The Sheffield Joint Area Review July and September 2006

What does JAR mean? The JAR is part of the new integrated inspection framework of Children’s Services. It will examine how services are contributing to the well-being of children and young people. Well-being is defined in terms of the five outcomes described in Every Child Matters: –Being healthy –Staying safe –Enjoying and achieving –Making a positive contribution –Achieving economic well being

Who will inspect us? 10 inspectors drawn from the following inspectorates:

Planning has already started The City Council is the lead body A Partners’ Group is co-ordinating engagement with the process A website provides all the key documentation A self-assessment will be prepared There will be a study of Case Files of vulnerable children and how they are served across agencies There will be a neighbourhood study which will include health settings How will we get ready for the JAR?

What are the main JAR events? Briefing Conference 7 th April Stage Return of information by May 15 th Set up Meeting May 18 th Analysis Week July 10 th Meeting at end of Analysis Week – July 14 th  Receive information for conducting JAR.  Comment on selection of schools to contribute to the Tellus questionnaire.  Return self assessment, choice of three neighbourhoods, and selection of 100 case files for JAR by 13 June  Discuss inspection programme, agree the ten cases and neighbourhood for study and confirm up to ten areas for fieldwork.  Brief Director of Children’s Services, officers and partners of the council about the scope and organisation of the JAR.  To have ready the case files and documents for inspection teams to consider and key worker and agency profiles for the JAR team.  Discussion about hypothesis arising for the JAR and to confirm the programme for fieldwork.

Fieldwork Week 1 4 th - 8 th September Fieldwork Week 2 11 th – 15 th September and feedback Reporting October/Nov Feedback meeting Early December  Case tracking and neighbourhood studies.  JAR enquiries through meetings and visits about key judgements identified for fieldwork  To follow up issues raised by case tracking and neighbourhood studies  JAR headline feedback on key issues to Director/Partners  Draft report sent to Director of Children’s Services and the Chief Executive.  Opportunity for written comment Publication mid December  Meetings with Director of Children’s Services, senior officers and members of the local strategic partnership to discuss the findings.  Report published on websites. What are the main JAR events?

What will we be judged on? The 5 outcomes * for children and young people (especially for those in public care or with a physical or learning disability) –Being healthy –Staying safe –Enjoying and achieving –Making a positive contribution –Achieving economic well being Service management –ambitions; –prioritisation; –capacity; –performance management.

What evidence will the JAR use? Before fieldwork they will analyse the current findings from inspections, assessments and reviews of: –day-care provision; –schools, including independent schools; –colleges, including independent colleges; –training providers; –relevant thematic reviews of health care (e.g. children in hospital); –adoption and fostering services; –children’s homes; –secure accommodation and youth offender institutions; –provision for children and young people in prisons, including provision for the children of offenders; –private and voluntary healthcare, including mental health services; –the work of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS); –leisure and cultural services; –housing services; –police work in relation to children and young people; –youth offending teams.

During the two weeks of fieldwork they will: –Concentrate on no more than 10 key judgements, selected because they are of local significance. –Gather evidence from: at least one neighbourhood study; the detailed tracking of 10 cases; meetings with senior service managers, frontline staff and members; a small range of visits to services or settings; individual and group discussions with children and young people on specific issues, often with reference to particular neighbourhoods, age- groups or hard-to-reach groups. What evidence will the JAR use?

What questions are we asked in our self-assessment? Service management: Does service management help to improve outcomes for children and young people? How well are you using your resources? Involving children and young people: How well do you engage children and young people? The analysis of need: Show how your current priorities are founded on an analysis of need The impact of local services: How good are the outcomes? Are you making a difference? Partnership working: How well do we work with our partners?

The Neighbourhood Study A neighbourhood is an area such as a housing estate or ward with these characteristics: –the percentage of children and young people (0-19) is broadly in line with the average for the local authority area; –the outcomes for children and young people in one or more of the five areas are significantly below the average for the local authority area. 3 neighbourhoods are put to the inspectors and the final selection of 1-2 depends on the 10 most significant key judgements for the local area. Aspects of ‘staying safe’ will always be included. The local authority and its partners provide more detailed information about the neighbourhood for the analysis stage. Over the 3 or so days of the study inspectors obtain first hand evidence of: –the views of children, young people and their parents/carers (at least 40% of the time available for meetings and observations); –how local services contribute to improving outcomes for children and young people; –how local services work together; –the contrast between what life is like and the vision, strategies and policies of the local authority and its partners

