Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership

Newsletter: August 2008

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In this edition:

• Playtime
• Introduction to Children’s Services
• Lessons are out of this world
• The JAR – Some personal recollections
• Supporting Teenage Parents
• Tameside brings home the medals
• Pupils blossom at outstanding school
• Using Common Processes in Practice Workshops
• Pupils’ work hits the big screen

Board News -

• News from the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership
• Children and Young Peoples Plan- The 2008-09 Improvement Action Plan
• Your Views

This is the first of a series of newsletters aimed at all of Tameside Children workforce. We have decided to bring together the Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership (CYPSP) newsletter with the Tameside Council monthly Children services bulletin into a bi monthly newsletter. We hope you like this new style publication and welcome your feedback.

Playtime

Children across Tameside are going to get exciting new play opportunities thanks to a £1m government grant. The money, which has been awarded as part of the Department of Children, Schools and Family’s Children’s Plan, will be used to fund a three year programme to redevelop and build up to 25 play areas in the borough. The investment will be around the theme of the four elements - earth, wind, water and fire. Work on the play areas was due to start in early summer. More than 2000 children enjoyed an action-packed afternoon of adventures at Tameside’s annual play day.

The popular event, which was held at Stamford Park, Stalybridge, last Sunday (10th August), was this year named ‘Give it a go’ and was based on a theme of the four elements - Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. Children and young people were encouraged to try out a variety of activities including kite-flying, den-building, a climbing wall, arts and crafts and much more.

Over 700 families also took up the chance to give feedback on their local parks and choose their favourite type of play equipment. Everyone who took part in the consultation received a free goody bag.

Introduction to Children’s Services

New staff will have a better understanding of children’s services following the launch of a new induction programme. The Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership programme, launched in June, is held at Festival Hall in Denton with participants from Services to Children and Young People and including members of the workforce in schools, T3sc, the Acute Trust and the PCT. 

The launch event included presentations by Ian Smith, Executive Director for Services for Children and Young People, Tom Coffey Head of Strategy and Commissioning, Lynn Ready Training Officer for Tameside Safeguarding Board and Bob Shaw Area Coordinator.

Included in the feedback were the following comments in response to the question:

Which elements of the activity did you find most useful?

“Ian was very engaging and wonderfully upbeat”

“Discussion with other professionals-getting their perspective. .Finding out about the different faces of children’s services”

“Made me aware of the varying agencies working with young people and where to access information ie SID”

The next induction session for new staff across the partnership will be held in November.

Lessons are out of this world

Intrepid Tameside pupils experienced the thrills of a deep sea dive and exploring space - all without leaving the classroom. In an innovative exercise using state-of-the-art video conferencing facilities, youngsters from Littlemoss High and Fairfield Primary were set up with an interactive link with a diver on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

They were able to talk directly to the dive team - asking questions and making requests - while viewing live marine-life images on giant screen. Later on, pupils were also able to take part in two other sessions linked to the National Space Centre, firstly in a simulated rescue of people stranded on a volcanic island and then in a simulated space mission where pupils can find out about living and working conditions in space as well as get an update on the development of the International Space Station.

The facilities have already been used in Tameside to give pupils live and interactive tours of museums, such as The Tower of London, and to work together in teams across the curriculum and to support existing school projects.

Jane Turner from Tameside Council’s E-Learning Team said:

“Without video conferencing technology this type of event would not be possible. Video conferencing brings a subject to life and as well as creating a unique learning experience for pupils is an excellent example of how the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) can transform teaching and learning”.

For more information on this and other similar projects go to teaching and learning Tameside

The JAR – Some personal recollections

Well it’s been and gone!! All the preparation, all the work put in by staff from Tameside and all the work put in by staff from other agencies came to fruition during the past two weeks.

During the past six months huge staff resources have gone into the preparation work for the JAR; updating procedures, ensuring that policies were written to reflect what we are doing, preparing files for the case tracking, sorting out timetables for the inspectors, pulling together assorted information which the inspectors required etc. Staff were working equally hard to prepare for the enhanced youth service inspection, and the youth offending team inspection. At the same time colleagues in other services were preparing for the corporate assessment. In short we all put huge amounts of wok in.

