New Relationship with Schools Policy

This Research Brief presents the summative findings from the national evaluation of the New Relationship with Schools (NRwS) policy.

The policy, announced in 2004, was recognition of the need to streamline and improve the relationship between the then Department for Education and Skills (DfES), Local Authorities (LAs) and schools; ensure closer alignment of national and local priorities; and address ‘bureaucracy’ as an ongoing area of concern at both the primary and secondary phases of education.

Key points:
- The evaluation demonstrates that a number of the strands of NRwS, both independently and collectively, have supported a move towards the intelligent accountability framework envisaged when the policy was first announced. There is also evidence that these developments are contributing to improvements in quality and standards for some schools and LA areas, particularly in the secondary sector.
- The outcomes achieved place LAs and schools in a good position to respond to some of the challenges set out in the recently published Children’s Plan, including those associated with preventative school support, challenge for coasting schools, improving attainment for specific groups and engaging parent’s in their child’s learning.
- There is a need for continued efforts at national level to work towards more coherent
policy development and delivery across all ECM services and ensure schools have the capacity and necessary support to respond to the significant developments currently affecting the sector. There is also the potential for greater value to be achieved from addressing some aspects of consistency and effectiveness associated with school self-evaluation, data availability and the School Improvement Partner (SIP) programme.

Volunatary and community services sector role in supporting parents and families

This report by the Tavistock Institute on behalf of the DCSF examined the role the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) plays in supporting parents, carers and families under the Every Child Matters agenda.

Key points:
- The number of support services for parents and families (provided by all sectors) usually matched the population size of a local authority. The proportion provided by the VCS was subject to considerable variation, ranging from less than a third in some areas to nearly two-thirds in others, and did not typically bear a close relationship to population size.
- Half of all the services in the mapping were in the broad category of ‘social interventions’ (for example, generic and targeted parenting support, family relationships, early years services and support for families in which there had been sexual or domestic abuse or the death of a child). Health-related services accounted for a further 29%, education 17% and housing 1.5%. The largest proportions of service types, provided by all sectors, were targeted parenting support (social) and services for families in which there was a disabled or ill child (health).
- Rural areas tended to have very few services with a large number of users.
- In terms of approach (preventative or crisis driven), access (open or targeted) and the nature of support offered (therapeutic, educational, social or practical), there was a marked tendency for VCS services to be multi-faceted. For example, while the focus of a service might be on a targeted intervention for families in crisis who benefited from therapeutic support, this did not exclude the provision of other approaches or types of access and support.
- The vast majority of VCS managers struggled to maintain the service with their current funding, which varied from £10,000 a year or less in 25% of cases to £500,000 a year or more in 6% of cases.
- The majority of service managers sought to expand future provision, by diversifying their work or by increasing their number of users and/or staff. However, a major obstacle to continued, consistent or increased provision was a lack of funding, and especially secure and long-term funding.
- The mapping exercise pointed to relatively little provision directed at fathers, either specifically or as part of wider family provision. Other groups for whom there was a low level of service provision were Gypsy and traveller families and Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups, though areas which had been selected for their ethnic diversity did provide some specific provision for the latter group.
- The majority of voluntary sector service providers in the interview sample found the ECM framework useful in their work, by encouraging them to think more about outcomes for children, by making work with parents and children more focused and structured, by providing a common language and shared agenda when working with other services, or by providing a uniform structure for use in funding bids.
- Their practical implementation of the framework tended to be focused on ‘being healthy’, ‘staying safe’ and ‘enjoying and achieving’. Very few VCS services in the sample addressed ‘achieving economic well-being’.

Draft legislation: Children's Trusts; Sure Start; Pupil Groups; Apprenticeships; Wellbeing; School Buildings; Admissions

In the last three months (June-September) there have been ten draft legislation pieces open for consultation from the DCSF alone. These are listed below, in order of initial publication.

Admissions - a technical area, so best reading the document if interested.
Pupil wellbeing - educational establishments are required to promote pupil wellbeing, this is draft guidance as to how they could achieve.
Schools causing concern - proposed changes on how to deal with schools which cause concern.
Strengthening Children's Trusts - proposals aimed at making the Children's Trust the main strategic body for children's services.
Zero carbon schools - calls for evidence so the government can realise their 2016 target.
Apprenticeships - steps to legislate for the provision of apprenticeships, including making the LSC ensure apprenticeships exist.
Draft guidance on safeguarding children from sexual exploitation.
Draft guidance for children not receiving a suitable education.
Under performing groups - changes to which groups of children are monitored reducing the overall number but including pupils on free school meals for the first time.
Sure Start Children's Centres - legislation to make this provision a legal requirement.

