Area Coordination Management Meeting

 Stalybridge, Dukinfield and Mossley

Minutes

Time: 2.30pm - 4.00pm
Date: Monday 5th February 2007
Venue: Stalybridge Fire Station

Present:

• Julie Lord - Area Co-ordinator & Chair
• Linda Sidebottom - New Charter
• Tina Wills - Youth Offending Team
• Anne Short - Headteacher, Yew Tree Primary School
• Maria Schofield - Extended Schools
• Gillian Barratt - Headteacher, Micklehurst All Saints C of E Primary School
• Imelda Murphy - Children’s Social Care

Note taker: Jo Cole

1. Welcome

Julie welcomed everyone to the second meeting of the Area Co-ordination Management Team and everyone introduced themselves.

2. Apologies

• Janice Aynsley - PCT
• Diane Ferris - Youth Service
• Liz Price - Education Welfare Service
• Alyson Harvey - Connexions

3.  Notes of last meeting and matter arising

The minutes were agreed to be accurate record of the meeting.

Julie attended a Stalybridge Cluster meeting where it was decided that the Headteacher from Stalyhill Junior School would contact other head teachers in the cluster in order to recruit a Stalybridge rep.

Janet Burns is currently speaking to members of TASH in order to recruit a secondary school rep.

4. Dates and Venues of future meetings

It has been decided that ACMT meetings should take place every half term, which means there will be a total of six meetings per year.

Dates of future meetings were agreed as follows: -

• 26th March 10.00 - 11.30 Dukinfield Children’s Centre
• 24th May 2.00 - 3.30 Ridgehill Children’s Centre
• 5th July 2.00 - 3.30 Micklehurst All Saints
• 20th September 2.00 - 3.30 Micklehurst All Saints
• 15th November 2.00 - 3.30 Dukinfield Children’s Centre

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Venues to be booked and details to be emailed out to members.	Jo Cole	Ongoing

5. Update on membership of this team

The point was raised that the New Charter reps who would attend this meeting don’t necessarily tie in exactly with the 4 areas. It was agreed that, as long as the rep reported back to the rest of the New Charter Regeneration Team, this would still work.

It has been decided that there will be a head teacher rep from each area cluster, rather than one head teacher representing the whole area. The agenda and minutes however, will go to all head teachers in the area. Head teachers can then contact the Head Teacher rep for their respective cluster or the Area Co-ordinators directly with any issues / agenda items.

There was a discussion regarding parental representation at this meeting. Although nothing has been agreed, there are plans in the pipeline for there to be two larger area co-ordination meetings per year, which parents; external agencies; child minders; voluntary, community and faith sectors would be invited to. Julie is developing the Involving Parents Strategy, and parental involvement in these meetings would tie in with that.

It was suggested that Debbie Duddridge, as the manager of the Stalybridge Family Support Team (Children’s Social Care), should be invited to attend future meetings.

It was also suggested that Amanda Smith, Community Safety Officer, should be invited to attend future meetings. Julie will discuss this with the other area coordinators.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Julie to meet with Amanda Smith before the next meeting	Julie Lord	26 March
Deborah Duddridge to be invited to attend future meetings	Jo Cole	Complete

6. Managers’ Update

Imelda

• Team Manager for Stalybridge, Dukinfield and Mossley Assessment Team within Children’s Social Care.
• The team is part of what used to be Social Services, Children and Families.
• They provide support for families, which includes Child & Family meetings, Child Protection meetings, Adoption, etc.
• They work in partnership with parents, throughout every stage.
• They work closely with external agencies, schools, & health visitors.
• There are 9 ½ social worker posts and 2 community worker posts, but there are only 6 posts filled at the moment.

Linda

• New Charter Regeneration Team
• They have been operating for approx. 2 years.
• The team consists of 4 members of staff, and 1 manager.
• Operate over 8 identified areas: - 
  
  

  Areas	Regeneration Office
  Mossley - Micklehurst and Waterton Lane areas, Newton, Hyde - Flowery Fields and Harbour Farm areas.	Linda Sidebottom 0161 331 2385
  Dukinfield - Central Estate area Denton South - Yew Tree and Haughton Green area	Laura Rynhart 0161 331 2514
  Stalybridge - Copley Estate Ashton - Smallshaw and Hurst areas	Melanie Johnson 0161 331 2718
  Stalybridge - Crowswood Estate and Ridghill area.	Awaiting New Starter March 2007

• They have very close links with partners and external agencies.
• The funding comes directly from New Charter, and not from the Government.
• There are currently three new projects: -

New Ground

• Partnership project between New Charter and Groundwork Operating on 4 of New Charter estates - Micklehurst, Crowswood, Copley & Newton,
• Two Groundwork employees deliver a program of respect for up to 15 identified young people and their families on a one to one basis. Participants don't have to be New Charter residents. The aim is to build respect and deliver diversionary work and rewards. 

Great Sports Partnership

• Partnership project between New Charter and Sports Development.
• Two leaders from Sports Development who work in schools and areas of open ground to engage young people in sports. This project aims to deliver extra sports sessions in the regeneration areas and supports the Street Games programme which promotes sports on estates.

Dreamscheme

• A rewards scheme for 8 - 16’s. Community Work =Points=Trips
• The aim is to engage young people in community projects and reward them with small trips. The Regeneration Officer runs this on their areas. They link with local partners to maximise involvement. Restricted by the number of volunteer helpers and workload.
• Constantly looking to develop more partnerships.

