Redcar and Cleveland West

Grange Farm Road, Grangetown, Cleveland, TS6 7HP

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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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This children's centre group is good. It is not outstanding because:

 The centre group does not work as effectively as it could with some partners, especially those related to expectant and new mothers, to share information and work together to identify and ensure the sustained contact of more families quickly.  There are not enough parents involved across the locality in running events, activities and groups.  Partnerships at a strategic level, particularly those in relation to helping adults back to work and training, are not fully effective. Protocols for the sharing of information and the joint planning of activities are not consistently in place. As a result, managers do not always set measureable targets or use action plans well enough to be able to measure the effectiveness of their work.

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This children’s centre group has the following strengths:

 Staff work well with a good range of professionals to identify families most in need of support, leading to the vast majority of families in the locality accessing the service.  The group has strong practices in referring families most in need for support and in allocating help quickly.  Staff develop very effective activities to ensure that three- and-four-year-olds are benefitting from early uptake of the free entitlement to education.  Families increase their parenting skills well, learning how to support their children’s education and improve their health and safety, resulting in a happier, calmer, more enjoyable home life.  The group has a good range of universal and targeted services that successfully attracts large numbers of families and makes a good contribution to their personal development.  The group provides good programmes to help families combat domestic violence.  There is good use of very specialised groups and support, for example for young parents, to

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This children’s centre group has the following strengths:

help them progress and develop at a rate comparable to that of other parents.  Managers have guided the centre group skilfully through an extended period of re-organisation and re-structure, whilst improving the quality of service delivery, up-skilling the staff and maintaining high levels of staff morale.  There is good supervision, appraisal and staff development for staff who provide excellent role models.  Staff give good attention to safeguarding families and take effective steps to keep them safe.

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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 Grangetown Children’s Centre, South Bank Children’s Centre and Ormesby Children’s Centre.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out by two of Her Majesty's Inspectors and one additional inspector.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors held meetings with the children's centre group area manager and the senior leadership team, family link workers, community engagement workers, Early Years development workers, officers from the local authority, representatives from the family support team (FST), Redcar and Cleveland's targeted youth team and Jobcentre Plus. They also met health, education and Early Years partners, parents, volunteers and representatives of the advisory board. They looked at the centre group’s self- evaluation, core improvement plan, a sample of case studies, safeguarding procedures and a range of other relevant documentation. Visits to activities were undertaken jointly with a team leader. The group manager attended all team meetings. The inspection team observed the centre group’s work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation. Inspectors visited activities in Grangetown, South Bank and Ormesby Children’s Centres as well as checking the resources at Eston and Normanby.

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Inspection team

June Cramman Her Majesty's Inspector, Lead Inspector Rachael Flesher Her Majesty’s Inspector Parm Sansoyer Additional Inspector

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Information about the group

Redcar and Cleveland West Area children’s centre group operates across two centres, and three satellite centres approximately three miles apart. These are Grangetown Children’s Centre and Ormesby Children’s Centre. The satellite centres are South Bank, Eston and Normanby. The west area consists of six wards, Grangetown, South Bank, Ormesby, Eston, Normanby and Teesville. Within these wards are 16 lowersuper-output areas ranked within the 30% most deprived areas nationally, 11 of which are in the top 10%. There are 2460 children aged from birth to four years living in the reach area, with approximately 1760 living within the most deprived areas. The west area has a relatively high level of worklessness compared to Redcar and Cleveland overall, with approximately 18% of families claiming benefits. Almost half the population has no qualifications. Most local families are from a White British background with under 2% of families representing a range of minority ethnic groups. The centre group

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Information about the group

is managed directly by the local authority. An advisory board for the group was established in 2006. The range of services provided includes family support, health services, parenting, volunteering and adult education. Target groups include families most in need, teenage parents and those experiencing domestic violence.

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Information about the group

Early Years provision is provided through a number of Early Years settings, school nursery classes and childminders located within the locality. Children generally enter Early Years provision with skills, knowledge and abilities that are below those expected for their age especially in communication and language and personal, social and emotional development. The proportion of disabled children and those with special educational needs, including those with a statement of special educational needs, is above the national average. The primary schools and nearby Early Years settings were not part of this inspection as they are inspected separately. The reports are available on the Ofsted website at www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen the centre group’s ability to increase the number of families accessing services by working more effectively with key partners, like maternity services, to develop more strategies for sustained engagement that are based on the efficient sharing of both relevant information and additional resources.  Ensure that strategic partnerships are more formalised by using service level and subcontracting agreements to hold partners to account. Plan activities jointly across the locality and borough and use management information to set measureable targets for staff so that progress towards joint goals can be accurately assessed.  Devise strategies that encourage more parents to lead groups, activities and events. Link with other children’s centres that have been successful in this aspect and learn from their practice.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Good

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Inspection judgements

 The centre group has worked well with a good range of other professionals to ensure that they are identifying the families most in need of help in the reach area, accurately identifying their issues and targeting them accordingly to secure their engagement in services. This has led to the vast majority of the families whose circumstances make them vulnerable accessing services and benefitting from the good quality of provision.  The balance of universal and targeted services for families most in need of help is good. Programmes advertised to all families in the area provide attractive activities that engage new and existing families. The specialist provision provides additional, targeted support that enables families with particular needs to develop parenting skills in a supportive way. Staff support groups such as young parents to gain skills, working effectively to reduce inequalities in their

