Putting Children First in North TynesideChildrenfirst

Summer 2009

Working closerwith communities

Keeping you informed | www.northtyneside.gov.uk

Tyne Gateway Partnership Pilot

Please keep me safe

Schools success

BSF - the next steps

Young democracy

Inside this issue

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Shine 09 puts talent in the frameNorth Tyneside talent is in theframe this summer - with everysingle pupil involved in thenational ‘Shine 2009’ schoolsfestival, which began this week(w/c 6 July).

Shine 2009 is a national event whichallows young people to showcase theirtalents, and to focus on their positivecontribution to society.

During ShineWeek, the council isencouraging every single school tocelebrate all that is good in our youngpeople - their talents, achievements andeverything they are proud of.

Shine National Development ManagerCarol Alevroyianni said: “North Tynesideis the first local authority in the countryto take up the challenge of finding andcelebrating the talent in every one ofthe borough’s young people, and Ibelieve you will achieve your goal.”

Gill Alexander, Strategic Director,Children,Young People and Learning,added: “Everyone has a spark andsomething to offer, and every child andyoung person matters. Here in NorthTyneside we want to broaden how welook for potential in young people andmake sure we give every young personthe chance to shine.

Pupils help to launch the scheme

“There are many forms of talent andcreativity and many kinds of achievement –and we need them all. Recognising that isimportant to young people individually andto all of us. Quite simply, it’s our future.”

NorthTyneside Council is alreadycommitted to developing and nurturing theindividual talents and personalities of theborough’s children and young people.

For example, through its unique ‘Be Spirited’programme, the successful ‘Gifted andTalented’ scheme for pupils, the popularschools' music service which is continuallynurturing young musical talent by makingmusic a positive aspect of every child’seducation, and through itsYear of Sport.

NorthTyneside was also selected as one ofonly ten ‘FindYourTalent’ pathfinderauthorities in 2008, in partnership withSouthTyneside Council and the CustomsHouse, to develop a programme to createaccess to high quality cultural experiencesand projects for young people.

To find more information on Shine 2009visit www.shineweek.co.uk

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The recruitment of 20‘Community Entrepreneurs’,to deliver North and SouthTyneside Councils’ jointscheme to tackle childpoverty, is now underway.

The scheme’s official title is the TyneGateway Partnership ChildhoodPoverty Innovation Pilot Project, butin the community it will run as‘Moving on up – for you and yourfamily.’

The Community Entrepreneurs willbe parents and carers fromcommunities within both boroughs,and their task will be to supportpeople in their area out of poverty,in what will be a flexible full-timerole with an annual salary of around£16 – 18K.

Social workers, children’s centreworkers, and other selectedchildren’s services staff have alreadyhad the project explained to themand told how they can put forwardpotential suitable candidates for theroles.

And once the successful applicantshave been identified, they willreceive some initial training to helpthem decide if the role is for them– and then support to apply for it.Once appointed, further training

will enable them to develop skills tobecome links between local familiesand the support available from public,private and community organisations.

Areas selected for the scheme havesome of the highest levels ofeconomic deprivation in the borough.In North Tyneside, recruitment will bein:

Longbenton – one postShiremoor – one postSeaton Burn – one postHillheads area ofWhitley Bay –one postWillington/WillingtonQuay/Howdon/Rosehill – threepostsNorth Shields/Chirton/Meadowell/Percy Main – threeposts.

The plan is to have the CommunityEntrepreneurs in place by the end ofthe year.The scheme is then fundeduntil March 2011, although fundingcould be extended if the pilot is asuccess.

If you know of someone in thecommunity within which you work,who you think could be consideredfor the role, please email Jill Baker atmail@jillbakerconsulting.co.uk.Therecruitment phase ends on the 31stJuly 2009.

Tyne Gateway PartnershipPilot progresses

Find me afoster familyNorth Tyneside Council’s FosteringService has launched its 2009campaign to recruit foster carersfor older children and teenagers.

Featuring the ‘wish-lists’ of real children incare, the aim is to encourage potentialcarers to think about what they couldoffer an older child in need of a home.

Posters, bus-shelter adverts, leaflets andpress advertising have been supported byregular radio advertising on Metro Radio,featuring the voices of some of the youngpeople already living with North Tyneside’sfoster carers.

