Children and Young People Bulletin

Newsletter: October 2008

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In this Newsletter:

• Celebration of retirement farewell to Ian Smith
• Quest for Success 2
• Give a Little Respect
• New Children’s Centre is Just Magic
• New Identity for Flagship School
• Youngsters Cook Up a Storm
• Tameside and Glossop Teenage Pregnancy Peak Campaign
• Using Common Processes in Practice
• Personalisation Planner
• New Play Equipment for Parks
  

Board News - News from the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership October Meeting

• Youth Alcohol Action Plan
• Positive Contributions Outcomes Theme Group
• Deployment of ContactPoint 2009

• Your Views

Celebration of retirement farewell to Ian Smith

Hundreds of colleagues bid a very fond farewell to retiring Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services Ian Smith.

Ian, who in his nine year’s at Tameside has overseen impressive improvements in educational achievement across the borough as well as the successful merging of lifelong learning and children’s services, has been succeeded in his post by the former director of education Jim Taylor.

Ian said: “I’m very sad to leave Tameside but I know I’m leaving it in good hands - I’m confident the service’s “rainforest” ethos of working together and supporting each other to build a sustainable model to make Tameside a better place to live not just for young people but the whole community will go from strength to strength.”

Quest for Success 2

Expectations were high in anticipation of the presentation by the guest speaker Camila Batmanghelidgh Founder and Chief Executive of Kids Company  a charity based in London and she did not disappoint! Camila had been contacted originally to speak at the launch of the Children’s Workforce Strategy in 2007 but while she was not available she offered to do the next one and so came to Quest for Success 2 which was held on 2nd October at Festival Hall in Denton. Camila captivated the audience with her recall of young people’s experiences and the ways in which she and her staff work with young people in turning around the lives of some of these most vulnerable and traumatised young people with a considerable degree of success.

”Inspirational “ was the word which most people were using to describe Camila as they left the hall and the whole event was indeed very successful in capturing the theme of “Working with Young People” .It had began with an example of a local project which was the showing of DVD recently produced by the Youth Service called “Out Loud” and this was introduced by two of the young people who had been involved in it’s production .This was followed by an update on key areas in the Children’s Workforce by Nicky Horn the Regional Development Manager for the Children’s Workforce Development Council.

There was also an opportunity for agencies across the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership to showcase the training available to all staff and volunteers which included stalls from the Third Sector Coalition (T3sc)  , the Tameside Safeguarding Children Board, Connexions  and Tameside College .

Give a Little Respect

Pupils will be exploring the theme of respect during a series of ‘street scene’ drama and art workshops. More than 500 children from Copley High School  took part in the project during September and October. The programme has been organised by the school in conjunction with Tameside Council’s Multi Agency Support Team (MAST), which consists of youth workers, family support workers, police officers and education psychologists who give targeted support to schools, pupils and families across the borough.

Carol Croft, from MAST, said “the young people themselves have raised issues such as not drinking alcohol in the street and not dropping litter. We hope the workshops, which will be followed up by sessions in school, will encourage them to think more about respectful behaviour in their everyday lives.”

New Children’s Centre is Just Magic

Staff have some great tricks up their sleeve to celebrate the official opening of Denton’s new children’s centre.

Families will be entertained at the event - to be held on Tuesday October 21 - with magic shows, balloon modelling, face painting and crafts while also having the opportunity to find out about the extensive services on offer for under fives and their parents and carers.

The children’s centre, on Linden Road, has already established a number of popular toddler groups including a weekly lunch club which has been successful in attracting families to enjoy healthy lunchtime snacks with the help of volunteers and a nutritionist.

It also provides adult learning classes and has recently run a set of courses to encourage healthy eating and lifestyles within the community. A childminders support
group has been established with the help of Tameside Early Years Quality Services Team.

The centre works closely in partnership with many local agencies and professionals, including health visitors and midwives, to develop its range of services. Staff are available from 8.30am - 5.00pm to provide information on careers and jobs, childcare services, training opportunities, benefits and family support.

Chair of the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership, Cllr Allison Gwynne, said: “The children’s centre is already successfully getting to the heart of the local community and is working closely with partners, volunteers and local families to ensure children in the area get the very best start in life.”

New Identity for Flagship School

A new name has been announced for one of Tameside’s future flagship schools following feedback from hundreds of local people.

In 2010 Two Trees Sports College  and Egerton Park Arts College , Denton, will be replaced by a brand new school as part of the borough’s £300m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.

And, after considering more than 600 comments from pupils, teachers, parents and the local community, the temporary governing body have decided it will be called Denton Community College.

The name reinforces the school’s geographical location as well as it's vision to provide for the whole community. A high number of respondents to the consultation had selected the name as their first or second choice.

Councillor Allison Gwynne, who chairs the Denton temporary governing body, said: “Denton Community College will play a key role in bringing the Denton community together, creating a positive future for families and the local community.

