Welcome to Narrowing The Gap In Luton

Jane Held

 Children’s Plan 2007  New PSA to narrow attainment gap and new NIS set  New duty on LA’s ‘Childcare Act 2006’ to narrow the gap for under 5’s.  Think Family – Social Exclusion Uni  Workforce Strategy  Review of Children’s Trusts

 Anxiety about safeguarding  Need to keep the faith with ECM  Uncertain economic climate and tighter CSR  Lack of progress in narrowing the gap.

Strong moral and political purpose

So what are the challenges?

Poverty (and social class) matters: Despite all efforts, UK has one of the strongest links between circumstances into which a child is born (socio-economic group) and their adult outcomes. The lower the social economic group, the higher the risk of poor outcomes. ‘Poor’ circumstances, leading to poor qualifications, transmits poverty across generations.

and it starts early! 0 22 months 4 years10 years5 years6 years Low SEG Low cog at 22 m. Low SEG High cog at 22 m. High SEG Low cog at 22 m. High SEG High cog at 22 m.

…Parental involvement in a child’s schooling is a more powerful force than any other family background indicator such as social class or family size… and contributes to 10% or more of variation in educational achievement… (Desforges 03)

Schools matter: Attainment has risen all round. Teachers recently qualified are best ever (Ofsted). Class sizes down, absenteeism down, post-16 participation up. 98% 3 and 4 year olds accessing early years education and quality improving.

But: Performance gap between advantaged and more disadvantaged pupils unchanged in 10 years. UK ‘gap’ steeper and wider than any other developed country. Those who do least well – poorer white boys, mixed race and black Caribbean boys, Irish travellers.

Key Stage 1 FSM 69% in reading (84%) 65% in writing (81%) Key Stage 2 FSM 63% in English (83%) 58% in Mathematics (79%) 73% in Science (89%) GCSE 21% (A*-C) 59%

Post-16 participation low by international standards (UK 20 th out of 28 OECD countries). Significant and sustained gaps in participation in full-time education or training based on gender, ethnicity, social class and region year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET’s) remains constant last 10 years (10%) and is higher than other developed countries.

Health matters: Infant mortality falling –  But incidence of ‘low birth weight’ rising and high (11% of total) compared to other developed countries - correlates directly with social class and gives rise to poor health, development and educational attainment.

Mental Health declining – (13% year old boys and 10% girls had clinically diagnosed mental disorders. Children living in lone parent families most vulnerable (19% compared to 9%) as well as those in poorer families (21% compared to 6%). 54% children with emotional disorders come from households with gross incomes under £300 per week.

Teenage pregnancy at lowest level for 20 years but still high compared to other EU countries. Sexually transmitted diseases up – diagnosis of Chlamydia up by 34% (2001 – 2005).

Majority of young people ‘happy’ with their lives (89% of year olds) and are ‘moral’ (80% frown on cheating, bullying etc). Most (93% of year olds) enjoy living in their area and feel safe, although this declines at night. Children Matter

Nearly all teenagers view doing well at school as important… But while 94% happy with their families, 71% happy at school but 11% very unhappy at school. Most year olds are happy with their appearance (80%) and their health (90%)

Programme hopes to: Build on the ‘family’ of local Government Identify ‘what’s working’ and ‘what still needs to be done’ in improving outcomes for vulnerable groups (against context of improving outcomes for all). ‘Keep the faith’ in Every Child Matters Share ‘effective’ practice

Try to answer fundamental question? What is it, if applied universally and pursued relentlessly, would make a significant impact on the outcomes of vulnerable groups of children and young people?

What do we mean by ‘narrowing the gap’? The difference / deficit between outcomes for a specific group and the outcomes for the whole range of children and young people, of which the group forms a part

Includes:  Children from poorer socio-economic groups (including white ‘working class’ boys)  Children in Care  Children with disabilities  Children with SEN  Children excluded from school  Children with poor records of attendance at school  Children from different ethnic minority backgrounds  Young Offenders  Young Carers  Children at risk from significant harm  Children living with ‘vulnerable’ adults

It is;  A 2 year programme, DCSF funded, hosted by L.G.A., supported by IDeA.  Focussing on ‘3-13’ population.  Having 5 themes (key lines of enquiry).  Identifying critical building blocks – the ‘must-do’s’ for improving outcomes for vulnerable groups and ‘narrowing the gap’.

5 themes (key lines of enquiry)  How to create and sustain the right links between schools, children’s centres and Children’s Services.  How to engage and support parents and carers in helping their children to succeed.  How to use the new systems and process brought into being by Every Child Matters to orientate services more towards prevention and early intervention.

 How to strengthen and align local leadership and governance arrangements - both professional and political.  How to strengthen systems for developing local leaders to deliver improved services based on the understanding of what works.

Rooted in evidence – tested in localities Across 5 outcomes Simple truths

So where has the Programme got to?

NFER Review of Literature and Research

Overview and Analysis of Data Publicly accessible data Secondary analysis of large datasets Data from longitudinal research studies Data from other surveys

Top Ten ‘Golden Threads’ Distillation of templates and NFER reviews Critical ‘must do’s’ – whole system change

You can do it! (Expect the best) -creating a culture of high aspirations -and giving children and parents access to a trusted (dependable) adult Together with parents -working in real partnership with parents and families and building on their strengths -‘doing with, not doing unto’

Through the eyes of the child -making all services more child and family focussed, with adult services more sensitive to their clients as parents and alert to the needs of children and ‘Think Family’ Holding onto the baton -ensuring as much stability and continuity, as possible, in relationships between trusted adults, with children and parents -managing those transitions that are unavoidable with care

‘Learning to learn’ -making the building of children’s resilience a major policy objective -configuring education so that it benefits the most vulnerable or disadvantaged, encouraging their participation and giving them lots of supplementary and ‘catch-up’ support ‘Cornflakes to Canoeing’ -taking active steps to make extended services available to disadvantaged children within, and beyond, the school

Unite to succeed – ‘sanity not vanity’ -deepening the integration of services, systems and processes -‘Shape up and keep fit’ -re-shaping the workforce and ensuring it is appropriately trained, supported and celebrated!

‘Prove it’ – making change happen -right performance management systems in place nationally/locally; that encourages focus on improving outcomes of vulnerable groups in particular – shared approaches to this across services, including Health From good to great – ‘passion with purpose’ -having transformational leadership in place, political and professional (local and national) -a clear vision communicated well. Planning and processes to back it up and deliver results, including the use of ‘Outcomes Based Accountability’.

And now Final Guidance – Year 1 –12 golden threads? –Key messages from research –5 self evaluation tools Start on Year 2 – Leadership and governance C4EO – the importance of sector led evidenced based practice

Read more; LGA website – click on ‘our work’ click on ‘children and young people’ click on ‘Narrowing the Gap’ OR for participating LAs, a discussion forum at;