Customer Perception of DCSF, young people's view

This survey by the BMG, for the DCSF, follows a similar survey directed towards parents. It asks young people (10-19) for their views, as aligned to the DCSF Departmental Strategic Objectives.


Key points:
- Young people report that their parents are generally involved in their school or college life (82% disagreed that their parents prefer not to get involved), they feel supported by their parents in their work (95%) and they generally always tell their parents how they are getting on in their education (85%). The majority of young people also reported that their parents usually know what kind of homework they have (as 72% disagreed that their parents do not know what kind of work they have).
- In general, car usage amongst this group is the exception rather than the norm, as two in five (41%) young people report that they never travel to school, college, university or work by car, and a further one in four do so rarely (26% travel by car less often than not). The remaining one in three (32%) travel by car every day or more often than not.
- All young people were asked whether they have someone they could talk to about things that matter to them if they were feeling worried or angry. The majority of young people feel they definitely have someone they could speak to in such a scenario (71%), while a further one in four (23%) feel they probably have someone they could speak to. A minority of 6% feel they do not have someone to talk to, or are unsure of whether they do.
- Overall, young people feel that there is not very much of a problem of bullying in their school or college, as reported by over eight in ten (84%). This comprises one in four (24%) who feel that bullying is not a problem at all, while six in ten (60%) feel it is not very much of a problem.



- Around nine in ten young people feel safe during the day in the given situations. Over nine in ten feel it is safe in school or college, 93% feel it is safe in the local community, and just fewer feel safe on public transport during the day (91%) or travelling to and from school or college (91%).

- Amongst all young people primary schools are rated positively (good or very good) by the highest overall proportion (97% rate them as good), followed by universities (96%) and 6th form colleges or Further Education colleges for those aged 16-19 (94%). Secondary schools are also rated positively by the majority (88%). However universities are rated as very good by the highest proportion (39%), followed by sixth form colleges and further education colleges for 16-19 year olds (37%) and then secondary schools (27%), with primary schools rated as very good by one in five young people (20%).

- Young people were asked how they would describe pupil behaviour at their school or college. Half feel that pupil behaviour is generally good (51%), while just over one in three (37%) feels it is acceptable, and one in eight feels it is poor (12%).

The influence of context on attainment in primary school

Growing awareness of the importance of parents and the home environment in shaping children’s achievement, coupled with the recognition of the school as a site for engagement in broader aspects of social and personal development, has raised interest in the interactions between these different influences as a way of addressing issues of educational attainment and inequality. This study by the Institute of Education explores the nature of these links and considers the relative contribution of different aspects of four different ‘contexts’ or likely spheres of influence on pupil achievement in England at Key Stage 2 (age 10/11), as well as their associations with one another.

Key findings:
- Pupils with better contexts – i.e. better individual, school and family background and experience – have higher scores in Key Stage 2 assessments in English, maths and science.
- Child capabilities are most important in predicting Key Stage 2 attainment across all three subjects. Social and economic family background factors carry the second-largest influence. Much weaker in predicting attainment are proximal features of the family (family relationships and behaviours), with the school-peer context having the weakest influence.
- Individuals who have a good quality experience in one sphere of their life are also more likely to have good experiences in other contexts.
- The effect of each context on attainment is affected by its relationships with other contexts.

Analysis of Children & Young People's Plans

This NFER paper follows similar reports in recent years which summarises the main trends emerging from Local Authorities (LAs) Children and Young People's plans. This analysis is based on a representative sample of 50 LA plans.

Key points:
- Current priorities to LAs are commissioning, safeguarding and looked after children. The plans format and presentation was also analysed.
- On commissioning: half of LAs referred to commissioning, with a big focus on the development of a commissioning strategy since 2006. Where joint commissioning teams where mentioned they mostly referred to Primary Care Trusts and Council or LA teams. Most were commissioning by service, whilst some are commissioning by ECM area. CAMHS is the priority area for joint commissioning and looked after children are the priority group.
- On safeguarding: the priorities were child protection, closely followed by violence and abuse with all LAs reporting they had a Local Safeguarding Children's Board in place.
- On looked after children: the priority was on ensuring participation of looked after children in service planning and reviews; improving placement quality, stability and choice; educational attainment and improving health. With regards ECM the focus was on "staying safe" and "enjoy and achieve".
- Format and presentation (this analysis relates to 106 plans): plans are either highly designed or mainly word-processed (about half each). The average length has grown by an additional 22 pages to 74 pages since 2006, but there is wide variation in the length of plans. 69% of plans used pictures etc. (I think this is enough on this here, if you want more read the report).

