A time of change...

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

- John F Kennedy

Well colleagues, we are certainly in the midst of great change. The Kent Children's Trust Review recommendations are now in the process of being developed and implemented through the Change for Children team on which I am a member. Locally, Cranbrook and Paddock Wood LCSP and Tunbridge Wells LCSP have had their final single meetings and plan to come together as one Board in July 2010 in readiness for their re-launch as the Tunbridge Wells district Local Children's Trust on 1 September 2010. Beth and I are mapping out our current projects and services to identify areas where we can focus on bringing schools, agencies and partnership team members together effectively to deliver better outcomes and to keep the best practice moving forward.

In Cranbrook and Paddock Wood we have also created an Annual Report to inform all stakeholders of our achievements so far and of current developments and services. This will be available to view on the LCSP website shortly together with case studies.

One of the main changes causing anxiety and anticipation at the moment is the CFE (Children, Families and Education) Directorate Restructure. This will have a big impact on the current Partnership Team landscape with quite a number of posts within the team at risk through deletion or dimunition or being line managed through a different route. The rationale for this is described within the proposal and you can find out more at the following link. All feedback from schools, agencies and team members is welcomed. We are now in the second phase of the consultation and any remaining feedback is requested by Friday, 23 April. The consultation period ends on 24 May 2010.

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Communication/Headteachers/230210_JJMW_proposal_document.pdf

I would ask you all, as I'm sure you will - to be sensitive to those team members who are most affected by this, I am here to encourage and support them through this uncertainty and enable them to carry on the great work they are doing to support children and families.

Alongside all of this, the review of the Kent Children and Young People's Plan (KCYPP) has started with the aim of being ready in April 2011. There will be wide consultation on the planning and if you get the chance, I would urge you to contribute and ensure that local issues are captured within the overall objectives. This in turn will help to structure and prioritise content in the Local Children and Young People's Plan for the newly formed Local Children's Trust (LCT).

One of the key drivers for the new CFE structure is a greater facilitation of integrated working through cultural change, co-location and Total Place thinking to deliver better services and outcomes for children and families. I would like to highlight a couple of examples of local practice where this is beginning to happen formally and informally.

The Community Safety Partnership is in the process of setting up a Community Safety Unit, which whilst for the whole community should have a great impact on responding to vulnerable children and young people both as victims and perpetrators of crime. A multi-agency group will have a co-located space within the Town Hall where they can meet to share information, respond rapidly to events and emerging situations and allocate resources in a more streamlined way. The group will meet physically and virtually on a daily basis and will include workers such as community wardens, PCSOs, YISP workers (Power Project), Youth Service and YOS.

For a while now, there has been a frustration about our CAMHS pathways from users, referrers and indeed the providers. As part of a move to a County process, South West Kent are piloting a new model which will enable providers of CAMHS tier 2 and tier 3 services to come together and undertake a joint assessment with all referrals coming to that panel. The pilot has started and will be evaluated at the end of April to inform County thinking. I am sure you will agree that this is a very welcome development.

Being aware of the financial climate in the public sector, we are always looking for new ways to work together with partners. We will soon be looking at better ways of working with health colleagues in school nursing, health visiting, children's centres and through the Choosing Health programme to combine resources and target our approaches to improve outcomes. This collaborative approach is one which we need to be more mindful of in the coming years to make the best use of our physical and financial resources for the good of all.

On a more informal level, our Early Years team has worked really well with Children's centres, health visitors, Portage and speech and language therapists to do some great early intervention work with children presenting with developmental problems. Small Talk for example now operates from both Children's Centres supporting parents with speech and language tips to work with their 0-5 year olds and where necessary referring them on for more specialist support.

Our schools have as usual had a very busy term. On the first day back last term, we held our Partnership Conference at Cranbrook School where Guy Claxton came to introduce, or for some, refresh his thinking around Building Learning Power. In addition to this we had a range of workshops including Emotional Intelligence, Restorative Justice, Young People's Voice, CAMHS, relaxation and Staff Well Being amongst others. 270 staff attended and a recurring theme was "thought provoking". Here are a couple of quotes:

"Great for schools to get together and work together – needs to happen more often!"

"Fantastic and inspirational day – came just at the right time to extend and challenge my practice / thinking – what can I do differently and better? Thank you"

It was felt quite widely that the workshops were too short and we will now be looking to tailor more extended training and briefings in the desired fields.

We have now completed a number of training programmes in the area. The Loss and Attachment course for primaries has now been completed and we will look to deliver a course for secondaries in the coming terms. This was very well received and Horsmonden primary are now running an INSET day on this in June.

The first Personal Safety course run by YWCA took place at Mascalls last term involving 9 girls and 2 boys. The course looked at all aspects of personal safety preparing the young people with some key life skills. 8 of the young people received accreditation.

West Kent Mediation have now trained young mediators in 5 of our primary schools. At a school assembly last term I was heartened to hear one child suggest peer mediation as a way of resolving conflict and promoting an ethos for forgiveness.

The CAF network is now up and running across the Tunbridge Wells district. Those that did attend found that it offered the type of support they were looking for so I would urge you whether you are in a school or an agency to attend the next network meeting and hear more from those that have already initiated a CAF and from those about to do so. In addition to sharing best practice there are briefings from local service providers. The next session will take place on 25 May 2010 at the Harris Centre, Angley School from 4pm to 5pm and will include a briefing from Gerrie Packham, Children's Social Services and Chris Overall who works with our Minority Ethnic community so that you can better understand their relationship with the CAF process. In addition to that there are a variety of practical training opportunities for CAF and you will find details of these available at this link.

