Rushmoor Local Children’s Partnership

Support Services Audit for Hart & Rushmoor Schools & Colleges, January 2012 (Draft)

1.Conclusions & Recommendations

Conclusions

  • There are a large number of differing roles in schools, teaching and non-teaching, part-time and full-time,focused in some way on pastoral care. The ELSA has a prominent role in pastoral care for Rushmoor schools.
  • In nearly all cases, a school either is aware of a support service, or accesses it directly. Rarely, with a few exceptions, is a school signposting to a service,
  • For the large majority ofsupport services, at least one school is unaware of the service.
  • The local authority, despite budget constraints, is still the main provider for most support services, much less so the health sector and rarely the private sector or voluntary sector.
  • For some services, especially Carer support, some schools don’t know who provides the service.
  • Counselling services are supplied by providers across all sectors.
  • For most services, schools perceive the same level of service being received since Autumn 2010, the exceptions being Educational psychology, Educational welfare, Locality team, Social care and Speech and language therapy.
  • Overall, the number of services that schools want to provide more of is very low. It is possible that the question wasn’t understood completely by all respondents.
  • CAF has been successful when professionals have worked well together and shared the workload. Parental engagement is also a prerequisite. Schools are less satisfied about the lack of resources, the complexity of the process and the bureaucracy involved. Schools are occasionally frustrated by the lack of outcomes, lack of engagement by parents and some agencies, and the sense of having to go through the motions.
  • Schools expressing an opinion perceive that more families are struggling to cope with the social issues of Unemployment benefits, Welfare benefits, Housing, Relationships and Health and wellbeing, and less so, Work readiness.
  • A reduced service in Speech and language therapy in schools provoked the most comments when requested.
  • Schools are developing good practice and partnership working in response to reduced services.

Recommendations

There are no quick fixes to filling a gap created by reduced services, and it is no surprise that schools feel frustrated by the demands on their staff and resources to support the apparently growing social needs of their families.

However, schools are showing that they can work in partnership to support the prioritised need, and Speech and language therapy in particular would appear to be an issue that schools could approach in a joined up way by buying in a shared professional or commissioning staff training.

Schools need to be best aware of the services they have access to, or can signpost to, to ensure that vulnerable and needy families are supported in the most effective way. Support service agencies and schools share a responsibility to work better together to make the best use of limited resources. Steps towards making links between schools and support services more effective could include:

  • District Managers to ensure schools are aware of the core services available to them as SLAs, and the additional services that can be bought in, by the next budget cycle
  • A pdf document to be produced for schools with brief information about services available in schools and contact details
  • Promotion of Rushmoor Schools Plus as a signposting website for more information and contact details. Schools to share signpost information with all staff so that staff feel more supported, and with parents via their own school communications
  • Agencies might benefit from a named pastoral link at each school, especially when there are a large variety of roles undertaking pastoral care
  • A review of the strengths of the various counselling services providers to schools in Rushmoor, to establish good practice and the most effective approach for schools
  • An idea from a Rushmoor Schools Plus ‘collaboration cafe’ in 2011 for a ‘speed dating’ style event for schools and agencies, an opportunity for people to put names to faces and learn more about each other as Rushmoor organisations
  • Schools as hubs for information access and links to agencies such as the CAB, Job Centre Plus, Housing services, Rushmoor Voluntary Services, etc., that can proactively help schools to support their families.
  • Sharing the report with agencies and inviting further comment and suggestions, via the LCP. There is an immediate example of how feedback from the audit has helped local provision of services, with the names of schools reporting that they would like a DV professional to contact them about training needs for staff being passed on to Karen Evans of the DV forum, who will contact schools directly with options for staff training
  • Working with Hart on some or all of these recommendations might share the load in administering processes and cutting what costs there might be

2. Introduction

Since Autumn 2010, the restructuring of services brought on by policy change and reductions in public spending has changed the way many specialist support services are delivered in schools and colleges. To help the LCPs plan for the future we were interested to find out from all schools about the level of support currently in place and about the issues facing education leaders with regard to the availability and scope of specialist services.

