Sure Start Children’s Centres 2010/11 by Hargrave Design

CHP Sure Start Annual Report v6_Layout 1 27/03/2012 15:58 Page 1

Sure Start Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Centres 2010/11

CHP Sure Start Annual Report v6_Layout 1 27/03/2012 15:58 Page 2

CHP Sure Start Annual Report v6_Layout 1 27/03/2012 15:58 Page 1

Contents Section 1 – Introduction ......................1 Context of the service ..........................2 Our vision and values ..........................4 Section 2 – How we perform ..............5 Performance management ..................5 Quality improvement ..........................6 Section 3 – Partnership working..........7 Links with other agencies ....................7 Section 4 – What we do best ..............9 Attainment ............................................9 Health and family support ................12 Community development ..................14 Section 5 – The future ........................17

ntroduction

Foreword I am delighted to welcome you to the Sure Start Annual Report. This report gives an overview of the work of Sure Start Children’s Centres in Ashfield, Broxtowe and Gedling and illustrates the positive difference our services have made on outcomes for young children and their families over the past year.

The report outlines a number of achievements. Here are some key highlights: • engaging with parents and other partners to support best outcomes for young children and their families • embedding effective practice within the community and reaching disadvantaged and “harder to reach” children and their families

• working with a multi-agency approach in order to make a difference to service delivery and to help identify young children and families in need of additional support • demonstrating good outcomes through effective use of evaluation and impact measures

Our health led Children’s Centre teams are committed to making a positive difference to the children and families they work with and do so through excellent practice. The range of stories throughout this report from parents and partners give a first hand view of the outstanding service provided by the teams and the enthusiasm they have for what they do.

Sure Start Children’s Centres are designed to offer parents to be and families with young children access to integrated early childhood services “when and where they need them”.

I would like to thank the teams for their hard work and ongoing commitment to Sure Start services, children and their families.

They act as a service hub for the community, bringing together public, private and voluntary agencies to work collaboratively. The main aim is to improve outcomes for all young children and to provide early intervention to protect the most vulnerable children and their families.

Paul Smeeton, Chief Operating Executive

Early childhood services include: • Early years provision • Social services relating to young children, parents or prospective parents • Assisting parents to access employment and training • Providing assistance and information about childcare and any other relevant services to parents

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The National Context Core purpose of Sure Start The Department for Education is finalising plans for a new “core purpose” for Children’s Centres. It has a focus on improving outcomes for young children and their families, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged families, in order to reduce inequalities in child development and school readiness.

The Local Context The new framework for Children’s Centres together with the “Core Purpose” identifies: • Children’s Centres should seek to improve the following outcomes: - Parenting capacity - Health and wellbeing (including economic wellbeing) - Child development and school readiness • The following services make a difference: - Early learning and childcare (particularly in disadvantaged areas) - Parent-centred support – building on strengths - Relationship support - Outreach support (including home based support) - Adult learning and employment support - Child and family health services

County Health Partnerships is currently accountable for 26 Children’s Centres in Nottinghamshire, covering the three districts of Ashfield, Broxtowe and Gedling. Each district has its own budget, staff team, structure and priorities, all of which are detailed on the following pages.

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Where are our Sure Start Children’s Centres?

Ashfield 1 Sutton Central Children’s Centre 2 New Woods Children’s Centre 3 Summer House Children’s Centre 4 Kirkby East Children’s Centre 5 Newstead Children’s Centre 6 Market Place Children’s Centre 7 Butler’s Hill & Broomhill Children’s Centre 8 High Leys Children’s Centre 9 Rural Families Children’s Centre 10 Kirkby Central & West Children’s Centre 11 Huthwaite Children’s Centre

2 1 11

3 10

Ashfield 5

6 26

Gedling

13 14 15

Broxtowe

17 18 19

Broxtowe 20 Beeston North Children’s Centre 21 Beeston Children’s Centre 22 Chilwell Children’s Centre 23 Stapleford Children’s Centre 24 Awsworth Children’s Centre 25 Eastwood Children’s Centre 26 Brinsley with Greasley Children’s Centre

Nottingham 23 20 22

Gedling 12 Calverton Children’s Centre 13 Gedling Villages Children’s Centre 14 Arnbrook Children’s Centre 15 Arnold Children’s Centre 16 Killisick Children’s Centre 17 Carlton Children’s Centre 18 Stanhope Children’s Centre 19 Netherfield Children’s Centre

