SIL Annual Report 2008-9

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This Annual Review has been produced to provide a more detailed account of SIL’s progress this year, in addition to the Management Committee’s formal Annual Report and Accounts, which have been prepared to the Statement of Recommended Practice.

Registered Office: Sheffield Information Link 11 Leopold Street Sheffield S1 2GY Opening Hours: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am-5.30pm Wednesday 9.30am-6.00pm Friday 9.30am-4.00pm Bankers: HSBC 2 Fargate, Sheffield S1 2JS

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank our funders without whom much of our work would not be possible.

Auditors: UHY Wingfield Slater Wellington House 39 Wellington Street, Sheffield S1 1BX

Company Secretary: Sharron Baroudi Registered Charity No: 1065185 Company No: 3426470 © Sheffield Information Link 2009

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Information Link Sheffield’s Families Information Service

Annual Review 2008 – 2009 info@sheffinfolink.org.uk www.sheffinfolink.org.uk www.asksid.net

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Message from the Chair

Who we are and what we do Our Recruitment project under the Children’s Workforce initiative supported 143 people to access training for childcare careers and the SIGN service answered over 1250 requests for support from families with children with disabilities or special needs.

This year has been a very successful and busy year for Sheffield Information Link.

This was our first full year of delivering the extended information duty to families in Sheffield.

We received almost 14,000 enquiries this year with a marked increase in requests being generated through outreach work in local communities and our online enquiries continued to grow during this period.

We added a new range of factsheets to our information resources during the year, some of which offered support for emotional or behavioural issues arising with children and young people.

Our new Local Information Pack resources were launched this year at successful events across the city. These packs sit out in the community at various venues and hold a wide range of information about the services we offer to families. They are designed to continue the support we offer even when our staff are not there!

Our Chief Executive Rachel Chetwyn left us to be a full time mum towards the end of the year and she was replaced by former Deputy Manager Sharron Baroudi following our recruitment process. I have also recently taken over the role of Chair from Karen Simpkin, and I would like to thank her for her contribution to the role and our Committee.

Our thanks go to Valley Park Children’s Centre, Burngreave Children’s Centre and The Meadow Children’s Centre for giving our outreach workers a home in the community from which to do their work throughout the year.

I would also like to thank our management committee, dedicated staff and volunteers for their hard work during this busy year in which we have continued to develop the service to meet the needs of Sheffield’s families.

Finally I would like to confirm that Sheffield Information Link has complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Commission.

Tracy Watterson Chair, SIL Management Committee

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This year,

Sheffield Information Link is a local, independent service which has been providing free and friendly information and advice since 1987. Our information includes: • • • • • • • • •

97% rated our service excellent or good

Childcare and playcare Education Family support Children and young people’s health Training and careers in childcare Childcare job vacancies Setting up a new childcare provision Sports and leisure Special needs support

found our information useful

Whatever you’re looking for – we’re here to help.

86%

95% would recommend us to others

We’re always keen to know what our customers think of our services, and it turns out that they think SIL is just as good as we do!

Customers commented: “ Brilliant, all the information I asked for was sent. All this information would have taken me ages to get on my own.” “ I was trying to get the answer for more than a month, and everybody just promised a call back (and they never did) until I spoke with this lovely and very helpful lady.”

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Annual Report 2008/2009

Childcare Brokerage Service This year, following a pilot study, SIL launched its brand new Childcare Brokerage Service, which offers additional support to parents and carers to help them find suitable childcare.

Through the service, SIL assists in situations where there is an additional barrier to access, such as speaking English as an additional language or being new to the area.This indepth support can now be accessed following a referral from a professional such as a Connexions advisor or health visitor.

NErvW ice se

SIL – working in your community Over the past year, SIL staff have been getting out and about all over Sheffield. At Children’s Centres, schools, community festivals, parents’ evenings, baby clinics and more, we’ve been in the community taking SIL services to our customers where it’s most convenient for them – close to home.

