Durham – Brandon Children’s Centre Cluster

Durham – Brandon Children’s Centre Cluster

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Brandon Infant and Nursery School, Carr Avenue, Brandon, Durham, DH7 8NL

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This inspection: Good 2

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected Access to services by young children and families Good 2 The quality of practice and services Good 2 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for children and families

This children's centre group is good.  A concerted effort has been made by dedicated and passionate leaders, staff and partners to engage more families from the most disadvantaged areas. As a consequence, families identified as in most need of support access services to improve their lives, with very successful outcomes. This is due to leaders and staff at all levels ‘acting swiftly to address issues and having a can do attitude’.  Family support workers are good role models. They know their families well and ensure families are kept safe and their individual needs met. There is particularly strong care, guidance and support provided through outreach work in the Sacriston and Ushaw Moor areas.  The centres are the hub of the community and parents feel welcomed and valued. They speak highly of centre staff and consider the centres to be places where they are able to drop in at any time for friendship and support.

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Summary of key findings for children and families

 The centre group has a good impact on the general well-being and achievement of children and their families because it provides a wide range of good quality services. Children, particularly those from the most disadvantaged areas make good progress and are becoming better prepared for school.  Leaders, managers and those that govern the centre have a thorough understanding of the centre group’s strengths and areas for development. The staff form a happy and highly committed team who are keen to share best practice, and who help move the group forward at a good rate.

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It is not outstanding because:

 Not enough parents, especially those from workless homes, engage in adult learning programmes or volunteering to extend their employability skills.  Data provided by the local authority and its health partners are not always accurate or timely.  Parents are not regularly involved in strategic decision making and shaping centre services across the group.  Supervision arrangements do not always ensure that case files fully reflect the centres’ good work with families.

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Information about this inspection

The inspection of this children’s centre 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 Brandon Children’s Centre, Sacriston Children’s Centre and Ushaw Moor Children’s Centre.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out by three additional inspectors.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors held meetings with the service manager, locality manager, the principal family worker, senior leadership team and officers from the local authority. They also held meetings with centre group’s staff, parents, members from each of the centres local advisory boards and a number of partners including health, education and children’s social care professionals.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited a number of sessions held across all three centres during the inspection including, ‘Messy Play’, ‘Bounce and Rhyme’, ‘Stay and Play’, ‘Baby Clinic’ and a mathematics and teaching assistants course. They also involved the children’s centre locality manager and principal family worker in all team meetings.

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Information about this inspection

They observed the centre group’s work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation, such as the centre group’s self-evaluation, action plan, a sample of case studies, parent evaluations, key policies and the group’s equality and safeguarding procedures, as well as a range of other relevant documentation.

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Inspection team

Tara Street, Lead inspector Additional inspector Cathryn Parry Additional inspector Sarah Drake Additional inspector

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Information about the group

Durham - Brandon Children’s Centre Cluster formed as a children’s centre group in April 2013. It consists of three previously stand-alone children’s centres, that have merged and share services, including staff, and one overall leader. Of these, Brandon Children’s Centre is a phase one centre and Sacriston and Ushaw Moor Children’s Centre’s are phase two centres. The group meets its core purpose by offering a range of services which include child health services, family play sessions, parenting courses, adult learning and family support. These services are delivered to families from the children’s centre buildings, community venues in the area and through outreach home visits.

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Information about the group

There are approximately 3,003 children under five years old within the cluster area, of which 25.7% live in the 0-30% most deprived areas in the country. Within the reach there are significant issues surrounding teenage pregnancy, isolation, unemployment, domestic violence and parenting support. The target groups identified by the centre group are: teenage parents, pregnant teenagers, lone parents and fathers. A very large majority of families within the area served by the centre group are White British, with a small Black and minority ethnic community. Housing is mostly social or private rental with some areas of affluence and privately owned housing. Levels of unemployment are high, with 16.3% of children living in households dependent upon workless benefits. Most children typically enter early years provision with knowledge and skills that are below expectations for their age. There are links to the 21 local

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Information about the group

primary schools and childcare provision is delivered by Brandon Happytimes Daycare and Ushaw Moor Childcare. These are subject to separate inspection arrangements and the reports are available on our website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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Information about the group

Governance of the centre group is provided by Durham local authority, specifically the One Point Service. Each of the three centres currently has their own advisory board that includes providers, delivery partners, members of the local community and parents that attend the centres.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Extend the opportunities for more adults, particularly those from workless homes, to enhance their economic stability by increasing the promotion of and participation rates in adult learning programmes and volunteering.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Improve the way data are used across the centre group by the local authority, leaders and advisory boards to measure the full impact of the centres’ work and to drive further improvements by:  working with health colleagues to ensure that all data, particularly relating to breastfeeding, smoking during pregnancy and obesity in reception-age children are accurate and timely  tightening supervision arrangements to ensure all case files fully reflect the centres good work with families  strengthening parents’ involvement in strategic decision-making by supporting them to attend more regularly the local advisory board meetings.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Good  The centre group has been highly successful in registering most children and in maintaining contact with the very large majority of families from the most disadvantaged areas. In addition, the centre group has successfully engaged with high numbers of children and families identified as in most need of support, including those expecting children, babies and very young children, teenage parents, disabled children, lone parents and fathers. This is because leaders and staff work very well with partners and as a result have a robust knowledge about the make-up of the area and the families living within it.  Staff hold community fun days and visit local childcare settings, schools, adult gyms, industrial factories and baby clinics to promote the centres’ services. They regularly visit areas where fewer families are known to the centre group to make contact with them, consult on their needs and