Our structures 3 x Senior Coordinators

Ashfield

Broxtowe

Gedling

11 Children’s Centres 11 buildings 7082 Children under 5 Budget of £2,828,174 121 members of staff

7 Children’s Centres 7 buildings 5815 Children under 5 Budget of £1,459,560 64 members of staff

8 Children’s Centres 6 buildings 5184 Children under 5 Budget of £1,515,100 44 members of staff

Allocated to each centre are the following staff: Children’s Centre Co-ordinator – usually responsible for 2-3 centres Administration and Support Staff Children’s Worker Teams Health and Family Support Workers Community Development Workers District Team – Monitoring and Evaluation Lead, Early Years Lead, Family Support Lead, Community Development Lead, Systems and Marketing Lead, Capacity Building/Learning Co-ordinator (district teams vary)

In total: 26 Children’s Centres 24 buildings 17,400 Children under 5 Budget of £5,802,838 229 members of staff (186 WTE)

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We are committed to improving outcomes for young children, reducing inequalities and supporting the national aim of bringing child poverty to an end. We actively promote community cohesion and understanding through the provision of universal childhood services and support. We provide advice and assistance to parents and parents to be in gaining access to services elsewhere. Our added values lie in our ability to be innovative, flexible and responsive to local need. Our aims • To provide and/or signpost to a range of community, play and learning activities together with health and family support services for the benefit of families with children under 5 • To develop innovative and sustainable ways of working through promoting and developing strong and mutually beneficial relationships between the Children’s Centres and the private and voluntary sectors

The values of the Children’s Centres in Ashfield, Broxtowe and Gedling reflect the national principles and those of Nottinghamshire Healthcare, complementing the ‘Positive’ brand. National Sure Start Children’s Centre principles • Community driven and professionally co-ordinated • Working and communicating with parents and children – meeting their needs and stretching their aspirations • Starting very early – services for young children and parents should start at the first ante-natal visit, targeting services for those most in need • Respectful and transparent – services are customer driven • Flexible at the point of delivery – all services are designed to encourage access and engagement • Outcomes drive – all our services for children and parents have better outcomes for children as their core purpose

• To develop new and creative ways to deliver services to meet the needs of the community in order to close the gap between outcomes for the most disadvantaged and others • To engage and support the most vulnerable and excluded members of our local communities • To empower staff to work in different ways to promote innovation • To make measurable improvements in the aspects of quality of service provision and quality of life by establishing better prevention services with earlier intervention • To develop opportunities for the local community and staff to participate in shared decision making and influence service design and delivery Strategic objectives • Service improvement – By raising service quality and increasing costefficiency we will improve outcomes for young children and their families • Connecting with communities and service users – We will work within a

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust values • People: are central to everything we do; we work with people, for people, in partnership • Openness: we listen to what people tell us, whether we like what we hear, or not, and act on that information • Safe: sound, supportive, sensitive practices show how we respect and value our staff, service users and other stakeholders • Integrity: we behave honestly in a way that demonstrates our values, we celebrate the good things we do, and learn from our setbacks • Trust: we are trustworthy, we do what we say, and say what we cannot do • Innovation: we try new things to be the very best in our field • Value: we value and respect the diversity of our staff, service users and other stakeholders • Excellence: is our standard and we enjoy achieving it together

•

community development framework that empowers local parents to influence and shape services for families with young children Innovation – We will create innovative solutions to meeting the aspirations and changing needs of our local communities Empowering staff – We will develop and empower staff to face new challenges in order to respond to the changes of a dynamic environment. This will be within a supportive and motivating framework that relies on distributed leadership and ongoing professional development Increasing service user choice – Recognising and responding to the different needs of our communities by delivering services at times and venues and in the best ways to meet those needs Investing in the community – We will support local regeneration by providing training opportunities for volunteers and actively targeting our recruitment to the local community

Sure Start Children’s Centres values – developed by local parents • Confidence: building parent’s/carer’s and children’s self-esteem and confidence so that they can take more control of their lives • Listening: listening to and valuing the voices of individuals and the local community • Support: providing a welcoming and supportive environment for children and families • Respect: being non-judgmental and accepting of each others’ differences • Confidentiality: not sharing personal information without permission of the parent/carer unless there is a risk to a child’s safety • Opportunities: providing (or signposting to) easily accessible services and information • Difference: acknowledging and valuing the differences which create a livelier community • Children: valuing and celebrating babies and children, recognising their individuality, efforts and achievements • The Future: continuing to work in partnership with the community and other services towards creating a brighter future

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ow we perform

Below are our headline target results. The rest of the report highlights some of our key achievements and areas of practice over the past 12 months.

