Essex - Q2 Chelmsford Central Children’s Centre Group

Essex - Q2 Chelmsford Central Children’s Centre Group

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Dixon Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 2AQ

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Inspection dates

Previous inspection date 4–5 November 2014 Not applicable

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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 Requires improvement 3 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for children and families

This group of centres is good.  Almost all children under the age of two years are registered with the centre and most access services regularly. The large majority of families identified as needing additional support, including those living in workless households, have accessed children’s centre services and have been in regular contact over the last twelve months.  Leaders and managers demonstrate very good capacity to continue to improve this group of centres. They have focussed resources on strengthening partnerships, particularly with health services, so that access to services for families, including those expecting children, is now firmly good and improving strongly.  Support for families most in need, including those who have experienced domestic abuse, is very good and highly regarded by parents. The range of and location services provided enables easy access for families.  Staff from the national development unit at 4Children share learning and provide effective support

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Summary of key findings for children and families

and challenge to enable the centre group to improve swiftly.  Leaders have an accurate view of the centre’s strengths and areas for development and are tackling effectively all aspects identified as areas for improvement during the inspection.

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It is not outstanding because:

 The number of eligible two-year-olds accessing free early education is not yet high enough.  The centres cannot clearly demonstrate the impact of services on improving children’s achievement or adults’ economic well-being over time.  Some information available from the local authority or partners to help shape services is not shared sufficiently well.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Work swiftly with the local authority to ensure that most two-year-olds who are eligible for free early education are supported to access high quality provision.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen the impact of services by: - using achievement data and tracking information to ensure that children make good progress and are ready for school, particularly two-year-olds who are eligible for free early education, children for whom English is an additional language, boys and those living in the Chelmsford West area. - ensuring that information about parents take up of courses clearly demonstrates the impact of the services they receive on improving their economic well-being.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Improve information sharing by the local authority and partners so that the centre group is able to finely tune its services by: - making achievement data at a local level available and show any variations between groups of children - ensuring that social services share timely information about all vulnerable children living in the area - working with health providers to ensure that breastfeeding data is made available at a centre or group reach area level.

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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.

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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 and/or spoke with: the Chelmsford central cluster manager; 4Children East of England manager; the local authority; headteachers; nursery leaders; and staff. They also met with a wide range of other partners including: health visitors and midwives; and spoke with an adult learning provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited: ‘Play & Learn’ sessions at West Chelmsford and Perryfields children’s centres. They also visited the crèche running alongside the ‘Mums Matter’ programme at Meadgate Avenue scout hall and observed the ‘Freedom Programme’ at Chelmsford West. Inspectors spoke with parents at ‘Incredible Years’ and met several parents on a one to one basis including the new chair of the advisory board and a parent volunteer leading on the development of the parents’ forum.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited the two main centres, Chelmsford West and Perryfields, and the satellite sites of Sunflower and Central children’s centres which are based in libraries.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Inspection team

Michael Blakey, Lead inspector Additional inspector Karen Cooper Additional inspector Ann Taylor Additional inspector

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Information about the group

Essex – Chelmsford Central Children’s Centre Group consists of four centres which cover part of the city of Chelmsford and a rural area to the north of the city. There are two main children’s centres within the area: Chelmsford West and Perryfields; and two satellite centres: Central and Sunflower, which are based in libraries.

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Information about the group

Chelmsford West Children’s Centre shares its site with Kings Road Primary School and Perryfields shares its site with Perryfields Infant School. The schools are subject to separate inspection arrangements and the inspection reports can be found at www.ofsted.gov.uk. The children’s centres are not formally linked to any early years settings or schools.

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Information about the group

The group is managed by 4Children on behalf of Essex County Council. There is a city-wide strategic advisory group in place and a locality advisory board: the community forum. A parent has chaired the community forum since September 2014. The centre group manager took up post in September 2014.

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Information about the group

The group’s reach area covers 44 distinct geographical areas of which over half fall in the 25% least deprived in England. Six of the areas fall in the top 30% most deprived and one of these, in the Marconi Ward, is in the top 3% in England.

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Information about the group

There are approximately 4,370 children aged 0-4 years old living in the area. The largest proportion of families living in the area are of White British backgrounds and there are approximately 712 families of other ethnic backgrounds including Polish and Bangladeshi. Children generally start school with skills and abilities typical for their age, except in Chelmsford West where they are lower.

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Information about the group

The centre has identified the following priority groups: children living in workless households; lone parents; vulnerable children including those ‘in need’ or subject to child protection plans; two-year-old children who are eligible for free early education; and families experiencing domestic violence.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 Frontline staff and partners, including health visitors, midwives and early years providers have worked very effectively to improve children and families’ access to services, including those less likely to make contact. They all contribute to registering families and undertake a range of activities to achieve this including attending the local hospital to let families know of the services provided locally. Families have good access to the range of health services.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 Almost all children under the age of two years are registered with the centre group and the large majority have accessed a service at least five times over the last twelve months, including in the most deprived area of Marconi. This is despite the group not having access to live birth data.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 Most families, who are identified as requiring additional support, including those living in workless households and those who have experienced domestic violence, have very good access to services. Almost all families living in the reach area are registered and the very large majority access services.  Good quality ‘Play and Learn’ sessions are well attended by families, including those who may need extra help. Effective action has resulted in a rising number of Polish and Bangladeshi families engaging with the group’s services. Over 400 different families accessed centre-based activities over the previous twelve months.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 The centre attends all child protection conferences and support many other children known to social care. However, information about children who are looked after, or in need, is not shared routinely with the group and staff are not therefore able to contribute to supporting some of these children as quickly as they might.