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Cluster_Sites/Cranbrook_and_Paddock_Wood/Training_events/CAF_training_schedule_summer_2010.doc

We have now completed the Communication Friendly Spaces training for all schools and settings. There will be no more funding for further training so we will now be working on developing the networks which will sustain the work and understanding of how environment impacts on children's learning. It has already provided a conduit for improving collaboration school to school, school to setting and setting to setting as well as developing closer partnership with parents. A celebration of the work that has been achieved through this project will be arranged later this year.

Our extended services team continue to do a brilliant job with partners to deliver holiday activities for children, young people and families during the Easter break, plugging the gap for things for children to do in the rural area. Two family fun days have taken place in Paddock Wood this week involving parents and children in a wide range of activities. Additionally Charlton Athletic have run sports activity days at several of our primaries over the past two weeks including Lamberhurst, Horsmonden, Paddock Wood, Colliers Green and Goudhurst - lets hope they are not too exhausted when they get back to school! Charlton enlisted the support of NEETs and volunteers to run the sessions, engaging young people in positive activities in their communities and giving them some valuable experience.

I attended the Step Up to Participation conference last week run by KCFN and was inspired by the young people who showcased their participation in local decision making within their partnerships. This is something we need to develop further in Cranbrook and Paddock Wood especially if the issues for children living in a rural area are significantly different than for those in an urban area. We need to prepare our young people and give them more routes to discuss their issues and influence decision makers. I intend to form a working party with young people to boost our Children and Young people's voice in this area and contribute their views in the next Local Children and Young People's Plan. If you are interested in supporting this, especially if you have work with children who are less heard in their communities then please contact me.

Finally whilst change can always be uncomfortable, I urge us all to embrace it, look to the future and continue to flourish and grow the work we have started through the LCSP.

Keep in touch....

Regards

Julie 

Out of the noughties and into the terrible teens.....

Dear Colleagues 

Welcome to 2010. Out of the noughties and into the terrible teens!

I hope you all had a restful Christmas and New Year and enjoyed the snow without worrying about closing schools and getting to work. I was so sorry that many of you lost out on the final day of school/pre-school. The children look forward to the final festivities at school so much and I’m sure all teachers need their annual supply of candles, poinsettias, chocolates and mugs! For those schools that did close or are having to close this week, remember to refer to the non-attendance codes that Sue Toms spoke to you about to ensure your attendance is reflected accurately for the adverse circumstances.

There is much reorganisation and review still afoot within the Partnerships which leads inevitably to some uncertainty about which faces will be around the table, what will continue, what will stop etc. My advice is to continue for now in the strong direction we have been travelling but be prepared to be flexible as the new structures and review recommendations become clearer over the next few months. We have been told as some of you will have seen in newsletters that the recommendation which was supported by the Kent Children’s Trust Executive is that Local Children’s Services Partnership Boards will reduce from 23 to 12. How this will be implemented is unsure yet so for now we will operate as 2 Partnership Boards in the Tunbridge Wells district but will communicate with one another to ensure we are ready to merge when the time comes. Local Children’s Services Partnerships are soon to be known as Local Children’s Trusts which indicates more clearly that we will be carrying out the local work of Kent Children’s Trust. Many positive recommendations have been made which I am confident will reinforce the good start we have made in Partnerships and will allow for greater value for money, effectiveness and accountability in the way we work together.

The implementation of our own Local Children and Young People’s Plan is well under way. I am astounded at the priority theme steering group meetings just what progress we are making in developing new activities, improving existing activity and mapping areas where greater partnership working maximises our resources – a skill I fear we will need to hone even more in the coming years. The recent workforce survey showed that one of the strengths within our Partnership is the willingness to work together and the belief that this will have the greatest benefit to families and children.

Some good news –

-          Cranbrook Children’s Centre achieved their full core offer assessment

-          Paddock Wood Children’s Centre has now received full designation and will commence at the Wesley Hall site on 11 January 2010. An official launch will take place later.

-          Play Place Innov8 will be starting a youth club in Hawkhurst from January alongside the Youth Service who will run an alternative evening for young people from the Pavilion site.

-          The celebration and launch event for Phase 2 of Communication Friendly Spaces took place on 27 November 2009. Thank you to Elizabeth Jarman who ran the event and to all of those involved in phase 1 who enthused the Phase 2 cohort with their experiences. Further training for the second cohort will take place in January and March. If you would like to know more about the settings’ experiences please follow this link and watch the video clip of Woodpeckers nursery.

-          Loss and Attachment training has been well received by the 12 primary participants. We continue to see attachment issues as great barriers to learning and emotional well being at Partnership Based Reviews so we cannot underestimate the benefit of this training. There are 3 more sessions to run and we will then plan more for our secondary and multi- agency colleagues in the summer terms.

-          Our ladies to ladettes pilot project “The Change Project” was very well received by participants at Angley School. Fifteen girls aged 14-16 took part in team building and personal development activities – rock climbing, project management to fund raise for a fashion show, personal presentation etc. The outcome of raised self esteem, improved behaviour and engagement in learning was tangible at the awards afternoon which took place with their proud parents at the end of last term. My thanks to Rachel Hornsby and Nikki Harlow who made the project happen. We hope to expand this to a project for boys next year. This in-house type of programme is cost effective and impactful and I hope we can demonstrate that these children will no longer be at risk of exclusion or disengagement from their learning due to more positive behaviours, relationships and better self worth.

