Two Year Offer TrialsLocal Authority Knowledge

Sharing Day13 October 2011

Time 2 Start

Welcome

John WelsbyAssistant Director, Children & Family Support

Wolverhampton City Council

Agenda

9.30 Arrival & Refreshments 10.00 Welcome John Welsby10.15 Overview of the 2 year offer

trialsAndrew Wolverson

10.45 Speed Sharing – Session 112.00 The national context and

policy update DfE

12.15 Lunch & Networking 1.00 Speed Sharing – Session 2 1.45 The importance of engaging

parentsCathy Hamer

2.45 Plenary Carol Boughton3.00 Close & Networking

Overview of the Trials

Andrew WolversonWolverhampton City Council

Background

• DfE announced that they were looking at trialling new approaches to the 2 yr old offer early 2011.

• They were looking at trialling the following areas:

• building sustainable capacity • improving overall quality • increasing skills of early years workers • enhancing local systems • offering parents greater flexibility

Why work together

• Statistically similar authorities but different approaches

• Offers the opportunity to try different approaches and widen the learning

• Have worked together previously

Walsall Wolverhampton

30th most deprived 21st most deprived

381 childcare providers 407 childcare providers

3430 2 year olds 3200 2 year olds

18 Children’s Centres 18 Children’s Centres

The Walsall & Wolverhampton bid• We looked at all of the strands outlined by DfEThis included:

• Stretching the offer over 50 weeks • Increasing places• Raising quality through robust training packages• Gathering and sharing of good practice• Employing Project Liaison Officers• Enhancing local systems such as e - start (Walsall) and Synergy (Wolverhampton)• Looking at mentoring and coaching schemes

How the trials are managed• Joint project board established to develop the project

plan and monitor progress• Project manager responsible to project board for

meeting milestones within the project plan and overall co-ordination of the trials

• Project liaison officers responsible for supporting the strategic and operational development of the trials

• To identify good practice across the two authorities of Walsall and Wolverhampton

• To trial new methods and identify a consistent approach across all children’s centres and private settings offering the 2 yr places

• To develop relevant training packages to support practitioners• To share good practice regionally through information sharing

events

What’s happened so far?

• Agreed on the priorities for development• Increased the number of places available• Joint sharing event between stakeholders in the two

authorities• Employed project liaison officers• Employed play development worker (Walsall)• Devised and carried out parental engagement audits• Implemented new referral systems (Wolverhampton)• Implemented the stretched offer as standard

Future work

• In the process of devising training packages to support the 2 year offer

• Improving communication with partner agencies• Developing a mentoring programme across the 2

authorities• Commissioning evaluation of different strands of

work• Developing an online referral portal• Working more closely with childminders to deliver

offer

Further information

• Jenny Mander – 01922 686535 email: jenny.mander@walsallcs.serco.com

• Kim Stokes – 01922 686536 email: kim.stokes@walsallcs.serco.com

• Lisa Hill – 01902 551984 email: lisa.hill@wolverhampton.gov.uk

• Andrew Wolverson – 01902 551272 email: andrew.wolverson@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Speed Sharing Session 1

The national context & policy update

Department for Education

Lunch & Networking

Speed Sharing Session 2

The importance of engaging parents

Cathy HamerNational Literacy Trust

Closing Remarks

Carol BoughtonWalsall Children’s Services, SERCO