Health and Wellbeing • Target: To reduce the percentage of children who are obese in reception year (4-5 years of age) Result: Our performance across the three districts shows obesity for children in reception year at school is below the national average. Inequalities are reducing in the Ashfield district. There is a year on year decline in levels of obesity in young children against the expected trend

Attainment • Target: To increase the percentage of children achieving 78+ points in the foundation stage profile (around five years) including six points in Communication, Language and Literacy (CLLD) and Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) Result: Achieved 2009 to 2010 – increased from 49.5% of children to 51.2%

Community and Child Poverty • Target: To increase the number of parents/carers who have participated in learning or development opportunities in the Children’s Centres Result: This is a new target, however this year 552 or 6% of parents attended a course delivered through the centres

Our commissioners set a number of performance targets, some of which are linked to national indicators. These are in four areas: • Attainment • Health and Wellbeing • Community and Child Poverty • Leadership and Management

• Target: To reduce the gap between the FSP scores of those children in the lowest 20% of achieving children and their peers Result: Sustained the gap achieved in the previous year – this is still narrower than the Nottinghamshire average 2010

Leadership and Management • Target: For all Children’s Centres Self Evaluation reports to be graded as good or above Result: Within the three districts 100% of self evaluation forms for all Children’s Centres were graded good or above • Target: All Children’s Centres to be graded as good or above (overall effectiveness) by Ofsted Result: In the past year, all Ofsted inspections carried out within the three districts have been good or outstanding Each of these targets is underpinned by local targets which are set through each centre’s improvement plan. The improvement plans are created from feedback from parents and self evaluation, including data and local intelligence.

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Quality improvement is at the heart of our work in Children’s Centres. It means that our Children’s Centres listen to parents’ and carers' views. We gather information about their perceptions and personal experience of services and use that information to further improve them. All of our centres are subject to a statutory inspection by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills). Over this annual report period 11 of our centres have been inspected and all have been either good or outstanding.

Typical quotes from Ofsted “Families using this Children’s Centre benefit from a wide range of cohesive and well-integrated services. They are delivered through outstanding partnership working with a number of agencies and organisations.”

“Safeguarding is given exceptionally high priority. Support and monitoring by the centre co-ordinator and the specialist practitioner (safeguarding children) ensures that children whose circumstances make them more vulnerable than others receive the appropriate intervention at an early stage.”

“Centre users are involved in all stages of planning and evaluation of activities. The support for adults who are planning to begin or return to the world of work is excellent.”

Ten of our Children’s Centres have achieved gold status for a Healthy Early Years Setting. This means the centres have good quality services and policies in relation to personal, social and health education including emotional health, healthy eating and physical activity. All the Children’s Centres in Ashfield have gained the MATRIX award, which is a national recognised quality mark for information advice and guidance. All the Children’s Centres in Gedling have achieved the Investing in Volunteers award, the UK quality standard for good practice in volunteer management and involvement.

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artnership working Our partners include:

“The way that the centre works in partnership with a wide range of other agencies is outstanding” Butler’s Hill and Broomhill Children’s Centre Ofsted Inspection Oct 2011

A key feature of Children’s Centres is their capacity to act as a service hub for the community. They bring together a range of services whose practitioners work together in a multi-agency, seamless way to deliver integrated support to children and families. They are often the first port of call when a parent/carer seeks help or advice in relation to their role as a parent/carer, their child’s learning and development or wellbeing, or to find out more about local community activities for children (Sure Start Children’s Centre – Statutory Guidance 2010). Integrating services locally is key to significantly improving parents’ experience and having an impact on equalities. Strong partnership links exist and Memorandums of Agreement (MoA) are established with key partners including Job Centre Plus, Connexions, Maternity Services, Home Start.

Speech and Language Therapists – hometalk, training

Health Visitors – joint visits with Family Support Workers, child health clinics

Midwives – antenatal sessions, ante/postnatal clinics

Voluntary Agencies – e.g. Homestart, Play Forums

Linked staff who deliver a service from or in partnership with Children's Centres

Job Centre Plus – lone parent advisor interviews/ appointments

Teachers and schools; private day-care nurseries

Social Workers – core groups, case conferences

Childminders – network meetings, training

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hat we do best

The main workstreams within our Children’s Centres are Attainment, Health and Family Support and Community Development. The next few pages highlight our achievements in these areas.

