Salisbury Central Children’s Centre Group

Salisbury Central Children’s Centre Group

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24 St Edmunds Church Street, Salisbury, SP1 1EF

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Inspection dates

Previous inspection date 27–28 November 2014 Not previously inspected as a group

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This inspection: Requires improvement 3

Previous inspection: Not applicable 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 group of centres requires improvement. It is not good because:

 Leaders and managers are not able to measure the continued engagement of priority families accurately. This is because information is not collected in a helpful and timely way.  Although the number of children and families registered and accessing services is improving, too few parents from some priority groups regularly attend services.  Systems to track the progress that children and adults make are not well developed or used systematically. As a result, leaders and managers are not able to confidently demonstrate the difference that the centre has made to improve outcomes.  The local authority has an overly optimistic view of the centre’s performance and the targets set are not always specific, measurable or based on outcomes for families.  Progress towards addressing the recommendations made at the previous inspection of Salisbury City Children’s Centre had been slow until the appointment of the new children’s centre manager.

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This group of centres requires improvement. It is not good because:

 Advisory board members have not been trained to effectively undertake their roles, use data and provide good levels of challenge and support.  The range and number of courses available for adults are limited and this limits the centres’ ability to improve the economic well-being of priority families.

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It has the following strengths:

 Almost all two-year-olds take up their free entitlement to early education.  The new centre manager has energised and enthused staff and partners alike, many of whom recognise the improvements that have been made to the accessibility of services and that are now being made to the quality of services.  Families benefit from joined-up health services and activities to promote healthy living. These contribute to good rates of sustained breastfeeding and better than average levels of obesity.  Information sharing about children who are looked after, those subject to child protection plans and those in need has improved very recently. This means that staff now know who these children are so that help and support can be provided.

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What does the centre need to do to improve further?

 Improve access to services by ensuring: - systems to collect and analyse information on engagement rates are strengthened to enable leaders to know how well priority families are attending - the proportion of priority families accessing services, particularly those living in the Friary area, lone parents and families living in workless households, increases - that almost all three- and four-year-old children living the most deprived areas access free early education.  Improve the quality and impact of services by ensuring: - tracking systems are strengthed so that leaders can check the progress of targeted children and adults and adjust future services - that the range and number of adult learning opportunities are increased, so that the large majority of targeted adults improve their parenting and employment prospects - quality assurance processes are strengthened to ensure that all case files are of the same

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What does the centre need to do to improve further?

high quality.  Strengthen the impact of governance by: - ensuring that the centres’ improvement plan includes targets which are specific, measurable and based on outcomes for families so that their needs are met - providing training for advisory board members so that they understand data and provide good levels of challenge and support to leaders and managers.

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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.

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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: the centre leader; front-line staff; and representatives of the local authority and Spurgeons. They also met with: parents; a social worker; a health visitor; a midwife and student midwife; and an early years advisory teacher. In addition, they spoke with representatives from early and adult learning providers and members of the advisory board.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors visited services delivered from both children’s centres and jointly observed two sessions with staff.

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Information about this inspection

The inspection covered the following centres: Elim and Salisbury City.

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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

Michael Blakey, Lead Inspector Additional Inspector Aileen King Additional Inspector Patricia Collis Additional Inspector

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Information about the group

Salisbury City and Elim Children’s Centres form the Salisbury Central Children’s Centre group. The number of children under five years of age is 1,653. Just over one in 10 live in the least advantaged areas that the group serves. The remaining areas are relatively more affluent, with some in the top 1% most affluent in England. Most families are White British with approximately one in from families from a range of other ethnic backgrounds. One in 10 children live in poverty and the proportion of families living in workless households is lower than that seen nationally.

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Information about the group

Salisbury City Children’s Centre is located next to a Methodist church in the centre of the town and there is no on-site childcare. It was inspected in 2011 as a stand-alone centre and judged to be satisfactory. Elim Children’s Centre shares its site with South Hills City Nursery (URN EY473420). The nursery is subject to a separate inspection and the report can be found at www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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Information about the group

Spurgeons, a national children’s charity, runs a total of six centres in the local area on behalf of Wiltshire local authority. A children’s services manager oversees all six centres. The centres in the Salisbury Central group share an advisory board, which is due to merge with the advisory board of Little Folly Children’s Centre, also managed by Spurgeons. A children’s services leader oversees these three centres but services are not shared with this third centre. The staff team working across the group includes: a senior practitioner; three family support workers; two early years workers; and two administrators.

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Information about the group

The centres deliver or signpost families to a range of services including health, adult learning and early education. They also deliver targeted family support work, often out in the homes of families in most need.

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Information about the group

The centres deliver or facilitate access to: family support; early education; adult learning; and health services. Children’s skills, knowledge and abilities on entry to early years provision are generally in line with or above those expected for their age.

