Area Coordination Management Meeting

Ashton

Minutes

Time: 10.00am - 12.00noon 
Date: Thursday 21st June 2007
Venue: Rosehill Children’s Centre

Present:

• Dave Munday - Area Co-ordinator
• Mary Clowrey - Education Welfare Service
• Annie O’Malley - Connexions
• Pam Chadwick - Youth Service
• Jane-Ann Birkitt - Secondary School rep – Stamford High School
• Jane Dufty - Sensory Support, Inclusive Services
• Emma McDonough - PCT

Note Taker: Jo Cole

Item 1: Welcome

Dave welcomed everyone to the fourth ACMT meeting and for the benefit of Jane Dufty and to refresh everyone’s memories, introductions were made around the table

Item 2: Apologies

• Deborah Walker - Assessment Team Manager
• Catherine Matthews - YOT

Item 3: Notes of last meeting and matter arising

The minutes were accepted as a true record, with no matters arising.

Item 4: Appointing a Chair

There was discussion regarding whether it was appropriate for the Area Co-ordinator to also be the Chair and concerns were raised over the workload involved in becoming the Chair.

Dave explained that the Area Co-ordinator would still prepare the agenda and supporting documentation, but would consult with the Chair before distribution.
During the meetings, it would be the Chair’s responsibility to push the agenda forward and ensure a productive meeting.

On the understanding that the work involved would not increase from the aforementioned, Jane-Ann Birkitt volunteered to become the Chair.

Item 5: Ashton Area Co-ordination

Dave has now met with all managers of the Ashton ACMT and has gained some valuable knowledge which he can pass on to the other area co-ordinators and his successor.

Dave explained that the Ashton Area Co-ordination post will be advertised next week and they again will be looking for someone with a background of working within the health service.

Until someone is recruited to replace Dave, the other 3 area co-ordinators will cover the Ashton ACMT and the Be Healthy Outcome Theme Sub-group meeting in rotation.

Item 6: Managers’ Update

Emma

• Emma is the Health Visitor Team Leader for Ashton.
• Following the restructure of the PCT, all Child Care Co-ordinators and Associate Directors are now in post. The Associate Director for Children is Judith Grigg.
• The Team Leaders for Health Visiting and School Nursing have all been appointed. Elaine Robertshaw is the School Nurse Team Leader for Ashton.
• The restructure will lead to Health Visiting and School Nursing eventually becoming more integrated.
• The PCT posts currently working within the YOT are being re-assessed to establish need. This may result in a small team of health workers being appointed rather than one individual.
• Pam (draft – to be agreed at next meeting)
• Pam is the Youth Service Area Manager for Ashton.
• As well as having the 4 area teams, the Youth Service also have teams that work across the borough e.g. Children with Disabilities, Music.
• The Youth Service are currently going through a review, led by Cheryl Eastwood. The new structure was presented to Elected Members last week and was received well.
• The structure is clear and well defined and creates opportunities for staff to work alongside Elected Members and neighbourhood teams.
• Annie
• Annie is the Connexions Operations Manager responsible for Post 16 young people who are NEET or in Employment or training. She works alongside another Operations Manager who is responsible for per and post 16 young people in Education.
• Connexions is part of the Services for Children and Young People structure, coming under Youth Support Services, managed by Sheila Piazza.
• The primary role of Connexions advisers is to offer career advice to 13-19 year olds, but they also offer advice and support on a range of issues young people face and advocate services from a variety of agencies including Education Welfare Service, Youth Service, YOT, Leaving Care Team, Teenage Pregnancy Team, Branching Out.
• The Connexions office in Clarence Arcade (Ashton) is currently undergoing refurbishment and, when complete, emphasis will be placed on the ‘cnx2jobs’ campaign and website.

Jane

• Jane works for Sensory Support which is part of Inclusive Services, previously known as Special Educational Needs. The Service also includes Education Psychology, COLT (previously TRASST), CLASS, Children with Disabilities, PRUs.
• Jane hopes to gain knowledge of how Inclusive Services can liaise and work with other services, as they still work on a borough-wide basis.
• Barbara McDowell (Education Psychologist) is working with Christy Nuttall on a piece of work to establish the role of a key worker (a key worker being different to a lead professional). This will give everyone a better understanding of what a key worker’s responsibilities are.