Within our Children’s Centres, we are exceptionally proud of the work we do to ensure the best start in the early years. We recognise that every child is unique and adopt an approach tailored to individual needs, taking into account children’s different rates of progress and their different backgrounds and life experiences. We provide a range of experiences for young children and their families which help them to develop a positive sense of themselves and of others, respect for others, social skills and a positive disposition to learn. In order to give the very best opportunities for effective development and learning in personal, social and emotional development we are particularly proud of the work we undertake to promote and develop positive relationships, self confidence and self-esteem. This is achieved through creating enabling environments and planning and providing a whole range of activities that promote children’s emotional, moral, spiritual and social development and that help children to develop autonomy and a disposition to learn. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Our performance across the three districts over the last three years hows: • The percentage of children achieving at least 78 points and 6+ in PSE and CLL has increased year on year • All three districts show good improvements since 2009 • Broxtowe and Gedling achieved higher than the county average in 2011 • In 2011, all three districts have closed the percentage gap between the lowest 20% of achieving children and their peers, and their combined result is in line with the county average

“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and support to fulfill their potential. A child’s experience in the early years has a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right and it provides the foundation for children to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.” The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework, 2008 Introduction

Transition to School A particularly important stage in children’s progress is preparation from a pre-school to a school setting and how children cope with it may have important consequences for their health and learning. Our Children’s Centres are committed to working with parents, local nurseries, childminders and primary schools to promote transition as a process rather than an event. We lead a range of “ready for nursery/school” transition groups in partnership with schools and parents in order to support this process. Our staff teams have formed strong links with local schools and guide parents where needed on how to prepare their child for school and what will be expected from them.

Helping parents to support early learning Partnership with parents in early learning is a unifying theme within our Children’s Centres. It is known that what parents do at home with young children has the greatest impact on a child’s social, emotional and intellectual development. We work hard to build parent confidence in what they already do at home and offer ideas to support and enhance this. The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) report concludes that “play” underpins all development and learning for young children. Within the Children’s Centres we are committed to providing well-planned play experiences within a challenging and well resourced environment. We actively promote the benefits of play with parents and work with other settings and early years providers to ensure quality provision is promoted within each area. We use Learning Journeys as a way of working with parents to record their child’s development and to help recognise and celebrate their child’s progress and successes.

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“Children’s learning journals are detailed, up to date and carefully illustrated. In this respect, outreach services make a highly valued contribution to purposeful learning and development.” Sutton Central Ofsted Inspection October 2010

“Children make outstanding progress in their learning when they attend the centre’s provision and demonstrate excellent behaviour and very good relationships. Enjoyment levels are very high and parents and carers say that their children ‘love it’ at the centre.” Butler’s Hill and Broomhill Children’s Centre Ofsted Inpection, October 2011

We offer a range of groups to support the ‘enjoy and achieve’ outcome including: What families say: • Story and Rhyme Time – a friendly and fun group for young children and their families to enjoy together. There is the opportunity to learn new songs and rhymes using puppets and instruments • Let’s Play – a fun and interactive programme for parents and carers to do with their children. Each week the programme covers a different activity to encourage their child’s development. Examples of activities include: making a treasure basket, making a story box, digital families – making a scrap book using photographs • Messy Play – a group for the under five’s that offers early years children and their families the chance to socialise with other children and families and be involved in messy activities that usually wouldn’t be done at home

“I suffered from depression and never used to leave the house so didn’t have any friends. I wanted my child to interact with other children and learn new skills, therefore I went to Baby Brigade having heard about the group from one of the staff. I met new people and now have a good network of friends. Coming to Sure Start has helped with my depression.”

“It is the best opportunity to meet new mums and share the difficulties and pleasures of raising children with people who have similar problems.”

“The diverse mix of parents and children helps to share experiences.”

