Solihull - Shirley

Mill Lodge, Aquduct Road, Solihull, B90 1BT

p.1

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 Requires improvement 3 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and management

p.1

This children’s centre group is inadequate

 Only a minority of families are accessing children’s centre services.  The local authority’s strategic leadership and management arrangements are ineffective. The centres do not have access to all the required data they need, and staff are not skilled in using data management systems. As a consequence, staff are unable to accurately analyse data and target resources where they are most needed.  A small number of partners do not share relevant information or work effectively together to the benefit of children and families. Consequently, the centres’ work is not fully effective in meeting the needs of all families.  The local authority’s priorities for improvement are not precise enough and do not include timescales for implementation. As a result, it is difficult to measure the centres’ effectiveness.  A number of key partners and parents are not represented on the partnership advisory board. There

p.1

This children’s centre group is inadequate

is no elected chair person. The support and challenge to leaders is weak.  The safeguarding policy and procedures regarding the suitability of staff are not good enough to ensure children are not placed at risk.  Systems to track children’s progress, families who are supported and signposted to other services, and families who stop using the centres’ services, are not thorough enough. Consequently, the centres are unable to evaluate accurately the difference they are making to children and families.

p.1

This children’s centre group has the following strengths:

 Parents and children who access services feel safe, listened to and welcomed. Staff are particularly attentive in supporting families in times of need.  Staff plan a range of enjoyable learning experiences for parents and their children. Sessions such as ‘Stay and Play’ help prepare children for the transition to school. Opportunities to volunteer help parents gain experience and skills to help them move on to employment.  The centres work effectively with health partners. New parents receive good access to information and support. As a result, breastfeeding rates are above the national average and obesity in young children is reducing year on year.  All three centres’ premises are of a high quality. They are well resourced, warm, welcoming and easily accessible.

p.1

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 Mill Lodge Children’s Centre, Monkspath Children’s Centre and Shirley Heath Children’s Centre.

p.2

Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out by two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and one Additional Inspector.

p.2

Information about this inspection

The inspectors held meetings with: the locality strategic lead; the local authority’s commissioner and data officer; children’s service managers; health and education professionals; partner agencies; family support workers; an early years coordinator; and representatives from the advisory board. They also spoke with partner agencies and parents, and looked at outcomes of satisfaction surveys. They observed the centres’ work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation including the centres’ self- evaluation, quality improvement and service plan, annual conversation report, a sample of case studies, safeguarding procedures and children’s development records.

p.2

Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited all three children’s centres. Visits to activities were undertaken jointly with the strategic lead. The strategic lead and service manager attended all team meetings.

p.2

Inspection team

Joy Law, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Clifford Rose Her Majesty’s Inspector Karen Cooper Additional Inspector

p.2

Information about the group

The Solihull Shirley Group (Cluster One) comprises three children’s centres in Solihull. The centres were established as a group in April 2012. One staff team delivers services and activities across the three centres and in venues out in the community. Mill Lodge, a phase two children’s centre, is located on the Mill Lodge Primary School site. Shirley Heath, a phase two children’s centre, is situated on Shirley Heath Junior School site. Monkspath, a phase three children’s centre, adjoins Monkspath Primary School. The centres are open full time, although the range and frequency of activities and services provided vary at each centre. The centres serve communities in which there are pockets of disadvantage interspersed with high levels of affluence.

p.3

Information about the group

Barnardo’s took over the governance of the group in April 2012 on behalf of the local authority and is supported by a partnership advisory board, made up of key partners.

p.3

Information about the group

The group offers a range of services to meet its core purpose, including family support, adult learning and health services. In addition to activities that take place at the centres, services are also delivered directly in the community, where parents are able to access them easily. Outreach work within families’ homes is a key feature of the centres’ work.

p.3

Information about the group

Within the cluster, there are 13 primary schools, three secondary schools, 16 early years nurseries, 13 pre-schools, and childminders. These providers are subject to different inspection arrangements. Reports can be found at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk. There is no onsite childcare provision managed by the centres.

p.3

Information about the group

There are 3,046 children under five years of age living in the area served by the centres. Five per cent of children live in low-income households. There are approximately 300 dependent children aged under five years living in households with parents claiming unemployment benefit, of which 180 are lone parents. The locality has a small proportion of teenage and young mothers. The large majority of families living in the area served by the centres are White British, and the remaining families are from a range of minority ethnic groups.

