Agenda item

Please introduce yourself and outline your role and responsibilities.

I am the Head of Extended Services, and Parenting Commissioner. The key areas of my work as Head of ES are:-

• the development of ES in and around schools, in partnership with CFE and other KCC Directorates, and external partners;
• working with schools and partners to develop schools  at the heart of their community, and the Government’s agenda of developing core offer services to ensure access to a full range of services available by September 2010, including childcare services for children aged 0 – 14 (16 if disabled), information and support for parents, development of study support and out of hours learning and access to school facilities – particularly for Sport, ICT and Arts (where school facilities are suitable and there is an evidenced community need) etc. In some of these areas, my agenda overlaps with, and supports those of, other KCC colleagues;

·             Kent Children’s University – focused on children at KS2, offering a range of learning experiences outside school  to raise children’s aspirations;

·             ‘Playing for Success’ – delivered in four centres across Kent, for children at KS2 and KS3, offering learning in a different environment and utilising Sport and ICT to help literacy, numeracy and ICT skills; and

• The Healthy Schools Programme

The key areas of my work as Parenting Commissioner are:-

·             development and implementation of the Parent Support Strategy for Kent;

·              ‘Parents’ Voice’ - a mechanism to listen to and support parents;

·             Family Liaison Officers and Parent Support Advisors; and

·             Promoting the engagement of fathers.

In addition I have responsibility for Play, this involves:

·             the Play Strategy for Kent, which is being developed with District Councils and is out for consultation at the moment; and

·             the implementation of the Government funded Play Builder Programme, developed with District and Parish Councils, and the voluntary sector to improve and expand play sites and opportunities for children across Kent.

The literacy and numeracy results for KS2 are not good.  How do you think the Kent Children’s University (KCU) will help these?

This is definitely an area for improvement, as we have identified a gap in attainment in literacy and numeracyin the past two years.  ES is often seen as a bolt-on, and people do not see its potential role and range of influence.  They have not seen it as a key contributor to improve standards.  Both KCU and Playing For Success were identified as having the potential to have a positive impact on standards in these areas, but it has been a challenge to make sure schools understand the aims of the programme and are able to make informed decisions about referring pupils there, are clear on their expectations for these pupils, share their pupil data with the programme managers and are able to measure the impact of it effectively.  This has been a challenge but we have recently started making progress on this. Partners had previously understood the role of the KCU and the Playing for Success centres but had not made full use of it.

ES is a very complex subject.  Does the ES team produce strategy documents?

The central ES team produces policy guidance and strategy documents and gives advice on the model for best practice.  We produce a business plan and operating plan every year to shape partnership work.  Our plans also take account of, and contribute to, the local Children’s and Young People’s Plan (CYPP), which translates the strategy into work on the ground.  Close interweaving of plans can help ES not to be seen as bolt-on.  A Head Teacher who is at the forefront of ES developments said recently that it has taken his school 5 – 10 years for the range of initiatives around ES to come together and co-ordinate, and become the established way to do things and have a clear and demonstrable impact.

How do you engage parents at the ‘coalface’?

We have a range of approaches for engaging parents.  In 2004 we inherited 112 Family Liaison Officers (FLOs) from the Kent Children’s Fund, and there are now 240 FLOs and Parent Support Advisers located in schools and partnerships. Their role in schools is to work with parents to offer support to deal with a range of issues, to build trust with parents and signpost them to the services they need. For instance, to encourage parents into a family literacy programme, a FLO needs to be imaginative and innovative in the way they approach parents, subtle in the way in which they title the event, and build up trust and confidence.  We now have Parents’ groups in every Partnership and some of these  have a say in the development and delivery of the Local CYPP.

These are difficult, changing times. How do you evaluate services and how best to deliver them, and identify the tangible outcomes of ES?

Delivery and outcomes of ES are evaluated at a local level against the Local CYPP and some individual programmes (particularly around study support and transition) are also evaluated, but there is not one universal monitoring system due to the wide range of interventions and services. Please can you give the SC some written details of the evaluation methods?

What is your budget and resources for delivering all this work?  And how do you decide if money is being spent wisely?   How do you measure success?

There are 12 different budget headings, and the budget is complex.  I will send the SC a list of the 12 headings, and a guidance document which we prepare for the Partnerships.  I am happy to respond to any detailed questions Members have once they have read these documents.

Progress can be seen in specific areas, in terms of outcomes of projects, and can also be broad, in terms of progress towards achieving sustainability. I will send the SC a section of the operating plan which deals with monitoring.