Children with disabilities and special educational needs Research has shown that families with a child with a disability can be among the most disadvantaged in the country and are often excluded from mainstream services (SSCC Practice Guidance 2006). Within the health led Children’s Centres we work with a wide range of families with young children who have a disability or special educational need. We provide family support services which are flexible and responsive to individual need and aim to ease access to other services, resources or groups. Several of the health led Children’s Centres have sensory rooms and all have a range of sensory equipment. Sensory rooms are available for anyone to use and are often used to stimulate the senses, provide relaxation and support interactive work with children. Each Children’s Centre area has a qualified teacher who is the named area Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) for settings within the locality.

“The centre’s sensory room is available for children and their parents to use if they feel the need to have access to a place of calm and quiet. All this good work is underpinned by the creation of an environment in which children can thrive because they feel safe.” Sutton Central Children’s Centre Ofsted Inspection, October 2010

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A mother of a three year old son with an autistic spectrum disorder regularly attends her local Sure Start Centre. Here’s why: “I was suffering with depression and anxiety following the diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder of my three year old son. I needed to get out of the house and was invited to Sure Start in Beeston, where I met the Children’s Centre worker. She totally brought my faith back, reassured me that everything would be ok and gave me information about autism as I knew nothing. I wouldn’t have known about disability living and carer’s allowance, and family fund, or that I could receive her help in attending appointments. I feel totally at ease in her company and feel I can speak openly to her. She got me involved in Speech Sign and Song for my son, which he loves, and explained to me about sensory products and the sensory room at Chilwell. I can honestly say I can’t thank her enough, she has totally changed my outlook on my situation.”

Speech and Language A very successful and key area of our work is supporting young children’s communication and language skills through our work with the Speech and Language Therapy Team. Children’s Centres Speech and Language Therapy service is commissioned by the Local Authority to work with children aged 0-5 years in children’s homes, with childminders, and in settings and nurseries to achieve the following outcomes: • workforce development • early identification and intervention • improving parental confidence and effectiveness in supporting their child’s language development • language enrichment • development of resources

The Language for Life Strategy The Speech and Language Therapy department has developed The Language for Life Strategy which aims to develop an inclusive multi agency approach for children aged 0-7 years, and pulls together the collaborative practice developed through a decade of Sure Start Children’s Centres, Local Authority and NHS joint working. Home Talk Home Talk is for children who are two years old to support their early communication and language development. It is a series of activities carried out in the family home over a period of six weeks that aim to: • Increase parent’s understanding of the importance of language and communication for learning • Support parent’s skills and knowledge to develop quality interactions with their children through play experiences and everyday routines such as nappy changing, bath times and meal times • Encourage families to participate in groups to promote young children’s learning and language Home Talk actively promotes parents and children: • Playing together • Looking at and sharing books • Singing songs and rhymes • Playing with puppets Home Talk in action – The Children’s Centre in Gedling recently worked with a two year old boy of dual heritage, who lives with his sibling and parents. He was referred to Home Talk at the Children’s Centre by the health visitor following his two year development check. As a result of taking part in the Home Talk programme: • The child now attends a Pre-School • Television use in the home has reduced • The parents speak to their child in their home language • The parents have built a positive relationship with their local Children’s Centre in Gedling and are attending groups • The parents have more understanding of the importance of early language, communication and play • The child is making good progress with speech and language skills • The child is now experiencing different cultural opportunities and developing linguistically as a result of communicating with his parents in their home language • The child has more opportunities to interact with other children

Look Who’s Talking, Toddler Talk, Baby Babble sessions These sessions are specifically designed to support speech and language development from the age of six weeks to five years. The sessions also promote parent and carer interaction, giving families ideas and activities to do at home. The children become increasingly confident as the term progresses and parents/carers report singing more with their child when at home. “We have done lots of songs from the sessions at home.”

“I feel so much more confident in trying new play activities and telling stories to my child and I have turned the television off now so it’s not on all day long.” Language screening and support The Speech and Language Therapy Team train and mentor health visitors in order for them to undertake the language screen with parents, as part of the Healthy Child Programme, two year check.

