Issue - meetings

To inform Mambers about the purpose of the Children’s centre programme.

The Panel received a presentation from the Head of Park Lane Children’s centre detailing the services provided at the centre and their priorities. It was noted that their reach target was 1,345 children, of the 3,000 children in the area. Family support and outreach work was very important in supporting the most vulnerable children and young people and in giving access to the most excluded groups. Collaborative work with a range of services to provide activities for the 0- 19 year old was on going.

A presentation was given from the Children’s and Young People’s service which set out the range of provision and the core offer of services provided at Children’s centres. Phase 1 centres were expected to offer every aspect of the core provision. For Phase 2 centres there was a shift in focus towards access and signposting provision and for phase 3 centres (from April 2008 to 2010) all children would have access to services. The service would be looking to see if there were any gaps in provision. Partnership working was crucial to the effectiveness of the services offered. Key partners included health, Job Centre plus, and private, voluntary and independent childcare providers. Closer working relations were being developed within the Children and Young People’s Services social care and education. Information was being shared with other providers, such as the PCT, to ensure that services were of a high quality.

Monitoring the quality of childcare and the impact of services on performance was currently being developed.  A tracking system was being implemented, and using information such as where a child had attended prior to school and attainment at Key Stage 1 and 2 performance was being monitored. Performance indicators were set both nationally and locally from the Children and Young People’s Plan. The two statutory targets were an achievement target at age 5 and narrowing the gap between the lowest 20 % achievers. The Panel noted that the Department for Children, Schools and Families were looking at how PI’s could be designed around the LAA targets. A group of Children’s Centre improvement partners was being set up to support and challenge performance and to collate information on the range and quality of education. It was noted that OFSTED did not yet have a proper inspection structure in place for Children’s centres.

Key issues discussed included:

·        Centres were keen to involve parents in the planning of services. There was a continuous process involving parents, the community, staff, centre management and a representative from the equality improvement team who identified what works well, and subsequently produced an Action Plan. The Triangle Centre consulted the community, was continually seeking feedback from users and work was ongoing with parents to assess satisfaction with the services provided. Parents Forums had been established to develop services. Additionally all centres were engaged in outreach work to engage with those traditionally excluded. It was noted that outreach workers found post offices a valuable contact point.

·        Discussions were ongoing with partners in terms of flexibility  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5