-          Mascalls pupils gave an impressive display of their art work and creativity at the recent launch of the Kent Cultural Baton for 2012 at the Assembly Rooms in Tunbridge Wells. Sadly their artist in residence did not win the award but she encouraged the students to engage with her idea which was to merge sport with culture. The students all created musical instruments out of sports equipment.

-          Lamberhurst School have completed their pilot work with the Water for Work company, encouraging hydration amongst pupils to improve concentration and general health as well as bringing the Water Buffalo health check vehicle on site for parents and staff to access. An hydration education pack has been developed with Lamberhurst staff which is now available through Water for Work.

-          The Rural Conference on 9 November was well attended by rural advocates and rural schools, settings and staff giving a unique opportunity to consider the barriers and opportunities of living and learning in Rural Kent. Please view our website to see some of the presentations and feedback from the day. http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/Clusters2/cl_cranbrookpw_LCSP_rural_alliance.cfm

We commissioned a DVD by young people in Cranbrook, Paddock Wood and Rural Ashford which had great impact on the day. The young people involved then did a very impressive and honest question and answer session for the audience. This was followed by the primary perspective, represented by two very eloquent pupils from Frittenden Primary School who described how their voice about rural issues in their village had been heard by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council who have now installed a fantastic new play park for the children in the village. Result! There were a number of quick wins identified on the day which we are actively pursuing, cards and numbers were exchanged and we are now all talking to the right people. A joint paper will be produced for the Kent Rural Board shortly.

-          Arrangements for the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Schools Conference on 22 February 2010 are well under way. Schools – please remember to return workshop choices for your staff to Penny as soon as possible.

-          The new school for Sissinghurst is now under way. Rosalind Turner visited before Christmas for the ground breaking ceremony. We look forward to seeing it progress.

-          Grants for the Aiming High shortbreak programme for disabled children

      have now been allocated to a wide range of providers for diverse support

      and activities. If you would like to know more about the opportunities on  

      offer then please contact Anna Moore anna.moore@kent.gov.uk.

-          The ICT Hands on Support cross phase Control Technology event on 6

      November was a great success – so much so that participants have

      asked if it can be an annual event so we are planning another around the

      same time next year. It is a good way of refreshing skills with control

      technology, introducing new applications and sharing best practice as well

      as providing a good transition focus for the Year 6 children. In addition to

      this we will be supplying more visualisers to schools this year and an

      animation package which has come highly recommended as a good cross

      curricular tool. Demos will be available at the Conference.

Dates for the diary – An introduction to the Enhanced Healthy Schools Model will take place at the Hop Farm on 1 February 2010. Please see our website for more details. This is aimed at healthy schools coordinators.

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/Clusters2/cl_cranbrookpw_LCSP_training.cfm?1180711079

Finally we having said a sad farewell to Vanessa Everett at Mascalls last term, we now welcome Stuart Reeves as the new Head Teacher. I am sure you will join me in wishing Stuart a very successful and enjoyable time in his new role.

I wish you all a successful and productive 2010.

Regards

Julie

Cranbrook and Paddock Wood LCSP September 2009

Dear Colleagues

I hope those of you who had some time away enjoyed your breaks and feel refreshed with batteries recharged.

It has been a hectic summer for the Partnership. I have been busy meeting with voluntary sector colleagues to design and develop new services and training opportunities for the Partnership. Here are some of the opportunities and services now available to schools and agencies.

Counselling – we will now have counselling services available through Partnership Based Review both at the very early intervention level with ARC and Fegans and at the higher need and crisis level through Time to Talk. We have re-commissioned Time to Talk with some additional provision to reduce the current waiting list. ARC and Fegans will also deliver Talk Time group sessions in schools from September. These need to be booked and are recommended for groups of children who may have very early well being issues due to family break up, low self esteem, bullying or other family crises. Please let me know if you would be interested in running a suite of sessions in your school.

Loss and Attachment Training – we identified a growing need for training in the area of loss and attachment for professionals working with vulnerable children within schools. With the increase in family break up, detachment issues present themselves more frequently than ever in the classroom. This training also supports a better understanding of Looked After Children and provides skills in supporting bereavement. We will start with primaries in the Autumn offering a 5 day course run at 4 weekly intervals aimed at SENCOs, TAs or pastoral managers. Supply cover will be provided for 2.5 of these days by the Partnership. We hope schools will release 1 member of staff for the duration of this course and part fund the additional supply cover. The course will be run by Time to Train and previous participants in the Sevenoaks area described it as “life-changing” and the “best course they had ever attended”. The course will probably run on a Friday and dates will be distributed shortly. We expect to run a similar course for secondaries inviting about 3 participants from each school in the Spring.

Personal Safety Courses for Young Women – we have co-funded 2 courses in partnership with the Community Safety Partnership and NHS to enable YWCA to run a course in Cranbrook from October to December 2009 and a course in Paddock Wood from January to March 2010 for vulnerable girls aged 15-18, in or out of school. The course will cover safe relationship management, SRE, drugs and alcohol, safety in and out of the home, e-safety and safety on the road and in cars. I am accepting referrals now from schools, Youth Service, YISP, Police, school nurses, Connexions and other sources. If you know of young women who have preponderance for risky behaviour please let me have their details. Each course will have spaces for 12 girls. The courses run for 10 weeks for one half day or less if full days are offered. Girls in school will need permission to attend. The course is accredited and certificates are awarded on completion of the full course.