Early Years Specialist Teachers In order to support our Enjoy and Achieve work, every Children’s Centre has input from an Early Years Specialist Teacher. The work of the teacher includes: • Providing support to the linked childcare provider and other settings and sharing of resources • Develop links with schools and promote Children’s Centres at school events • Support transition into school • Contribute to Children’s Centre service development

“Excellent partnership working has been established by the centre teacher with the childcare team, the linked setting and the childminders. This will improve children’s learning and development, especially in relation to communication, language and literacy. This can be seen in the improvement in children’s learning profiles.” The Summer House Ofsted Inspection 2011

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Health

Our Children’s Centres believe that supporting parents in bringing up their children can make a significant difference to children’s outcomes. Our Children’s Centres work closely with other health partners i.e. health visiting teams, speech and language teams, school nurses and midwives to ensure that we improve accessibility to services through co-location of teams and services. Our centres have an excellent record of supporting targeted families. This year: • We supported 6077 children from targeted areas, 60% of the possible targeted population • We carried out 44636 interventions in relation to health and 18118 interventions in relation to staying safe Interventions can be through one to one support, community wide events, targeted groups or activities in the centres, community buildings, people’s home or open spaces. The centres support the health agenda in obesity, substance misuse, teenage pregnancy and bullying with the aim of improving health outcomes for children and their families and in reducing demand on services in the future.

We provide a range of services to reduce inequalities and support improvements in outcomes in physical and emotional health and wellbeing including: Breastfeeding The short and long term health benefits to babies from breastfeeding are well known. All staff in the centres are trained in breastfeeding support. The majority of our centres have trained peer supporters for breastfeeding. Peer supporters in Ashfield have since produced a booklet called “Breastfeeding Stories” for pregnant women and new mothers to read. It is available locally in the community, and also in the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital and King’s Mill Hospital. They have also developed a leaflet: ‘Breastfeeding welcome places in your local area.’ This supports CHP’s intention to achieve the UNICEF baby friendly status by 2013.

“I would have given up breastfeeding if it hadn’t been for the support of the Sure Start team and speaking to other mothers. We also discuss other issues in the group such as weaning, cradle cap etc, which helped me and made me realise I’m not alone in the fears I had as a new mother.”

Baby massage Delivered for free at many sites. Over the past year, 103 programmes have been delivered with over 1700 attendances by parents. Healthy Start Vitamins Scheme This is a national scheme aimed at increasing the intake of vitamins prebirth and in the early years. This scheme is available through most of our Children’s Centres and the uptake has improved in disadvantaged areas. Physical health Physical health is promoted throughout our Children’s Centres. This includes oral health promotion, smoking cessation sessions and promoting outside play for all. Key areas of success: • Children’s Centre allotments – where parents and children are encouraged to grow and eat their own food • Physical exercise – A teenage parent group who do two hours of dance and aerobic exercise per week • Buggy walk programmes – 208 parents and children have taken part in the buggy walk programmes across the centres Healthy eating is promoted through the centres with baby cafes to support weaning, parent and children cooking and eating together sessions and sessions for fussy eaters. Over 752 parents and children attended cooking and eating activities over the past year.

“As a young parent the first time round I had a negative experience with breastfeeding and had decided that with my third baby at 35 years old that I wouldn’t breastfeed. I registered with the Sure Start Children’s Centre and had a discussion about my experiences of breastfeeding. It was explained that every baby and feeding experience is different and it wouldn’t automatically follow that I would have a bad time again. I was given information to take away and look at so that I could make an informed decision without being put under any pressure. After reading the information and watching the DVD I decided to give it a go. My baby was 10.4lb and I did struggle with feeding. Staff gave me lots of support and advice and if I had not had this immediate, friendly, support I would have given up with breastfeeding. I now have a healthy thriving child, which has been helped by my success in breastfeeding. I could not and would not have done this if I hadn’t had the right support and advice at the right time.”

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Family Support Improving outcomes for children so they stay safe: Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Our Children’s Centres have initiated 78 common assessments under the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) over the past year. This represents 60% of all CAFs initiated for under fives.

road and sun safety at community events and encouraging parents to promote safeguarding in the community. Our volunteers are trained in safeguarding as part of their course.

One to one programmes of support Programmes of support were provided to 834 parents and children over the past year. This support included helping to establish household routines, working on attachment, building self esteem after post natal depression and early identification of children with additional needs.

The 12 Week Incredible Years course This is an evidence based practice parenting course which has had a measurable impact on outcomes for parents and children in our centres. Research estimates that it costs around £1344 per child to deliver the incredible years programme but if this is delivered to a child with a potential conduct disorder, the impact of the course on that child’s outcomes will have saved public services £60,000 by the time they are 28 years old.

Staying safe work with young children and parents This work includes recognising people who can help (such as police or fire officers), raising self esteem of children, promoting

This year we delivered 12 programmes attended by 82 individuals. The stories from parents regarding the long and short term benefits are well documented in our case studies.