Delivery of the "core offer" of extended schools

Ipos MORI have produced this report for the DCSF which explores delivery of the "core offer" which all schools should be moving towards providing. The core offer comprises:
- A menu of activities, including study support and homework clubs, sport, music, arts and special interest clubs, combined with formal, ‘wraparound’ childcare in primary schools;
- Parenting and family support, including family learning;
- Swift and Easy Access to targeted and specialist services (for example, speech and language therapy, behaviour support);
- (If appropriate) community access to school facilities such as sports grounds, ICT and adult and family learning.

Key points:
- At the time when this research was undertaken, around 8,400 schools in England were delivering the core offer with a further 11,000 working towards this. By April 2008 the number of schools in England delivering the core offer has reached 10,000. Many other schools are delivering parts of the offer.
- The DCSF has pledged to support existing extended schools, and those schools that will start providing access to extended services by 2010, by a significant increase in investment from 2008 to 2011.
- Evaluation work to date has demonstrated how access to extended services through schools can have positive benefits to children, families and local communities, including not only pupil motivation, behaviour, attendance and attainment, but also parents’ own engagement with learning, and supporting a sense of community locally.
- Most schools have used a wide range of information sources and methods to gain an understanding of local needs when planning their extended services.
- Consultation carried out by schools rather than other local agencies plays a key role in this process. Research among parents conducted by the school is the most popular method of gaining information, closely followed by research among pupils conducted by the school.
- Detailed information about other relevant services already available is also used by the vast majority of schools, especially by those delivering services in a cluster.
- Most schools believe that they have been successful in building up a full picture of needs, though it is noted by some schools that they may not be aware of the gaps in their understanding.
- Across the board, there is some acknowledgement that understanding needs is an on-going process, informed either by further research or through engagement with existing service users. - Parental support services and Swift and Easy Access services are the two core areas that many schools believe they are not delivering adequately.
- Schools adopt a wide variety of approaches to monitoring the provision and take-up of the services they deliver, ranging from those that hold no monitoring information whatsoever to those that are rigorous in their collation and analysis of the data.
- The majority of schools at least have details of the services that they offer access to, the number of places that are available and figures in some format on the levels of take-up, though this varies service by service.
- Schools tend to hold most monitoring information on their childcare and activities offer but are less rigorous in their monitoring of parental support services and community access. The usage of Swift and Easy access services tends to be kept on file for individual pupils and only a minority of schools log the number of children they help through the system.
- 98% of schools provide activities for children after school, whilst most of these schools offer these services on-site, around a third offer them off-site. In addition to this, 86% of schools provide some form of childcare after school. Childcare before school is also widely provided. The provision of childcare and activities in the holidays is less common, but these are still provided by around two thirds of schools.
- The number of after-school activities provided by schools in a typical week is wide-ranging, though just over a third of schools provide six to ten different activities. The size of a school determines the number of after school activities provided.
- Schools appear to provide a good variety of activities. Sports activities, ICT clubs, drama clubs, arts, crafts or cookery clubs, music tuition, groups or clubs and academic support are all commonly provided.
- The numbers of children making use of childcare and activities each day varies greatly.

Impact of High Performing Specialist Schools

PricewaterhouseCoopers have published this interim report, on behalf of the DCSF, on High Performing Specialist Schools (HPSS). Specialist schools are those which are recognised as being a centre of excellence in their chosen specialism (such as a curriculum subject or for Special Educational Needs). Since 2004 Specialist Schools have had the chance to apply to become High Performing. This implies that they gain a second specialism (i.e. a second curriculum and/or vocational subject as specialism) or that they take part in the Leading Edge Partnership Programme; become a Training School; take part in the Raising Achievement Transforming Learning Programme; or Youth Support Trust School Leadership Programme.

This report evaluates the success of the HPSS only, as opposed to evaluating the success of the Specialist School Programme in general.