Youth Activities – To complement the work of the Youth Service we are in the process of commissioning some additional youth work in Hawkhurst and rural villages to engage young people who cannot usually access youth provision. We hope to operate a 24 week youth club from January to June in Hawkhurst We also plan to deliver some roadshows in the rural villages this Autumn during half term to engage young people and their families. In addition to that, we will also be developing a young people’s voice DVD in liaison with the Youth Service and young people in the Cranbrook area to find out what it is like to be a young person living in a rural location and what will success look like for them; what are their aspirations and hopes for the future if they intend to stay and live in the area. This will provide us with an evidence base for lobbying our rural issues and a good focus for our Rural Conference in the Autumn.

2012 Olympics– The 2012 Olympic steering group met early in September to draw up an action plan for the 20 in 12 events programme for the Partnership. I am pleased to announce that after nominating Mascalls as a school to participate in the launch of the Kent Cultural Baton 2012, it has been accepted and will receive a funded support programme with Future Creative during the Autumn term culminating in the 3 December 2009 Cultural Baton celebrations which will be televised. I hope many of their young people will benefit from this involvement and it will certainly raise awareness in our area to inspire young people.

Connexions – I had a very interesting meeting with the Connexions team in Tonbridge in July. The Connexions team does some excellent work within schools to support young people to make their future career and education choices. In the current climate it is more important than ever that they are aware of all the options. The team is also very involved with out of school young people including the homeless and those who are NEETs, (not in employment, education or training), so they play a key role in re-engaging some of our most vulnerable and disaffected young people.

Summer Activities – Many of the Partnership team were active during the summer engaging families, children and young people in activities. There were a number of days planned in Paddock Wood following requests from the Parents’ Forum that engaged children and their parents and carers in a range of activities including cookery lessons, arts and crafts and sport. Well done to Richard Cowell and Louise Rodrigues for organizing such interesting and popular events. See Richard's blog for more information on extended services http://kenttrustweb.org.uk/CS/community/cranbrook%5Fpw%5Fextended%5Fschools/.

The Children’s Centre was also a hive of activity with a series of teddy bears picnics throughout the summer weeks and a multi-agency day for parents at the end of July.

SPARK Transition Project  - well done to the SPARK Transition team who worked very hard at the end of last term and during the holiday, running events to support vulnerable children moving across into secondary. We look forward to hearing many successful transition stories in the next few weeks and well done to Sarah Jackson, Suzanne Boyle and all the PSAs and SENCOs that supported the project.

Partnership Bus – As you know we are always bemoaning the fact that we have transportation difficulties in the Partnership. As a result of our “moaning” we have been asked to pilot a Partnership lease scheme through Kent Fleet which would give us a dedicated 9 seater. Not the answer to all our problems but certainly a flexible option to resolve some problems of access on a small scale together with the other resources we have developed.

Rural Case Studies – Headteachers and Partnership Board Members will know that I am currently collating a bank of case studies to inform the Kent Rural Evidence Base of barriers facing children and families in rural areas in relation to learning, activities and access to key services. The more illustrative information I have on this the better for improving access to funding and negotiating with key partners. Please take some time to write me a few short case studies to illustrate the key problems that poor transport, fragmented services, rehousing and isolation amongst other things have on the children, young people and their parents and carers.

CAF – we held our first CAF SPA (Single Point of Access) meeting at the end of last term and set two teams around the child in motion. Dates will be set for regular SPA meetings from September ( the first is on the morning of 17 Sept) and I am pleased to announce that we now have the relevant staff to support the process. Elizabeth Bull will start as CAF Coordinator from 7 September 2009 and Tracy Bradley who previously supported our Specialist Teachers will start as CAF Administrator on 21^st September. I feel confident that we have made excellent appointments and you will all feel well supported as and when you become involved in the process.

Partnership Schools Conference – We have had our Partnership rollover funding confirmed which means that we can go ahead with our plans for the Schools Conference on 22 February 2010 to be held in Cranbrook School. Headteachers, please remember to return your attendance slips to Penny as soon as possible as we need to confirm numbers in order to arrange the correct number of workshops, catering arrangements etc. Guy Claxton is confirmed as the keynote speaker for Building Learning Power and then we have confirmed workshops for Staff Well Being, Pupil Voice, Restorative Justice, Nurture and Communication in the early years, Recognising Self Harm and Depression, Using Whiteboards, Extended Schools, E-Safety, First Aid and plan to run a few more depending on numbers.

Early Years Project – Following on from the success of our Communication Friendly Spaces project last year which involved pre-school settings and primary schools. I am pleased to announce that we have been successful in our bid for further funding of £20000 to roll out the programme to all remaining pre-school settings and primaries. We will also be able to run a Conference to promote and celebrate the success to date and launch the next stage of the programme. The project has had widespread impact both on the confidence of staff in settings, the cross fertilization of good practice, the use of resources, the response and support of parents but most of all the impact on children, literally unlocking the voice of some that were previously non communicative. Thank you to Barbara Hall for her continuing work in bringing this all together.

