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2015-18
for children up
to 7 years
What
t isis the Integrated Early Years Strategy?
Wha
Background
lEnsuring service delivery is holistic, co-ordinated,
seamless, of high quality and Inclusive.
The Integrated Early Years Strategy is a three year
strategy that aims to improve the life chances of
children in Bradford by addressing inequalities,
narrowing the gap and improving outcomes for all
children including disadvantaged children and families
across the district. Evidence is clear that children’s
early years experiences shape their development,
educational attainment and life chances. This strategy
will focus on young children’s development – ensuring
they are healthy, have good parent-child relationships
and are ready for their next stage of learning.
lEnsuring multi-agency working practices and
systems are integrated.
lPromoting shared approaches to foster children’s
early learning and school readiness.
lDelivering children’s centres services as early
years hubs within local communities.
lWorking with primary schools as key partners.
lEngaging with voluntary sector provision and
activities including that which is not commissioned
by statutory bodies.
lAcknowledging the significant contribution of
volunteers and informal community activity to
supporting children and families.
lEnsuring evidence-based practice / planning is
embedded and central to service delivery.
lPromoting access to and involvement in high
quality inclusive play and playwork experiences
and activities.
lPartner expertise being recognised, valued and
utilised.
lEnsuring services are value for money.
lRecognising that the engagement and active
participation of families is critical.
lEnsuring that safeguarding arrangements are
robust.
lDeveloping a workforce that is highly skilled and
well trained.
lPromoting strong leadership and management.
The strategy has been developed to ensure the
provision of effective early childhood services
through high quality universal services and timely
access to specialist services as required. These
services will promote prevention, early identification,
intervention and targeted support. Robust partnership
arrangements will be crucial to support delivery and
ensure that community engagement and engagement
of parents is at the heart of service approaches. This
strategy recognises the wide range of partners that
contribute to delivery of the strategy including local
authority, health, schools, voluntary and private sector
provision. They are all crucial partners in improving
the life chances of children and bring different skills,
resources and contributions.
Vision to Improve Life Chances
Implementation of the strategy will be based on
the latest available evidence of what works and
set in the context of key national and local drivers
(Appendices 1&2). The Integrated Early Years
Strategy is a key delivery mechanism for Priority 3
of Bradford’s New Deal: Good Schools and a Good
Start for all our Children. Reporting will be via the
Health and Well-being Board and the Education
and School Improvement Board.
The aim of the Integrated Early
Years Strategy 2015-18 is:
To deliver, in partnership, high quality services to all
children and families across the district, with a focus
on those who are most disadvantaged, in order to
improve outcomes and reduce inequalities and ensure
that all children have the best start in life, with an
enriched childhood to enhance their life chances. This
strategy will focus on five key objectives:
Principles informing delivery of the
strategy:
1 Children ready for school and schools ready for
children.
2 Improve health and wellbeing for all children in
the district.
3 Support and Increase parents’ knowledge and
skills.
4
Support the development of high quality
leadership together with a highly skilled and
responsive workforce.
5 Promote integrated working and system change.
We will work towards
lChildren and families being at the heart of service
delivery.
lImproving outcomes and reducing inequalities
lEnsuring that interventions are timely, early, well
co-ordinated and effective.
lDeveloping services that are integrated with clear
pathways for families (maximising partnership
working, reducing duplication with more effective
use of available resources).
2
Vision and outcomes for children up to 7
Our vision
Objectives
To improve the life chances of children in Bradford by addressing
inequalities, narrowing the gap and improving outcomes for all children
Objective 1:
Children ready
for school and
schools ready
for children
Indicators
l
Objective 2:
Improve health
and wellbeing
for all children
in the district
and reduce
inequalities
Objective 3:
Support and
increase parents’
knowledge and
skills.