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Access to services by young children and families Good

 The proportion of three and four year olds taking up their free entitlement to early education is high. However, at 52%, the proportion of two-year-olds accessing their free entitlement is below the level seen nationally. This has been correctly identified by leaders as an area for improvement. In the Chelmsford West area there are insufficient places in good or better quality early years settings. The local authority intends to share information to support the centres in the group to undertake their support role more effectively, but this has not yet happened.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The quality of practice and services requires improvement because the information from tracking children’s progress is not analysed sufficiently well by leaders to evaluate the impact of services and plan further improvements.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The proportion of Reception-age children achieving a good level of development is below the level seen nationally. There is a wide achievement gap between children for whom English is an additional language, those eligible for free-school meals and their peers. The absence of data made available with this level of detail has hampered the centre group’s work to target its services on reducing inequalities. Despite this, the group plans meaningful learning experiences for children and have correctly focuses services on improving children’s communication and language, and personal, social and emotional development.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The adult learning provider, commissioned by the local authority, delivers a wide range of programmes across the Chelmsford area. However, information about parents’ attendance, completion rates, successes and next steps is not routinely shared with the group. Individual case files show that some parents, including those from workless homes make good progress.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The local authority and the health provider do not have an information sharing agreement in place around breastfeeding data and the centres only have access to data at a Chelmsford wide level. This limits their ability to measure the impact they have on improving sustained breastfeeding rates in the reach area. However, centre group based evaluations show that parents feel more confident to breastfeed as a result if the support they receive.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Childhood obesity rates are generally well below national levels. The centre group is delivering a wide range of programmes to promote healthy living including ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’ to help drive positive change, particularly in Chelmsford West.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The group’s staff visits families at home on a regular basis and provides very good information, advice, guidance and support to help improve their lives.

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The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 The centre group delivers a wide range of services for families in most need, including the ‘Freedom Programme’ for those experiencing domestic abuse and ‘Mum’s Matter’ for mothers suffering from post-natal depression or other mental health issues. Parents speak very highly of the impact of this support.  The group makes sure that services are appropriate and well located to enable ease of access. These include health visitor clinics, midwifery appointments, ‘Play and Learn’ and summer holiday events. Leaders’ analysis of attendance registers clearly show that the sessions open to everyone are very well attended by a range of children and families with different needs.

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Good

 Leaders and managers working on behalf of 4Children have made a significant contribution to improving this group of children’s centres over a relatively short period of time. Their capacity to drive improvements further is clearly evidenced by the rapid increase in the number of families accessing early childhood services. Resources are being used effectively to move the group forward.

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Good

 Governance arrangements are effective. 4Children support and challenge the group through the regular reviews which they undertake. These enhance the less robust systems of the local authority.

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Good

 The community forum, which acts as the advisory board, is very well attended. The parent chair, who is new in role, is being well supported to undertake the role effectively.  Effective systems to engage parents are already in place and they report very high levels of satisfaction in the services they receive from the centre group.

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Good

 Although leaders and managers have not yet tracked children through to the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, they have introduced a range of tracking tools, which will assist more effective evaluation of the impact of the services delivered by the group.

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Good

 Self-evaluation processes are effective. Leaders and managers correctly identify areas for improvement and have taken swift action to address these issues. Where progress has been slower, this is because the local authority has not provided the centre with the information that it needs. For example, achievement data for groups and data on the number of two-year-olds taking up their free entitlement, were only made available to the centre group when inspectors requested this.

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Good

 Safeguarding arrangements are robust and are at the heart of the group’s work. All staff and volunteers have been subject to rigorous recruitment processes including Disclosure and Barring Service checks. Policies and procedures are followed strictly.

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Good

 Supervision and performance management of staff, and the quality assurance of family support services, activities, and case recording are effective. They ensure that staff are well supported and that services are increasingly meeting local needs.

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Good

 Partnership working to help children who most need support is good. This is particularly the case for those subject to child protection plans or experiencing domestic violence. The centre staff are invited to every initial child protection conference meeting. Data on the numbers living in the area is shared the group but this is insufficient to establish if it is working with all vulnerable children.

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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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Group details

Unique reference number 80706 Local authority Essex Inspection number 452145 Managed by 4Children on behalf of the local authority

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Lisa Farrell Telephone number 01245 283254 Email address Lisa.farrell@4children.org.uk

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 20645 CHE1 Chelmsford West Children’s Centre  20650 CHE5 Perryfields Children’s Centre

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

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 . 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

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

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, 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. This template is available at www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/130186. 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 No. 130186

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