Poole West Children's Centre Cluster

Turlin Moor Children’s Centre, Turlin Road, Hamworthy, Poole BH16 5AH

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This inspection: Requires improvement 3

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected Access to services by young children and families Requires improvement 3 The quality of practice and services Requires improvement 3 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and management Requires improvement 3

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

 Although there is a strong culture of safeguarding, case files and recorded assessments of need are not always of good enough quality.  Despite an improving trend in the overall number of families registered and engaging with the cluster of centres, not enough priority families are using the services.  There are insufficient courses targeted at improving the health of families or helping parents to improve their qualifications and get into work. There is a limited choice of adult learning opportunities with employment support limited to referral to other organisations.  The centres do not always get the data they need to measure whether or not their work has made a difference to the lives of the families they help. Data do not always help leaders to monitor and analyse the impact the cluster’s work for all target groups or support them to drill down into cluster data to identify and build on their successes.

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

 Leaders do not look strategically enough at data to enable them to understand how well the cluster is doing, make comparisons and robustly target the areas in most need. Improvement plans lack clear success criteria and milestones. As a result, leaders are not securely analysing how well they are doing across the cluster for all target families.

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This children’s centre group has the following strengths:

 Children benefit from positive play and learning experiences. The ‘Starting Out’ programme is helping parents to support their children’s learning at home through group and individual sessions.  The volunteer support programme is well organised, with over 30 volunteers working across the cluster. They receive good quality induction and their progress is reviewed so that they are helped to access additional training and apprenticeships.  Cluster leaders are highly committed, skilled, caring and approachable. They are supporting staff well through a period of significant change. Although staff feel unsettled, their professional approach is ensuring families do not feel any impact on the quality of services provided.

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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 Canford Heath Children’s Centre, Creekmoor Children’s Centre and Hamworthy and Turlin Moor 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 representatives of the advisory boards, health representatives, the local authority, the centre manager and deputy, parents, schools, children's centre staff and the Principal Manager social care.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited Hillbourne Outreach Centre, Bearwood Outreach Centre, Canford Heath Children's Centre, Turlin Moor Children's Centre, Hamworthy library, Creekmoor library and Hamworthy bungalow.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Inspection team

Denise Blackwell Her Majesty's Inspector, Lead Inspector Mark Lindfield Her Majesty’s Inspector Claire Griffin Additional Inspector

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Information about the group

The Poole West Children’s Centre Cluster consists of Canford Heath Children’s Centre, Creekmoor Children’s Centre and Hamworthy and Turlin Moor Children’s Centre as well as a number of outreach venues located in local schools and community buildings.

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Information about the group

There are approximately 3,111 children from birth to four years of age in the reach area. The vast majority of families are of a White British background, with growing communities of Polish and Russian heritage. Worklessness across the reach area is variable ranging from 5.4% in Creekmoor to 11.3% in Hamworthy and Turlin Moor. Deprivation levels across the reach area vary significantly, with the most deprived areas being located within the reach of Turlin Moor children’s centre. However, there are also some areas such as Merley which are very affluent and include some of the most expensive properties in Poole.

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Information about the group

The centres are run and managed by the local authority. There are two advisory boards – one for Hamworthy and Turlin Moor and one for Creekmoor and Canford Heath. The advisory boards have representation from parents and local partners such as health. The children’s centre manager is mainly based at the Turlin Moor centre and is responsible for the line management of family outreach workers. The deputy is based mainly in the Canford Heath centre and line manages the children’s centre workers. Some children start in early years provision with significantly below typical levels of development for their age. However, in some of the wards within the reach area, children’s levels of development are typical for their age.

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Information about the group

Poole is currently in the process of restructuring its children’s centre provision with changes expected to be in place by April 2014. They are also currently consulting on the de-designation of Creekmoor children’s centre and state this will not impact on the number of services and activities provided as it is a change to administrative arrangements. What does the group need to do to improve further?  The local authority should work closely with centre managers to: – determine the data they need to drive improvement across the cluster – ensure protocols support the exchange of information so that it is timely and in a format that is useful to the cluster to enable them to look strategically at their impact and drill down to the details of successes.  The cluster should improve the strategic approach to leadership by: – having clear success criteria in improvement plans, baseline information and targets that clearly

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Information about the group

set out what needs to be done by whom and by when – looking strategically at data for the whole of the cluster to enable leaders to drill down into the data and identify successes and priorities for the whole of the reach – looking at engagement with all target groups across the cluster, not just target postcodes, recognising that families may fall within a number of areas of identified need.  The cluster should develop opportunities for adults to improve their employability skills and healthy lifestyles by: – increasing adult learning opportunities, especially in relation to literacy, numeracy and qualifications – working with partners to remove barriers to learning – strengthening links with Jobcentre Plus to help parents gain employment skills and progress to employment.  The cluster should further develop assessment and tracking of cases to ensure that: – work with families is appropriately targeted

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Information about the group

– parents are clear about what needs to happen and how they will be supported – plans are regularly reviewed to show progress made and next steps for families.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