Objective 4:
Support the
development
of high quality
leadership
together with
a highly skilled
and responsive
workforce
Objective 5:
Integrated
working and
system change
National measures for early learning l Key Stage 1 l Obesity in Reception
Breastfeeding l Infant mortality l Oral health l Smoking cessation
l Childhood accidents l Immunisations and vaccinations
l Early education take up l CAF take up l Parenting courses
l Children centre engagement l Play team activities
Early support packages l Pathways into work l Integrated Care Pathway
l Parents as educators l Family Support Plans l Peer support
l Children in low income households l Early bonding and attachment
l Workforce development
l
l
Delivery
Plans
New Deal for school readiness l Education Improvement Strategy Plan
l Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Health Inequalities Action Plan
l Child Poverty Strategy and Plan l Safeguarding Board Action Plan
l Early Help Board Strategy and Action Plan l Early Learning Strategy
l 2 Year Old Expansion Plan l Childcare Sufficiency Plan l SEND Plan
l Obesity Strategy and Action Plan l Looked after Children Strategy/Plan
Bradford’s Play Strategy/Plan l Every Baby Matters Strategy and Action Plan
l Women and Infant Nutrition Group’s Plan l Better Start Bradford
l Children’s and maternity network plans
l
l
3
Objective 1
Children ready for school and schools
ready for children
Good communication and language skills combined with strong social and emotional skills are
essential for children to be effective learners throughout life and achieve their potential and
improve their life chances.
Context:
confidence in parents, children and practitioners.
lSupport parents in their role as their children’s
first educators, enabling an enriched home
learning environment in order to support children’s
development.
lEnsure sufficiency and take up of early education
places and improve attendance rates for children
2–7.
lSupport young children’s social and emotional
development with a particular focus on early
bonding and attachment.
lEnsure availability of high quality early learning
and childcare.
lDeveloping self confidence and resilience in
children through high quality inclusive play and
playwork experiences.
lOutcomes for children in early years are well below
national averages.
lThere is a high level of deprivation in the district.
lIn more deprived areas outcomes are even lower
with a high number of children eligible for the new
early education offer for two-year-olds.
Our Priorities:
lNarrow the attainment gap between the lowest
achieving 20% of children and their peers.
lImprove language and communication of children
in the early years schools and settings as these are
the foundations that support children’s literacy skills
as they move along in their learning journey.
lPromote good child centred transitions that instil
Objective 2
Improve health and wellbeing for all children
in the district and reduce inequalities
Good health and wellbeing is vital if children and young people are to enjoy their childhood and
achieve their full potential. Establishing good lifestyle habits in childhood provides the basis for
lifelong health and wellbeing.
Context:
lEnsure interventions to reduce the number of baby
lThe prevalence of obesity or overweight in
lReduce childhood obesity and increase physical
deaths in the first year of life.
Reception and Year 6 children is higher than
the England average and much higher in more
deprived parts of the district .
lThe amount of dental disease amongst five
year-olds is the highest in the region especially
amongst children from poorer households and
within some ethnic groups.
lInfant mortality, low birth weight and emergency
admissions to hospital rates are high compared to
national or regional rates and they are highest in
the most deprived parts of the district.
activity and health eating.
lActively promote breastfeeding.
lImprove immunisation and vaccination rates.
lEffective accident prevention strategies in place to
reduce accidents.
lEnsure minor illness management is effective.
lEnsure the effective delivery of the Healthy Child
Pathway and a seamless transition from health
visiting to school nursing services.
lInform and support parents in their understanding
of the importance of physical and mental wellbeing
in child development.
lEncourage active involvement in high quality
inclusive play and playwork in order to improve
emotional and physical health.
Our Priorities:
lImprove dental health in the under fives.
4
Objective 3
Support and increase parents’ knowledge
and skills.
Parenting is an important, exciting, complex and challenging role. Positive parenting has a strong
and significant impact on children’s ability to maximise the available opportunities and reach their
full potential both personally and academically.
Context:
Our Priorities:
lJust under a quarter of the district’s children are
lEngage with parents in ways that enable them to
classified as living in poverty.
effectively support their children’s learning and
development.
lSupport parents/carers, schools and settings to
positively support children’s personal, social and
emotional development and ensure timely access
to targeted and specialist support if required.
lTimely access to appropriate information services
and Early Help.
lSupport schools and settings to actively engage
parents as partners in their children’s learning.
lEnsure a range of effective, appropriate and
evidence based parenting programmes are
available to those families who will benefit from
this approach.
lImproving pathways into work for parents – skills
development and volunteering.
lLow wages in the district mean that children living
in working households can still live below the
poverty line.
lAdults living in Bradford District have lower skills
levels than both regional or national averages,
only 45% of adults are qualified to NVQ3 or above,
compared to 56% nationally.
lIn some parts of Bradford nearly half of adults
have literacy skills at a level which makes
everyday life difficult.