The Horizon Project – The new alternative curriculum provision offering vocational training on the Angley School site will start next week. The facility has been kitted out with carpentry equipment with the help of set up costs from the Partnership. This will really help to engage disaffected young people who previously had to travel quite a distance for alternative curriculum provision and longer term it will provide a facility for introducing and enhancing skills in the local community.

Aiming High – Our Aiming High programme to provide short breaks for disabled children and young people is now under way. With the help of VSU, we are about to set up two after school clubs at Angley and Mascalls which will include children and young people with disability. More information to follow as plans are finalised.

Well I could go on with information on the SEAL event, Families First planning, extended schools activities etc but I think I have already verged into information overload and I don’t want to deplete your batteries again!

I do hope you find this blog useful – hopefully there is something for everyone within it. If you have anything exciting to share I have reviewed my distribution list over the summer and have captured a wide children’s services workforce to share Partnership information with, so by all means feed in your news, so we all know the range of opportunities and developments in the Partnership.

Best wishes

Julie

Local Children’s Services Partnership Manager

Cranbrook and Paddock Wood

Take a break

Dear Colleagues

As many of you take a break for your summer holidays, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on activity since I last reported.

We have had a great focus on training the past few months starting with our CAF (Common Assessment Framework) update training for managers and practitioners. I think those that attended found it much clearer than the initial training of about 18 months ago and certainly as we go live it is all beginning to make sense. There will be further 2 day training for practitioners in the Autumn by which time we should be fully up and running. We began tentatively earlier this month with a CAF from Tunbridge Wells and one from Cranbrook and Paddock Wood. Both now have teams around the child set up and progress will be fed back to the Steering Group to monitor the impact and smooth any teething problems such as agency engagement and managing expectations. Dates of SPA (Single Point of Access) meetings will be circulated shortly to core members. Please note that the Partnership Based Review (PBR) will still be operating as normal to support less complex cases. We will be starting CAF quite slowly to ensure we get it right and do not create an unmanageable process. Appointments to the CAF Coordinator and CAF Administrator posts should be made in September and a CAF support network for Lead Professionals will be established in the Autumn too.

Our other major bit of training was Solution Focused Training which brought together a broad range of multi-agency partners from schools, health, voluntary sector, police and partnership teams. The training then progressed to look at the Families First model, a short and early intervention for families to enable them to find their own solutions to issues. Following that training we have a team of about 20 multi-agency workers across Tunbridge Wells and Cranbrook and Paddock Wood who have volunteered to engage in the Families First model. We will roll this out further to include more workers after evaluation of the early sessions.

A SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) celebration event was held on 13 July attended by schools, health and partnership team members. We heard about good practice from early years right through to secondary and including extended services through Charlton Athletic. SEAL sits so well within the curriculum linking to Building Learning Power, PSHE, Thinking skills, Community Cohesion. The message was that a whole school/setting approach is having an impact and to expand that to a whole children’s services workforce and parent approach would be very powerful.

I attended the South West Kent Tryangle awards on 2 July at the Ramada Jarvis and was honoured to present awards to young people for their achievement in Performing Arts. I was particularly impressed to see so many young people from the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood area and especially impressed by the 2 young comperes from Angley School, Liam Austen and Leanne Dutton who presented the evening so confidently. It is fantastic to be able to celebrate the achievements of young people as they so often receive bad press and I am always overwhelmed by their talent, creativity and resourcefulness.

This is perhaps a good opportunity to flag up the KYCC (Kent Youth County Council) elections which will take place from 14-22 November this year for 12 -19 year olds. This gives young people the opportunity to get involved in democratic processes and think about local issues. It supports their skills in citizenship, gives young people a strong voice and harnesses all that creativity and resourcefulness I referred to earlier. Our local secondaries have the opportunity to be polling stations and encourage our young people to participate if not as nominee then as part of the electorate.

I would also encourage schools to help us gather more information from young people by participating in the NFER survey this year. This year schools need to opt in rather than opt out. From a Partnership point of view this information can be extremely informative and is the only large body of children and young people feedback we have so I would urge you to take part and give us some significant numbers on which to base our analysis. It is used to inform the development of the Children and Young People Plan, the  Needs Assessment and provides data for reporting on various local and national performance indicators. NFER will be contacting you during September so please keep an eye out for it.

There are lots of things for children and young people to do during the summer which are all advertised on the Togogo website www.togogo.info. I draw your attention in particular to an event being supported by the Youth Service on 15 August 2009 – Summer Diversity – “ All different, all equal” – there is a music stage, dance and dj workshops, climbing wall etc…, a great day out for 11-19 year olds. Details on Angley Community Youth Tutor activities can be found at http://www.togogo.info/details/D0FA4656-AB43-44EF-8EAB-3C75D5B6C3C4/

There are also a wide range of activities being run by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for 6-11 year olds in the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood area including skate park, half pipe, climbing wall and baby bouldering- please see this link http://www2.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=2600 .

More celebrations took place over a number of weeks at Benenden Primary School which celebrated its 400^th Anniversary. It was lovely to see so many of the community getting involved and ex-pupils visiting and reliving happy childhoods. In addition the children displayed their many talents in a wide range of activities. For more information and photos see this link http://www.benenden-cep.kent.sch.uk/400th_Annive.html Well done to Jenny and all her staff for all their wonderful efforts in making all the events such a success and still managing the day job!