The campaign also has the backing of localradio phone-in host Alan Robson, fromMetro Radio’s Night Owls programme,who interviewed North Tyneside fostercarer Russell Easton, on air, in June.

Paula Gibbons, fostering team manager,said: “We urgently need to recruit morefoster carers, especially for older childrenand teenagers, and we hope this campaignwill help people who had never previouslyconsidered fostering as a career, to thinkabout the difference they could make to ayoung person’s life, and to ring us to findout more information about the processand support we offer.

“The young people’s messages are sopowerful I am confident that as a result,we will recruit more foster carers toprovide safe and supportive homes foryoung people in North Tyneside.”

Below: some of the looked-after youngpeople who helped design the campaign.

Putting Children First in North Tyneside 3

This year we will come tothe end of our first five-yearplan for children in NorthTyneside, and the world isundoubtedly a verydifferent place to what itwas in 2005.

The creation of an integratedChildren’s Service and strongChildren,Young People and LearningPartnership Board has deliveredsignificant improvements for childrenand young people.

�Our children and young peoplenow perform above the nationalaverage at KS1, KS2, KS3 andKS4.

� Strong collaboration has reducedour permanent exclusions fromschools down to zero.

�Our Looked After Children havesome of the best GCSE resultsin the country.

� The election of John Akinropo asYoung Mayor presents a realopportunity to break new groundin enabling young people toshape democratic decision-making.

�Our Capital Programme hasdelivered new school buildingsand transformed playsites, andaccelerated entry into BSF givesus an unprecedented opportunityto deliver 21st century learningenvironments for all.

�Our Early Years services andChildren’s Centres provide highquality services for families andour new IntegratedYouthSupport Service providestargeted support for youngpeople.

�We have a national reputation fordelivering high quality care andeducation for children withadditional educational needs and;

�Our targeted interventions arebeginning to halt the range ofchildhood obesity.

The list could go on.

But before we go off on oursummer holidays with a cosy glowwe need to consider those areaswhere our impact has beenrelatively marginal.

Targets

Lately, I have found myself in anumber of performance manage-ment meetings trying to explainwhy our teenage conception ratesremain higher than the nationalaverage; why our participation ratespost-17 and achievement of ‘A’ levelequivalent qualifications are belowthe national average; why childhoodobesity rates in our most deprivedarea remain high and why thenumber of young people who arenot in education, employment ortraining (NEET), remains higher thanthe national average.

Again the list could go on.

Children’s Services have been thesubject of more nationalprescription than any other publicservice and the national targetsetting agenda has forced us toconsider each indicator in isolation,and put an action plan in place foreach.

However, as we enter the next fiveyears of improving outcomes forchildren and young people, I worrythat we are missing the point. I amreminded of professorDumbledore’s advice to HarryPotter ;

“It is our choices, Harry, that make uswhat we truly are, far more than ourskills and abilities.”

Choices

We cannot force children, youngpeople and families to make certainchoices. However, we do need tobetter understand what motivatessome to default to choices that leadto poorer outcomes.

Perhaps we need to consider howwe can develop the skills of allthose who work with young people,so they can become ‘choicearchitects’, that is, people who areskilled at interacting with youngpeople in a non-paternalistic way to‘nudge’ them to default to choicesfor themselves that make their livesbetter.

Over the next six months we willbe appraising the last five years anddeveloping a shared plan that willtake us to 2015. In putting this plantogether we need to make the rightchoices about how we will allocatefinite resources to shape a betterfuture for children.

If we are going to turn a corner inrelation to some of our moreentrenched problems, we will needto joint the dots in a different way.

Choices,Choices,Choices

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Please keepme safeThis message of hope, which allchildren and young people need to beable to depend upon, is the openingline of Lord Laming’s latest report.

The death of Baby Peter inHaringey has focused attentionon the policies and proceduresin place to protect childrenand young people. We have aheavy responsibility to ensurethose who are vulnerable areidentified and protected.

Following the latest Laming report, thegovernment has put in place an actionplan for all those involved in childprotection to follow.