5
Objective 4
Support the development of high quality
leadership together with a highly skilled and
responsive workforce
Strong leadership and a highly skilled and responsive workforce are essential to the delivery of
high quality services. Effective intervention and evidence-based practice and intervention can
support every child in achieving the best outcomes.
Context:
Our Priorities:
lHealth, wellbeing and educational outcomes for
young children are not improving fast enough and
remain below the England average and are worse
in more deprived areas.
lResources are stretched and in some cases
reducing; we need to ensure what we do as a
workforce is as effective as possible to improve
outcomes especially for children at higher risk of
poor outcomes.
lWe need to ensure our workforce is highly
skilled and responsive to the needs of children
in the future to improve outcomes and reduce
inequalities.
lDeliver multi-agency training programmes based
on best available and emerging evidence and
effective practice.
lEmbed whole family approaches across the
workforce (early years and primary schools).
lPromote peer support and mentoring.
lApply and extend good and best practice across
the district.
lUse the skills and knowledge of the diverse nature
of the workforce.
lPromote and develop a common language,
messages and use of evidence based practice.
Objective 5
Integrated working and system change
Integrated working and system change is integral to the delivery of effective services and
providing early help for vulnerable children and families in order to meet the full range of needs
within each family and strengthen their ability to provide care and support to each other.
Context:
Our Priorities:
lSystems and processes need to be streamlined to
lEnsure improved communication, information and
data sharing.
lPromote and develop a common language and
shared evidence based messages.
lImprove timely interventions and appropriate help
at the right time.
lImprove team around the child and family
approaches to improve outcomes and reduce
inequalities.
lEnsure the Integrated Care Pathway is fully and
effectively implemented and linked to all other key
pathways.
lAligning multi-agency pathways and services
to ensure maximum impact on outcomes and
inequalities.
lEnsure effective transition of family support from
children’s centres and health visitor services to
schools.
remove duplication, identify and address any gaps.
lResources are limited and there is a need for
cost effective and readily available services for all
families.
lWe need to ensure all partners work together in an
integrated way to make best use of our resources,
to ensure consistent, high quality provision across
the district.
lTo improve outcomes and reduce inequalities we
need to ensure our most vulnerable families are
identified early and encouraged through easily
accessible services to sustain engagement.
6
Appendix 1
National Drivers
Recent national reviews and strategies, including
the Marmot Review published in 2010, all support
ensuring services and interventions are focused on
prevention and early intervention for pregnant women
and young children to ensure children get a good start
in life and reach their potential.
The Children and Families Act 2014 seeks to improve
services for vulnerable children and to support
families. It underpins wider reforms and policies
published in recent years to ensure that all children
and young people can succeed, no matter what
their background.
Early Education provides the opportunity to improve
the life chances of all children and ensure that they
are ready to take full advantage of their next stage of
learning. Recent expansion of funding for 2 Year Olds
has meant that free Early Education places are now
available to those children living in the poorest families
across the district. Evidence shows that 2-year-olds in
good and outstanding Early Years provision see real
benefits in terms of their early language skills, and
physical, social and emotional development. Preschools, nurseries, school nurseries and childminders
all play a vital role. Working in partnership with all
providers we will support a sector led approach to
quality improvement across the district.
Investing in the early years of a child’s life with
effective evidence based interventions, with both
universal services and also targeted approaches with
families and children at risk, ensures all children will
have improved outcomes and reduces inequalities.
The cost benefit of this approach in terms of an invest
to save model for the future is also well evidenced.
7
References that support this strategy
Fair Society Healthy Lives The Marmot Review UCL Institute of Health Equity (2010)
Supporting Families in the Foundation Years Department for Education and Department of Health (2011)
Are you ready? Good practice on school readiness Ofsted (2014)
Foundation Years: Sure Start Children’s Centres House of Commons Education Committee (2013)
Munro Review of Child Protection: final report - a child centred system Department of Education (2011)
Public Health Outcomes Framework Public Health England (2013)
Health visitor implementation plan - a call to action 2011-15 Department of Health (2011)
The Guide to Early Years Profiles NHS England and Public Health England March (2014)
Measuring what matters: A guide for children’s centres UCL Institute of Health Equity (2014)
Independent report to Her Majesty’s Government - Early Intervention: the next steps Allen G MP (2011)
Independent Review of Poverty and Life Chances - The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming
poor adults Field F (2010)
Children and Young People’s Health Benchmarking Tool Child and Maternal (ChiMat) Public Health England
(2015)
Children and Families Act (2014)
SEN Code of Practice (2014)
School funding reform; next steps to a fairer system Department for Education (2012)
Lamb Inquiry: Special educational needs and parental confidence Lamb B (2009)
The economics, technology and neuroscience of human capability formation Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences of USA Heckman (2007)
Conception to age 2 –the age of opportunity WAVE Trust (2013)
The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project Sylva et al Institute of Education et al (2004)
Our online version of this document has links to all the relevant references.