Key points:
- Schools are optimistic that the HPSS option is contributing positively to raising pupils’ aspirations and attainment. A small number of interviewees (mainly those schools with a SEN HPSS option) emphasised the importance of assessing the impact upon achievement as well as attainment, as this was important for pupils with Special Educational Needs;
- Approximately one-half of interviewees believed that recruitment and retention of staff had improved as a result of the school taking on the high performing role;
- Schools were generally positive about the opportunities that the programme has provided to enhance and extend training and development opportunities for staff. Approximately four-fifths of headteachers indicated that training and development opportunities have improved as a direct result of involvement in the programme;
- Staff workload has increased in two-thirds of the schools visited (in particular for the Director of Specialism(s) and class teachers), but this was not generally resented by staff; as interviewees suggested that job satisfaction has simultaneously improved. A large number of interviewees suggested that workload peaked during the planning stage and the early implementation of the specialism and that it would reduce as the programme was being implemented;
- Over 90% of headteachers believed that curricular choice and personalised learning opportunities for pupils have improved as a result of the HPSS option;
- Many HPS schools are collaborating effectively with partner primary schools, but the outreach activities with local secondary schools, the wider community and local businesses are less well developed. Many of the examples of best practice in terms of collaboration with local secondary schools and businesses exist in training schools and schools with a vocational specialism; and
- Over one-half of interviewees believed that HPSS contributed specifically to the achievement of wider Government objectives, including the 14-19 agenda, the workforce remodelling agenda, extended schools and Every Child Matters.

Persistent poverty: families with children

This report by the National Centre for Social Research examined families who experience persistent poverty, as opposed to poverty at any one point in time, in order to examine the nature of persistent poverty and examine key risk factors. They use the government's definition of poverty (below 60% of the median income).

Key points:
- On average, around one-fifth of families with children were below the low income threshold at each of the four years under investigation. 38% of families with children experienced at least one year of low income during this period. 12% of families with children experienced persistent poverty during the period 2001 to 2004. One-quarter of families were temporary poor, that is poor in one or two of the four-year period.
- Persistently poor families received markedly less average income (under £200 equivalised income per week) than temporary poor families (£245), and only slightly more than half of this income came from earnings. Persistently poor families were significantly more likely than temporary poor families to have difficulties saving regularly, paying household bills and making money last.
- Children in persistently poor families were more likely than children in temporary poor
households to be at risk of poor outcomes across a number of Every Child Matters domains, including:
• going without regular physical exercise (12% to 8%);
• being suspended or expelled from school (11% to 6%);
• being in trouble with the police (5% compared to 3%);
• living in bad housing (48% compared to 33%);
• lacking a number of material deprivation items (3.9 items compared to 2.6 items);
• facing multiple (three or more) negative outcomes (28% compared to 18%).
- Predictably, work was seen as a good protective factor from persistent poverty for both lone-parent and couple families. However, the risk of persistent poverty was high for couple families where only one parent worked for 16 or more hours per week, particularly if it was the mother working. Being without work for a number of years increased the risk of persistent poverty even further. Other factors that were associated with an increased likelihood of persistent, rather than temporary, poverty include not having access to a car (for a lone mother) and, for couple families having a Black or Minority Ethnic mother and parents with no qualifications.

Children's Trusts - Statutory Guidance

The DCSF have released this paper as statutory guidance for Children's Trusts on inter-agency working. The first chapter sets the scene and context of Children's Trusts and recent changes to Children's Services in general. The Children's Trusts are "the totality of change needed to deliver better and more responsive integrated services." The document reads as though there is a need for an extra push on this as the current approach has only yielded limited results, and so a "step change" is needed.

Key points:
- So far, the change towards full multi-agency working is not embedded, although some areas are doing very well and making excellent progress.
- It sets high expectations for Children’s Trusts to deliver measurable improvements for all children and young people and, in support of this, to have in place by 2010 consistent, high quality arrangements to provide identification and early intervention for all children and young people who need additional help. It emphasises the crucial role of local authorities in driving change.
- The step change expected of Children’s Trusts must include a step change in the involvement of schools in Children’s Trust arrangements. All schools, including Academies, should contribute to and in turn be strongly supported by local Trust arrangements which ensure shared ownership of all outcomes of all children in an area.
- Strong school level indicators are being developed to help schools, local partners and Children’s Trust boards measure each school’s contribution to the well-being of local children and how, working together, this can be improved.
- Local authorities must take swift and decisive action to prevent schools from failing and reverse failure quickly when it happens. We also expect local authorities to challenge schools who are not sufficiently improving their pupils’ performance including those who are coasting.
- To deliver the results necessary for a world class system requires a step change in progress, including consistent, high quality arrangements for identification of additional needs and early intervention.