Mascalls School have asked us to promote the fantastic facility on their school site, the Mascalls Gallery. This could support a wide range of curriculum topics as well as extended school activities so please be aware of their schedule this year and try and build in a visit. It is wonderful to have this resource on our doorstep. http://www.mascallsgallery.org/future.htm

OfSTED has been out and about and recently visited Goudhurst, Paddock Wood and Fidgets nursery. Well done to all the staff and children who received very positive feedback from OfSTED as well as the usual areas for improvement but especially well done to Fidgets pre-school in Lamberhurst who came away with outstanding and deservedly so. They suffered a flood in March after moving into new premises so a bit of good news was due.

We are still not quite there with our new Children’s Centre in Paddock Wood but I hope to have more definitive news in September. The Children’s centre in Cranbrook however continues to go from strength to strength. Numbers of families engaging are up and how they manage to fit in the wide range of activities in such a small space beats me. The outreach is going well with the Children’s centre people carrier taking soft play to a number of local villages and bringing more isolated families into the Children’s Centre. We are also developing a satellite on the Hawkhurst Primary School site which is fantastic news. Can I say a special well done to Pam Holmes, the Centre Manager who has achieved her NPQICL (National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership) – she has done this whilst setting up a new centre, running activities and participating fully in partnership development – no mean feat. Val Ansell, the Community Involvement Worker has also passed NVQ Level 3 in Parent Support so the centre is in good hands! The full schedule of activities at the centre can be found at this link http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/chc/chc_cranbrook_calendar.cfm . There will be a multi-agency day held at Cranbrook on 30 July 2009 so parents can find out more about services in the locality.

Sadly, I say goodbye to our excellent Pre-School SEN Teacher, Diana Keeble who is retiring to spend more quality time with her family. The post is currently being advertised. We wish her well and will miss her wisdom.

There are changes afoot in terms of another restructuring of CFE (Children, Families and Education) over the next few months but until we know more it is business as usual, onward and upward.

May I take this opportunity to thank all of you for your fantastic contributions to partnership working to date. When I look back at where we started, I feel we have achieved so much in the first 9 months and it is absolutely a joint effort. Have a restful and enjoyable summer for those of you off on holiday and I look forward to meeting up in a less hectic fashion with other colleagues over the next 6 weeks.

Best wishes

Julie

Summer update

Dear Colleagues

As usual lots going on so I hope I don't overwhelm you all.

We were visited by our new Managing Director for CFE, Rosalind Turner on 1 June 2009 in Cranbrook where she heard about the establishment of the Children’s Centre, the extended schools provision, parent fora and our Early Years Foundation Stage project Communicating Friendly Spaces.

The Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Local Children’s Services Partnership Plan is now complete and is published on Kent Trust Web together with a summary and a cross reference to national indicators and the Kent CYPP. Thank you to all of you who contributed so positively. Please take time to look at it at the following link http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/Clusters2/cl_cranbrookpw_LCYP_plans.cfm

You may also be interested in looking at the data relating to our Partnership at the following link.

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/Children/kct_toolkit_index.cfm

We have 6 steering groups under each of the key themes moving the plan forward and if you have a particular interest then please contact me to join one of them. In addition we have separate project groups running such as SEAL, 2012 and CAF. As a cross cutting group we also share a Rural Alliance partnership with Ashford Rural to tackle the more strategic barriers within our area such as transport, access and facilities.

I am pleased to say that following our last headteacher meeting, Cranbrook School has agreed to host the joint INSET event on 22 February 2010. Even more pleasing is that our preferred keynote speaker, Guy Claxton, has been booked for the day. For those headteachers who were not able to attend the meeting, can you let me know at your earliest convenience if you want your school staff to participate.  We have a planning meeting this evening and if you would like to part of future meetings let me know.

This is Drugs Awareness week and there was an event held in Cranbrook on 6^th June by our multi-agency partners to raise the issues of Drugs and Alcohol with young people and parents. The event was well received and one of the early indicators is that our young people are not sufficiently aware of the change in law regarding cannabis use. A second event will take place in Paddock Wood on 13^th June 2009 this weekend and a survey will be carried out to assess the situation there. Photos are available on the events part of our website.

The Early Years staff and multi-agency partners enjoyed a very engaging evening on 2 June with Penny Tassoni who talked about the importance of Positive Relationships for young children, promoting strong attachment and good speaking and listening skills. This tied in very well with our Communicating Friendly Spaces project across the EYFS. Thank you to Goudhurst School for letting us use their hall.

There is a lot of training on offer through the Partnership at the moment which makes it a very busy few months.

Please don’t forget that the CAF essential update training for headteachers and managers is taking place on 18 June in the morning at the Ramada Jarvis hotel to be followed by a briefing on the Your Choice funding suitable for headteachers and PSAs/FLOs in particular.

We embarked on our multi-agency training course in Solution Focused Training on Monday and I was very heartened by the number of staff and partner agencies who participated. The follow on session will take place at Salomons on 24 June in the morning followed by the final session that afternoon particularly for those who want to join the Families First team, our proposed early intervention and support service for families.

I met yesterday with a small group to plan a SEAL event which will take place from 12.30 – 4.00pm on 13 July 2009 at the Hop Farm. We decided the key words for this event were valuing, nurturing, celebrating and supporting – an opportunity to thank staff for their involvement in SEAL so far, sharing best practice with one another and setting up a support network to take it forward and ensure it is fully embedded in school practices. There will be a treat for all staff who attend so think about who would benefit from an afternoon of nurturing. Don’t all run at once….. the event will also be open to some of our partners to find out more about linking in with SEAL.