A priority for the past year has been to set up drop-in sessions at each of the Children’s Centres in Sheffield. We now have established drop-ins across all areas of Sheffield where families can meet us for information and advice. A list of all the sessions is available on our website and is regularly updated.

2008 also saw the launch of SIL’s new Local Information Packs, which provide a directory of our services. These were launched at a series of successful events, and the packs can now be found at community venues across the city for families to access.

Plans for 2009 include a mapping exercise to look at which areas our enquiries come from.

This will allow the SIL team to focus on the areas where we can do more to let families know about us and the wide range of services we provide.

This year: we spoke to over

4300

families

we attended

314

drop-ins and events across the city we set up or maintained

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regular drop-in sessions all over Sheffield To find your nearest drop-in, visit: www.sheffinfolink.org.uk or call us on 0114 275 6699

Above: Our Outreach team at one of the Local Information Pack launch events Left: A Local Information Pack

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These are just a few examples of the questions the SIGN service has answered this year. Based at the Ryegate Children’s Centre, SIGN is a free information service for the families of children and young people with health conditions, disabilities and special needs, and the professionals working with them. This has been a bumper year for the SIGN service, with a total of 1250 enquiries and over 900 information packs produced.

How can I get disability markings painted outside my house?

Developing a quality children’s workforce In March, Mandy carried out a consultation at Notre Dame High School, to find out which information students need when considering working with children, and to build new links with career advisers and other agencies. In the coming year, this will be developed into a tailored programme of information sessions and resources for young people.

This year SIGN has promoted its services more actively to professionals through tailored professional awareness sessions, which aim to raise awareness of sources of information and disability services to professionals from a variety of different backgrounds.

Where can I apply for funding for a holiday?

My child has learning difficulties and is unhappy at school, what can I do?

SIGN has a unique library, and parents can borrow books from this for free. This year it has expanded even further. It now has new books on the topics of anger, death, loss and bereavement, feeding difficulties, sleep problems, self confidence and worries.

Who can I speak to about getting a mobility bus pass?

A new set of factsheets on emotional and behavioural issues was also made available this year, to add to the information readily available to parents.

As disability issues continue to be high on the Government’s agenda, the SIGN service reflects this, with an increasing involvement with information produced by disability services and an expanding information resource.

Parents, carers and professionals are welcome to drop into the SIGN service at the Ryegate Children’s Centre, Tapton Crescent Road, S10 5DD or to call from 10am-1pm weekdays on: 0114 266 9476.

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If you would like an information pack, a place on a taster session or more information about working with children, give our Recruitment Officer a call on 0114 249 4939.

If you’re interested in a career working with children, SIL can help! We offer information for anyone interested in working in the sector, to help them find out what opportunities there are in Sheffield, what training is required and how to get started.

Our Recruitment Officer, Mandy Hetherington, delivers a popular taster session called It’s Not All Child’s Play.

This gives an introduction to working with children and uses our detailed, local information to help people access the training which is right for them. This year, the sessions have gone on the road!

Sessions delivered in local community settings have proved popular, making it even easier for everyone who is interested in a career in Early Years to attend.

As well as making the sessions more accessible, this year SIL has been working to bring them to a new audience – young people.

Mandy representing SIL at an information day in Waterthorpe

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Quality information for quality childcare

“What’s On this holiday?” – Ask us!

And, by helping them to develop detailed information, they can be sure that parents will get a full picture of their services simply by requesting free information from SIL.

When parents are looking for a childminder, SIL is a great place to start – we hold the details of all registered childminders in Sheffield. And, by contacting every childminder four times a year, we ensure that the information we send out to parents is as up-to-date as possible.

The result is a quality service for childminders and parents which makes life easier for everyone. In December, a survey of childminders revealed that 96% consider the service that SIL provides to both parents and childminders to be excellent or good.

“We’ve done a lot of work this year to make it as easy as possible for childminders to update their information”, explained Paula Bird, SIL’s Information Development Officer. “We’ve set up a really simple way for childminders to update vacancy details through our website, and as a result, our information is being updated even more than ever.”

