Essex - Q4 Harlow Cluster 3

c/o The Meadows Children's Centre, Harberts Road, Harlow, CM19 4DL

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This inspection: Good 2

Previous inspection: Not applicable 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

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This children’s centre group is good because:

 Staff have excellent knowledge of the reach area and have been very successful at increasing the number of targeted and more vulnerable families registered. As a result, a large majority of families are actively engaging with the centre and are benefiting from the well-matched services on offer.  The quality and impact of services are good. A particular strength is the way that the centres support families in crisis and this has helped to rescue many individual families in difficult circumstances and get them back on their feet again.  Strong partnerships with health specialists help to address any child development concerns at a very early stage through services such as the high quality ‘Talking with Tots’ speech and language development group.  Nearly all local teenage mothers-to-be and young mothers attend the ‘Teen Parents Group’ because the advice, guidance and support is highly effective. Mothers say that they have made friends to

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This children’s centre group is good because:

share the ‘ups and downs’ of parenthood and some said it was the ‘best two hours of their week’.  The centre buildings are attractive and well maintained with plenty of space and some excellent resources. The centre is always open for users as a safe haven and a place for welcoming those families who are not coping well and are seeking help.  Leadership and management are good and there is effective support from the management organisation and local authority. Together they are improving the quality of practice and services.

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It is not outstanding because:

 Governance arrangements at the strategic level are good but there is insufficient focus on governance within the reach area and the advisory board lacks parental involvement.  Tracking systems to measure the performance of the centre are still at an early stage and the collection and analysis of data to plan improvements are underdeveloped.  Links with schools are not sufficiently well developed and vulnerable families with children under five at school are not engaged with the centres enough to benefit learning and personal development.

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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 The Meadows Children’s Centre and Burnt Mill 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 representatives from the commissioned provider Spurgeons, representatives from the local authority, health partners, a representative from the local women’s refuge, linked social workers, employment and other adult learning and training services groups, children centre staff, parents and members of the advisory board.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited a range of activities and sessions held at the two centres, local outreach centres and also visited Raindrops Nursery. The commissioned provider and other senior staff attended all team meetings.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors observed the centre’s work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation including the self-evaluation forms, action plans, a sample of case files, parents’ satisfaction surveys, safeguarding policies and procedures and a variety of assessment files for the range of activities delivered.

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Inspection team

Lead inspector Catherine Stormonth Additional inspector Anthony Mundy Additional inspector Lesley Talbot–Strettle

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Information about the centre group

The Harlow Children’s Centre group in Harlow, Essex, is run by Spurgeons on behalf of the local authority. The group is made up of two centres: The Meadows Children’s Centre and Burnt Mill Children’s Centre. Spurgeons has been responsible for running these centres for the last two years. The centres were merged as part of a wider local re-structure plan to form a group in May 2012. The Children’s Centre Service Manager leads both centres and there is a single advisory board. The Meadows Centre was purpose built from a refurbished infant school. The Burnt Mill Children’s Centre is located just over a mile away on the Burnt Mill Academy (URN 137694) site. The Meadows is on the same site as Raindrops Nursery (URN EY 333144) with a shared entrance and reception area. Both the - Academy and the nursery are subject to separate inspections and reports can be found at www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Information about the centre group

The group delivers services for children and families from both centres and from community venues, including Harlow Town Library, St Andrew’s Church Hall, St Mary at Latton Church, St Thomas Moore Church Hall, Harlow Town Park and the Harlow Cricket Club. The centre meets the core purpose by providing early education, childcare and health services, family support and adult learning courses. Most children enter early education with skills that are well below the expected level for their age.

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Information about the centre group

Both centres are within walking distance from Harlow town centre. The centres serve an area with high levels of deprivation with Markhall, Netteswell, Toddbrook and Little Parndon in the lowest fifth of deprived wards in the country. There are 2,195 children aged under five years living in the Harlow Cluster area, the majority of whom are White British. The largest ethnic minority groups are from Eastern Europe and there are smaller numbers of Asian and African families. Data shows that there are 15.7% of families that are lone parents and 34.5% of families are from workless households. Key target groups include vulnerable families living in poverty, families where domestic violence is prevalent, lone parents, pregnant teenagers and young parents, families with additional needs and those families from ethnic communities with limited spoken English.