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Inspection judgements

knowledge.  The uptake of the entitlement to early education for three- and four-year-olds is good. The centres have been proactive in identifying those families who are eligible for funding for two- year-olds and as a result the numbers accessing this are good, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas.  Through effective consultation and outreach work, centre staff are working with the large majority of young parents and families from Black and minority ethnic groups. The centres work well with other professionals such as the targeted youth team, health visitors and social housing organisations to identify and support these groups.  The centre group is not getting enough information from maternity services to enable very early identification of all pregnant women and increase breastfeeding. Managers are taking actions to remedy this situation by accommodating midwives in the children’s centres as well

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Inspection judgements

as developing joint sessions. However, accurate information is yet to be shared.  The centre has much improved the use of data across the borough; however, there are still some weaknesses in the recording and gathering of data. Partners specialising in adult education, training and employment do not share information systematically. Managers are not always using information well enough to plan provision or set improvement targets.

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Inspection judgements

The quality of practice and services Good

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Inspection judgements

 The centre group has developed a strong and effective referral system that enables the accurate and early identification of need. Where families require a particular service, the team ensures that families receive the correct support to make the appropriate changes to their lives.  A wide range of good quality activities is delivered by the children’s centre group team and partners. Parents who attend the activities benefit well from the experience, developing good parenting skills as well as a much greater understanding of health and safety related to their children.  A large majority of targeted families increase their parenting skills and learn how to support their children’s education; they complete courses and tracking shows positive impact in parenting skills. For example, the ’Mellow’ course and ’Fun families’ parenting course have increased their knowledge of how to support children’s play and learning. Play and learning are

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Inspection judgements

incorporated very well in all sessions and staff act as good role models.  Staff deliver good activities and courses for specific groups such as young parents. ’Parents with Prospects’ helps these young parents to explore their strengths and areas for development in a supportive, non-judgemental environment. Staff guide parents sensitively to a greater understanding of their child and their behaviour.  A large majority of children from targeted groups are making good progress in their personal, social and emotional development. They develop good communication and language skills. Children’s development has improved well over the last two years with schools reporting that they are now at the expected stage of development for starting school.  The centre group gives very good support for families experiencing domestic abuse. Parents’ attendance at the courses is good. Attendees increase their understanding of the issues

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Inspection judgements

surrounding domestic violence. They learn to recognise the early signs of abuse and the impact it has on their children. They feel less guilty and realise they are not to blame. They become more able to keep themselves and their children safe.  Assessments of need, case files and records are maintained to a good standard, are up to date, reflect the targeted families’ views and the involvement of other professionals. However, not all schools take an active enough role in multi-agency Common Assessment Framework (CAF) meetings.  Planning, observations, assessment of progress and tracking are very effective and clearly demonstrate improving outcomes for families. They also show reducing inequalities for a majority of young children and targeted families in their health through weaning groups, health drop-ins and infant massage. Staff prepare children well for school and nursery. Disabled children benefit well by early support and portage group. Transition arrangements for children

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management

 Leaders and managers have taken the centre through a period of many changes and staffing re- structures. Leaders have managed this process well, protecting most frontline services and resources. They have a clear vision for the development of the service and communicate this well to all staff. They have re-focussed provision on the needs of the families, targeting provision particularly using outreach and partnership work.  Managers have a good understanding of the needs of the locality and use local intelligence well to target key vulnerable groups. They have developed good strategies to engage difficult families despite not always being able to access the appropriate data. For example, the children’s centre does not have access to information about pregnant women in the area so they work proactively with health visitors and social housing groups to identify them.  The local authority and children’s centre group has a range of plans to help improve and develop

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management

provision. These plans all link with each other and show a clear pathway from work on the ground to strategic priorities.  Staff morale is high. They have high aspirations for families and provide good positive role models for them. Appraisal and supervision are very effective in providing support and challenge for staff. Managers provide good staff training and development that equip staff well to deal with the many challenging situations they face each day.  Partnerships with social care and health visitors are exceptionally strong. They allow staff to identify families quickly and provide an integrated package of care for families and children.  Partnerships with education providers and Jobcentre Plus are longstanding and provide a reasonable range of courses and activities. Those parents staying on the courses benefit well from the provision. However, managers recognise that more formal strategic partnership working is needed

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management

with greater use of shared data, contracts such as service level agreements and joint target setting and action planning.  The advisory board provides appropriate challenge to the centre. Information is shared well by children’s centre staff with the board and all members feel included in decision-making. While current parent members are very active in their roles on the board, the centre recognises that they need more parents to get involved in working with the children’s centre, through the board, planning events or leading activities.  Safeguarding and health and safety are highly prioritised in the children’s centre group. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and safe measures and reinforce them well with families.

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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 80144 Local authority Redcar and Cleveland Inspection number 424812 Managed by The local authority

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five in the reach area

Group manager Chris Bell Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01642 770810 Email address Chris.Bell@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 21288 Grangetown and South Bank Children’s Centre  22269 Ormesby, Normanby and Eston 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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