SIL Annual Report 2009-10

SIL Annual Report 2010:SIL Annual Report 2010 19/08/2010 16:31 Page 1

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

Sheffield Information Link Sheffield’s Family Information Service

Annual Review 2009 – 2010

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank our Drop-in Service & Library funders without whom Opening Hours: much of our work would Mon: 9.30am to 5.30pm, not be possible.

Wed: 9.30am to 6.00pm, Fri: 9.30am to 4.00pm (Telephone service available daily. Out of hours answerphone.)

Bankers: HSBC 2 Fargate Sheffield S1 2JS Auditors: UHY Wingfield Slater Wellington House 39 Wellington Street Sheffield S1 1BX

Registered Charity No: 1065185 Company No: 3426470 Company Secretary: Sharron Baroudi

info@sheffinfolink.org.uk www.sheffinfolink.org.uk www.asksid.net © Sheffield Information Link 2010

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Sheffield Information Link

Annual Report 2009 – 2010

Message from the Chair This year has been a very successful year for Sheffield Information Link.

The SIL service received around 11,500 enquiries this year with yet another marked increase in requests being generated through our outreach work in local communities. We also hosted over 37,000 web visitors.

Our trained and qualified staff delivered over 400 outreach information sessions across the city in a wide variety of venues.

Through the sessions, the team supported families to access childcare, advice and guidance, leisure activities for the children and so much more.

The development of our brokerage service meant that information officers were able to offer more support to families with additional needs, particularly those who were having difficulties finding appropriate childcare.

Who we are and what we do Our recruitment project successfully supported 75 local people to access training in the city, which is the first step to employment in the childcare sector.

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

This year we also began the preparatory work for a whole organisational restructure which we will implement in 2010/2011.

• Childcare and playcare

The training and development undertaken by staff this year has put SIL in a better position in the marketplace, as evidenced by our increase in funding and consultancy work.

We now have a cost-effective and fit-forpurpose structure, with capacity for growth.

The new staffing structure we will implement within the restructure will enable us to make cost efficiencies which we hope will minimise the impact of forthcoming cuts in public spending.

• Family support

This year we achieved the National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS) Quality Standard Award, and were recognised as the first independent Family Information Service in the country to achieve the award.

I would therefore 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

• Education

• 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

We pride ourselves on giving outstanding customer service. Accessing childcare and family services can be stressful – our job is to make life easier for parents and carers:

“I was desperate to find childcare ASAP. I called SIL and the lady on the phone was very helpful and read out a long list of childminders in the area.The same day I found my childminder who is great!”

“I was at my wits’ end trying to get information – I was finally referred to SIL and got it straight away.”

We are the providers of the SIGN disability information service and the ask Sid children’s services website.

We also offer a consultancy and project management service.

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

This year, 95% rated our service excellent or good 97% found our information helpful 94% would recommend us to others

Kathleen, a mum from Walkley, contacted us for childcare information, but we were able to offer much more, including details of swimming classes and free children’s book loans from our library.

“The person I dealt with was very pleasant and helpful, and the information given was excellent.

I didn’t realise you would have so much information – I would have been down months ago if I’d known!”

Chair, SIL Management Committee

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Sheffield Information Link

Annual Report 2009 – 2010

SIL achieves prestigious quality award In February 2010, Sheffield Information Link became the first independent Family Information Service in the UK to be awarded the NAFIS Families First Award.

The quality standard, awarded by the National Association of Family Information Services, is given to organisations which offer an exceptionally high standard of services to parents, carers and practitioners.

Only five other FISs in the UK had achieved the award at this time.

Partnership and consultancy working

Staff from SIL travelled to London to receive the award from Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families. Speaking to an audience of over 400 people at the Awards ceremony, the Minister said:

“ Local information services are a critical source of support for families. Easily accessible sources of information and advice can help families access services and make informed choices.

Sheffield Information Link is a shining light for all family information services.”

This year SIL has developed new and existing relationships to deliver a range of partnership and consultancy work.

Our highly skilled staff have experience in a range of areas, and other organisations are increasingly turning to SIL’s expertise to fill skills gaps.

In August we began to deliver a Maternity Matters hotline through our Enquiry Service phone line. Women who have just found out that they are pregnant are now directed to call SIL as their first port of call.

Our trained staff put the caller in touch with midwives in their area, and direct them to the services they need for their next step.

We continued our successful partnership with the Kids Can Do project, hosting details of the activities they provide on the ask Sid website. This year we set up a page on ask Sid which was tailormade to their specifications. The page showcases Kids Can Do’s activities by region, and has been designed to appeal to children and young people.

Several members of the SIL team hold an NVQ Level 3 or above in Information, Advice and Assistance, and in January we began delivering client interventions for the Future Jobs Fund – a government-funded backto-work initiative.

In July our IT Systems and Project Officer John Wiseman began a consultancy project on behalf of the Sheffield Domestic Abuse Partnership. John was responsible for delivering the project’s IT infrastructure, the procurement of a database and telephony system, and the design and development of the website, www.sheffdap.org.uk.

SIL has registered with the Voluntary Action Sheffield consultancy matching service, and become a member of Buy for Sheffield.

In 2010-11 we plan to extend our consultancy service, as a way to diversify our funding and to offer varied development opportunities to our staff.

SIL staff Semaira, John, Martina and Dylan receive the award from Dawn Primarolo MP

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Sheffield Information Link

Annual Report 2009 – 2010

“ SIL found me a special needs childminder in ten minutes. I've been looking for five months, wish I'd gone sooner.”

