Newsletters

The Way Forward

Here is the second of the newsletters to be published every other month by the Every Child Matters in County Durham Implementation Team. We hope it keeps everyone informed about changes in services for all children, young people and their families.

You can also obtain a PDF version of the newsletter at the bottom of this page.

The Project Name

The Every Child Matters in County Durham Officer Group wants staff in all the agencies involved, children, young people and their families

To know who they are.
To receive regular information.
To give their opinions on Every Child Matters in County Durham.

The Group has representatives from every service of the Council and is chaired by the Chief Executive, Kingsley Smith. Contact us to let us know what you think about future services for children and what would be a good pathfinder project:

Tel: 0191 383 3655
Minicom 0191 383 3980

Partnership Development Group Members

Name	Organisation
Debbie Jones	Social Care and Health
Amanda Johnson	Education
Tricia Cresswell	Durham & Chester-le-Street PCT
Janice Bray	Connexions
Nick Tsamarios	Derwentside District Council
Lynne Gregory	Education
Christina Blythe	Youth Engagement Service
Judy Lomas	Chief Executive’s Office
Eva Alexandratou	Partnership Development Officer
Carole Payne	Social Care and Health

Conference Report

The ECM Vision conference in April 2004 asked what will the service required to deliver the Vision for Children, Young People and their families look like.

Extended Schools - a way of working together

Extended (or full service) schools offer a range of services to children and young people, their families and local communities, over and above the day to day business of teaching. A series of initiatives, promoting the development of such schools culminated in a number of pathfinder projects, funded by DfES. Whilst each project was free to determine its own focus, there was encouragement to develop

Facilities open to children and families beyond the school day.
Activities targeted at vulnerable groups.
Community cohesion.
Integrated service delivery, and positively contribute to neighbourhood renewal and educational standards.

In Durham there are extended school developments in Central Durham, Shildon, Newton Aycliffe, Shotton, Consett and Bishop Auckland. Evaluation by the Universities of Newcastle, Manchester and Brighton concluded that extended schools projects:

Have positive effects and good returns in terms of investment.
Act as a catalyst for enhancing collaboration between education and other agencies.
Benefit from local authorities undertaking a key, enabling role and time for development, prior to service delivery.
Are best supported by genuine community consultation and participation.

Guidance on extended schools is available on Teacher Net from Contact Officer, Frank Firth.

Pathfinder Projects to Help us Find the Way Forward

We intend to run a number of Pathfinder Projects to develop integrated practice. These projects will explore new ways of working and to learn lessons that will inform us all about the successful development of future services.

The first Pathfinder is for children with a disability. This project will encourage Health, Social Care and Health, Education and Voluntary Organisations to work together with service users to develop seamless and effective services.

The Every Child Matters team wants to hear your suggestions for other Pathfinder projects.

Which areas of work will offer us the most learning?
Which will make the biggest difference to the lives of children and young people?
Where could we build on existing practice to develop integrated services?

Tell us what you think would make a good Pathfinder Project.

Events to help us on The Way Forward - A date for your diary!

The Every Child Matters in County Durham Autumn Conference: Tuesday November 23rd, venue to be confirmed.

This conference will update everyone on progress so far and will focus particularly on practice. By then, we will have some Pathfinders of our own to showcase and we will be looking to learn from the experiences of colleagues in other areas.

Roadshows

We want all staff to think about the future of services for children, young people and their families. We plan a series of roadshows across County Durham to give everyone the chance to get together with colleagues from other agencies to share ideas and learn about progress. The dates for these events will be published soon. Please come along and encourage your colleagues to do the same. Watch out for the Every Child Matters logo with more details of these events.

News From the Children & Young People's Strategic Partnership (CYPSP)

New Appointment

The partnership welcomes Eva Alexandratou, as Partnership Development Officer funded jointly by partnership members to aid its development.

Eva is contacting Children and Young People’s Planning Groups (the local partnerships), which are part of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). She is meeting with as many agencies as possible to hear what they have to say about Every Child Matters in County Durham. This should help those involved in local preventative strategies to understand the way forward and to commit to its priorities. Eva’s role is to support CYPSP by providing a link between agencies.

My Work as Partnership Development Officer for the CYPSP

Speaking with people across County Durham, who deliver services to children, young people and their families, I realise how one vision can embrace everyone’s efforts and targets.

My priority is establishing clear communication channels and strong links between local and countywide provision. Partnership work on strategies and action with quality outcomes is important.

I have visited those in a position to manage significant change in their services. Locally and countywide there is a strong commitment to join ‘forces’ and coordinate the best service delivery for the needs of children, young people, their parents and carers.

Everyone’s attention is centred on creating a shared vision among practitioners, in all services and projects, so strategies can link, develop and improve. Most important though, is to enable children, young people and their parent/carers to influence and shape policy decisions and service delivery.

The Children’s and Young People’s Strategic Partnership brings together knowledge, good practice and resources in voluntary and statutory organisations throughout County Durham. It is supported by local Children’s and Young People Planning Groups (Durham/CLS, Derwentside, Easington, Sedgefield, Dales)

Eva Alexandratou

Eva is based in the Connexions County Durham head office at Aykley Heads in Durham City. You can contact her on 0191 383 1777.

Mapping Exercise

CYPSP is to map current provision in all areas. This is a first step towards a single commissioning strategy for every child in County Durham. Work has already started with a "planned new initiatives" audit. If you receive a questionnaire, please complete it as thoroughly as you can. The better the information we gather now, the better our plans will be for the future.

CYPSP Executive Group

The partnership is consulting on the formation of a Chief Officer Executive Group. Until this is established, it has been agreed a "Partnership Development Group" should have a lead role. The executive group could if required form the basis of a future Children’s Trust.

We need your views about this Newsletter.

Does it give you enough information about Every Child Matters in County Durham?
If not what else do you need to know?
Are our messages clear to you?

Here's how you can contact us to let us know what you think:

Tel: 0191 383 4095
Minicom: 0191 383 3980

Or write to:
The Every Child Matters Implementation Team
Social Care and Health
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UG

PDF Version of the Newsletter

ECM_Newsletter_2.pdf

Number of pages: 4
File size: 231 KB

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website. Please note that the Adobe Access Plug-in enables vision impaired users to read Adobe PDF documents.