"We were delighted to have such an enthusiastic response to consultation on the new name and would hope this reflects the sense of enthusiasm the local community feel towards the development of a new, state-of-the-art school in the town."

Denton Community College will be an inclusive 1,350 place school for boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 16. Its specialisms will be Performing Arts and Sport with students having access to the widest range of sporting and fitness activities.

During the next two years there will be many events and meetings to share further information and listen to the views and ideas of the community.

Youngsters Cook Up a Storm

Too many cooks don’t always spoil the broth...just ask youngsters at Haughton Green Young People’s Centre. More than 30 senior club members have shared their favourite family recipes to create a mouth watering recipe book.

The youngsters have spent the last six months researching, budgeting, shopping and cooking for the project, supported by Tameside Council’s Youth Service.

They have produced a full-colour book, which showcases their family recipes ranging from traditional English favourites to dishes from around the world. It also contains interesting facts about the countries from which the meals originate.

Youth Worker Mathew Pilling said: "We encourage young people to learn to cook as part of promoting healthy lifestyles and independent living. They showed so much
enthusiasm that sharing their favourite recipes and producing a book to encourage other young people and their families to cook seemed like a good idea."

The full colour book costs £3 and is available from Haughton Green Young People’s Centre Senior Club, which is open on a Monday and Wednesday between 7pm and 9pm.

Tameside and Glossop Teenage Pregnancy Peak Campaign

The reduction of Teenage Pregnancy rates in Tameside is a major priority for the borough. It is everyone’s responsibility. There is a range of good practice operating in Tameside to address teenage pregnancy issues and best practice shows that there has to be a joint approach from services to make these fully effective.

The C-card scheme was launched in September 2007 to give 13- 19 year-olds access to free condoms. Approximately 2,800 have already registered to the scheme. Dr Foster Intelligence  has run a locally targeted campaign in early October to promote the C-card scheme to this age group. Two ‘street teams’ have patrolled key areas in Stalybridge North and Hyde Godley, where teenage pregnancy is particularly high. Each team comprised a Tameside Youth Services manager, a Tameside youth worker (aged 18/19) and two Key 103 ‘runners’ (also aged 18/19). The Key 103 staff have played an important role in attracting the target audience and it is proven that teenagers are significantly more responsive to people of their own age. More responsible and open discussions about teenage pregnancy issues will create a culture in which the teenage pregnancy rate will most likely be reduced.

Using Common Processes in Practice

The Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership is underlining a commitment to supporting practitioners to embed Common Processes. To this end Jane-Ann Birkitt has been appointed as Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Adviser. Jane-Ann has worked in Tameside for 9 years, held senior leadership positions in a Tameside high school, been Chair of Governors in a Tameside primary school for 5 years and chaired the Ashton Area Co-ordination Management Team.

As well as raising the profile of Common Assessment, part of Jane-Ann’s role is in a consultative and supportive capacity. She will be able to advise regarding the need to initiate a common assessment and any aspects of the process after that. She will support practitioners during the process if that is felt to be appropriate.

In order to develop and consolidate the practice of using common processes it has been agreed that Jane-Ann will maintain a central log of all CAFs that are completed across the Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership and all CAFs completed are to be sent to her at the Council Offices upon completion. It will of course be necessary when gaining consent to inform the family that a copy of the document will be sent to the CAF Adviser.

Completed CAFs should be sent to:

Jane-Ann Birkitt
The CAF Adviser,
Room 5.2,
Tameside Council Offices,
Wellington Road,
Ashton-under-Lyne,
OL6 6DL

Half-day workshops are continuing to be offered, aimed at practitioners working with children and families who have already attended training in Common Assessment. Designed to support practitioners who are starting to use common processes (JASPER, Common Assessment, Lead Professional Role and Child & Family Meetings) the workshops are arranged on an area basis to enable practitioners to train with their local partners. If you work across Tameside you can attend any workshop. Applications will need to go to :

Training Assistant,
Workforce Development Training Unit,
Festival Hall,
Peel Street,
Denton
M34 3JX.
Tel: 0161 337 0246

or you can send a message to the Workforce Development Team

Personalisation Planner

A personalisation planner, which is a locally developed toolkit, is being piloted in a number of schools in Tameside to support the identification of those children who may need early intervention to remove barriers to achievement and progress.

The values underpinning this approach are that personalisation is the key to tackling the persistent achievement gaps between different social and ethnic groups. It means a tailored education for every child and young person, that gives them strength in the basics, stretches their aspirations, and builds their life chances. It will create opportunity for every child, regardless of their background.

The personalisation planner will meet a number of objectives including to support whole-school planning for the use of resources, using an integrated and up-to-date data set; to provide a common language for discussions between schools, and between the school and the local authority and to support transition work.

