Redbridge North Group (3)

Newbury Hall Children’s Centre, Perrymans Farm Road, Newbury Park, Essex, IG2 7LD

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Inspection dates

Previous inspection date 30−31 July 2014 Not previously inspected

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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 Good 2

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Summary of key findings for children and families

This group of centres is good.  The quality of leadership, management and governance is good. By carefully monitoring the performance of the centres, leaders and managers accurately identify what the centres need to do to improve and then implement actions to ensure good outcomes for families.  Most families from the community, including those expecting children, are registered with the centres, regularly participate in activities and access services. A large majority of families from the centres’ key priority groups also participate well in activities.  The centres contribute well to the success of children in the area who achieve a good level of development at school.  Staff work effectively in conjunction with other professionals, particularly those from health and social care to, first, accurately assess the needs of families and, next, provide the care, support and guidance they need to overcome barriers and improve the quality of their lives.

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Summary of key findings for children and families

 Through the good quality support and guidance they receive, inequalities for families are reduced, particularly for those from the centres’ key priority groups who face language and other barriers.

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It is not outstanding because:

 Staff do not systematically track the progress of individual children from their starting points at the centres. This limits the centres’ ability to fully demonstrate the impact of their good work with children.  Not enough adults participate in adult learning courses or training that will enable them to progress to further education, training or employment.

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What does the group need to do to improve further?

 Provide support and training to ensure that staff systematically and confidently use the tracking system that has been developed, to monitor and record the progress of children from their starting points at the centres.  Increase the proportion of parents who access and can benefit the most from adult learning courses and training that will help them progress to employment or further education.

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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 with staff who work at the centres, who work at locality level and also across the borough. They met senior leaders and managers from the local authority. They also met representatives from the group’s partner organisations, such as those from health, social care, adult education, early years and welfare support organisations. They also met parents, members of the parents’ forum and advisory board members.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited a range of services offered at each of the centres. They observed activities at each centre, such as Summer Play for Toddlers and health clinics, and also attended a multi-agency meeting. Parents’ views were taken into account during focus group meetings and also from an analysis of their evaluations of activities.

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Information about this inspection

The inspection covered the following centres: Newbury Hall and Peabody Children’s Centres.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors observed the centres’ work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation.

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Inspection team

Priscilla McGuire, Lead inspector Additional inspector Jaswant Mann Additional inspector Sandra Teacher Additional inspector

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Information about the group

The local authority manages the two centres within the Redbridge North Group (3). These are Newbury Hall and Peabody. In Redbridge, centres are grouped into three localities and the Redbridge North Group (3) is within the north locality. The two centres cover the wards of Aldborough and Newbury. A borough-wide advisory board supports the management and leadership of the centres. Main services are offered directly at each centre, but some are offered in conjunction with other centres in the locality.

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Information about the group

There are around 2,245 children aged under five living in the area. The majority of families are of Asian heritage, most of whom are from Indian or Bangladeshi backgrounds. The percentage of people who are dependent on workless benefits is 23% in the Aldborough ward and 28% in the Newbury ward. The area is socially and economically diverse. Most families live in privately rented accommodation or with extended families in privately owned homes. Children’s skills, knowledge and ability on entry to schools vary widely.

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Information about the group

The centres offer a range of services for families and children under five. These include health clinics and other health services, family support, welfare benefits advice and guidance, employment support, adult education and outreach work.

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Information about the group

The centres’ key priority groups are families from the Indian and Bangladeshi communities who speak English as an additional language and families living in the most deprived parts of the reach area.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Good

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Inspection judgements

 Families with the most needs are identified early. This is because new birth data and other important information are effectively shared between the centres and the partner organisations they work with, such as those representing health, schools, nurseries and social care.  Centre and locality staff actively promote the centres’ services at baby health clinics, hospitals and local retailers that specialise in selling goods for babies and children. Their efforts are supported by the good quality online information provided about the centres. As a result of the effective marketing of the benefits of the centres to families, registration and participation rates are good. Data show they are continually improving and have significantly improved over the last two years.  A large majority of families from the centres’ key priority groups, including Bangladeshi and Indian families who speak English as an additional language, participate well in activities

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Inspection judgements

and access services that are most relevant to their needs.  Staff routinely scrutinise families’ attendance and participation rates. This helps them to identify early any family whose participation falls below expected levels. Once these families are identified, they are given the support they need to overcome any barriers that affect their ability to benefit from the centres’ services.  The views of parents and partners are highly valued and taken into account when staff plan services and activities. As a result, attendance rates are good and services meet the needs of the centres’ priority families, meet borough priorities and are generally well matched to the needs and interests of families.  Take-up rates of free two-year-old nursery places are excellent and all eligible families access good or outstanding early years education. Take-up rates for three- and four-year- old nursery places are also good.