Jane-Ann

• Stamford’s Ofsted Inspection went well – overall result was satisfactory with some good features.
• A Connexions worker recently ran a course in school for Year 11 students on how to complete the EMA form.
• Members of staff and students from Stamford have been asked to participate in the Teens and Tots programme.
• A Principal and a Director have been appointed for the Academy, the Principal is George Lloyd and the Director is Paul Jacques. Currently, George Lloyd is working from the New Charter offices in Ashton.

Mary

• Mary is the Senior Education Welfare Officer for Ashton and Hyde, Hattersley and Longdendale.
• The Education Welfare Service is now more settled, following the restructure last year to align with the 4 areas.
• A trial will be taking place in September, involving 5 priority high schools, Hartshead Sports College being one of them. It will look at establishing a more time-focused way of managing cases, and giving the EWS the ability to close more cases.
• Currently, EWOs are assigned to a high school and a number of feeder primary schools. This is being re-assessed to establish whether an EWO needs to be assigned to a school depending on need.

Following on from Mary’s last point, there was a discussion regarding what provision is given to schools from various services. It was agreed that the ACMT meeting should focus on how services can be more integrated and what indicators different services use to determine the need of a school. Stamford High School to be used as a Case Study.

Item 7: Updated Action Plan

The Action Plan has been updated to reflect targets that have been met and deadlines that need to be extended.

Reporting on the progress of the Action Plan will become a standing item on ACMT meetings.

Item 8: CAF Sampling Feedback

Dave began by giving a brief summary of the data received and how it has been collated.

The spreadsheets collating the data was analysed, highlighting various results and explaining the questions raised regarding accuracy and reasons.

The draft version of the flowchart was shown and it was explained that further amendments will need to be made. The final version will be circulated once ready – comments welcome.

Questions were asked regarding how the CAF / JASPER training is accessed.

Feedback and Issues

Annie - Connexions

• Connexions use a lot of referral forms for different services e.g. Housing, Social Services, Branching Out, CAMHS, E2E. They are looking at a way of being able to cut and paste from a master form on to others.
• Annie asked whether all CAFs should go on JASPER, even they are just being completed for trial purposes – the answer was ‘Yes’.

Dave

• There have been some discussion around a system that can pre-populate an e-CAF based on forms that are already completed in the system.

Item 9: Six-monthly Meetings

The need for six-monthly meetings is mentioned in the Action Plan, to ensure a wider selection of agencies and services are involved in area co-ordination.
The draft programme for the first six-monthly meeting was shown – comments welcome.

Mary

• It shouldn’t be classed as a conference – too formal. Refer to it as an open day.
• Maybe have stalls of information.
• Have an informal agenda – people can ‘pop in’ at certain times, depending on what they are interested in on the agenda.

Annie

• Recalled that the Regeneration Events that take place are a huge success, with stalls available during breaks and lunchtime, and videos showing positive things from around the area.

Dave

• Maybe have a Podcast – each agency/service has a slot and this can then be available for anyone who couldn’t attend.

Pam

• The regeneration teams and voluntary, community and faith sector are some of the most important services in terms of area co-ordination – they must be invited.

Item 10: Any Other Business

Pam

Pam has been given the task of pulling together information about what voluntary organisations are working with young people in Ashton, and has realised the sheer quantity of organisations operating.

Mary

Mary wished Dave good luck in his new job.

Dave

Dave thanked everyone for an enjoyable few months.

Pam Chadwick on leave on 19thJuly, but will send a rep.

Emma McDonough will be unavailable for the 19th July – Elaine Robertshaw will attend.

Managers will then forward this email on to their staff All Once email received from Pam

Glossary

ACMT Area Co-ordination Management Team
APIR (profile) Assessment, Planning, Implement and Review
BEST Behaviour and Education Support Team
BIP Behaviour Improvement Programme
CAF Common Assessment Framework
CAMHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
CLASS
COLT Consolidation of Learning Team
CYP Children and Young People
CYPSP Children and Young People Strategic Partnership
DfES Department for Education and Skills
E2E
EAL English as an Additional Language
EBSD Emotional, Behavioural and Social Difficulties
ECM Every Child Matters
EMA Education Maintenance Allowance
EWO Education Welfare Officer
EWS Education Welfare Service
GONW Government Office for the North West
NEET Not in Education, Employment or Training
PA(s) Persistent Absence (in Education Welfare)
PCT Primary Care Trust
PRU Pupil Referral Unit
SEN Special Educational Needs
SID Service Information Directory
T3SC Tameside Third Sector Coalition
TRASST Traveller, Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support Team
VCF Voluntary, Community, Faith
YOT Youth Offending Team