SIGN – our disability information service This has been a particularly successful year for SIGN: 2009-10 saw a 5% increase in enquiries, meaning that we’re the busiest we’ve ever been!

SIGN is a free information service for the families of children and young people with disabilities, special needs and health conditions, as well as the professionals working with them.

This year 61% of enquiries came directly from parents and carers, rather than through professionals.

“ I had no idea all this support was available. It could change my son’s and my life for the better.”

With more and more families recognising the value of our service, it’s more important than ever to spread the word about SIGN, and we’ve been doing this through a huge amount of networking, presentations and the Professional Awareness Sessions we run at Ryegate Children’s Centre.

This year SIGN began a new partnership as the first point of contact for Sheffield City Council’s Short Breaks service. The scheme provides activities for disabled children and young people to enjoy, while their parents or carers have a break. SIGN promoted the Short Breaks project with a mail-out at the end of February, and received 62 enquiries about it in the following month.

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-3pm weekdays on 0114 266 9476.

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Careers in childcare Nearly 900 people contacted SIL this year for information about working with children.

If you’re interested in a career in the sector, our Recruitment project is here to help – whatever your experience, we can help you decide on your next steps.

Following on from the consultation we carried out last year, we’ve developed a leaflet aimed at young people in Years 10 and 11 at school. The leaflet explains what skills and qualifications are involved in working with children.

Our Recruitment Officer Mandy Hetherington has also been out and about at secondary schools across the city, speaking to young people about careers in Early Years.

Safeguarding children is high on everyone’s agenda, so this year Mandy has co-ordinated the development of a best-practice guide for recruiting staff and volunteers in Early Years. SIL has worked in partnership with SCEDU, Out of School Network, Pre-School Learning Alliance and Sheffield City Council to produce the guide, aimed at groupcare settings in Sheffield. This guide will be available in the coming year.

If you would like an information pack or more information about working with children, give us a call on 0114 275 6699.

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Sheffield Information Link

Annual Report 2009 – 2010

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Angrew Sangar finding out more about ask Sid

If you’d like to access information about local family services from the comfort of your armchair or office, why not ask Sid? The website is a great starting point for finding out about activities, groups and much more – 40,000 activities and projects were promoted on ask Sid this year. A huge 205,000 pages have been viewed by families and professionals keen to find out what’s on offer in Sheffield.

SIL’s Sharron Baroudi with Richard Caborn MP

This year we were involved in a project to link all the local directory websites in the UK to a national website, the Family Information Directory. Information from ask Sid can now be found through the FID site, and SIL was commended on its highquality information and technical work.

The project was also shortlisted for a prestigious Chartered Institute of PR award for a booklet celebrating our first anniversary in 2009.

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MPs Angela Smith and Meg Munn visiting SIL's shop on Leopold Street

To launch this booklet we were visited by local MPs Richard Caborn, Angela Smith and Meg Munn, as well as Andrew Sangar, the Member for Children for Sheffield City Council. Our guests helped to celebrate our success, and promoted ask Sid on a national level as an example of good practice.

At a time when budgets are tight, we’re particularly proud that ask Sid represents outstanding value for money.

Our dependable, free information for local families cost us just 0.58p per page this year.

If you’d like your organisation or activity to be promoted for free on ask Sid, just email asksid@sheffinfolink.org.uk or call 0114 275 6699.

www.asksid.net

Follow us on Twitter at askSidSheffield, or make friends with Ask Sid Sheffield on Facebook!

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Sheffield Information Link

Bringing family information to you If you’ve been to a children’s centre, parent and toddler group or baby clinic lately, you’ve probably met one of our friendly outreach team. We’re moving more and more of our work out into local communities, as experience has shown that this is the most effective way to engage with parents and carers, particularly those from ‘hard-to-reach’ groups.

This year we completed a mapping exercise to work out which parts of Sheffield we should focus our outreach work on.

We looked at a number of factors, including levels of deprivation and the number of enquiries we already received. As a result of this, we are now able to make tailored plans for each ward of the city, to ensure that our limited resources are targeted as effectively as possible.

Annual Report 2009 – 2010

“ Very, very helpful and followed up our face-to-face discussion extremely swiftly.”

This year,

414

• we attended drop-ins and events across the city – 100 more than last year!

37

• we set up or maintained 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

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The Team Our management committee Chair: Tracy Watterson Treasurer: Ged Warren Eileen Evans (until October 2009) Roz Davies (until April 2009) Sarah Jones (casual appointment from October 2009) Emil Kazounis (until October 2009) Mohammed Abdul Rahman (from October 2009) Karen Simpkin

John Wiseman Eman Yafai Dylan Yamada-Rice (from June 2009)

Our volunteers Julie Cook (from January-March 2010) Jill Hughes (from January 2010) Jessica Waite (from January 2010)

Our staff Noreen Ahmed Semaira Asif (from November 2009) Sharron Baroudi Paula Bird Anna Brown Martina Capaldi (until February 2010) Ann Dolby Lorna Dowrick Charlene Fernandes Margaret Goodlad Mandy Hetherington Halima Ismail Sue James Daniel McGuren (from July 2009) Paul Millen (until April 2009) Frances Milligan (until March 2010) Rachel Money Ruth Moore Andrea Naylor Trudie Smallwood Alison Smith Rosie Taylor Angela Turner Emily Uren (from November 2009) Penny Wightwick

In September we hosted our very first SIL Open Day! With the help of Professor Shell, we invited local families along to enjoy magic, balloon modelling, and of course essential free information! We delivered information to 32 families in just two hours – that’s one every 4 minutes! From last-minute childcare arrangements to planning for the next holiday, contact SIL to beat the back-to-school blues!

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