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Information about the group

The centres have identified the following as priority groups: lone parents; children living in workless households; teenage parents; parents experiencing mental health issues or drug and alcohol abuse; and two-year-old children eligible for free early education.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

 Systems are in place to monitor the registration and attendance of families, including those expecting children. However, the way that the centre collects data means that the leaders and managers cannot measure the sustained engagement rates for some priority families.  Overall, about half of the children living in the local area have made use of a service once or more over the last year. Around one fifth of children aged nought to three years access services more than five times. However, only a minority of lone parents and half of families living in workless households have attended centre services over the same period. Their sustained engagement is low.  Families who are expecting children have good access to services. Midwives routinely refer families to the children’s centres if they identify additional needs for an expectant parent. The proportion of teenage parents accessing services at least once is good, but the centre does not routinely check on

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Inspection judgements

their attendance over time.  Recent changes to how health visiting clinics are delivered, partly as a result of a newly appointed health visitor lead, are starting to improve access for families to health services for everyone.  The centre has good access to information about births in the local area. Staff use this information well to let families with babies know about the children’s centres and the services they provide. As a result, the number of children registered has steadily increased and is now around 72%.  The centres have recently become more effective at targeting services towards those families in greatest need. As a result, almost two thirds of children living in the most deprived areas access services once or more, which is higher than the rate seen across the community the group serves.  Most two-, three- and four-year-old children take up their entitlement to free early education.

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Inspection judgements

However, in the most deprived areas too few three- and four-year-olds make use of their entitlement. This is an aspect for further improvement, particularly given that achievement at the end of the Reception Year is not yet good in these areas.

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Inspection judgements

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

 An adequate range of effective services are well located and accessible to families, including those in priority groups. However, services aimed at improving the economic well-being and parenting skills of adults are very limited. Those that are delivered are often of high quality, but not always well attended.  Systems to track the progress that children and adults make as a result of attending children’s centre services are not effective. Many of the early years providers in the area are now sharing information about the progress of targeted children. However, this is not completed systematically or analysed effectively by leaders and managers.  Family support workers make a discernible difference to the lives of those families who take up their help, including some very vulnerable children and parents. However, staffing issues have limited the number of families that the centre has been able to work with over recent months. As a result, not

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Inspection judgements

all case files have been maintained to the same high standard.  At just over half, the proportion of mothers sustaining breastfeeding is just above local and national levels. Likewise, the proportion of reception-aged children who were at a healthy weight in 2012 was well below levels seen nationally. The local authority has not provided access to any new data on healthy weights for over two years and the centres are unable to ascertain if this good picture continues.  Two thirds of children achieve a good level of development in the Elim area and 61% in the city. This is slightly better than the national picture. However, achievement in the two most deprived areas is considerably lower at 23% and 33% respectively. The centres have only recently been provided with such detailed information and have not yet therefore had the opportunity to analyse this to inform future planning.

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management

 Progress made to address the recommendations of the previous inspection of Salisbury City Children’s Centre has been too slow. However, more recently, the local authority has started to improve access to information, including that relating to children known to social care. They have also started to challenge the performance of the centres more effectively.  The new children’s services lead of the group has made a notable difference in a relatively short period of time. This is evident in the improving access rates and positive views of a wide range of partners and centre staff. Prior to this change in management the centre was not improving quickly enough.  Staff value the supervision which they receive on a regular basis and family support cases are discussed to ensure families are effectively safeguarded. Staff also have access to, and take up, an appropriate range of training to support them to undertake their roles.

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management

 The advisory board meets regularly but too few key partners are involved and members have not been trained to undertake their roles effectively. As a result, board members have not held leaders to account or helped them to drive improvements. Partners are confident that this situation is being rectified with the appointment of the new manager. Changes in leadership of the board, and the merger with Little Folly Children’s Centre advisory board, are already having a positive effect but it is too soon to judge the impact of these changes.  Although the centre has made steady progress in improving access in recent months, targets for improvement are not clearly defined in the centre’s plans. As a result, it is not always clear to leaders and those responsible for governance if the centres are improving quickly enough.  Safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and all staff and volunteers are safely recruited and

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management

trained. Looked after children, those subject to child protection plans and those in need are now all known to the centre as a result of improved information sharing since November 2014. Professionals work well together to support these children, but sometimes important information, including early assessment forms, are not shared in a timely manner.  Recently resources have been used more effectively to provide a satisfactory range of services, which contribute to improving the well-being of families and particularly those in priority groups.

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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 well-being 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 80116 Local authority Wiltshire Inspection number 447611 Managed by Spurgeons on behalf of the local authority.

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Rachel Draper Date of previous inspection Salisbury City 2–3 February 2011 Telephone number 01722 580034 Email address rdraper@spurgeons.org

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This group consists of the following children’s centres:

 21079 Elim Children’s Centre  22622 Salisbury City 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:

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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