We have now had formal notification of our award from the Local Area Agreement monies. Cranbrook and Paddock Wood are due to receive £10000 for having made the biggest improvement with primary attendance out of all the Partnerships. CPW raised attendance from 94.7% in 06/07 to 95.1% in 07/08. Alas I can’t take any of the credit but well done to headteachers, EWOs and parents for improving attendance in our area and giving a boost to our funds this year.

I met with 17 of our voluntary sector partners yesterday in an 8 hour but extremely interesting marathon to see what each organisation felt they could offer to the delivery of our Local CYPP. It is fascinating to know what expertise is out there and we now need to streamline the way we work with our partners to ensure the best outcomes for children and young people. I will share my ideas more widely at the LCSP and steering groups. Congratulations goes to 121 Befriending who have just heard that they have received the Queens Award for their work and well deserved.

And finally a quick note to congratulate Benenden C of E Primary School on their 400^th Centenary celebrations. Their pageant will take place on the evening of 8^th July at 6pm and I’m sure the school and the children would welcome your attendance.

Some staffing news -  we have 3 fairly new members of staff who have joined us.

Sarah Jackson joined us before Easter as the new partnership PSA based in Mascalls School and has been working on the SPARK transition project and some early years transition work.

Louise Rodrigues has joined as a Childcare Development Officer working with pre-schools at the Paddock Wood end of the Partnership and looking at after school club provision and development.

Alex Devlin joined us on 1 June as the new Specialist Teacher for Communication and Interaction replacing Sheryl Bunyard.

We will shortly be advertising for a CAF Coordinator and CAF Administrator across Tunbridge Wells and Cranbrook and Paddock Wood. Both posts will be 3 days per week to support the Common Assessment Framework operations for the Partnerships.

I look forward to seeing Headteachers again on 1 July 2009 at Mascalls School. 9-10.00am  - separate secondary and primary meetings; 10-12.30pm joint meeting; 1.00pm-3.00pm training. And I look forward to seeing key partners at the Local Children Services Partnership Board on 9 July at The Swattenden Centre from 1.00pm – 4.00pm. We will not be providing lunch on this occasion.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any queries about the work we are engaged in or if you feel you would like to get involved in any aspect of our work. We are very inclusive in Cranbrook and Paddock Wood!

Regards

Julie

Opportunities in Term 6

Dear Colleagues

It was good to meet with most of you at the Headteachers Meeting the other day and have some lively debate!

As with all our meetings there is always so much to say and not enough time to say it and inevitably not enough time to cover all current opportunities and developments. I would just like therefore to give you some dates and events which I hope you or other members of your staff will be able to attend and participate in.

1 June 2009 - Rosalind Turner, the new Managing Director will be visiting Cranbrook to find out about the Children's Centre development and Early YEars projects. Unfortunately there will not now be enough time on her itinerary to meet with a group of headteachers but I know opportunities will be plentiful in the coming year.

8 June 2009 - Solution Focused Training (Part 1) - This training is suitable for all members of staff working with children and families to deliver very early support in resolving their problems by acknowleding their strengths and opportunities. Particularly relevant for Parent Support Advisers, FLOs and pastoral managers/leaders. There are still places available 9.00am-12.30pm, Ramada Jarvis- Pembury.

18 June 2009 (am) - CAF (Common Assessment Framework) UPDATED Training for Managers and Headteachers - 9.00am - 12.30pm at Ramada Jarvis - Pembury - As we prepare to go live with CAF in July, we would like to invite all headteachers and multi-agency managers to attend this morning briefing to go through some case studies and understand the process, lead professional responsibilities and the impact on children and their families. This is not the same training as you had about 18 months ago. Lessons have been learned and CAF is operating successfully in may parts of the County. Lunch will be provided for those staying on for the afternoon Your Choice session (see below).

18 June 2009 (pm) - "Your Choice" Disadvantage Subsidy briefing - we discussed this new stream of funding that will be transferred to school budgets in June. The TDA are offering us an afternoon briefing together with Tunbridge Wells to understand more about the way the funding should be used and to give some helpful tips about engaging in families and monitoring the impact. This session will follow on from the CAF training in the morning. It will run from 1pm to 3pm at the Ramada Jarvis, Pembury and will be suitable for headteachers and their PSAs, FLOs and pastoral managers.

24 June 2009 - Solution Focused Training (Part 2, am) and Families First Training (pm) - 9.00am - 4pm - Salomons Centre, Tunbridge Wells - This is the second part of the solution focused approach and culminates in the afternoon with training for parctitioners and school staff who would like to be part of the Families First team providing 3 sessions of support for targeted families once every 6 weeks or so as part of an early support multi-agency team. This would be suitable for PSAs, FLOs and Pastoral managers/workers within schools. Families First has been running successfully in Ashford and Maidstone for 2 years now with some wonderful results.