Neighbourhood Study programme After an initial tour of the neighbourhood escorted/guided by young people the programme will include some of the following: Talking about ‘what life is like’ in the local neighbourhood with small focus groups of children and young people, and parents and carers in a range of settings; Talking with children and young people from specific groups such as: –looked after children and care leavers; young offenders; minority ethnic groups and faith groups; children with learning difficulties and disabilities; excluded children and young people. Individual and group discussions with children and young people on specific issues, often with reference to particular neighbourhoods, age-groups or hard-to-reach groups. Visits to a health-focussed service within the neighbourhood. Visits to co-located services such as: –a children’s centre; a full-service extended school, and/or; a Sure Start project. Visits to before-or-after-school provision; to voluntary sector provision e.g. YMCA, faith groups. Meetings with local councillors Meetings with front-line staff who are working in the neighbourhood: –school nurses, health visitors and community midwives; –social workers and community psychiatric nurses; –head teacher/college principal/work-based learning providers and teachers/lecturers; –Connexions personal advisers/learning mentors; –youth and community workers; –named professionals for child protection; –community learning difficulties team and named professionals for Special Educational Needs; –the local police and youth offending team; –early years and day care providers.

10 Case Files The 10 case files will come from the 100 selected for the inspectors The purpose of studying cases is to test arrangements for: –referral, assessment and review to achieve better outcomes, –interagency The 10 studies are likely to include: –8 from children who are looked after, children-in-need or children on the child protection register; –2 children who were referred to social care services but did not ‘meet the threshold criteria for services.’ Frontline staff and their managers from up to three agencies will complete a record of the services provided and current outcomes and prepare the case files for the analysis week. Inspectors will follow this up with questionnaires to the 10 children and their carers. Visits and interviews will take place in the first week of fieldwork with the child, their carers, lead workers, other frontline staff and their managers.

Meetings with managers and frontline staff The inspectors are likely to meet frontline staff and their managers who are working on cases or in a neighbourhood e.g.: –school nurses, health visitors and community midwives; –social workers and community psychiatric nurses; –head teacher/college principal/work-based learning providers and teachers/lecturers; –Connexions personal advisers/learning mentors; –youth and community workers; –named professionals for child protection; –community learning difficulties team and named professionals for Special Educational Needs; –the local police and youth offending team; –early years and day care providers. During these meetings, inspectors will ask about: –specific cases; –current outcomes for children they are in contact with; –patterns of interagency working especially: referrals; assessments; plans for educational and social care e.g. Personal Education Plans and Care Plans; reviews of cases; arrangements for performance management. It is very important know about the local priorities for children and current outcomes as set out in Sheffield’s new Children and Young People’s Plan. You can download this from

The CYPP’s main features 5 key changes INTEGRATED FRONT-LINE DELIVERY: We are committed to integrating professional disciplines in multi-agency teams, located as closely as possible to the points where children and young people receive their services. SAFEGUARDING: We want all agencies to place safeguarding at the centre of the priorities for each locality, and every universal and tier 2 service PLACING USERS AT THE CENTRE OF SERVICE DESIGN: We want children and young people to be influential in the way that services develop BUILDING BETTER SERVICES WITH PARTNERS: We want all services to feel integrated and cohesive at the point of use. For this to work well, we need to plan and deliver our services in collaboration with our partners, stakeholders and service users NEW GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY: We are committed to involving children and young people in decision- making about how services are delivered.

The CYPP’s main features 10 Priorities ■ promoting a healthy start – the local Sure Start agenda – within a comprehensive citywide health programme for children and young people ■ making sure all children are safeguarded and protected from risk of significant harm ■ increasing parenting skills and capacity, helping parents and carers to be better informed about the services that are on offer to support them ■ maximising the engagement, participation and influence of children and young people at all points on their journey to adulthood, particularly at 16+ ■ increasing attainment for all, with a particular focus on the early years and those children and groups most at risk of underachievement ■ supporting children’s emotional well-being and behaviour ■ reducing teenage pregnancy and substance misuse ■ improving outcomes for looked after and adopted children ■ supporting ‘mobile’ and ‘lost’ children – meaning those who move a lot and those who are homeless or are missed by the system ■ developing the children’s workforce in order to deliver excellent, user- focussed services that meet the needs of all children and young people

Visits to services or settings The following are likely to be visited: –A health-focused service within the neighbourhood. –Co-located services such as: a children’s centre; a full-service extended school; and/or a Sure Start project; before-school provision and/or after-school provision. –Voluntary sector provision e.g., YMCA, faith groups. During visits, inspectors will ask frontline staff about the outcomes achieved for specific children, approaches to referral, assessment and planning for vulnerable children, how reviews are undertaken and how agencies work together. During visits they will talk with children and young people about issues specific to a neighbourhood or group of children.