How do you select young people to take part in the Kent Children’s University?

There is a self-nomination mechanism for young people for the KCU, but we do seek a mix of participants. And FLOs have a key role in encouraging engagement with children whom we would want to target most.

What are the challenges in developing and delivering ES?

There are a number of practical challenges:-

• rural access and transport services;
• disabled children’s access; some work has been done on this but more is needed;
• the capacity of a school.  Schools group together to maximise their capacity and ability to host ES but this takes time  and investment in partnerships and working relationships as well as dealing with the practical side of setting up and deliverg programmes and services;
• Head Teachers’ perceptions and judgments of the quality and suitability of their facilities for ES and those available within their local communities;
• some schools want to compete with each other to host ES as it can be seen as attractive to parents and lead to increased applications; and
• where money is tighter, delivery of ES is heavily reliant on the community voluntary sector, and their infrastructure is more liable to be affected by changes to funding or personnel and this effects the sustainability of ES services.

What about the challenges in engaging parents?  What about those who do not want to be engaged?

However far engagement is broadened, there will always be an element who will avoid engaging with it. This is a similar challenge for Children’s Centres.  Perhaps the SC could help address this in its recommendations? 

How will the reorganisation of CFE affect the structure of the ES team?

I can send the SC full details, but to summarise:-

The ES central team will be reduced. ES Development Managers will cease to exist, in some Partnerships they have recruited ES co-ordinators utilising their Standards Funds. Where these exist they will remain until the end of August 2011 when the grant comes to an end. Line management of these posts is under discussion as part of the reorganisation of CFE. There will be a small central team managed by a post entitled ”Extended Learning Manager”. This post will have responsibility for Healthy Schools, Out of Hours Learning and Study Support, including the four Playing for Success Centres and Kent Children’s University, as well as having an overview of Extended Services sustainability and quality across the County. The number of ES co-ordinators varies across areas, and the way they are organised differs.  Their new responsibilities, and how ES will be supported in an area if there are no co-ordinators is still being worked through with schools in those localities.  The responsibility for Parenting support will move to the Commissioning and Partnerships Group and the responsibility for FLOs and Parent Support Advisers will transfer to Specialist Children’s Services as part of the support to the preventative agenda (Prevention will be lead through the Director for Specialist Children’s Services). The responsibility for Play and where this lies in the new structure is still under discussion.

The core offer is now starting to have an effect.  At the Sheppey Academy, in an area of high deprivation where many parents cannot read, progress was starting to be made.  Will this focus be lost in the reorganisation? Too many children arrive at secondary school age not being able to read, and what I have just heard about the changes to ES under the reorganisation is very disappointing.

You have said that there are different ways to approach ES in each area.  How do you assess what is happening, and to what extent can you steer what goes on in each area? 

I am very concerned about the current proposals for what will happen when the funding comes to an end in 2011.  Some work has been brought forward.  Our original sustainability plans are no longer fit for purpose, so are being reviewed, and we have to provide a new robust framework for local Children’s Trusts.  Having staff in different locations, working in different ways, will be a challenge but we are working to look at how best to utilise this and build up school expertise.

What initiatives and strategies can KCC implement to ensure the sustainability of ES into the future, and what general initiatives and policies should KCC adopt to enhance ES in the county?

ES has strengths and challenges, and we can’t realistically contribute to everything.  Its effects are sometimes difficult to evidence, and it can be stretched too far.  To answer the question, it is necessary to look at the crucial components, and priorities; building trust in the community, focussing effort to get the most impact.  CFE will look at the complex picture of schools’ relationships and assess what part ES could play in these relationships and in meeting priorities.

How would you approach schools which resist ES?

Schools can be divided into three groups, based on the way they respond to the concept of ES; one group will be accepting and seek support to go forward, one group will be keen but doubt their ability and capacity to accommodate ES, and the last group will not want anything to do with it. The number in the final group is reducing, with some going ahead reluctantly, but there are still some which resist.  The role of the ES team is to address the issues and challenges which are raised by schools, and help them to challenge their concerns and preconceptions.

When introducing ES, how do you identify what is a priority, what works and doesn’t work, and what is sustainable?

Establishing good ES is a long term project, and we would have to look ahead over a 5 to 10 year period to see it bed in fully.  It is also necessary to have an exit strategy and we need to ensure that it is supporting key priorities, both for schools, KCC and key partners. Only then will there be support for sustainability.