25 June 2009 - Cranbrook School with their new status of Language College are hosting a PMFL market event to view resources to support PMFL in the classroom. The Partnership still have quite a lot of funding to spend before the end of August so please send 1 or 2 representatives along to see what the MFL team are recommending. Please contact Wendy Young Min for more information. Youngminw@cranbrook.kent.sch.uk

29 June 2009 - CAF Training for Practitioners and School Staff - 9.00am - 12.30pm - Ramada Jarvis , Pembury - This is an updated briefing with practical examples for those who may need to take on the role of Lead Professional for a child or be part of the team around the child. It will help them to understand the processes and the support that is in place locally to assist them in carrying out and supporting this role. This is essential training to ensure CAF has effective outcomes.

1 July 2009 - Headteacher's Meeting - venue still to be confirmed but I suggest the same format as the last meeting.KLZ has been raised as something we need to discuss and agree upon. Any further suggestions, please forward to me so I can discuss with Phil Morris, the Chair.

13 July 2009 - SEAL event - 12.30pm (for lunch) - 3.30pm, The Hop Farm - an opportunity to share best practice, explore ways of developing and embedding SEAL in schools and settings. As SEAL is recognised more and more as a core element of supporting a school's ethos and values we would like to invite 2 or 3 representatives from each Partnership school to join us in a celebration and shared practice event.

I hope you will be able to support some of these events.

Have a well deserved break and I will see you all in Term 6.

 Regards

Julie

Introduction from Julie Stones - LCSP Manager

I have thoroughly enjoyed coming to see you all and thank you all for your time – I am aware I still have around 50% of schools to visit and various partners to meet and to those schools and partners I apologise for taking so long but there simply haven’t been enough hours in the day. The familiarisation process is necessary and has giving me a real sense of what works well in the Partnership, what can be improved and where the real Partnership issues exist. I still don’t know what I don’t know so bear with me whilst I find my way!

The Partnership Board and Local Children and Young People’s Plan

Raising Our Voices Together – Cluster Singing Day

Cluster Headteachers’ Board Meeting

Headteachers will be pleased to note that there will still be opportunities to make collaborative decisions and discuss the more schools focused area of the Partnership agenda in more detail. The first meeting this Academic Year will be taking place on 15 October 2008 at The Queens Hotel, Hawkhurst from 12.30pm (for lunch). An agenda will be issued later this week so please let me know if you would like anything tabled.

Opportunities for Children and Young People

I have been asked to flag up an opportunity for schools and youth groups to get children and students involved in Local Democracy Week on 13-17 October. With the growing support for Pupil Voice within schools and community forums this looks like a good opportunity to raise awareness of local democracy.. If you have an event planned , please let me know . If not and you would like to then there are opportunities to go online to see the County Council meeting on 16 October or if you are able to, to take some students to County Hall to sit in the gallery. Members are keen to meet with young people so I’m sure any visits would be met very positively. Don’t forget too that the Kent County Youth Parliament elections will be taking place again soon in November. The experience a young person gains from electioneering, public speaking and then if successful representing their local area is invaluable. Please see link for more information.

www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/democracy-and-elections/kycc/

And a note for your Secondary Schools’ Heads of Art. SEGRO (a property development and investment company) are currently working in conjunction with Creative Junction to inspire young people to develop talent and celebrate art. They are looking for 10 secondary schools to work with a professional artist for 5 days during Spring and Summer 2009 with a “World of Work” theme. Applications deadline is 24 October 2009 and application form and further details can be found on www.creativejunction.org.uk/Pages/SEGRO.html

Our Hands on Support Team have been very busy at work preparing for the Weather Watch Poetry day on 9 October. An e-mail will have gone out to school ICT co-ordinators this week explaining the project. I hope you are all able to participate.

Primary Schools will have been informed by Anna Moore of yet another pot of capital funding this year to support extended schools services in primaries. This has to be spent by 31 March next year so your plans will need to be ready to go but I’m hoping that it will stretch to support a few projects across the Partnership area. If you have a plan, please submit it to Anna as soon as possible.

Many of you will already have met Alex Hann who has joined our Partnership Team as the Charlton Athletic Coordinator working with individual children and groups on programmes which support inclusion and self esteem. I’m hoping that Alex will be able to deliver a very accessible service into your schools.

Yesterday, we appointed another new member of the team to the post of Extended Schools Coordinator. His name is Richard Cowell and he should be joining us before Christmas.

Anna and I are working with Partnership with Parents to set up parent forums in three areas in the Partnership to support Partnership consultation and development– Cranbrook, Hawkhurst and Paddock Wood. There will be a launch in each area during November/December and Anna will be contacting each school and partnership organisation soon to ask you to promote the opportunity within your school/organisation.

I am thrilled to see that the Cranbrook Children’s Centre is now open for business. It is still in its initial set up phase but under the management of Pam Holmes whom many of you will have known through Safe Schools, I am sure it will soon be a thriving centre of activity. We are hoping too that a second children’s centre site will be identified and be “feasible” by the end of October. I understand the challenge of the rural access to services and will be focussing on this with a rural “think tank” for these and other services in the coming months.

Services in the new centre will include Job Centre Plus, Health Visitors, Community Midwives, new Mums group, a wide range of training opportunities and a creche.

Kent Trust Web site is being further developed to be more accessible to partners and I will be inviting you “into” the various pages by sending you the relevant links over the next few months to help you find your way around as the site develops. Unfortunately it was not  “live” for me to post my blog hence the e-mail but next time we will be moving into the 21^st Century. The Cranbrook and Paddock Wood “colour” is green which I felt represented a fresh approach, nurturing environment and rural aspect. I hope you agree!

Yours sincerely

Cranbrook and Paddock Wood