Positive Leadership at school level

This research by the Audit Commission (which was blogged earlier), explored the external factors to school success, of which 6 "Key Features" were identified. One of which, "Positive Leadership at School Level" is summarised below:

Key points:

- The leadership of individual head teachers is critical in mobilising staff, pupils and the community behind the broader agenda. This level of commitment is variable across schools.

- The NCSL, Ofsted, ECM and workforce remodelling are ensuring schools need to develop schools ability to respond to the wider community needs.

- Schools partnerships with local church or other faith communities; local business or the voluntary sector can also be useful.

- Schools need to set out a clear and individual vision, incorporated within school plans, which sets out the school's role in the local area and how the school will work with the whole range of public services in support of both school and community success.

Examples of schools in Kirklees and Leeds inform the report.

Classroom inclusion: using talents

This action research report - Growing Talents for Inclusion (GTI) - uses Appreciative Inquiry in order to improve the classroom environment. Originally focused on a year 8 class, the research was expanded to primary and secondary schools.

Key points:
- Appreciative Inquiry focuses on recognising the positives that already exist within a situation, and building on these.
- The researchers also suggested that Appreciative Inquiry could be used in a range of contexts. Are there other challenges within your class that could use Appreciative Inquiry? Can you identify other talents which could be developed?
- This project focused on improving social inclusion in classes. This was done by identifying behaviours that promote inclusion.
- The dynamics of a group can be improved if there is a common purpose like the class project in GTI which involves working with the class to democratically choose a class project that the students plan and carry out themselves.

Head teachers might like to consider the following implication:
- The researchers found that Growing Talent for Inclusion helped to improve relationships within individual classes. How might appreciative inquiry play a part in focusing discussions about enhancing citizenship and emotional literacy as part of the Every Child Matters agenda in your school?

Impact of collaboration in small primary schools

This CfBT report examines the impact of collaboration across small primary schools on the development of leadership capacity. The authors point that few leadership studies focus on the distinctive needs of small schools (fewer the 120 pupils and where the head teacher has a significant teaching role). The authors also note how small schools will need to collaborate in order to fulfil the requirements of ECM and extended schools. The study is based on 72 interviews with head teachers.

Key points:
- Many of the headteachers saw school-to-school collaborative arrangements as an additional managerial burden, rather than as a strategic resource.
- Headteachers spoke almost entirely about ‘managing’ the work of collaboration and hardly ever mentioned leadership. The focus on the operational aspects, and demands, of collaboration almost completely dominated their interview contributions.
- Almost exclusively,collaboration was discussed by the headteachers in terms of the time, money and workload involved. The expanded opportunities for teaching and learning were recognised and celebrated but the headteachers’ main focus and preoccupation was the sheer hard and extra work entailed in collaborating.
- Collaboration was viewed as a way to help staff feel part of a network. However, geographical isolation was seen as a key factor in the difficulty if setting up collaborations between schools. This view was particularly expressed by new headteachers.

Childhood wellbeing

The DCSF and other government departments have worked together to produce this report into childhood wellbeing by asking parents and children.

Key points:
- Although initially those taking part in the research thought the components of a happy childhood were obvious, on reflection many decided that it was an important topic which needed discussion.
- Some parents found discussions uncomfortable as they did not want to pass judgement on others and they also felt both huge responsibility and powerlessness.
- There was a lot of consensus within each discussion group and across the sample.
- Parents felt it was difficult to apply the term good childhood to childhood today as they associated the term closely with their own upbringing which was very different.
- Wellbeing was interpreted as being physically well, or having the essentials in life, rather than having a sense of nurturing. Happy childhood was another difficult term as happiness was seen as temporary; content childhood was seen as a better term.
- Both parents, children and young people recognised the 5 ECM outcomes as crucial to a content childhood. Safety was felt to be very important, economic wellbeing as not so important, and being healthy was rarely mentioned.
- The influence of family was felt to be a fundamental factor in a content childhood.
- There was also agreement on what undermined conditions for a good childhood, including, an unsafe environment, financial pressure and lack of quality family time.

Climbie lessons 'not learned'

The death of Victoria Climbie in 2000 supposedly marked a turning point in the welfare of children in the UK, with the following inquiry lead by Lord Laming and the launch of "Every Child Matters". The mother of Victoria, spoke on BBC Radio 4. She thanked the government for establishing the inquiry but is "hurt" by the lack of action by local government.

Responding, Lord Laming agreed that the performance of social services was patchy and that some local authorities are not moving towards integrated working in the way intended.

Listen to the interview (28-May-2008)

Click on BBC News to read their report (28-5-08)


Read speech by Kevin Brennan, MP.