Despite how well prepared we were (and we were!!) we always knew that the 2 weeks of the inspection were going to be difficult (and they were!!). There were 20 inspectors asking questions, reading files, talking to staff from all agencies all looking at what sort of service Tameside were providing to children and young people During the two weeks inspectors were asking for additional meetings, asking for additional information. Sometimes the inspectors reached an opinion which we believed to be incorrect and so we had to produce evidence to show what was really happening. It was all very frenetic!!

We will not know officially until September when the inspectors will send a draft report to the Authority detailing our “scores” but our view is that the inspectors were satisfied with the services we are providing and that the scores will reflect how well we are doing. There will be recommendations about things we can improve but we all knew there would be. We are good but we can always get better.

For my part I was asked to help Tameside prepare for the JAR and throughout the 9 months I have been working with staff at all levels from the director to social workers, residential staff, professionals in other agencies, administrative staff and so on. I have always been impressed with staff in Tameside.

Staff show clear commitment to young people and to improve outcomes. I remember a comment made by Ian Smith very early on when he said that this wasn’t about the JAR it was about young people and improving their life chances.

As I leave Tameside for pastures new I leave with memories of a committed workforce intent on doing their jobs well and with many friendships made, of staff willing to go the extra mile, and staff working under often difficult circumstances but with high spirits and a sense of humour!

I wish you all well for the future.

Phil Tomlinson (Consultant)

Our Executive Director, Services for Children and Young People, Ian Smith would like to endorse all of Phil’s comments, especially about the importance of remembering the impact on young people’s lives. “The inspectors came to see if we have a positive impact, especially on the most vulnerable, and they have gone away acknowledging the good work that we do. I am grateful to Phil for all the work he has done in helping us before and during the JAR. I would also like to single out Tom Coffey for special commendation because he has worked tirelessly for months to ensure we have everything in place. Most of all I want people to remember that the JAR was a team effort and whether you are employed by the Council or one of our key partners everyone has contributed to a successful outcome. And we did it the Tameside way - resilience, good humour, pride in our achievements and wholehearted support for each other. Well done to everybody – and have a good summer”

Supporting Teenage Parents

Teenage parents have been getting extra support and advice thanks to two new partnership schemes. The first – Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities – is a 13 week parenting skills course based at Hyde Children’s Centre. The course, run by local health visitors Janine Jones and Janet Leyland, also aims to promote community awareness and involvement as well as celebrating diversity. While in Droylsden the new Better Outcomes Achieved Together (BOAT) pilot project, run by health visitors, community midwives and Fairfield Children’s Centres staff, is exploring new ways of delivering local support to young parents. The team, which has set up weekly liaison meetings with young parents, aims to develop provision to better meet their needs.

A plan to involve the Infant Early Attachment Team in assessing and promoting early attachment between teenage parents and their children is also being developed. The lessons learned from this pilot will be used to shape children’s services across Tameside and Glossop. Health Visiting Team Leader Emma McDonough said:

“Whilst we already provide a good standard of support form young mothers in Droylsden, it is clear there is scope to expand and improve what we can offer to these women.

“The BOAT programme, through multi-agency working and coordination of care should lead to a great improvement for teenage mothers and fathers in the town.”

Both schemes are run in conjunction with Tameside Primary Care Trust.

Tameside brings home the medals

Team Tameside, sponsored by New Charter Trust , did the borough proud once again at this year’s Greater Manchester Mini Games. Winning primary school teams from Tameside Sports Development’s school competitions won the honour to represent Tameside in the competition. 

Tameside were up against teams Trafford, Manchester, Oldham and Stockport in Athletics, Basketball, New Age Kurling, Girls Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Tag Rugby and Tennis and the competition was fierce.

Teams were supported by school teachers, club coaches and the sports development team on the day and all the competitors upheld Tameside’s reputation of fair play.

Pupils blossom at outstanding school 

Pupils are blossoming at St John Fisher RC Primary - which has been given top marks by Government inspectors. In an Ofsted report published this week, the “highly regarded” Denton school is described as giving its pupils an “outstanding” education.

The inspectors said teaching and learning are of a high quality and that the positive atmosphere and relationships in the classroom allowed “pupils’ learning to blossom”, with achievement being significantly above the national average.

