Stockport – Cheadle Children’S Centre Group

Children’s centre report

Stockport – Cheadle Children’s Centre Group

C/O Cheadle and Gatley Children's Centre, Councillor Lane, Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 2LF

Inspection date 5–6 March 2014

This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Overall effectiveness Previous inspection: Not previously inspected Access to services by young children and families Requires improvement 3 The quality of practice and services Requires improvement 3 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and Requires improvement 3 management

Summary of key findings for children and families

This children's centre group requires improvement. It is not good because:  Not enough children and parents, particularly those in the most deprived areas and from target groups, are registered or actively engaging in the centre group’s services.  The centre group does not work closely enough with local schools and childcare providers to improve attainment and narrow the achievement gap between boys and girls by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, particularly in the Cheadle and Gatley and Ladybridge Park areas.  There are not enough opportunities for adults to access courses which would help to improve their long-term employability, including English, mathematics and computer courses. Adults’ progress in learning and towards employment is not tracked carefully enough.  The leadership, governance and management of the centre group are not sufficiently robust. Data are not used effectively to enable leaders to identify key priorities or to analyse and target resources more carefully to engage families in its services. This hinders the effectiveness of the centre’s development plan to inform target-setting to drive the centre group forward.

This children’s centre group has the following strengths:  The centre group prioritises safeguarding well. The work of the dedicated staff team provides good one-to-one support for the most vulnerable families who engage with the centre group.  There is good partnership-working with health colleagues. The Cheadle and Gatley centre ensures that the right information, advice and support are available to families across the group. A strong focus on improving sustained breastfeeding has resulted in the percentage of mothers choosing to do this being well above both the Stockport and national average.  Parents appreciate the warm welcome offered by the centre group and the access to good quality resources. Staff are approachable, well-informed and help them to develop their parenting skills and confidence. Inspection report: Stockport - Cheadle Group, 5–6 March 2014 Page 2 of 9

Information about this inspection

The inspection of this children’s centre was carried out under Part 3A of the Childcare Act 2006 as amended by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. The centres that form part of this children’s centre group are Cheadle and Gatley Children’s Centre and Ladybridge Park. This inspection was carried out by three additional inspectors.

The inspectors held meetings with the centre group manager, the early help and prevention service locality manager, service managers, the family support workers, children’s centre family workers, the parent engagement worker and officers from the local authority. They also held meetings with centre group’s staff, parents, members from the joint advisory board and a number of partners including health, education and children’s social care professionals.

The inspectors visited a number of sessions held across both centres and the two satellite centres in the group during the inspection, including, ‘Family Time’, ‘Cook and Taste’, English for Speakers of other Languages class and a crèche. They also involved the children’s centre group manager and the early help and prevention service locality manager in all team meetings.

They observed the centre’s work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation, such as the centre group’s self-evaluation, development plan, a sample of case studies, parent evaluations, key policies and the group’s equality and safeguarding procedures, as well as a range of other relevant documentation.

Inspection team

Tara Street, Lead inspector Additional inspector

Susan Walsh Additional inspector

Ken Fisher Additional inspector

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Full report

Information about the group

Stockport–Cheadle Children’s Centre Group formed as a group in July 2013. It consists of two previously stand-alone children’s centres, which are one mile apart and share services, including staff, and one overall leader. Both Cheadle and Gatley and Ladybridge Park Children’s Centres are phase two centres. The group also offers services from two satellite centres based at Heald Green and Cheadle Hulme library. The group meets its core purpose by offering a range of services which include child health services, family play sessions, parenting courses, adult learning and family support.

There are approximately 3,323 children under five years old within the area, of which 9% live in the 20-30% most deprived areas in the country. Within the area there are significant issues regarding mental health, isolation, obesity, domestic violence and low levels of literacy and numeracy. The target groups identified by the centre group are minority ethnic communities, particularly those who speak English as an additional language and those families who live in the 20% most deprived areas. A large majority of families within the area served by the centre group is White British. Housing is mostly social or private rental with some areas of affluence and privately owned housing. Levels of unemployment are low, with 11.1% of children living in households dependent upon workless benefits. Most children enter early years provision with knowledge and skills that are above those typical for their age. However, in some of the more disadvantaged communities children enter with skills that are well below those typical for their age. There are 19 local primary schools and childcare is delivered by a range of providers across the area. These are subject to separate inspection arrangements and the reports are available on the Ofsted website at: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

Governance of the centre is provided by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, in conjunction with a joint advisory board that includes providers, delivery partners, members of the local community and users that attend the centre group.

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What does the centre/group need to do to improve further?  Improve access to services across the centre group by: - increasing the number of children and adults who are registered and use the centre’s services regularly, including those from the most deprived areas and from target groups.

 Improve the quality and impact of services by: - working with all local schools and childcare providers to improve attainment and narrow the achievement gap between boy and girls by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, particularly in the Cheadle and Gatley and Ladybridge Park areas.

 Extend opportunities for more adults, particularly the unemployed, to enhance their economic stability by: - increasing the promotion of, and participation rates in, adult-learning programmes including English, mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) courses to aid progression into further education and employment - developing further procedures to track and measure how well adults make progress when they access courses or programmes, and use data gathered to help plan future services.

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership, governance and management by: - improving the accuracy and use of data so that resources can be targeted more carefully and a more precise analysis of the centre group’s performance can be achieved - improving the centre group’s development plan so that all key priorities are precise, have measurable success criteria and contain well-informed targets.

Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Requires improvement  The majority of families are now registered. However, insufficient families, including those identified as most in need of support and those expecting children, are not yet actively engaged.  There is insufficient use of data to monitor the engagement of families who most need the centre’s help, including those who live in the most deprived areas and who are in receipt of early help and intervention services. As a result, the centre does not always deploy its services and resources in the most effective way to meet families’ needs.  Staff have an appropriate presence in the community and have visited some areas where families are reluctant to engage in order to promote the services available. However, these initiatives are not effective in increasing the engagement of some hard-to-reach families and thereby helping to reduce any inequalities.  Families who use the centres have good access to a range of professional advice, guidance and support from staff and some partner agencies. Imagery used in displays throughout the centre group reflects the commitment to equality and diversity and helps a wide range of people to feel valued and respected, including those from minority ethnic groups.  Some parents benefit from courses and activities such as, ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ (ESOL), ‘Family Time’ and ‘Cook and Taste’ that help improve their parenting skills, health and their self-development.  The centre group helps families who are eligible to take up their free entitlement to good quality early years places. Consequently, a large majority of eligible two-year-olds are accessing funded places in the local area. However, the centre group is aware that there is less take-up in the Heald Green area, although this has improved recently from 11.8% up to 47.1%. Inspection report: Stockport - Cheadle Group, 5–6 March 2014 Page 5 of 9

The quality of practice and services Requires improvement

 Although the centre group provides a good range of universal and targeted activities and resources for those who attend, the low number of families from some target groups engaging with the centre group reduces its overall impact on improving outcomes for children and on reducing inequalities and improving life chances.  Successful partnership-working with health services ensures that there is an appropriate range of activities and services to promote families’ health and well-being. ‘Parentcraft’ sessions and ‘Antenatal Exercise’ classes effectively provide some expectant mothers with expert advice on nutrition and safe exercise for a healthier pregnancy.  Breastfeeding at six- to-eight weeks is well above the national average because the centre group has a strong focus on promoting this aspect of its work. This is further supported by a very popular breastfeeding support group. The proportion of children who are obese at Reception year and the number of mothers who smoke during pregnancy are also below the national average.  There are not enough adult education and training opportunities to help parents to improve their English, mathematics and computer skills, which limits their progress towards paid work and their ability to support their children’s learning. The systems to track adults’ progress towards learning and employment do not provide clear evidence of the centre group’s impact on increasing economic well-being.  The number of parents being supported to become volunteers is relatively low. However, the benefits for those who do are very positive and most go on to further education and training or gain employment.  Work with local schools and childcare providers to improve children’s attainment and narrow the achievement gap at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage are in the early stages of development. Children in the Cheadle and Gatley and Ladybridge Park areas do less well in achieving a good level of development compared to the national average and attainment is a declining trend. In addition, the centre has not identified a significant gap in the attainment of boys compared to girls in these two areas. For instance, only 30.4% of boys achieved a good level of development compared to 71.9% of girls in the Ladybridge Park area.  Case studies show that targeted intervention, prevention and early help has a good impact on individual children and their families. Assessment of need, case files and records are maintained to a good standard and demonstrate effective cooperation and information-sharing between professionals.  Parents using the centre group are happy with the services and support provided by centre staff. Parents told inspectors how they could always ask for help and advice about most things and especially in times of crisis, for example, ‘the staff are kind, friendly and make me feel safe. They always help with everything’.

The effectiveness of leadership, governance and Requires improvement management

 Leadership, governance and management of the centre group require improvement. The lack of rigour in analysing the available data leads to misconceptions about the centre’s on-going performance. For example, data are not used effectively to monitor, track and analyse the engagement of priority groups or quickly identify key emerging issues. Consequently, and despite performance monitoring and well-structured monitoring by the local authority, the centre’s self-evaluation is not always accurate.  The development plan lacks rigour. Performance targets and success measures are not always precise or used well enough to enable staff, the local authority and the centre group advisory board to monitor the impact of the centre’s services effectively.  The advisory board does not have a clear enough understanding of the centre’s performance. There is insufficient accurate and easily understandable data on some key priority groups and information about the centre’s effectiveness, particularly on registration and engagement of Inspection report: Stockport - Cheadle Group, 5–6 March 2014 Page 6 of 9

vulnerable families. This prevents the board from challenging the centre group more effectively in order to secure further improvements.  The centre group is welcoming, and its resources are of a good quality. Financial management and deployment of staff and resources are sound. Partner agencies are supportive of the work of the centre and parents who attend sessions regularly share their views, which helps shape future services. The centre manager is experienced and well-qualified for her role. Staff are appropriately supported and supervised at all levels.  Safeguarding is well-established; ensuring that the safety of children is at the heart of the centre group’s work. Safeguarding policies, procedures and practices help ensure that children and families are protected effectively. This includes the most vulnerable children, such as those subject to a child protection plan, children in need and those who receive multi-agency support via the Common Assessment Framework (CAF). Inspection report: Stockport - Cheadle Group, 5–6 March 2014 Page 7 of 9

What inspection judgements mean

Grade Judgement Description Grade 1 Outstanding Practice consistently reflects the highest aspirations for children and their families and as a result inequalities are reducing rapidly and gaps are closing.

Grade 2 Good Practice enables most children and their families to access good quality services that improve children’s wellbeing and achieve the stated outcomes for families.

Grade 3 Requires Performance is not as good as it might reasonably be expected to improvement be in one or more key areas. Grade 4 Inadequate The needs of children and families in its area are not being met and/or the leaders and managers are not providing sufficient challenge to bring about improvement to the quality of services.

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Children’s Centre/Children’s Centre Group details

Unique reference number 80630 Local authority Stockport Inspection number 430123 Managed by The local authority

Approximate number of children under 3,323 five in the reach area Centre leader Sue Heap Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 0161 428 0677 Email address [email protected]

This group consists of the following children’s centres:  URN 20655 Cheadle and Gatley Children’s Centre  URN 21727 Ladybridge Park

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