“When I started this course I was very stressed out as my children were pushing my patience and I had resulted in shouting and smacking. Since then I have got my ‘mummy power’ back. My family life at home is now stress free and I am generally happy and no longer have to smack or shout at my children. Thanks to all of you, I now cherish each and every moment with my children and take everything in my stride – to see my children smile and laugh more is the best thing ever.”

“I thought I had come to learn how to change my child’s behaviour but the course made me realise it’s me who needs to change. I am so much calmer and have more patience. I enjoy playing with my children now and don’t dread taking them out anymore.”

Performance to date Support for victims of domestic violence “Sure Start helped me to Rates of domestic violence offences are rebuild my confidence after steadily rising in Broxtowe and Gedling. fleeing my domestic violence Although Ashfield’s rate has been falling it relationship. I would not have is still above the County average. Children known what to do without it.” who grow up in a violent home are more likely to be victims of child abuse. Children who are exposed to violence in the home may have difficulty learning and limited social skills, exhibit violent, risky or Our centres offer one to one support, delinquent behaviour, or suffer from particularly where families have moved depression or severe anxiety. into the area fleeing an abusive relationship and are therefore isolated. The Children’s Centres deliver the Freedom Programme for women in the community, “I feel much more confident some of whom have lived in a women’s talking to the worker about refuge in the past. The programme aims domestic violence in a familiar to help women understand the dynamics surrounding. I feel I can say of abusive relationships, to make sense of what I need to say.” their own experiences and to help them avoid abusive men in the future.

Our performance data across the three districts shows that obesity levels for children in reception year at school is below the national average. There is a year on year decline in levels of obesity in young children against the expected trend for the level of disadvantage showing. Referrals to social care for under five’s have reduced by 46% in the past two years in contrast to the County average which has fallen by 40%. This could be linked to the impact of early intervention and support offered by the centres. Breast feeding at 6-8 weeks is at the County average level across the three districts. We also measure our impact on individual families through case studies, recording comments and tracking families who had one to one support as to whether they go on to access mainstream services.

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The Children’s Centres within the areas of Ashfield, Broxtowe and Gedling recognise the value of a community development approach to engage with parents of children under five, this approach is based on: • Equality and Diversity – to promote equality and challenge discrimination recognising that people are not all the same. They are of equal importance and therefore entitled to the same degree of respect and acknowledgement

• Creating innovative ways to meeting the aspirations and changing needs of our local communities – An example of this is our PEER Supporter training. This involves recruiting, training and mentoring Peer Supporters to deliver breastfeeding support to other breastfeeding Mums. This helps them to continue breastfeeding, and helps us to increase the rate of breastfeeding mums

• Collective Action – Supporting groups of people to increase their knowledge, skills and confidence so they are able to identify and find solutions to local issues

• Increasing service user choice – We recognise the differing needs of our communities and respond by delivering services at a variety of times and venues in order to meet those needs. We deliver services in the • Community Empowerment – Encouraging community by utilising other buildings and empowering individuals and and local parks, and offer services after communities to become active participants 5pm and at weekends in their local Children’s Centres. Ensuring that equal and genuine partnerships are formed between all those involved • Investing in the community – We have supported local regeneration by providing training opportunities for • Working and Learning Together – volunteers, actively targeting our Promoting a collective process that enables recruitment to the local community participants to learn from reflecting on their and improving the employability of experiences and sharing these so participants individuals. Over the last year, learn together volunteers across the three districts have contributed almost 3000 hours of Community development approaches have voluntary work and we have trained underpinned much of the work within the 360 individuals Children’s Centres and have enabled the centres to build strong and effective links with parents, partner organisations and • Breaking down barriers that stakeholders. This approach has helped deliver prevent people accessing services – the following outcomes: Our Children’s Centres reach out to all families within their catchment areas. Community workers have helped • Connecting with communities and parents from different community and service users – We have developed cultural groups in identifying what innovative ways of creating opportunities services they need in their area. This for local parents to influence, shape and work then feeds into the curriculum provide services for families with young planning process in order to ensure children. One way of doing this has been that activities are arranged within the through developing an inclusive approach community to meet the needs of all to local governance, with all of the families. Consultation regarding Children’s Centre advisory groups involving services has been carried out with over local parents and many of them being 1400 families within the past year ‘chaired’ by parents

“I met with staff at the Children’s Centre who gave me advice on college courses and what to do from this point. It was nice to have someone to help me and I felt like someone was interested in what I wanted for my future. I feel a lot more positive about the future for me and my children as I am taking steps in the right

direction, even if I don’t get onto the college course I want at this time. I am volunteering with Home Start to get experience in supporting families with babies and young children and I stay in contact with staff at the Children’s Centre who are always available to talk about issues and give me support.”