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Inspection judgements

promote the centres’ activities. Gaps in provision are identified quickly. Clear plans are put in place to address these swiftly in order to promote engagement of more families and to improve their life chances and reduce inequalities.  Staff work hard to ensure that the centres are warm and welcoming to families. This ensures that those less likely to engage feel comfortable coming to the centres to access services and activities. Typical comments from parents include: ‘Everything I am now is due to the centre; they gave me a new life. I feel really safe here and confident.’ and ‘I love the centre, it’s like a second home.’  At 84% the very large majority of three- and four-year-olds and 100% of eligible two-year olds are accessing their funded early education place in the range of good and better early years provision in the area. This is due to the concerted effort of centre staff to encourage and support families to take

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Inspection judgements

The quality of practice and services Good

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Inspection judgements

 The wide range of well-planned, good quality universal and targeted services offered by the group results in increasing participation rates and families’ improved well-being. Sessions such as, ‘Stay and Play’, ‘Bounce and Rhyme’ and ‘Buggy Bootcamp’ are well attended. In addition, parents have good opportunities to be involved in the planning of activities and to take home idea sheets which effectively increase their awareness of how they can support their children’s learning at home.  Parents feel very well supported in knowing how to keep their children safe and healthy through parenting courses, first aid, healthy eating sessions and physical exercise groups such as, ‘Toddles and Woddles’, ‘Little Explorers’ and ‘Little Chefs’.  Families, who find themselves in complex, chaotic and at times dangerous situations, receive prompt attention from centre staff. Family support staff work closely with key agencies and organisations to

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Inspection judgements

effectively provide early interventions and support families in time of need. One-to-one outreach is provided in all three centres, and the Sacriston and Ushaw Moor areas are particularly strong in reducing inequalities with effective analysis of need and support provided to improve the lives of families.  Health partners, including health visitors, midwives and health trainers successfully run clinics and practical activity sessions in conjunction with centre staff to raise parents awareness of healthy lifestyles. Partners report that this work has been very successful in reducing the percentage of children in the Reception Year who are obese, reducing the number of mothers who smoke during pregnancy and increasing those who continue to breastfeed at six to eight weeks. However, the centre does not receive accurate or timely data to enable them to regularly monitor and demonstrate this.  Partnerships with local schools and early years providers are very good. For example, the centre

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Inspection judgements

group successfully runs a range of programmes such as, physical development and speech and language sessions in local schools and nurseries to support children identified as most in need. As a result, the majority of children living in the most deprived areas achieve a good level of development by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Adults have access to a good range of courses, such as specific programmes for promoting parenting skills, teaching assistants and maths courses. This helps them to develop their basic knowledge and skills and most go on to further training and employment. However, not enough adults, particularly those from workless households, are benefiting from these adult learning programmes or taking up volunteering opportunities.

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management

 Leaders, managers and staff are enthusiastic and passionate about enhancing families’ lives. They work hard to continuously improve the quality of provision across the group and improve life chances of families. This combined with clear procedures for working with key partners, has secured real and sustained improvements for a large majority of families and represents an efficient use of resources.  The local authority views children’s centres as an integral part of the delivery and success of its early intervention strategy. Monitoring is regular and culminates in an annual conversation that challenges the centre’s self-evaluation and identifies key strengths and areas for further development.  Data provided by the local authority and its health partners about the group’s contact with families is not always accurate and timely, particularly relating to health outcomes. As a result, it does not

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management

provide centre leaders or the local advisory boards with a clear picture of the full impact of the centre’s good work with families. Nevertheless, the group does its best with the available health data and, because of leaders’ and staff’s very good knowledge of the local community and information sharing about local families, recognises where it needs to develop further.  The local advisory boards contain a good mix of committed professional partners. For example, typical comments from board members include; ‘It’s nice to do something and see the difference it is having on families lives’ and ‘the board has a positive vibe, we look at obstacles and how we can overcome them’.  Safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and implemented. The use of pre- and Common Assessment Framework is well established and used well. Strong relationships with key agencies ensure joint working and information sharing, particularly for those subject to a child protection plan,

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management

looked after children and those identified as in need.  Staff are highly qualified. Opportunities for continuous professional development are encouraged and staff feel well supported and highly valued. However, supervision arrangements across the group are not robust enough to ensure case files fully reflect the centres’ good work with families.  Parents regularly share their views of the sessions and activities they attend through a ‘Thought’s Tree’, session evaluations and newly established ‘Time for You’ parent groups in each centre. However, parents are not regularly represented on the local advisory boards. As a result, they make less contribution to shaping the centre’s performance and delivery at a strategic level.

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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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Children’s Centre Group details

Unique reference number 80292 Local authority Durham Inspection number 430090 Managed by The local authority

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Pam Bloomfield Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 03000 268859 Email address pam.bloomfield@durham.gov.uk

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 20400 Brandon Children’s Centre  22613 Sacriston Children’s Centre  23394 Ushaw Moor 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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