p.3

Information about the group

The levels at which children enter early years provision vary across the area. The centres’ target groups are young parents, minority ethnic families, children with disabilities, lone parents and families eligible for nursery education funding for two-year-old children.

p.3

What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership, governance and management of the centres by: – making the partnership advisory board more representative of all stakeholder groups by increasing membership of partners and parents so that they are able to provide effective support and challenge to leaders – electing a chair-person, who is independent of the day-to-day running of the centres, to the partnership advisory board – implementing the revised service level agreements and new systems developed by the local authority to ensure effective partnership working, sharing of information and robust quality- assurance processes – strengthening the support from the local authority to provide strategic direction, support and challenge, including the setting of relevant, realistic and achievable targets which are regularly reviewed – working with the local authority to develop multi-agency working to enable effective sharing of information about families.

p.4

What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Improve safeguarding by: – ensuring all policies and procedures are up to date – ensuring that staff are aware of and implement changes to policy and practice so that children are not placed at risk.

p.4

What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Improve access to services for young children and families by: – working with the local authority and partners to obtain access to good-quality, relevant and timely data – making better use of data to identify and target support to those who are not accessing services, particularly two-year-old children who are entitled to early education – reviewing the delivery of services to ensure these are accurately matched to need and accessible to the families who need them most.

p.4

What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Increase the number of families who access the services, particularly those from target groups.

p.4

What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Improve systems to track children’s progress, families signposted to other services, and families who disengage with services, so that the centres can evaluate accurately the difference they are making to children and families.

p.4

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

 The local authority has not routinely provided the group with relevant and accurate data and not all partners share what they know about families. As a result, managers have not been able to identify families that should be targeted as well as they could.

p.5

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

 The group does not have access to data to confirm how many two-year-old children are eligible for free nursery education. Centres do not know the take-up of the free entitlement to early education for three- and four-year-olds. Consequently, staff are unable to identify and support families to take advantage of this entitlement.

p.5

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

 Staff recognise that they lack the skills to be able to use the data management systems to best effect. Consequently, they have not made good use of the limited data available to them to help identify and target resources where they are most needed.

p.5

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

 Strategies to encourage families to participate in relevant services are not effective enough. Although staff have increased their outreach work to raise the profile of the centres and advertise the available services, only a minority of families are accessing either universal or targeted provision.

p.5

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

 The lack of staff resources to provide regular crèche facilities prevents parents from participating in activities and courses to help them move on to training and employment.

p.5

Access to services by young children and families Inadequate

 The centres offer private organisations use of rooms within the centre to run sessions. In return, these organisations provide free places for target families. This enhances the opportunities for parents who would, otherwise, be unable to afford such services.

p.5

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Many aspects of the centres’ practice and services are good. Nevertheless, the quality of practice and services requires improvement because too few families benefit from the provision, particularly those from target groups.

p.5

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The group’s range of provision is adequate. Courses are available to improve adults’ English and mathematics, to raise their self-esteem, prepare them for employment and improve their parenting skills. The group commissions courses to be run in the centres by the local college when it has identified enough interest from potential users. However, the lack of crèche provision means that some parents are unable to access these courses.

p.5

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Stay-and-play sessions are well attended but are not as effective as they should be in promoting children’s development because they do not always meet their needs fully. The rooms are well laid out and equipped to a high standard. Staff provide a good variety of activities; both adults and children engage well. However, information gathered from observation and assessment is not used effectively to plan for children’s next steps in their learning. Staff do not routinely analyse attendance and, therefore, do not know how many families from target groups attend these sessions.

p.5

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Managers know that the systems in place to capture the full impact of the centres’ services on children and families are not as good as it could be. They are developing new systems to help them measure the effectiveness of what they do and the difference they are making, particularly for those families most in need.  The organisation is effective in providing opportunities for volunteers. Barnardo’s employs a volunteer coordinator who coordinates the recruitment, induction and deployment of volunteers throughout the organisation’s centres in Birmingham and Solihull. Volunteers receive good supervision, advice, guidance and support to gain appropriate qualifications and experience to gain paid employment in the field of early years childcare.

