two year offer trials local authority knowledge sharing day 13 october 2011 time 2 start
TRANSCRIPT
Two Year Offer TrialsLocal Authority Knowledge
Sharing Day13 October 2011
Time 2 Start
Welcome
John WelsbyAssistant Director, Children & Family Support
Wolverhampton City Council
Agenda
9.30 Arrival & Refreshments 10.00 Welcome John Welsby10.15 Overview of the 2 year offer
trialsAndrew Wolverson
10.45 Speed Sharing – Session 112.00 The national context and
policy update DfE
12.15 Lunch & Networking 1.00 Speed Sharing – Session 2 1.45 The importance of engaging
parentsCathy Hamer
2.45 Plenary Carol Boughton3.00 Close & Networking
Overview of the Trials
Andrew WolversonWolverhampton City Council
Background
• DfE announced that they were looking at trialling new approaches to the 2 yr old offer early 2011.
• They were looking at trialling the following areas:
• building sustainable capacity • improving overall quality • increasing skills of early years workers • enhancing local systems • offering parents greater flexibility
Why work together
• Statistically similar authorities but different approaches
• Offers the opportunity to try different approaches and widen the learning
• Have worked together previously
Walsall Wolverhampton
30th most deprived 21st most deprived
381 childcare providers 407 childcare providers
3430 2 year olds 3200 2 year olds
18 Children’s Centres 18 Children’s Centres
The Walsall & Wolverhampton bid• We looked at all of the strands outlined by DfEThis included:
• Stretching the offer over 50 weeks • Increasing places• Raising quality through robust training packages• Gathering and sharing of good practice• Employing Project Liaison Officers• Enhancing local systems such as e - start (Walsall) and Synergy (Wolverhampton)• Looking at mentoring and coaching schemes
How the trials are managed• Joint project board established to develop the project
plan and monitor progress• Project manager responsible to project board for
meeting milestones within the project plan and overall co-ordination of the trials
• Project liaison officers responsible for supporting the strategic and operational development of the trials
• To identify good practice across the two authorities of Walsall and Wolverhampton
• To trial new methods and identify a consistent approach across all children’s centres and private settings offering the 2 yr places
• To develop relevant training packages to support practitioners• To share good practice regionally through information sharing
events
What’s happened so far?
• Agreed on the priorities for development• Increased the number of places available• Joint sharing event between stakeholders in the two
authorities• Employed project liaison officers• Employed play development worker (Walsall)• Devised and carried out parental engagement audits• Implemented new referral systems (Wolverhampton)• Implemented the stretched offer as standard
Future work
• In the process of devising training packages to support the 2 year offer
• Improving communication with partner agencies• Developing a mentoring programme across the 2
authorities• Commissioning evaluation of different strands of
work• Developing an online referral portal• Working more closely with childminders to deliver
offer
Further information
• Jenny Mander – 01922 686535 email: [email protected]
• Kim Stokes – 01922 686536 email: [email protected]
• Lisa Hill – 01902 551984 email: [email protected]
• Andrew Wolverson – 01902 551272 email: [email protected]
Speed Sharing Session 1
The national context & policy update
Department for Education
Lunch & Networking
Speed Sharing Session 2
The importance of engaging parents
Cathy HamerNational Literacy Trust
Closing Remarks
Carol BoughtonWalsall Children’s Services, SERCO