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

 Use data more effectively to develop a system to measure the impact of activities, services and courses and set challenging targets for improvement.  Improve governance by: - including parental involvement at the decision making level - holding the centres more precisely to account at the local level within the reach area.  Improve the learning and personal development of children aged 0-5 further by: - improving links with schools and pre-school settings - engaging with schools to support the most vulnerable families, especially those with limited spoken English, those transient families where domestic violence is prevalent and parents who are disabled or who have learning difficulties.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 The centres are conveniently situated near the town centre and many parents, including those expecting children, attend activities and services in large numbers from both within and outside the reach area. The centre engages effectively with the large majority of priority groups including lone parents, children living in workless households and families from minority ethnic backgrounds, who enjoy and significantly benefit from the services provided.  The number of pregnant teenagers and young mothers who regularly use the centres is very high. The centres also attract families with disabled parents and disabled children and activities, such as ‘Sparkles’ and ‘Little Signers’, are well matched to their needs.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 Outreach work is highly effective in establishing and maintaining contact with families in most need of intervention and in meeting their specific needs.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 The centres work in strong partnerships with local organisations to help and support families very effectively. For example, mothers who have suffered the trauma of domestic violence have good access to services which support them as part of their recovery plan.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 Take up of the free entitlement to early education for two year olds is improving and about three quarters of children have been awarded places. Most pre-school settings are full so the centre has been working with local childminders to help them to qualify and provide additional places for these children. The local authority is supporting the weaker pre-school settings to make sure that the quality of pre-school education is good.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 The centres have had difficulty in accessing live birth data locally but this information will be soon be available and will enable centres to implement plans to target new families, improve the low breastfeeding rates and to safeguard the youngest children of vulnerable families further.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 There is a good range of both targeted and universal services which are well matched to identified needs in the local area. The centre is particularly effective at contributing to good quality early childhood learning and improving parenting and adult learning.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 The numerous parents spoken to during the inspection consistently praised the centres for improving the quality of their families’ lives and giving their children much better life chances. The quality of staff support for individuals prompted one mother to state: ‘I’ve got my life and my dreams back and I can’t thank the staff enough’.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 Overall children’s attainment at the end of Early Years Foundation Stage is in line with the local average but below the national average. There is considerable variation between groups and boys achievement is much lower than girls. Results from families with additional learning needs and those with English as an additional language are well below the good level of learning and development expected.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 There is an intense focus on improving early years learning outcomes in Harlow and strong school improvement support from the local authority. Inequalities are narrowing as the gap for the lowest attaining fifth of pupils is closing faster than the national rate. The centres have rightly identified this as an area to improve and partnership working with early years providers is developing well. The engagement with schools remains the weakest element. Preparation for school readiness is also developing well despite a mixed response from receiving schools.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 Although the centres clearly make a discernible difference to families’ lives, the centres are not yet fully measuring the impact of some aspects of the work they are doing with children. For example, written evaluations of activity sessions do not always draw well enough on data to show the full effect on families nor identify the best work that is being done.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 The adult learning programme is preparing parents well for training and employment. Those parents with limited spoken English are benefitting from ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes and are signposted to other courses locally to improve their English language skills and knowledge further. Adult learning services are aligned closely to volunteering opportunities and learning programmes are purposeful. Nearly all volunteers engaged in work experience have returned to employment, including some workless households and lone parents.

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The quality of practice and services Good

 Families are receiving good advice for healthier lifestyles and as a result, breastfeeding rates are improving and obesity rates are falling. The new mothers who receive effective support from the voluntary breastfeeding network, sustain their breast feeding for longer. The ‘Bosom Buddies’ programme has been applauded in this regard.

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Good

 Leaders, managers and those responsible for governance of the centres have effectively driven improvements in access to services, the quality of provision and outcomes for families. The effective policies, practice and procedures promoted by the management organisation, Spurgeons, are used consistently and contribute to the good management of the centres.

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Good

 The governance arrangements at strategic, district and local ‘Quadrant’ levels work well. The strategic group has successfully cemented strong partnerships with key organisations who work closely with the children’s centres. There is little evidence however, to show how the local advisory board is holding the centres to account within the reach area and parents are not sufficiently involved in the decision-making processes.

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Good

 The centre runs very smoothly. Highly skilled and knowledgeable staff form a strong team devoted to helping families in most need. Staff are suitably qualified to deliver the range of activities and services and the arrangements for their continuous professional development are good.

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Good

 The local authority has a good understanding of the centres’ strengths and areas for improvement and target setting is good. However, references in reports are to registration levels rather than engagement rates and these do not help the centre to accurately monitor their performance.

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Good

 The safety and welfare of families underpin the centres’ work and staff have a good understanding about how to protect children. Staff successfully contribute to reducing harm to children, particularly those that are subject to child protection plans and children in need. Links with all relevant agencies are good and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences are held at the centre for those families where domestic violence is an issue. Staff use assessment processes well to assess the needs of families and coordinate timely multi-agency support. All statutory safeguarding requirements are met and staff are safely recruited.

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Good

 Resources are used very well to meet the needs of children and families. Community venues are used imaginatively to extend the remit of the centres and to provide good access to activities and services. Other facilities are also helpful, for example the crèche, which is provided for parenting and other programmes including the Solihull and Freedom courses. These help to make sure that families who need the most help can access the services they need.

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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 80721 Local authority Essex Inspection number 434486 Managed by Spurgeons on behalf of the local authority

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Sharon Devito Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01279 773900 Email address sdevito@spurgeons.org srandall@spurgeons.org

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 URN 21370 Burnt Mill Children’s Centre  URN 21372 The Meadows 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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