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Inspection judgements

The quality of practice and services Good

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Inspection judgements

 The centres offer a wide range of good quality services and activities which are well attended. Some services, such as baby health clinics, are open to all families. Other activities, such as home visits to provide parenting support, are provided for families with specific needs.  The proportion of children in the reach area who achieve a good level of development is higher than the national average. Evidence shows that children who attend the centres make better progress at school than those who do not. However, tracking and monitoring of the progress of individual children from their initial starting points at the centres are not good enough.  Activities for parents, such as English conversation clubs, and the targeted use of the skills of staff who speak community languages help to reduce inequalities. By enabling families from the key priority groups to overcome language barriers, these families gain the

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Inspection judgements

confidence to access services within the centre and the wider community. As a result, the quality of their lives improves.  The centres help to reduce social inequalities by working in close partnership with organisations that provide specialist advice about welfare support. Families benefit from expert welfare advice and guidance provided by these organisations. The comment from a parent, which was typical of many others, demonstrates the impact of this work on families’ lives: ‘’I’ll be able to buy my weekly groceries now without the stress of counting pennies.’  Breastfeeding rates are high and, to ensure they remain high, the centres offer good support for breastfeeding mothers through weekly ‘baby feeding cafés’. However, across the borough and in the reach area, obesity rates are higher than the national average, although they are reducing. The centres’ healthy eating and other health awareness

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Inspection judgements

sessions help parents understand how they can achieve and maintain healthy weights for themselves and their children.  Parents benefit well from informal adult learning opportunities and from training provided through the centres’ volunteering programme. A significant number have progressed from volunteering into paid employment. However, take up rates of formal adult learning programmes, such as accredited courses, particularly for those parents who need to improve their employability chances, are too low.  Staff from the centres thoroughly and accurately assess the needs of families. Through effective partnership work with professionals from health, social care, education, charities and other organisations, the centres provide early and effective help. As a result, the life chances of families with the most needs improve significantly.

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management

 Leaders demonstrated their resilience and strength during the inspection. At the time, the centre manager was on sick leave, the post of deputy manager was vacant and various members of key staff were on annual summer leave. However, senior managers and staff from across the locality and borough worked as a highly effective and cohesive team to ensure services across both centres were maintained and staff supported in their respective roles.  At senior management level within the local authority, the Head of Early Years and Child Care and the Strategic Lead for Children’s Centres bring a unique combination of skills, passion, academic research and expertise to the service. They use their previous experience within the early years and health sectors to build good relationships with professionals and senior managers from these sectors. They are ambitious for the centres and play a key role in raising standards and improving the quality of the services that are offered to families.

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management

 Performance monitoring through termly reviews of the centres’ work by local authority managers and by the advisory board is effective. Report outcome cards for key activities and services provide helpful snapshot views of the centres’ performance. The self- evaluation process is rigorous. As a result, leaders and managers accurately identify the centres’ key strengths and areas for improvement. The advisory board provides both support and challenge to the centres.  Safeguarding is well promoted. At both a strategic and operational level, staff play key roles in implementing effective safeguarding and safer recruitment procedures. One of the senior managers sits on the local safeguarding children’s board (LSCB) and the other sits on a LSCB subgroup and use their roles well to promote effective safeguarding practice and to keep board members informed of the centres’ role in keeping families safe. Through good

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management

engagement with social care teams, the centres have been able to support all the families of vulnerable children, including those subject to child protection plans and looked after children.  Tools and processes such as the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and Team Around the Child (TAC) meetings help the centres reduce the risk of harm to families. A well designed, user friendly CAF poster, displayed in the centres, helps to dispel any negative perceptions and fears parents may have about the CAF process and promotes its benefits.  Resources including staffing and accommodation are good quality and well deployed across the two centres, the locality and the borough. As a result of highly effective partnership work with a wide range of partners, the centres provide a good well-resourced service for 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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Group details

Unique reference number 80260 Local authority Redbridge Inspection number 442815 Managed by The local authority

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under five in the reach area

Centre leader Halena Islam Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 0208708 9423 Email address newburyhallcc@redbridge.gov.uk

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 Newbury Hall  Peabody 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:

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. 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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