New Play Equipment for Parks

Children and young people will soon be able to enjoy £1m worth of adventurous new equipment in the borough’s playgrounds. Work is due to start to transform six local play areas in the first phase of Tameside Council’s Play Builder scheme.

Granada Park, Denton – one of the flagship schemes under the programme – has been allocated over £100,000 while Waterloo Park in Ashton, Peregrine Crescent, Benny Lane and Floral Gardens in Droylsden and Mossley Park will also all benefit. A further 18 sites across the borough will be redeveloped over the next three years in the second and third phases of the project.

The Play Builder programme is aimed at eight to 13-year-olds but will be accessible to all ages. Youngsters have given feedback on their preferred equipment and playground design through consultation carried out in schools and at the borough’s annual Play Day, held at Stamford Park. The council successfully bid for the funding, from the Department of Children, Schools and Families, around the theme of the four elements – earth, wind, water and fire.

Board News

News from the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership October Meeting

Youth Alcohol Action Plan

A National Youth Alcohol Action Plan  has been launched by DSCF and Home Office, because of concerns regarding levels of alcohol consumption in young people. Tameside has above national averages in the levels of alcohol consumption for young people with approximately between 48-54% of year 10’s drink at least once a week. Early indications from a number of surveys show this has increased locally.

A local Strategic Alcohol Group has been set up to monitor progress of implementation of the local alcohol strategy and four action plans. The local alcohol indicators for the Children and Young People Partnership:

• The age young people start to drink with their friends.
• Level and frequency of alcohol consumption in young people.
• Proportion of young people with alcohol confiscation letters.
• Proportion of young people referred to hospital for alcohol related incidents.
• Proportion of test purchasing failures.

Members of CYPSP approved recommendations that:
The Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership be the key partnership to deliver and monitor the children and young peoples action plan within the local alcohol strategy and strengthen inks with the Strategic Alcohol Group.

Youth Online Survey

The Partnership was informed that the 2008 Youth Online survey for Year 10 students will be taking place in Tameside schools from the end of October. The survey will help to shape service delivery for children & young people including Personal, Social and Health education in our schools.

A multi-agency steering group has been developing the new survey to complement the Tellus survey and to provide more in depth information to assist us in planning and delivering more effective services locally. Extensive consultation has been carried out with young people, schools and others on the content of the survey, and this has been refined in recent months as a result of this feedback and some trialling with students.

It is intended that the survey is run every year and that the results will help to articulate more clearly the views and concerns of young people across the partnership.

At the same time as the survey is rolled out a new booklet Choose Life Choose Health– A young person’s guide to living in Tameside will be launched in schools. Copies will be available for all year 10 students, providing information about healthier lifestyles and sources of support.

Positive Contributions Outcomes Theme Group

The Chair of the Making a Positive Contributions Outcomes Theme group gave a summary report of the activities undertaken by the theme group since the last report in August 2007. It has been looking at how key life changes can affect Children and Young People, establishing the relationship between the Participation Network and the Making a Positive Contribution theme group; and further development of School representative groups and how young people can be involved in local democracy.

Deployment of ContactPoint 2009

An update on ContactPoint was given. ContactPoint will be a centrally maintained database which contains minimal specified information about every child in England from birth to their 18th birthday (and in specific cases, to their 25th birthday). Local authorities are required to participate in the operation of ContactPoint by the Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007 with named partner organisations required to disclose information to Contact Point.

Tameside is scheduled to go ‘live’ with ContactPoint in early , 2009 -subject to accreditation from the Department for Children, Schools and Families,

Discussion took place on the deployment of ContactPoint which has major implications for all Children's services departments and for the Children's Strategic Partnership as a whole.

Members of CYPSP gave approval for senior managers and managers in key roles/positions in their organisations being approached to chair and/or actively participate in relevant aspects of proposed project governance arrangements. Wider awareness of ContactPoint and its implications for partners is to be promoted through local networks and membership of the range strategic forums and interagency partnerships.

A report was given setting out the current position with regard to Children’s Trust Arrangements in Tameside. These were described in the context of the area co-ordination arrangements, alignment of services such as children’s health services to the four areas and development of children’s centres and extended schools; along with the progress of integration of services for children with disabilities including the single referral process, and the co-location of specialist services for young people.

The next three months will be crucial in considering potential future arrangements, and next steps in the development of Children’s Trust Arrangements. The need to strengthen the Partnerships joint commissioning capacity as well as establishing closer working arrangements between services at the frontline. The establishment of multi-agency teams working at around level 3 of the children’s needs framework will make this closer working a reality and progresses both our integrated and targeted youth support strategy and the prevention strategy.

The Local Authority and PCT are both in the process of employing consultants to assist in the developments previously referred to.

The CYPSP agreed to the principles in general as outlined above as being the way forward.

To view the full reports featured on this page visit www.tameside.gov.uk/CYPP.

Your Views

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0161 342 4143