Honiton and Axe Valley Children’s Centres

Axe Valley and Honiton Children's Centres

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Trevelyan Building, Fore Street, Seaton, EX12 4AN

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected Access to services by young children and families Inadequate 4 The quality of practice and services Inadequate 4 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and management Inadequate 4

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This children's centre group is inadequate.:

I  Leaders and the advisory boards do not make sufficient use of all available information to check, plan and review activities and services. As a result, they do not have a secure understanding of the performance of the group.  Leaders do not track the participation of those families most in need and therefore the difference that services are making for these groups is not known.  The group does not have clear priorities for its development and target setting is weak. As a result, the centres are not improving rapidly enough to ensure what they offer is improving the lives of families, particularly those who need the most help.  The organisation and deployment of staff and services are not well thought out. Consequently, some families who require one-to-one support have to wait too long for the help they need. Others are not able to access relevant services.

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This children’s centre group has the following strengths:

 The centres’ staff come from a wide range of professional backgrounds and demonstrate expertise. They are highly committed to improving the lives of families. There are some instances of very effective one-to-one work with individual families who make significant improvements in their lives.  The group provides good opportunities for adults to volunteer their services so that they can make a useful contribution to their community and develop their confidence and skills for employment.  The group is building strong links with a range of relevant partners. These are particularly well established at the Honiton District Children’s Centre where, for example, services provided in conjunction with the health authority are effective.

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Information about this inspection

The inspection of this children’s centre group was carried out under Part 3A of the Childcare Act 2006 as amended by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. The centres that form part of this children’s centre group are Axe Valley Children’s Centre and Honiton District Children’s Centre

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out by three of Her Majesty's Inspectors.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors held meetings with senior leaders and managers in the local authority, the centre leader, the commissioned provider, partner agencies, parents, the outreach workers, family support staff, early years workers, volunteers and representatives of the advisory board.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited the centres' three sites.

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Information about this inspection

They observed the centre’s work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation.

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Inspection team

Jane Burchall Her Majesty's Inspector, Lead Inspector Jon Bowman Her Majesty’s Inspector Denise Blackwell Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about the group

Axe Valley and Honiton are a group of children’s centres in East Devon run by The Children’s Society on behalf of the local authority. The group is made up of two centres: Axe Valley, a phase three children’s centre, and Honiton and District, a phase two children’s centre. The Children’s Society has been responsible for running Honiton and District since 2007, and Axe Valley since April 2012. Each centre has its own advisory board. The centres are currently being managed by a temporary centre leader who is covering the maternity leave of the substantive leader. The centres serve coastal and rural areas, as well as the towns of Honiton, Seaton and Axminster. The towns and villages in the locality cover a geographical area of approximately 152 square miles. Although the area is not identified as being deprived overall, there are pockets of deprivation among areas considered to be more affluent. Levels of worklessness are low overall, although many families are

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Information about the group

in low income employment. Public transport facilities are sporadic and families in outlying villages are at risk of social isolation. Most of the population is White British, with smaller percentages of families from Black and minority ethnic groups, some of whom speak English as an additional language. Most children in the area start early years provision with skills broadly in line with what is typical for their age, although communication and language skills are often weak. The centres meet their core purpose by offering a range of services which include health services, family play sessions, parenting programmes, adult learning and family support. Services are offered from the main children’s centre buildings, a linked site in Honiton and a range of community venues within outlying towns and villages.

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What does the centre/group need to do to improve further?

 Together with the local authority, develop and implement action plans that include clear, challenging and measurable targets focused upon the priorities for the centre.  Improve access to services by young children and families by: − making better use of information that is available so that staff have a clear understanding of which groups would benefit from services − ensuring all families can easily access the services they need − reviewing the delivery of family support work in order that it is more efficient and that families receive a timely response according to their needs.  Carefully check the extent to which services are improving the lives of families, particularly those most in need, so that the centres can evaluate accurately the difference they are making.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

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Inspection judgements

 Leaders do not know if those families who would most benefit are accessing services. They do not make sufficient use of data and information to plan, review and check what they offer to families.  Staff have worked effectively to take services out to rural areas and to increase the engagement of families in the Axe Valley area. This has led to a good increase in the number of families who now visit the centre. However, families in Axminster are disadvantaged as some services, such as antenatal provision and specific groups for young parents, are not located within easy reach. As a result, not all families in this area are engaging in relevant services.  A range of partners, including health and children’s social care, work well with the centre to identify individual families who may benefit from targeted services, including those expecting children. Staff know the families they work with well and are successful in maintaining