Victoria Climbie Foundation UK

Child povery: everybody's business

2007 saw the establishment of a Child Poverty Unit to integrate strategy across government towards the targets of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it totally by 2020. March 2008 saw the release of the overall strategy in the paper Ending child poverty: everybody's business.

Key points:
- The paper sets out the wide range of causes of poverty which are dynamic and influential at various levels (individual, family, neighbourhood) showing that the one strategy will not reach all of the children. Work is seen as the best root out of poverty, but this does not always work.

- The costs of child poverty are significant, not only to the child themselves, but to the wider society and economy.

- Government strategies such as sure start, school standards and others have helped improve the life chances of children in poverty. However, not all strategies have had the intended full impact and there is more to do.

- The final section indicates what the government will do next. The theme is on a "contract" between the parent and the state. The state will increase opportunity (such as opportunity to take up employment, increased childcare places etc.) and expect that parents will use these opportunities. Most of the section refers to changes in benefit payments and employment opportunities but there is also mention of improving the professional skills of all children's service staff so they can address poverty and ensuring children's trusts can focus on poverty.

School leadership and ECM

The National College for School Laadership commissioned NFER to research the links between school leadership and Every Child Matters (ECM). Their report has 6 key messages:

1. Effective school leaders are able to fully convince the staff in their school that a focus on ECM can raise standards and that ECM complements, rather than conflicts with, the standards agenda.
2. ECM cannot be achieved by a single school leader: effective school leaders share leadership responsibilities widely amongst the professionals working within the school
3. ECM outcomes cannot be achieved by the school alone: effective school leaders adopt a collaborative approach with other schools, agencies and services
4. ECM has widened school leaders’ role and led to an emerging model involving
leadership beyond their own institution, within the wider community
5. Effective school leaders believe in genuine student, parent, and community
consultation in order to develop locally responsive solutions to ECM
6. To implement ECM effectively, school leaders will require new skills: effective school leaders engage in ongoing professional development and promote a whole-school learning culture.

Narrowing the gap

This Local Government Association commissioned research completed by the NFER examined the literature to find effective strategies in reducing delivering the 5 Every Child Matters outcomes for vulnerable children.

Key findings:
- strategies promoting children’s health, safety and economic stability all help to provide the necessary conditions to support effective and enjoyable learning and raise achievement
- interventions to remediate disadvantage and narrow the gap in outcomes for vulnerable groups need a long-term focus
- interventions which adopt an holistic and joined-up approach dealing with the range of obstacles and negative influences holding children back are the most effective
- interventions that focus on the whole family and involve children learning and working with their parents/carers are some of the most effective
- interventions need to build upon the positive elements and experiences of children’s and family lives and take account of value and belief systems.

Social care professionals in extended schools

This NFER research briefing examined the role of social care professionals within extended schools from the view of service users and professional groups.

Key findings:
- both social care and education professionals reported that through the school environment they could provide an appropriate environment for social care provision
- integrating social care into extended schools required a shift in working practices for both agencies and, in the early stages, led to challenges in adapting to a new culture
- the benefits are seen as significant and the challenges are felt to be negotiable
- The three main benefits highlighted were:
- earlier identification of needs and quicker access to service;
- a better understanding between social care and education colleagues; and
- offering a more coherent support package

The researchers conclude that linking social care professionals and extended schools is a successful way of integrating services and an effective response to ECM. It also assists the shift in working practices towards joint initiatives. It aids preventative work and can ease the pressure of workload for social workers. There is the opportunity for further research into the longitudinal impact of social care professionals in extended schools.

Families at risk - pathfinders annouced

The DCSF have announced the 15 Local Authority pathfinders to pilot the "think family" approach, a 3 year strategy attracting £16million across England.

Within Yorkshire & Humber this includes Leeds Local Authority, who are also one of the 6 Local Authorities to pilot the Extended Family Pathfinder for Young Carers.

First announced in the 10yr. Children's Plan, the Family Pathfinder project has a history:

- Whitehall (Cabinet Office) started a review into families at risk in 2007, with various reports. They created a definition of what was meant by families at risk and gathering background information (click for link)
- The final report of the group resulted in a strategy called "think family" and a framework for how this will look, regarding public service provision.
- The suggestion to move towards pathfinders, to experiment and share results, was seen as the logical next step.

Think family at every stage of the system, taken from Cabinet Office, "think family, improving the life chances of families at risk (for full document click here).

Click on image to see larger version.