“I always wanted to be a midwife but had to put my education on hold during my pregnancy and after my son was born. I’d looked into going to college but they said I had to have a recognised qualification in Maths and English. I met with the Community Development Worker at the Centre and found there was a ‘Brush up your Maths and English’ course planned so I enrolled. The course helped me work towards an OCR Level 2 certificate in Adult Literacy in both Maths and English in 6 weeks. I am now on an access to Nursing and Midwifery course at college and I get help with childcare. I am so proud of myself and am looking forward to going to university next year to start midwifery training.”

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Volunteering One of the key services offered by the Children’s Centres is to support and help parents move into training and employment. Encouraging parents to volunteer is a key part of achieving success in this area of work.

Training is an important element of the volunteer role and is enhanced by being part of a service that offers Adult Learning. Volunteers access courses such as First Aid, Safeguarding Children and Citizens Advice training on budgeting.

Volunteering helps to develop parenting skills and for the parents to provide positive role models to their children. The profile of volunteering has grown significantly across our centres, and the Children’s Centres in Gedling have achieved the Investing in Volunteers award.

The volunteers value the opportunities offered within the centres and have commented:

There is a range of volunteering roles available within the Children’s Centres. We encourage volunteers to be individuals and therefore roles are tailored to meet their needs and aspirations.

“Makes me feel like a person not just a mum, gives me a sense of achievement and gets me out of the house.” “I had been out of work and it got me doing things I wouldn’t normally do.” “I’ve been able to build my confidence and this has been passed on to my children.” “I am me again and not just mummy.”

“I first came to Sure Start five years ago when my eldest child was six weeks old. I had just moved to the area and didn’t know anyone. Since then I have been to lots of sessions and attended a domestic violence course. I started volunteering as a peer supporter three years ago and I’m still doing this now. As a volunteer I have helped with a number of activities, including wrapping the Christmas presents, doing displays for the breastfeeding group and helping arrange parties. I’ve now got a part time job. Sure Start helped me get this because the Co-ordinator gave me a reference! Sure Start has definitely had an impact on my life and my family. When I moved here I didn’t know anyone but the baby grow and the BIBS group is where I met all my friends that I’m still friends with now. I still enjoy volunteering and hope to carry on coming to Sure Start.”

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T I he future

In the future, the way Children’s Centres are commissioned may change. Children’s Centres will still have a core purpose of delivering: • Child and family health services ranging from health visitors to breastfeeding support • Early learning activities particularly for children aged 0-5 years • Advice on parenting, local childminder options and access to specialist services for families, such as speech therapy, healthy eating advice or help with managing money • Help for parents to find work or training opportunities using links to local Jobcentre Plus offices and training providers Whilst the future will bring changes to commissioning arrangements, the functions of Children’s Centres will stay much the same and Children’s Centres will still be delivering services in partnership with health visitors, midwives, schools, voluntary groups and parents.

The future

Funding will be re-evaluated to ensure that we are providing cost effective services. We are committed to maintaining the high standard of services that our Children’s Centres have delivered to date.

• Providing a welcoming environment to all families accessing services

We aim to minimise the impact that any changes to funding may have on parents and children. Our focus for future activities will be on:

• Creating opportunities for parents and children to be involved in the running and delivery of Children’s Centre services

• Targeting resources to those children and families with greatest need within a universal service delivery framework

• Providing opportunities for young children so they are better prepared for early education

• Providing targeted evidence based early interventions for families in greatest need, in the context of integrated services

• Providing services that are flexible and meet the needs of local parents

• Providing a positive experience for children and families through a range of services • Working in partnership with others to build the resilience of children and families so they are more able to overcome obstacles

• Working within a community development framework to increase the confidence of parents

• Demonstrating value for money by evidencing the impact our services are making to the lives of children and their families

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Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, County Health Partnerships, The Resource, Duncan Macmillan House, Porchester Road, Mapperley, Nottingham NG3 6AA www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk Email: communications@nottshc.nhs.uk Tel: 0115 993 4530 Please recycle