The purpose of the Support Services audit therefore, was to find out how schools are managing changes to services, to have clarity about current levels of service, to see what gaps in service, or duplication, there might be, and to help future planning on the use of resources by the LCP.

The Hart and Rushmoor LCP Coordinators worked together to decide the themes for the survey, and a pilot on-line survey, was tested with headteachers in December 2011.

The survey proper was sent to all Hart and Rushmoor headteachers / principals early in January. The questions were identical for Hart and Rushmoor headteachers, and was expected to take about 30 minutes to complete, (although it could be answered in more than one sitting, and by more than one person at the setting).

Children’s Centre Managers in both districts were also sent a very similar survey, (the responsesfrom Children’s Centre Managers were forwarded to Sam Severe, Quality Performance Officer for Children’s Centres).

3. Findings fromRushmoor responses

Section A. Introductory Questions

Q1 – Q5: School details

In Rushmoor:

  • 38 schools and colleges received the survey
  • 3 separate email requests and reminders were sent to schools while the survey stayed open
  • 23 schools started the survey (61%), 19 completed it (50% - one was completed on behalf of 2 schools)
  • Of the 24 schools that started the survey:
  • 10 were infant, 6 junior, 5 primary 1 secondary and 2 were special schools
  • 8 were Aldershot schools, 16 Farnborough
  • 23 were completed by the headteacher, 1 by a deputy Headteacher
  • The responses are therefore skewed towards the primary sector. However, despite fewer responses from secondary schools, responses were received from schools responsible for about 5,500 pupils, 800 of those in secondary education. Rushmoor schools have in total about 10,500 pupils.

Q6: Pastoral support in schools

Respondents were asked to describe the pastoral support in place in theirschool, including whether there is a designated non-teaching member of staff who provides pastoral support.

23 schools responded, reporting that pastoral roles were undertaken by various members of teaching and non-teaching,part-time and full-time staff. The list below includes all the roles mentioned as having a pastoral function – some have been counted more than once because they have multiple roles, for instance an ELSA who is FEIPs trained.

Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) / 16 schools
Any / all, various members of staff / 5
Parent Support Adviser (PSA) / 4
Framework for enhanced individual support (FEIPS) trained staff / 4
Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) / 4
Headteacher / 3
Family / Home school link worker / 2
Inclusion Manager / 3
Behaviour support / 2
Deputy Headteacher / 1
Key Stage Heads / 1
SNA / 1
Admin Officer / 1
Child Protection Liaison Officer (CPLO) / 1
Personal Development Learning (PDL) Manager / 1
Pastoral Learning Support Assistant (LSA) / 1

Comments

  • In describing the pastoral support, schools additionally mentioned the use of feelings cards, assemblies, nurture provision, school counsellors, and the PSHE curriculum.
  • There are a large number of differing roles in schools, teaching and non-teaching, part-time and full-time,focused in some way on pastoral care
  • By far the most named job title undertaking a pastoral role in schools is the ELSA, named in 16 of the 23 schools.
  • Agencies might benefit from a named pastoral link at each school, especially when there is a largevariety of roles undertaking pastoral care?

Section B. Current Support Services

Four questions focused on a list of34 support services, compiled via the pilot survey,available in or through schools. Respondents were asked to consider:

  • What services are accessed by their school / college,
  • What the service provides in the school / college,
  • Who provides the service, and
  • Has the provision changed since Autumn 2010?

Q7: Current level of access to provision

Four options, or levels of access, were offered, and schools asked to pick the one level that best fits their current situation.21 schools responded to this question. This table provides the percent response for each level of access. The most popular response for each service is in bold.