Childminders commented: “I find the friendly voice on the end of the telephone wonderful - keep up the good work!”

This year Paula has also focused on finding new ways to support childminders. SIL offers marketing advice to those looking to grow their business, by sharing local knowledge well as practical suggestions.

When the school holidays approach, it can sometimes be difficult for parents to find out what’s happening locally. SIL’s What’s On guide is here to help! Every school holiday, the free guide tells you everything you need to know about leisure for children and young people all over Sheffield.

This year, the guide has been relaunched in a colourful and easy-to-use edition, making it more fun than ever for families to look through together.

We have also made What’s On available online for the first time, so that it can be consulted in the time and place which is most convenient for parents.

“The use of email makes it easy for me to update my vacancies.Your online service is a great idea.”

Left: Local childminder Debra Thompson reading with children

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To request a copy of What’s On for the next school holidays, contact the Enquiry Team on 0114 275 6699, or email info@sheffinfolink.org.uk.

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SIL team – supporting other charities c

This year we’ve celebrated the first birthday of ask Sid, the local directory of information for children, young people and family services. The ask Sid team has been busy engaging with new organisations and adding information to ensure that ask Sid remains fresh and comprehensive. There are now over 4000 separate records on ask Sid, with information on everything from family support to learning DJ skills!

This year ask Sid introduced an ‘extranet’ feature – a way for organisations to update their own information on the site. 60 organisations have signed up and are now taking advantage of an even easier way to keep their information up-to-date.

Above: SIL staff supporting Children In Need

The Team Our management committee Chair: Treasurer:

ask Sid also advertised hundreds of summer activities on behalf of Activity Sheffield’s ‘Kids Can Do’ project, promoting positive activities for 8-13 year olds. This resulted in over 3000 hits on the website during the summer period.

Members of the team with the ask Sid taxi, which can be seen raising the profile of the website all over Sheffield!

“What I really like about ask Sid is the way it positively engages with young people and families. It makes a difference to their lives which in turn enriches the communities we support. I’m proud of ask Sid; every City should have its own ask Sid.”

In autumn 2008, ask Sid got involved with the 0-19+ Partnership’s 'Bullying - Zero Tolerance' campaign. The SIL team carried out a survey of children and young people across Sheffield, which was also made available online through ask Sid. This asked about their experiences and opinions of bullying. ask Sid visited several schools to promote the anti-bullying message.

www.asksid.net

This year the SIL team has been active in supporting other charities. We have introduced a ‘charity of the month’ scheme and make regular contributions to local and national causes. We also donated gifts for charity Christmas boxes and travelled over to Meadowhall to support BBC Children In Need as volunteers.

Dr. Sonia Sharp Head of Children and Young People’s Services Sheffield City Council

“I’ve been on the website and found it really useful. Being new to Sheffield and having a baby I didn’t know about any of the services that were available to me but I do thanks to ask Sid.” Sarah Stutton

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Fiona Duffy (Jan-Mar 2009) Charlene Fernandes Margaret Goodlad Mandy Hetherington Halima Ismail Sue James Paul Millen (from Jan 2009) Frances Milligan Rachel Money (from Mar 2009) Ruth Moore Andrea Naylor Trudie Smallwood Alison Smith (from Aug 2008) Rosie Taylor Angela Turner Penny Wightwick John Wiseman Eman Yafai

Karen Simpkin Ged Warren

Roz Davies Eileen Evans Clare Hardwick (until Oct 2008) Emil Kazounis (from Oct 2008) Graham Parker (until Oct 2008) Tracy Watterson (current Chair – joined Oct 2008) Our staff Noreen Ahmed Sadia Asghar (until Nov 2008) Sharron Baroudi Paula Bird Daniel Blythe (Sept 2008-Feb 2009) Martina Capaldi Rachel Chetwyn (until Dec 2008) Anna Cockings Ann Dolby Lorna Dowrick

Our volunteers Pranav Babu (Oct-Dec 2008) Jackie James (Oct 2008-Mar 2009) Olga Parkin (until Jan 2009)

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