p.5

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The weekly on-site ‘Well Child’ clinics at all three centres, and sessions such as baby massage, mean that those parents accessing these services receive good access to advice and support regarding issues such as physical and emotional health of the baby, weaning and breastfeeding support. Breastfeeding rates are rising; 51% of mothers breastfeed their babies at Monkspath and 54% at Shirley Heath, both figures are higher than the national average. Obesity rates in young children have continued to decrease year on year as a result of the variety of activities provided by partners and staff, such as ‘Yoga Bugs’ promoting physical activities, and ‘Healthy Tots’ promoting parents’ and children’s understanding of nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

p.6

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Parents’ and children’s views are obtained through discussion, course evaluations and comments books, but parents do not have sufficient influence about the running of the centres. Parental engagement has been sporadic and, currently, there is no parents’ forum in place. Parents are not involved in the partnership advisory board.

p.6

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 When families are identified to be in need, staff provide good care, guidance and support. However, poor use of data means that too many families in need are not known to the centre.

p.6

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Partnership working is inconsistent, including the two-way sharing of information. Strong partnerships have been established with the majority of partners such as health visitors, schools, Women’s Aid. The effective partnership with adult mental health is resulting in improved outcomes for the increasing number of families experiencing mental health issues. For example, parents have a more positive sense of self-worth and belief in their own abilities, which enables them to feel more empowered, motivated and fulfilled. However, partnerships with midwifery, general practitioners and social care are less well developed. Consequently, children’s and parents’ needs are not always identified early and personalised plans are not implemented consistently.

p.6

Inadequate

 Staff absence, major budgets cuts, the move to cluster models and a lack of strategic direction, support and challenge from the local authority have presented significant challenge to the staff team to deliver services to children and families. Since taking over management responsibility in April 2013, Barnardo’s have introduced a culture of ongoing improvement. Nevertheless, despite their determination to improve services and attempts to reach more families, resources are not targeted effectively enough to engage sufficient families from targeted groups.

p.6

Inadequate

 The recently appointed local authority commissioner has the passion and determination to bring about changes at a quick pace. He has, in partnership with Barnardo’s and the local authority strategic leads, taken immediate action to address fundamental weaknesses. For example, he is revising service level agreements to formalise partnership working and the sharing of information. He has taken steps to improve access to comprehensive data. He has created new systems to provide strategic direction, support and challenge, including the setting of relevant, realistic and achievable targets which will be regularly reviewed. However, most of these changes are too recent to have made a significant difference to the centres’ work with families.

p.6

Inadequate

 The partnership advisory board is not well placed to support and to challenge leaders to bring about necessary change. Despite continued efforts by managers, there is no elected chair, and although there is some strong representation from a few partners, other key partners are not involved. Board members are not provided with the information they need to hold leaders to account and secure improvement. The self-evaluation is over-generous.

p.6

Inadequate

 Managers are unaware of the changes made by Barnardo’s to the procedures for checking the suitability of staff. The safeguarding policy has not been updated to reflect these changes. As a result, risk assessments have not been appropriately implemented to ensure children’s safety. Consequently, this aspect of safeguarding is inadequate.

p.7

Inadequate

 All staff receive a range of mandatory safeguarding training including how to use the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), early support, first aid, and the Solihull approach. The Common Assessment Framework procedures are implemented well, and referrals and case management are completed effectively. Staff work closely with social care when children are subject to child protection and attend core group meetings where appropriate.

p.7

Inadequate

 The centres aim to promote equality well to ensure that all children and parents within the area are able to access services, for example, by taking resources out into the community and waiving fees to allow those on low incomes to access activities. However, too few target families are engaging with services.

p.7

Inadequate

 Evaluations show positive impact for some aspects of the centres’ work, but not all. Evaluation records indicate improved parenting skills through attendance on courses and high levels of satisfaction. However, not all partner agencies share what they know about families, for example, how many parents move into employment, and the systems to track the effectiveness of the centres’ work are underdeveloped. The centres are unable to evaluate accurately the difference they are making to children and families.

p.7

Inadequate

 Staff are reflective and have clear strategies and targets to move forward. They receive regular supervision and verbal feedback, including reviews of the way they manage their caseloads. Nevertheless, staff are not consistently as effective as they should be in meeting all parents’ and children’s needs.

p.7

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.

p.8

Children’s Centre Group details

Unique reference number 80231 Local authority Solihull Inspection number 430105 Managed by Barnardo's on behalf of the local authority

p.9

five in the reach area

Centre leader Esther Brooks Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0121 2487646 Email address Esther.brooks@barnardos.org.uk

p.9

This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 22013, Mill Lodge Children’s Centre  22034, Monkspath Children’s Centre  22706, Shirley Heath 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 .

p.9

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,

p.10

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’.

p.10

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

p.10