1 Never mind the quality feel the length ? Sure Starts Blakenall experience of reach Carol Ferron-Smith Programme Manager Sure Start Blakenall 22 nd September 2004

2 Sure Start Blakenall - setting the scene

3 Sure Start Blakenall - facts and figures There are 566 children aged under four years living in the North Blakenall ward. 57 per cent of the people in North Blakenall aged have no educational qualifications The ethnic profile of the area is 95 per cent British White. The largest ethnic group is Asian or Asian British Indian 47 per cent of the homes in North Blakenall have one or more people with a limiting long-term illness. The levels of breastfeeding among new mothers in Blakenall area is low.

4 Who are the hard to reach ? My definition of hard to reach families Families identified as being in need of support but who choose not to use a particular service.

5 Reaching the reach target All Sure Start programmes are expected meet a Government target of reaching 80 per cent of children living in their area after 18 months of delivering services. The national guidance also states that there must be a quality aspect to each contact with a family.

6 Blakenalls reach YearAverage number of children seen in the last month % of child population based on 2001 Census count of the number of children under 4 living in North Blakenall 2001/ % 2002/ % 2003/ %

7 What are the barriers to reaching families ? 1. Stigma 2. Time 3. Parent Choice 4. Service flexibility

8 Reach – what are the challenges to improving low reach figures? Offering services that meet the Sure Start agenda and the interests of local families. Keeping existing families while trying to get new families to get involved. Developing a criteria which can look critically at the current range of activities offered to families. Balancing national and local targets.

9 Reach – what are we doing to improve our reach? Making evaluation an integral part of everybodys work rather than an add on activity Encouraging staff to become reflective practioners Offering a more responsive service that better meet the needs of local families

10 Parent ideas for increasing reach 1. A buddy scheme for new parents joining Sure Start. 2. Delivering services or activities from one place. 3. Reviewing what services and activities can be provided to families during the early evening and at weekends. 4. Develop a parent pack which explains what each activity does and who it is aimed at.

11 Parent ideas 1. Give parents more opportunities to meet and talk to health professionals. 2. Review charges for Sure Start parents. 3. More support for parents with older children who want to use Sure Start activities. 4. Give more opportunities for parents to learn new skills at different venues.

12 What has worked well ? Freebies Building parent confidence Family Fun events Confident staff who know the area Pregnancy Bags Word of mouth Having a friend to go to an activity Offering something and delivering it

13 Reach – final thoughts Defining reach is not easy Reach – what counts – quantity or quality Activity registers are not a true reflection of programme reach Impact of low reach on staff