Pupils’ personal development and wellbeing are “excellent” and behaviour “exemplary”, with pupils “thoroughly enjoying their time at school”. The report highlighted how the school hosts a resource base for pupils with autism, which provides many opportunities for inclusion and promotes all pupils’ social and moral development.

Leadership and management, including governance, were also found to be outstanding.

Head teacher Bob Ganley said:

“The outstanding judgement is a well deserved pat on the back for everyone associated with the school. The staff, children, governors, parents and Tameside LEA are all very supportive of what we have been endeavouring to achieve over the years - long may this continue.”

Using Common Processes in Practice Workshops

Half-day multi agency workshops are being offered on an area basis to practitioners working with children and families who have already attended training in Common Assessment. These are designed to support practitioners who are starting to use common processes.

Pupils’ work hits the big screen

Budding young filmmakers from Tameside are to see their work on the silver screen. Pupils who are classed as gifted and talented in ICT and English have been creating their own short films on an aspect of teenage life during a special summer school. And a selection of their work was screened before a feature show at Cineworld, Ashton Moss, on Friday July 25. The project, organised by Tameside Council’s E-Learning team and funded by the Gifted and Talented Team, ran from Monday 21 - Friday 25 July. Prizes were awarded for the winning productions.

Board News –

News from the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership

• The New Local Area Agreement 2008-11 (LAA) has been finalised and signed at the end of June 2008. This sets 16 children and young people statutory performance indicators and additional local performance indicators
• A range of strategic documents have been produced on behalf of the Childrens and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership. These include the Integrated Youth Support Services Strategy; The Prevention Strategy and The Parenting Strategy. These can all be found in the coming weeks on the documents section of Childrens and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership webpage 
• Tameside Council and Tameside and Glossop PCT have identified non-recurrent funding to support the delivery of the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership (C&YPSP) Prevention Strategy to be invested by 31 March 2009. This funding will be used to provide grants for innovative and creative projects and activities that will support the Prevention Strategy and robust performance monitoring will enable learning for future developments in the borough.
• The next steps to further integration were discussed at the Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership meeting in July. There will be the establishment of area based multi-agency teams to deal with those children and young people at risk of developing more serious problems. Options for the establishment and management of the new teams will be discussed at the partnership and more widely during the coming weeks. 
• Young people have been recognised for taking part in the Teens and Toddlers programme. A presentation was held for all the young people involved in the 1st cohort of the programme, aimed as raising aspiration of teenagers and changing their attitudes towards early parenthood. Tameside’s figures for teenage pregnancy show a reduction by 5 per 1000 on previous reports.
• SID our directory for children, young people, their families and those working with them can be found on Service Information Directory. This has been re-launched to include information on local and national services including various leisure activities available throughout the year. A bus advertisement campaign will be running throughout the summer weeks to promote the many things to do and places to go for children and young people in Tameside.
  

Children and Young Peoples Plan- The 2008-09 Improvement Action Plan

The Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership has carried out a full self assessment of our progress and achievements against the 5 outcomes, which involved comprehensive consultation with all partners Partnership and with children, young people and their families. Performance reports have been brought to the CYPSP on progress made during 2007-08 against the key performance indicators contained in our first year Children and Young Peoples Plan - Improvement Action plan, which demonstrated significant achievements in a number of areas of our joint service provision, along with some areas where we still have improvements to make.

Also taken into account has been the revised national ECM framework, the new National Public Service Agreements and the new National Indicator Set, and as a result of this the Children and Young Peoples Plan has been updated and refreshed with new actions and new performance indicators where appropriate. The 2008-09 Improvement Action Plan is the result of this process, and this now constitutes our key strategic joint plan for children and young people for this year. Progress on implementing the plan will be reported to the CYPSP during 2008-09. Additional performance reports will continue to be provided from the Outcome Theme groups and from progress against the Local Area Agreement. The plan is now available on the Partnership website. If you would like more information, please contact Tom Coffey on 0161 342 3154, or email Tom Coffey

Your Views

Suggestions for future articles in this newsletter are welcome.

Please contact:
Cheryl Eastwood, AED Children’s Services (TMBC), on 0161 342 4143 or email Cheryl Eastwood