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Inspection judgements

The quality of practice and services Inadequate

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Inspection judgements

 The monitoring of what the centres offer families is weak. Leaders are not sufficiently checking the impact of services for target groups and therefore do not know if they are making a difference where it matters. Evaluations of services, such as parenting programmes, are ineffective as leaders do not collect relevant information to help assess how effective they are.  The quality of support for individual children and their families who have been identified as needing one-to-one support requires improvement. Assessments of the needs of families, including common assessments vary too much and too often there are delays in families accessing the support and help that they need.  Parents value highly the support and help they receive. Sessions such as the Breastfeeding Café and Step-by-Step are extremely popular with children and families. Staff use these sessions to help identify where additional support may be required. Centre staff and

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Inspection judgements

volunteers are good role models and provide good care, guidance and support to help parents to make positive changes to their lives including those who have attended parenting programmes.  Staff use their knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage to plan suitable opportunities for children who attend the centres’ early years sessions. In Bumps to Baby Buddies, Creepers and Crawlers and Stay and Play, children enjoy learning alongside their parents and a good focus is placed upon improving children’s language and communication skills. Although staff seek parents’ feedback, they do not have a full picture of the impact of these groups as they are only just beginning to track the progress children make.  The quality of partnerships with organisations that promote learning and employment are underdeveloped. Opportunities for parents to engage in adult learning courses are limited. The centres do not know how many adults have taken part in courses or what they have

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Inspection judgements

achieved.  Some activities and support to develop employability skills are progressing well. The volunteer programme is managed effectively and the number of parents volunteering is increasing rapidly.

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management

 The centres are not improving rapidly enough as planning is weak. Information about priorities for development is not readily available or used sufficiently to plan services aimed at helping those most in need. Leaders do not have a clear strategy to demonstrate how they are going to make the necessary changes and have not set precise targets that lead to improvement.  The local authority sets targets for improvement, but these are not linked closely enough to the priorities of the reach area to bring about improvement where it is needed.  Resources are not used effectively enough. The vast majority of staff work part time; they each hold a wide range of responsibilities and travel extensively across the wide reach area. This means that there are significant demands upon their time which are difficult to balance and impacts on the centres’ capacity to respond to referrals for individual families quickly

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management

enough.  Both centres have active advisory boards whose membership reflects a range of relevant partners, although they have not been successful in engaging parents in governance. While the partners’ expertise provides a useful insight into the needs of the community, the board does not ensure it is provided with the information it needs to fully challenge leaders, hold them to account and secure necessary improvements.  Arrangements to safeguard users are sufficient. Recruitment and selection procedures ensure that all necessary pre-employment checks are undertaken and staff suitability to work with children is regularly reviewed. Staff know what to do should they have concerns about a child’s welfare and support for more vulnerable families, such as those subject to child protection plans or the Common Assessment Framework. This provides important oversight of the welfare needs of children. While risk assessments are routinely undertaken, in one

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management

group, staff were observed to allow parents to use their mobile phones in the centre, which is not in line with the centres’ policy.  Staff are given good opportunities to access a comprehensive programme of professional development so that they are knowledgeable and skilled. Despite having been through a significant period of change, such as the joining of two centres and changes in management, they work well together to deliver services to the families who access them.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Practice consistently reflects the highest aspirations for children and their families and as a result inequalities are reducing rapidly and gaps are closing. Grade 2 Good Practice enables most children and their families to access good quality services that improve children’s wellbeing and achieve the stated outcomes for families. Grade 3 Requires improvement Performance is not as good as it might reasonably be expected to be in one or more key areas. Grade 4 Inadequate The needs of children and families in its area are not being met and/or the leaders and managers are not providing sufficient challenge to bring about improvement to the quality of services.

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Select details

Unique reference number 80023 Local authority Devon County Council Inspection number 423303 Managed by The Children's Society on behalf of the local authority

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Karen Bridel Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01297 20542 Email address AxeValleyCC@childrenssociety.org.uk

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 URN: 20148 Axe Valley Children’s Centre  URN: 21548 Honiton and District Children’s Centre guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

(Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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