The major changes are:

1. The development of the NationalSafeguarding Delivery Unit, whichwill be operational from July 2009.

2. New statutory targets forsafeguarding and child protection tobe in place by Autumn 2009.

3. The Children’s Act procedure forprotecting children is to be revisedand re-published by December2009.

4. A social work reform programme tobe set out by Autumn 2009,to strengthen the recruitment andretention of social workers and to

assist with issues of caseload andwork balance.

5. Safeguarding inspections, including ‘nonotice’ annual stock-takes of Dutyand Assessment Teams, as well as athree-yearly programme of fullinspections of services tolooked-after children andsafeguarding services.

We have already started on a journeyin North Tyneside to strengthen ourhighly regarded Protection Services.

� We have introduced additionalindependence and challenge into ourLocal Safeguarding Children Boardthrough the appointment of anindependent chairperson.

� Children aged under four years havehad their protection plansparticularly scrutinised. Early Yearsprovision for those aged under fouryears is provided as part of theprotection plan.

� Any care team disagreement over aprotection plan, or conflict over adecision to initiate legal proceedingsis now immediately taken to theHead of Safeguarding for resolutionand active planning.

� We are improving informationsharing systems and protocols.

� We are increasing workforce trainingand development opportunities.

� We will provide a comprehensive‘Family Recovery Programme’ tosupport and challenge those familieswho risk failing their children.

� We will develop the North TynesideAssessment Framework to ensure aseamless and transparent means ofdelivering services across all tiers ofneed.

These practical steps are concreteexamples of our commitment to beaccountable in our duty to protectvulnerable children and young people.‘Please Keep Me Safe’ is something wetake seriously. We must judge ourservices by the ability to deliver thismost basic of rights in a thorough,robust and consistent manner. Webelieve the recent changes havesignificantly strengthened oursafeguarding services.

The plans we have in place for the nextyear will further increase our capacityto work quickly to identify, support andprotect those most in need, and welook forward to delivering this highlevel of service with our partners.

By Paul Cook, Head of Safeguarding,North Tyneside Council

Putting Children First in North Tyneside 5

North Tyneside schools have hadtheir best ever year in thenational Artsmark awards, baggingthe highest number of totalawards in the region.

14 schools have achieved an Artsmarkthis year, eight of these at the highestlevel of Artsmark Gold.

Artsmark is Arts Council England'snational arts award for schools thatdemonstrate a commitment todeveloping their arts provision - fromdrama to music, design to literature,dance to sculpture.

The scheme also encourages schools towork in partnership with artists andarts organisations. Schools can apply forawards at one of three levels -Artsmark, Artsmark Silver or ArtsmarkGold.

North Tyneside now has 30 schoolswith Artsmark status, 19 of themArtsmark Gold.

The 14 successful schools this yearwere:

Amberley Primary School -Artsmark Gold

Bailey Green Primary School -Artsmark Gold

Burradon Community PrimarySchool - Artsmark

Greenfields Community PrimarySchool - Artsmark Silver

Hadrian Park Primary School -Artsmark

Hazlewood Community PrimarySchool - Artsmark

John Spence Community HighSchool - Artsmark Gold

Priory Primary School - Artsmark

Redesdale Primary School -Artsmark Gold

Rockcliffe First School - ArtsmarkGold

St Cuthbert’s RC Primary School- Artsmark Silver

Shiremoor Primary School -Artsmark Gold

Waterville Primary School -Artsmark Gold

Whitehouse Primary School -Artsmark Gold

Gill Alexander, Strategic Director forChildren,Young People and Learning,said: "This is an excellent achievementand demonstrates North Tyneside’scommitment to encouraging anddeveloping the arts across all of ourschools."

TES says Travel Training Area is topsThe innovative IndependentTravel Training Area at BeaconHill School has won the title ofOutstanding Special NeedsInitiative in the TimesEducation Supplement (TES)school awards 2009.

The awards recognise theprofessionalism and flair of thosemaking an outstanding contribution toprimary and secondary education inthe maintained and independentsectors.

The area, which is used by pupils fromacross Tyne andWear, houses life-sized,

working Pelican, Puffin and Zebracrossings and street furniture, to enableyoung people with special educationneeds to build road awareness andconfidence before venturing out ontheir own.The regular provision of anout of service working bus also helpsthe young people to practiseappropriate behaviour on publictransport.