School is not aware of this service / School is aware of this service but doesn’t currently signpost to or access it directly / School signposts to this service but doesn’t access it directly / School currently accesses this service
Behavioural support team / 0% / 29% / 10% / 62%
Bereavement support / 19 / 57 / 24 / 0
CAMHS professional / 0 / 33 / 14 / 52
Carer support / 10 / 81 / 10 / 0
Career Guidance / 24 / 57 / 5 / 14
Childhood obesity professional / 48 / 33 / 14 / 5
Children’s Centre / 0 / 19 / 38 / 43
Children in Care team / 5 / 24 / 24 / 48
Counselling services / 14 / 43 / 10 / 33
Disability / SEN support professionals / 0 / 10 / 0 / 91
Domestic violence services / 10 / 62 / 19 / 10
Drug and substance abuse professionals / 10 / 67 / 19 / 5
Early Intervention in Psychosis teams / 81 / 19 / 0 / 0
Educational psychologists / 0 / 0 / 5 / 95
Educational Welfare Officers / 0 / 5 / 0 / 95
EMTAS / 0 / 14 / 5 / 81
Hantsdirect / 5 / 19 / 14 / 62
Housing association / 0 / 57 / 33 / 10
Housing services professionals / 19 / 57 / 14 / 10
Leisure / sport providers / 10 / 19 / 24 / 48
Locality team / 0 / 19 / 10 / 71
Job Centre Plus / 10 / 67 / 14 / 10
Parenting support professionals / 5 / 10 / 14 / 71
Peer mentoring services / 33 / 52 / 5 / 10
Police / 0 / 14 / 10 / 76
Referral & Assessment team / 14 / 14 / 5 / 67
School nurses / 0 / 0 / 5 / 95
Sexual health professionals / 10 / 81 / 0 / 10
Smoking cessation / 24 / 67 / 5 / 5
Social care professionals / 10 / 29 / 5 / 57
Speech and language therapists / 0 / 0 / 5 / 95
Teenage conception professionals / 14 / 81 / 0 / 5
Youth offending teams / 0 / 76 / 10 / 14
Youth services organisations / 5 / 76 / 10 / 10

Comments

  • The most popular response occurred:
  • For 17 services where schools directly access the service
  • For 15 services where schools are aware of the service but don’t currently signpost to it or access it directly
  • For 2 services where schools are not aware of the service
  • On no occasion where schools signpost to a service but don’t access it directly
  • In 32 out of 34 cases therefore, a school either is aware of a service, or accesses it directly. Very rarely does a school signpost to a service, (the exceptions being children’s centres, children in care team, leisure providers and housing associations)
  • For 21 of the 34 support services listed, at least one school is unaware of the service. Of course in many cases the service isn’t accessible to or appropriate for a school but in some cases the lack of awareness is noticeable, e.g. teenage conception (a Rushmoor LCP priority), Referral & assessment, bereavement support, Housing services, etc.
  • There is an opportunity for schools, when appropriate, to signpost a service to children and families. Schools might benefit from a simple list of the services, what they do, and who to contact in the organisation.

Q8: Description of services

Schools saying that they accessed a service were asked to describe the support received. In the table, for each service,there is a summary of the comments made by schools.

Support service / Summary of provision, from comments received
Behavioural support team (14 descriptions) / General advice, support for individuals and families, training for staff, school counsellor, transition, managed moves
Bereavement support (4) / Advise as needed, recommended some good books
CAMHS professional (14) / Advice and support, referrals for individuals re. trauma, DV, child protection. Hard to engage, takes time to get appointment
Carer support (0 descriptions)
Career Guidance (3) / Connexions advice and support, worker in school
Child obesity professional (3) / Fit for Life, school nurse
Children’s Centre (12) / Supporting isolated parents, advice, signpost parents to courses and services, share data, training, individual support. Harder to access now
Children in Care team (9) / External management of children in care, support for school, attend meetings, information, advice
Counselling services (5) / Employed through Valley Trust
Disability / SEN support professionals (14) / Staff training, specific advice, support phoneline, DDA report and advice, links with outreach, attend meetings with parents
Domestic violence services (3) / Deliver workshops, talks to pupils, child protection plans
Drug and substance abuse professionals (2) / Referrals, work with PSHE lessons
Early Intervention in Psychosis teams (1) / Urgently required
Educational psychologists (18) / SLA, behaviour support consultations, training, support for individual children, advice, intervention, visits, statutory SEN work, helpline
Educational Welfare Officers (20) / Intervention with individual families on lateness and attendance, visits to parents, CAF attendance, termly visits to school, helpline
EMTAS (17) / Support to newly arrived pupils, joint projects, advice and support for teachers, resources, translations for parents. Can be slow to respond
Hantsdirect (7) / Advice, intervention, information – policies, safeguarding, legislation
Housing association (7) / CAF attendance, advice, clinics in school, support problem families
Housing services professionals (6) / CAF work. Wouldn’t know how to access this service.
Leisure / sport providers (11) / Breakfast club, lunchtime and after school clubs, Leisure Centre, holiday playscheme, football club, dance school, judo, sports partnerships
Locality team (16) / Support with CAFs, Family Support Worker, staff training, advice, intervention, support
Job Centre Plus (2) / Signpost
Parenting support professionals (13) / Triple P courses, support for vulnerable parents, helping parents with child behaviour and attendance, workshops, E-safety, coffee mornings
Peer mentoring services (2) / Trained children at conferences
Police (14) / Joint projects (e.g. speeding), clinics on school site, talks to children, advice, support, information for newsletters, community issues
Referral & Assessment (10) / Child protection reviews and conferences, referrals, advice, support
School nurses (19) / Parent support, referrals, EYs screening, sex education, child protection, obesity assessment, immunisations, class input (e.g. healthy eating)
Sexual health professionals (0)
Smoking cessation (2) / Signpost clinics, workshops, advice for parents
Social care professionals (8) / Children in care, CAFs, advice, support
Speech and language therapists (18) / Direct work with children, design programmes, advice, resources, assessment, staff training. Vastly reduced access
Teenage conception professionals (0)
Youth offending teams (5) / Work with vulnerable children to build self-esteem, advice, support
Youth services organ’tions (4) / Youth club on site, occasional advice