• They also fund equipment for the police and other partners to reduce crime in the area.
• They support and sponsor local groups to enable them to deliver information events, sporting tournaments and fun days.
• They actively encourage and support local residents groups.
• They offer free use of their Neighbourhood Centres in Micklehurst, Crowswood, Ridge Hill and Dukinfield and support the use of the Forum Shop in Newton to enable organisation to deliver services locally.
• Their aim is to raise community activities and involvement, as they feel communities have been lost.

Anne

• Headteacher at Yew Tree Primary School, Dukinfield
• 500+ pupils.
• They have a large impact on the area.
• There is a Children’s Centre on site, although it is not yet fully operational.
• They hope to provide extended services to the whole of Dukinfield from this one site.
• They have a duty to ensure the good health, safety and well-being of children.
• They work closely with many partners - Children’s Social Care workers, Child Protection officer, education welfare officers, school nurse, health co-ordinator.
• They feel their role is constantly changing and going beyond merely providing education.

Gillian

• Headteacher, Micklehurst All Saints C of E Primary School, Mossley.
• They are a fairly small school.
• Although they are not having a Children’s Centre on site, they will be the hub for children’s centre services.
• They feel there is good activity in their surrounding community.

7. Where are Area Co-ordination Management Teams and where are they heading?

Julie gave a presentation.

It was reported that the PCT are using the Capability Maturity Model to assess CAMHS services and it is proving successful.

Julie explained that in the future, the plan is to reconfigure the budget, so that resources are shifted from levels 4+ to the lower levels in the Children’s Needs Framework.

With the ACMT, it is intended that there will be no duplication of work and that resources can be pooled together. Also, job descriptions will be reviewed in order to fit with integrated services.

Julie and, Bob (Shaw) visited Salford, where they are delivering services based on area co-ordination. All the services for an area are in one place, sharing one budget.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Slides to be emailed out to members	Jo Cole	With minutes
Extended Schools Service diagram to be emailed out to members.	Jo Cole	With minutes

8. Drafting an area action plan and related processes

Julie briefly went through the draft action plan and explained that it will be going to the CYPSP meeting in February, and then it will be sent out to the ACMTs for consultation.

9. Integrated processes - emerging issues

There was a discussion regarding the completion of CAFs.

There were concerns raised as to whether a CAF would delay the process or put people off altogether because it is too time consuming.

Everyone is encouraged to complete a CAF, although it is appreciated that it is not always appropriate / possible.

Some members had not received details of the training courses for JASPER and CAF. Julie advised anybody wanting details on these courses to contact Jane Forrest.

There was a discussion about how CAFs are possibly going to be integrated into the YOT, and how they may replace referral forms in Children’s Social Care.

Julie expressed deep concern at the many problems people were experiencing with CAFs and asked that anybody with issues should email her in confidence.

10. Development of an Area Contact Directory

Julie is developing a template which is to be completed by each member of the ACMTs for their service. The idea is to get an easy-to-use directory of key contacts for each service in the area.

It was agreed that head teacher reps are just to list the key members of staff in their school e.g. SENCO, Child Protection officer, Learning Mentor, etc.

It was pointed out that any information required from schools must go through the Data Group.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Date Group to be contacted regarding information required from schools.	Julie Lord	a.s.a.p

11. AOB

There was some confusion over the structure of Services for Children and Young People, and who actually sits on meetings such as CLT and CYPSP. It was suggested that it may be useful for all members to have a copy of the structure for SCYP.

There was a discussion regarding the engagement of children, young people and their families. It is felt there is a gap in provision for children and young people who are at Level 2/3 of the Children’s Needs Framework. This can lead to them easily deteriorating into a Level 4/5. It was also felt that there is a gap in provision for 8-13 year olds.

There was a discussion regarding SNOOP, a surveillance vehicle which is used by the police and is going to be implemented in Denton South. The aim is to eventually have less need for surveillance and more prevention and early intervention.

New Charter has a project called Dreamscheme, this is a scheme which rewards C&YP for getting involved in community activities. This is hampered due to staff shortages and lack of volunteers. Parents and families need to become more actively involved.

The Play Strategy has been developed and a bid has been put in to NOF to develop the strategy further. The strategy includes developing Play Champions , who are volunteers who have received appropriate training and police checks to develop play activities in parks and open spaces.

Concerns were raised over the lack of provision for children moving from primary to secondary school. It was felt there is no structured process for carrying the support they receive in primary school on to secondary school. It was pointed out that the Extended Schools Service are involved in this transition stage.

A bid that was submitted by Julie and Sue to the Children’s Workforce Development Council has been successful. The bid is for a 12 month secondment post to provide therapeutic work for children who are witnesses to / perpetrators/victims of domestic violence. This post will also involve going into schools and providing awareness-raising through drama. There will funds for an admin post to collect all the data from this work to generate statistics.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
SCYP structure to be emailed out to members	Jo Cole	With minutes.

The meeting closed at 3.55pm.

Glossary

CAF - Common Assessment Framework
CLT - Children’s Leadership Team
CYPSP - Children and Young People Strategic Partnership
YOF - Youth Opportunity Fund
ACMT - Area Co-ordination Management Team
SENCO - Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
TASH - Tameside Association of Secondary Head teachers
SCYP - Services for Children and Young People

Stalybridge, Dukinfield & MossleyStalybridge, Dukinfield & Mossley