Two Year Offer Trials Local Authority Knowledge Sharing Day 13 October 2011 Time 2 Start

Welcome John Welsby Assistant Director, Children & Family Support Wolverhampton City Council

Agenda 9.30Arrival & Refreshments 10.00WelcomeJohn Welsby 10.15Overview of the 2 year offer trials Andrew Wolverson 10.45Speed Sharing – Session The national context and policy update DfE 12.15Lunch & Networking 1.00Speed Sharing – Session The importance of engaging parents Cathy Hamer 2.45PlenaryCarol Boughton 3.00Close & Networking

Overview of the Trials Andrew Wolverson Wolverhampton City Council

Background DfE announced that they were looking at trialling new approaches to the 2 yr old offer early 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 WalsallWolverhampton 30 th most deprived21 st most deprived 381 childcare providers407 childcare providers year olds year olds 18 Children’s Centres

The Walsall & Wolverhampton bid We looked at all of the strands outlined by DfE This 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 – Kim Stokes – Lisa Hill – Andrew Wolverson –

Speed Sharing Session 1

The national context & policy update Department for Education

Lunch & Networking

Speed Sharing Session 2

The importance of engaging parents Cathy Hamer National Literacy Trust

Closing Remarks Carol Boughton Walsall Children’s Services, SERCO