Gerard Kelly, Editor,Times EducationalSupplement, said: “Beacon Hill’s entrywas simply terrific. Its commitment topupils and the originality it displays inteaching are outstanding.Theindependent travel training facility is awonderful initiative, promotingindependence for all students.”

Artsmark accolades all round

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Pupils maketheir mark onnew schoolGlebe and Goathland pupils have beenmaking their mark on their newschool.

They added their personal designs tobeamed sections of the newframework for the school, during a tripto Finlay Steel Fabricators, CountyDurham, and were given the chance tosee the beams craned into position, inJune.

Gill Alexander, Strategic Director,Children,Young People and Learning,said: "This was a fantastic opportunityfor the children to take some realownership of their new building, as wellas see their designs put on display.”

The new development will bringtogether Goathland Primary School andGlebe Special School in one integratedlocation.

It will include specialist classrooms,sports and health areas, a nursery, andafter school and community facilities.

The campus will also be home to adedicated centre for borough-widelanguage, communication andtherapeutic services, and is due forcompletion by spring 2010.

Conference moves services fordisabled children forwardSimple things can often make ahuge difference to families andNorth Tyneside Council iscommitted to listening to andunderstanding parents, throughevents such as the AltogetherBetter Conference.

This conference, for families withdisabled children, is organised regularlyby the North Tyneside Parents SteeringGroup and the latest event was held atthe Grand Hotel,Tynemouth, in March.

Parents attending heard about some ofthe most recent positive changes fordisabled children made in NorthTyneside, including:

� Independent travel opportunities foryoung disabled people

� Beacon Hill as a centre of excellence

� Further accommodation to providesuitable short-break resourcesfor children with complex needswithin the borough

� Plans to appoint a KeyWorkerDevelopment Officer.

These developments and others likethem are very often the result of actingon the views and requests of parents.

Events like this conference have beendesigned and developed to bringfamilies together to share experiencesand help each other in similarcircumstances.

And many of those attending felt thatsince the first conference, things werereally starting to change for childrenwith disabilities in North Tyneside.

The next conference is planned for lateAutumn 2009.

Students are100 percentcommittedTwo students from St Thomas Morehave cause for celebration. NeitherBridget McClean nor Amanda Kirkby,both 16, have missed a single day ofhigh school.

And Bridget can boast an evenmore outstanding record. Shehas not missed a single day ofschool since she started at St.Mary’s Primary School inCullercoats, as a five year old.

Bridget’s proud father, PeterMcClean, said: “Bridget hasalways been enthusiastic

about school and we have alwaysencouraged her to be positive.We arethrilled that she has been so successful.”

And Amanda’s mumTeri Kirkby said:”We always encouraged Amanda totreat going to school in the same wayas you would as going to work, so fullattendance was always expected.”

Head teacher at St Thomas More,Diane Donkin, added: " It has been agreat pleasure to have both girls inschool every single day.We wish themevery success in their futures.”

Putting Children First in North Tyneside 7

Helen Jones, from Beacon HillSchool,Wallsend, has becomeone of only around 100 headsthroughout the country to beappointed as a National Leaderof Education (NLE), by theNational College for SchoolLeadership.

It also means Beacon Hill School isnow dedicated a National SupportSchool (NSS).

Helen’s new role will see her usingher experience and expertise toprovide leadership and support tostruggling schools, as well asnurturing the next generation ofnational leaders.

She said: “I am very pleased formyself and the school that our workhas been nationally recognised in thisway.

“Beacon Hill’s success is focusedclearly on the needs of the childrenand young people we work with andis a great team effort. I am proud tolead that team and hope we will beable share some of our skills andknowledge with other schools.”

Toby Salt, Deputy Chief Executive ofNCSL, said: “I am so proud thatoutstanding school leaders, likeHelen Jones, are being honoured inthis way.

“NLEs, supported by their schools,have a more important role to playthan ever in ensuring that excellentschool leadership and the bestpossible opportunities are availableto as many children as possible.”

A beaconof help forstrugglingschools

Building Schools for the FutureFollowing its successful initialsubmission to be part of thegovernment's interim wave 6a of theBuilding Schools for the Future (BSF)

programme, the journey to transformNorth Tyneside's vision of aworld-class learning borough, intoreality, is well under way.

