Agenda item

1.         Mrs Gamby and Mr Gough introduced the report and highlighted key areas of the Strategy and how it would be taken forward. Mr Leeson added that Kent’s Early Years and Childcare Strategy had produced better outcomes than the national average, so a good percentage of the service was expected to be rated ‘good and better’ in any Ofsted inspection.  There were still areas, however, in which more work was needed – for example, Children’s Centres and integration with Social Care Services. A report on the contribution made by Early Years Services to Children’s Centres would be made to this Committee’s March meeting. The County Council had provided good quality advice and training to the Early Years sector and encouraged providers to group themselves into clusters and networks.  The overall aim was to increase the number of children whom the Early Years service helped to prepare for school, and future work should be concentrated on the areas which made the largest contribution to the preparation; personal development and language development.

2.         Mrs Gamby referred to the County Council’s collaboration with the Early Years sector and the good response that this had elicited.  Over 700 Early Years providers had been invited to meetings to discuss collaboration, of whom, 500 had been keen to take part and a further 70 had been keen to lead on collaboration by working to improve networking and drive further improvement. 

3.         The Chairman added that work on collaboration would have to overcome the challenges of the large number of Early Years providers and the transitory nature of many of them; some organisations had been set up by parents to support their own young children and were then discontinued when those children passed the age at which such organisations were useful to them.  Mrs Gamby added that, to address this transitory nature and support continuity and progression, good local intelligence about provision was necessary.

4.         Mr Leeson responded to comments and questions from Members and the following points were highlighted:-

a)         the good practice shown in the report was welcomed. There were some gaps in provision but reassurance that the County Council was monitoring and addressing these.  Mr Leeson added that, although the quality of Kent’s Early Years provision was good overall, some areas of greater deprivation had lower provision. This was a challenge being faced nationally by many local authorities;

b)         the report indicated initial planned savings in 2014/15 of £300,000, and concern was expressed that, if staffing numbers were to be reduced as part of those savings, the development work currently going on would be at risk. Mr Leeson reassured members that staffing resources would be adapted to accommodate a shift in policy in a way which would ensure that previous good practice could continue. It was important to maintain good work practices and target resources, and encouraging clusters would help manage demand. Any staff reduction would be gradual and at no risk to service provision;

c)         some special needs conditions were possible to identify early, which would allow important information about the condition to be passed to a child’s primary school when they started there;

d)         the role of Children’s Centres as a vital support for families was acknowledged, and the move of the Children’s Centres service to the Education, Learning and Skills directorate in April 2014 was welcomed;

e)         although some Early Years provision was transitory, some had continued in the same location for many years and offered support to generations of parents and children. The quality of provision and the targeting of resources varied greatly, however, with some providers being unable, for example, to identify autism early enough to make a useful contribution to treating it.  Mr Leeson said that early identification of special educational needs (SEN) issues was essential to ensure that they were properly addressed when a child started school.  He advised the Committee that, via the Special Teaching and Learning Service (STLS), £5million of resources from the Government had been devolved to 12 special schools in Kent, with 50% of this funding being dedicated to the Early Years sector to target children with SEN. The Early Years Advisory Service (EYAS) linked into this work, which would continue as a priority; and

f)          Kent’s Early Years and Childcare Strategy was vital in supporting children and families and giving children a good start in life, as this had been proven to help a child’s future personal and academic development. Being aspirational in Early Years was vital, and if the County Council could achieve what it sent out to achieve in its Strategy, this would be good. The outcomes of the current document would be seen in 2017, although the Chairman added that he wished to see the work reviewed before that date.

5.         RESOLVED that:-

a)         the Committee’s comments, set out above, be noted, and the draft Early Years and Childcare Strategy be endorsed for consultation; and

b)         a report on the contribution made by Early Years services to Children’s Centres be made to this Committee’s March meeting.