Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Schools Forum 16 th September 2014 Community Play Services Report Alice McColl, Strategic Development Officer for Play Preventative Services Commissioning Tel: Appendix 1

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Services commissioned Individual programmes of play support Close work with child, parent/carer and school. Requests for Support from schools, health visitors, social workers, police, parents In response to high demand providers now offer 4 weekly Playful Families sessions sessions for the most vulnerable parents with children (*Table 2 see breakdown of numbers reached through this service within each panel area) Of the 30% of families which are either subject to CPP/CHiN or have TAF/TAC involvement across the school - at least half access inclusion workers either via Playful Fridays or targeted cook it programme or through weekly support sessions. Family Play Inclusion

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Referrals for targeted play support Current focus of specification for the service is upon primary aged children. However, there has been a marked increase in requests for support for secondary aged children in Referrals made to Play Services September 2013-July 2014 Primary schools30% Secondary school nurture/group work22% Secondary schools13% Self referral (parent, child)10% Health visitors and schools nurse7% Parent support advisor4% 133 identified service users reached in total (18% increase from )

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Services commissioned Support & advice on behaviour strategies & implementation, playwork training and mentoring - practical ways to improve child-led play and nurture in school. BAPP inclusion have worked with individuals and groups within the school day – supporting children in how to play and create positive friendships. Keith Ford, Head St Martins Garden Primary, Bath Advice/ consultancy to schools

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Table 1 Breakdown of attendances by panel area 133 identified service users reached in total (18% increase from ) *Other includes schools out of area, colleges, pre schools, elective home education and children/young people not currently at school

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Table 2: Breakdown of referrals to Behaviour and Attendance panels

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Services commissioned Open access play & activity sessions in parks and open spaces in areas of need. Important links made with children in their home and community and relationships established with families. Establishment of a strong basis for effective engagement with child, parent and school. Experienced, qualified community play rangers also deliver nurture groups in schools and Family Play Inclusion work 1:1 with families building up trust in children who see them both in the community and at school. (Table 2 see breakdown of numbers reached within each panel area) Should funding be cut the impact on the school would be significant, over 50% of the school access community play rangers via Southdown, Odd Down or Combe Down Head, St Martins Garden Primary Community Play Rangers

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Table 3 Breakdown of attendance by panel area

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Services commissioned Requests from schools for bespoke work to engage children and young people (either individually or in small group) whose attendance is poor and/or whose behaviour may lead to exclusion. Activities include - outdoor physical play, group games, child-led practical activities Objectives include »Building children's’ confidence. »Strategies to work on behaviour from aggressive and dependent on staff to independent and self-regulating. »Encouraging positive communication skills »Activities include - Outdoor play, group games, child-led practical activities Nurture groups The pupils have made excellent progress. The workers work very well with them and seem to know exactly how to connect with them. Welton Primary School

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Case study “We facilitated Nurture Group sessions at St Michaels every Wednesday, with 10 children per week. This is a very diverse group with approximately 70% of the children receiving one to one or behaviour support during class time but this level of support was not necessary during the sessions as the lack of structure, the variety of activities and being outdoors meant we didn’t have any difficulties with behaviour. “ The children are loving every moment and behaviour levels have reduced substantially! “ SENCO St Michaels Primary school, Bath Nurture groups Services commissioned

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Services commissioned "This is great. It gives us a real chance to be able to observe and document the children's increase in confidence and personal skills- something we don't always get to do in the classroom. It really covers a lot of the Ofsted requirements that we constantly need to fulfil." Teacher St Phillips Primary School, Bath Measuring outcomes Using Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire– schools complete Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire for each child. Playworkers use a child version of the SDQ as this identifies areas for focused work and ensures the intervention is child-led. These are repeated at the end of their involvement and schools are asked to report back on any changes in behaviour or reductions in reporting of levels

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Work with complex families Services commissioned Developing new work – responding to emerging needs Both providers work closely in partnership with Connecting Families (delivering the Troubled Families national indicative locally) Aims: To reduce the impact of crime, lack of education, worklessness, and physical and mental ill health amongst the most disadvantaged families To work in a co-ordinated way to support both families and their schools in getting the best from educational opportunities in both the school itself and the community To work with the most disadvantaged families to ensure that they are able to create opportunities for themselves and their children to improve their lives

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Approximately 30% of the children and young people referred have attendance issues at school and/or are at risk of exclusion New project to develop a nurture group for children who are not attending school Aim to support children not in school who lack of confidence to interact appropriately with other children. Likely to also include more work with parents to help them understand how their control and anxieties are impacting on their child’s behaviour through group based family play sessions. Services commissioned Children Missing Education Developing new work – responding to emerging needs Children Missing Education

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Services commissioned Multi-agency working Providing additional capacity to schools in with other services Providers work closely with a range of services including Schools Children's Missing Education Parent Support Advisors Social Care ASD service Educational Psychologists Children Centres and early years settings School Nurses Health visitors Police Housing

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Secondary Schools demand increase »Play services lend additional capacity to schools to make contact with children and their families out of school. »Introduction of a holistic approach to schools staff - developing focus from on issues beyond school. »Increased awareness by school staff of attachment issues and how past trauma can impact on ability to learn. »Acting as an enabler to bring services together 50% increase in requests for support from May-July It is very useful to be able to rely on WPA professionals who the students view as nothing to do with school. Very often, the students are able to open up to the playworkers in a way that they feel unable to do with people associated with school. (Wellsway sch)