 Many families make good use of the services and enjoy the range of activities offered. However, the numbers of targeted families engaging across the cluster vary significantly, with insufficient targeted activity in all areas of the reach planned to increase their participation.  Staff work effectively by taking services out to different areas to increase the engagement of families in target postcodes, leading to a steady increase in the number of families attending centre activities. However, activities do not always target families who would benefit most from accessing services. As a result, they are not yet engaging the large majority of target families in relevant services across the whole of the reach area.  A range of partners, including health and children’s social care, work well with the centre to identify individual families, including those expecting children, who may benefit from targeted

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Inspection judgements

services,. Staff know the families they work with well and are successful in maintaining contact with them.  Information is effectively shared between the centres and social care. Children on child protection and children in need plans are engaging with centre services until their needs are met. As a result, families continue to sustain their involvement with the centres when they are no longer required to as part of their plan.  Monthly sessions are held at one of the centres within Poole for families of Russian or Polish heritage. Families are signposted to these sessions and also join in with services and activities delivered within the reach area. As a result, good relations are fostered and families feel welcome in the centres, regardless of their background. The quality of practice and services requires improvement  Partnerships with organisations that promote learning and employment are underdeveloped.

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Inspection judgements

Opportunities for parents to engage in adult learning courses linked to healthy lifestyles or to improve their employability are limited. As a result, centres do not support targeted families to improve their skills in a supportive environment.  Parents highly value the support and help they receive. Sessions such as baby massage and stay and play are extremely popular with children and families. Staff and volunteers make good use of these sessions to help identify where additional support may be required and provide helpful guidance to enable parents to make positive changes to their lives.  Staff do not consistently use assessment tools such as the ‘Outcome Star’ to help parents identify what needs to be done to improve their life chances or how centre staff will support them. Outcomes are not consistently reviewed to support staff to steer skills and help with monitoring so that parents can clearly see the progress they have made.

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Inspection judgements

 Health targets, including breastfeeding and obesity levels, are issues for the cluster. Breastfeeding rates fluctuate and obesity levels are high, though improving. Specific activities are provided that focus on health priorities but the impact of these cannot be seen yet.  There is a range of parenting programmes such as ‘Incredible Years’ that are helping to improve parenting skills. However, this is inconsistent as some activities are not helping parents to engage more fully with their learning. Families do not have comprehensive learning plans, informed by the ‘Outcome Star’ to steer and monitor their progress.  Very individualised support for some of the most vulnerable families is having a positive impact. This ensures that those who find it difficult to engage with the centre or to take part in groups receive the support they need. Parents enthuse about how it has enabled them to do things they

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Inspection judgements

thought beyond them, helped them to grow in confidence and has resulted in them being more able to support their children’s learning.  The centre teacher works very effectively with early years providers, schools and centre staff to improve the quality of early years provision. ‘Starting Out’ sessions, developed by the centre teacher, have been delivered in the most deprived areas within the reach. Links with schools are building on early work and providing a progression route so that parents continue to build their knowledge as their children grow older.

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management

 Partnership working is effective, especially the partnership with social care, supporting those who have formal intervention such as child protection or children in need plans. Family outreach workers hold sensitive and complex cases, responding to the needs of more vulnerable service users. They skilfully help them to engage with centre services and agree appropriate actions to support them.  Membership of the advisory boards reflects a range of relevant partners and parents. Advisory board members understand their role of critical friend, with parents’ and partners’ knowledge and expertise providing a useful insight into the needs of the community. However, board members are not yet confident about how to carry out their roles to enable them to challenge leaders, hold them to account and secure necessary improvements.  Performance management and staff supervision arrangements are well established. Senior leaders

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management

monitor the work of staff within the centres and are carrying out a case file audit to establish training needs and improve consistency. Professional supervision is provided for family support workers, enabling them to discuss their cases with social care and centre colleagues from across the authority. Poor performance is tackled effectively though some inconsistencies in case recording remain.  Safeguarding is given a high priority in the centres. Robust policies and procedures are in place and all required checks are carried out. Risk assessments are detailed, identifying any likely risks within the centres and for outings, and actions detail how to minimise these.  Resources are generally used effectively, although staff shortages have impacted on the cluster’s involvement in some services they had planned to support. However, they have focused on their work with vulnerable families. As a result, parents provided many examples of where staff have

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management

supported them and made a difference to their lives and those of their children.  The local authority has planned changes to the way in which they structure and manage the performance of children’s centres. Currently, local authority targets are individual to centres, appropriate and challenging, with regular meetings to review progress. However, data are not always provided at cluster level to enable leaders to drill down to identify what is working well, where and why. Improvement plans are developed for each of the centres but do not show clear links between how the work in each centre contributes to targets for the cluster.  Parents influence services through discussions with staff, comments boards, and parents’ forums. However, parents’ involvement with governance varies across the cluster, with engagement at Turlin Moor being very strong. As a result, there are inconsistencies around parents’ involvement

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management

in decision-making processes and the cluster is not challenged as a group of centres on its performance.

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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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Select details

Unique reference number 80087 Local authority Poole Inspection number 430102 Managed by The local authority

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Amanda Boclet Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01202 261530 Email address a.boclet@poole.gov.uk

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 Hamworthy and Turlin Moor Children’s Centre  Canford Heath Children’s Centre  Creekmoor 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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