BSF timeline – the journey so far

Apr 08 Council is invited by DCSF to join wave 6a of BSF.

Nov 08 First five projects to benefit from wave 6a are agreed by Cabinet.

Jan 09 Council gains formal approval from the DCSF to enter the BSF process.

Apr 09 First part of Council’s Strategy for Change (SfC), outlining keyobjectives and depicting what is to be done, is approved by DCSF.

Present Second part of SfC being prepared for issue and approval overthe summer, depicting how will we deliver our transformation plans.

Early conceptual design work is taking place for each project -with a focus on ensuring that the core principles set out in eachschool's vision is reflected in the design solutions.

The Council is also awaiting central government's confirmationregarding timescales for the remaining secondary and middle schools.

The schools inWave 6a are:

� Churchill Community College

� Longbenton Community College -completing the campus, with aprimary, special and high schoolworking together.

� Marden High and SouthlandsSchools - creating a campussolution with Southlands Schooland Monkhouse Primary School.

� Norham Community TechnologyCollege

� Seaton Burn Community College

North Tyneside Council’s BSF web pages are now up and running andwill be regularly updated as the programme progresses.They can beviewed at www.northtyneside.gov.uk

Children First is your newsletter – a chance for all partnersdelivering services to children and their families to share information andcelebrate achievements.

If you would like to contribute to the nextedition, please e-mail:nicola.nicholls@northtyneside.gov.uk,or tel 643 5081.

Connor Sutherland - Sports & PlayProvision for Under 13’sPlaysites, Kids Clubs and sports facilities.

Sarah Cassidy - Sports andYouthProvision for 13 years and overSports opportunities, youth clubs andcentres, places to go.

Lucy Gallagher - Community SafetyAnti-bullying, crime reduction andprevention.

Jasmine McKinnon - Climate ChangeCleaner streets, recycling, energy savingand going green.

JackTopham - Community EngagementGathering young people’s ideas,consultations and events.

Becky Stark - TransportHelp improve transport services foryoung people, new travel schemes.

AbeTruman - FinanceManaging the Young Mayor’s budget.

Tallia Gillan - Young People’s Health.Diet, physical, spiritual and mental health.

James Kavanagh - WellbeingWorking with health professionals aroundissues such as teenage pregnancy, drugsand alcohol.

Morgan Lee - CommunicationsEnsuring young people receiveinformation and reviewing youngpeople’s magazines.

Amy Bain - Equality & DiversityEncourage greater participation fromyoung people from all minority groups.

Kyle Myers - Deputy Young Mayor andmember for Positive ImagesPromoting all positive images of youngpeople and celebrating successes of youngpeople.

Abigail MoffettEducation & LearningWorking with the Building Schools forthe Future (BSF) team and ensuringchildren and young people’s views arerepresented in all aspects of educationand learning.

Andrew Elliott - NorthWest Area

ConnorTowes - North East Area

Daniel Guest - SouthWest Area

DanielleThomas - South East Area

In a pioneering move for young democracy, the borough’sfirst Young Cabinet has been established.

Their primary purpose is to support North Tyneside’s Young Mayor JohnAkinropo. Members will each have their own area of responsibility, just like thecouncil’s real cabinet, and they will help influence his overall plan and budget.

Existing members of North Tyneside’s Youth Council and unsuccessful youngmayoral candidates could apply for portfolio positions, and the selected groupwill meet monthly to look at issues relating to their portfolio areas, as well asinviting speakers to join them to talk about key council issues.

Vicki Nixon, Participation and Engagement team manager says: “The youngcabinet is a pioneering way of getting our young people truly involved in thecouncil’s work across the borough.These young people are all extremelyenthusiastic about their new roles, and we’re very excited to have them all onboard, playing a truly active role in helping to influence council decision making.”

If you’d like to work with the Young Mayor, or get him involved in an event, thenplease email young.mayor@northtyneside.gov.uk and his support officer willcontact you.

If you’d like more information on theYoung Mayor please emailnicola.nicholls@northtyneside.gov.uk

Changing theface of youngdemocracy