
CountyRegistrars
Parent & Toddler Groups / The impact of this will be:
- A significant increase in families accessing services.
- A significant increase in levels of referrals for additional services (either within the children’s centre or to external agencies).
- a greater understanding of the level of need in the area.
Through e-Start we will also be able to continue to gain an awareness of who is and who isn’t registering with the centre or accessing services. This will mean that we can target information etc in those areas (particularly within the Lower Super Output Areas) where registration or service take-up appears low.
An increase in registrations and awareness of children’s centre services should lead to higher levels of involvement in the centre through the work of the parent participation worker and Volunteer co-ordinator
Safeguarding/Engagement with the Neediest Families
County Target/Priority / Children’s Centre Baseline as at Autumn 2011 / Children’s Centre Target for Autumn 2012 / What services/ activities will be delivered to ensure you meet your target? / Who is responsible for ensuring that this activity is delivered? / Expected ImpactContinue to increase the reach of Children’s Centres to the most deprived areas / E01020211 -54.78% (63/115)
(Buckland & Milber Ward)
E01020218 – 55.24%
(58/105)
(Bushell Ward)
E01020212 –
86.08% (68/79)
(Buckland & Milber Ward) / E01020211 -65%)
E01020218 – 65%
E01020212 –
65% / Through the use of current e-Start data, we are aware of which families access what services – and more critically, those who have not accessed services, even though they are registered. Through targeted advertising campaigns and localised door-to-door leafleting, we will raise the profile of the children’s centre in the identified areas. We will continue to work closely with local childcare providers to enable them to raise concerns in an appropriate way.
We will continue to provide accessible services in the area
We are working with Haytor View school on a social literacy project that will seek to engage children with the wider community in developing better social and emotional relationships. This partnership will continue to raise the profile of the Children’s Centre in the area.
We will work closely with Job Centre Plus to develop appropriate training opportunities and to support the job club at the Mary Rose Centre. We will ensure that parents we are working with will have access to the job vacancies and training opportunities flagged up by JCP. / Children’s Centre Staff / A higher proportion of families deemed to be in greatest need will be accessing services by March 2013.
This I turn will lead to a higher level of assessed need and from there to a better level of needs being met. Through this increased level of awareness and response we can appropriately shape services to meet need.
To co-ordinate access to the 2gether programme for the most vulnerable two year olds / 292gether places are allocated and filled according to Local Authority criteria. / Working closely with the Public Health Nursing team, we will set up a clear process for identification and referral of the most vulnerable two-year olds in the area.
Additional local criteria to enable us to better identify and target allocation of places will be developed with the support of the children’s centre teacher
Regular home visits to support the day-care provision will be provided
Additional services and support to the families will be identified as appropriate / Children’s Centre Support Worker 3
Public Health Nursing Team
Early Years Providers
Children Centre Teacher / The rationale for the 2gether Programme is to ensure access to appropriate play and learning environments for vulnerable children. Clearly impact and data on future performance and achievement won’t be available for some time. However, the new EYFS framework will provide the beginnings of a measure of development, which can then be assessed at the end of the Foundation Stage at school. Monitoring of the outcomes of the project will help to determine the effectiveness of the intervention
Ensure Children’s Centres are engaged with Child Protection work / No data available / Centre attends 100% of all initial Child Protection
Meetings invited to
Reports provided for Child Protection Reviews as appropriate
All staff undertake CP training, including initial training on appointment and regular refresher training / The Children’s centre is engaged with child protection work through a number of activities:
- The Children’s Centre Lead is invited to attend Initial Child Protection meeting where there is a child under the age of five
- Children’s centre outreach staff are regularly involved in child protection core group meetings
- Children’s centre outreach staff are involved in aspects of comprehensive assessments working alongside social care staff
- Action for Children has mandatory training in child protection and a robust Child Protection Referral process
- Children’s centre staff will access single agency and multi-agency CP training
- The children’s centre team undertakes regular ‘refresher’ training in identifying signs and symptoms of abuse
- Clear requirements and expectations around child protection are displayed in the centre for parents and visitors
Action for Children national training programme
Devon’s Children’s Safeguarding Board multi-agency training (Groups 1-4)
Social Care CYPS / Being involved in Child Protection meetings at the earliest possible point will mean that services to families will be more effective. This will be assessed through parent satisfaction surveys and direct interviews with parents. From these surveys we would expect that:
- At least 75% of parents are very satisfied with the intervention from the children’s centre
Safeguarding/Engagement with the Neediest Families
County Target/Priority / Children’s Centre Baseline as at Autumn 2011 / Children’s Centre Target for Autumn 2012 / What services/ activities will be delivered to ensure you meet your target? / Who is responsible for ensuring that this activity is delivered? / Expected ImpactChildren’s Centres ensure integrated approach for support to families
Children’s Centres maintain close links with the Social Care and Family Intervention teams / Not applicable
Not applicable / Children’s Centres and social care teams have been invited to/attended children in need meetings as appropriate
Children’s Centres provide evidence that they have liaised and had regular contact with the social care team (e.g. attending team meetings, meetings with practice manager etc.)
Develop clear and agreed information-sharing protocols with all agencies and organisations /
- Children’s centre outreach staff are regularly involved in child protection core group meetings, Children in Need meetings, and Team Around the Child meetings. It is the responsibility of the key worker for a family (usually the case-holder within Action for Children) to ensure relevant people are invited to attend the relevant meetings within their sphere of responsibility.
- Children’s centre outreach staff are involved in aspects of comprehensive assessments working alongside social care staff