Q9: Providers of services

Schools were asked who provided the support service they accessed. The categories listed were Your school, Another school, Local authority, Private sector, Voluntary sector, and Health sector. Schools could tick more than one provider, and could tick that there was no service accessed by the school, or that they don’t know the provider. 19 schools responded to this question. The first and second most popular responses for each service are listed below, where significant.

Most popular response / Second most popular response where significant
Behavioural support team / 14 -Local authority / 4 - No service accessed
Bereavement support / 13 - No service accessed / 4 - Local authority
CAMHS professional / 11 -Health sector / 5 - No service accessed
Carer support / 17 - No service accessed / 2 - Don’t know provider
Career Guidance / 15 - No service accessed / 3 - Local authority
Childhood obesity professional / 12 - No service accessed / 5 -Health sector
Children’s Centre / 10 - Local authority / 6 - No service accessed
Children in Care team / 10 - Local authority / 7 - No service accessed
Counselling services / 9 - No service accessed / 3 -Your school / Local authority / Private provider
Disability / SEN support professionals / 15 - Local authority / 3 - No service accessed
Domestic violence services / 13 - No service accessed / 4 - Local authority
Drug and substance abuse professionals / 14 - No service accessed / 2 - Local authority / Voluntary sector
Early Intervention in Psychosis teams (EIPS) / 17 - No service accessed / 2 - Don’t know provider
Educational psychologists / 17 - Local authority
Educational Welfare Officers / 18 - Local authority
EMTAS / 15 - Local authority / 3 -No service accessed
Hantsdirect / 9 -Local authority / No service accessed
Housing association / 11 - No service accessed / 3 - Private provider
Housing services professionals / 13 - No service accessed / 2 - Private provider
Leisure / sport providers / 7 - No service accessed / 6 - Private provider
Locality team / 17 - Local authority
Job Centre Plus / 15 - No service accessed / 2 -Local authority
Parenting support professionals / 7 - Local authority / 6 -Your school
Peer mentoring services / 15 - No service accessed / 3 -Local authority
Police / 14 - Local authority / 4 -No service accessed
Referral & Assessment team / 12 - Local authority / 7 -No service accessed
School nurses / 14 - Health sector / 7 - Local authority
Sexual health professionals / 15 - No service accessed / 3 - Health sector
Smoking cessation / 16 - No service accessed / 3 - Health sector
Social care professionals / 13 - Local authority / 5 - No service accessed
Speech and language therapists / 10 - Health sector / 8 - Local authority
Teenage conception professionals / 17 - No service accessed / 2 - Local authority
Youth offending teams / 13 - No service accessed / 3 - Local authority
Youth services organisations / 14 - No service accessed / 3 - Local authority

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