8
Appendix 2
Local Drivers
District priorities
Education and School Improvement
Strategy
The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) 2014
for Bradford district identifies the fact that many of the
key outcomes for children in early years are worse
than England averages and are significantly worse
in more disadvantaged populations and within some
specific communities. These outcomes include infant
mortality rates, dental decay rates, school readiness
in Reception (EYFSP), obesity rates and child poverty
rates. Educational attainment overall for children
and young people is below average and well below
average in more deprived parts of the district.
The Education and School Improvement Strategy
(2013-2017) has three priorities:
lChildren starting school are ready to learn
lYoung people leaving school are ready for the
world and life
lAccelerating the rate of achievement and
attainment of students
Good schools and a good start in life
Priority 1 of the New Deal approach
Bradford Council has five key priorities as part of the
New Deal approach for 2014 onwards and Priority
1 is led by the Director of Children’s Services.
Priority 1 includes improving school readiness and
ensuring that all children get a good start in life. The
Integrated Early Years Strategy, which will include
lessons learned arising from the Better Start Bradford
programme roll out, is key to this element of Priority 1.
Community Strategy
The district’s Community Strategy sets out three core
transformational priorities. These are:
lEducational attainment
lRegeneration
lSkills development
Children and Young People’s Plan
The Better Start Bradford programme is a £49 million
programme awarded to Bradford in June 2014 by
the Big Lottery Fund. It is a programme funded over
10 years and is focused on improving outcomes for
pregnant women and young children in 3 of the most
deprived wards in the district.
Bradford’s Children’s Trust via its Children and Young
People’s Plan has agreed three priorities for all
partners to work towards in the district. This plan is
currently under review for 2015-17.
lTo improve educational outcomes
lTo reduce the effects of child poverty
lTo protect vulnerable children and young people
Principles of Bradford’s New Deal
approach
Health and Wellbeing
The principles to achieve the kind of local government
and integrated local state we are expecting to be in
2020 are:
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2013-2017) has
agreed six priorities:
lGive every child the best start in life in the
Bradford district
lHelp all children, young people and adults to do
well and have more control over their lives
lCreate fair employment and good work for all
lHave a healthy standard of living for all
lCreate and develop healthy places and
communities
lStrengthen the role and impact of ill-health
prevention
Principle 1: Enabling Community Leadership
– the District should have a culture and systems
of governance which are vibrant, inclusive and
democratic.
The Council provides strong, transparent community
leadership by involving all other public, private and
third sector bodies who share the council’s purpose.
These partners provide collective leadership, support
and resources for engaged and empowered citizens,
and this relationship leads to the co-design and coproduction of public value.
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy is underpinned
by the Health Inequalities Action Plan (HIAP) which
includes six priorities specifically focused on children;
infant mortality, child poverty, parenting and early
years development, children reaching their potential
particularly with SEN or disabilities and oral health.
Principle 2: Integrated Local State – the Council
and other public bodies which constitute the local
state will integrate planning and delivery so that
shared priorities, based on wellbeing outcomes,
9
Principle 5: Reducing Inequalities - All policies and
strategies will aim to reduce the inequalities in income,
health, education and other aspects of wellbeing
which have affected and excluded significant parts
of the population and which limit opportunity and life
chances.
Principle 6: Subsidiarity: decision-making is
devolved to the lowest appropriate
level – so that strategies and services can be tailored
to meet the needs of specific individuals, families and
communities. This principle also needs to be aligned
to principles 1 and 2, wherein appropriate levels
of governance and integration may determine or
influence the location of decision making at different
spatial levels – regional, district or local – and where
appropriate, involves individuals in co-production or
personalised commissioning.
drive decision making, joint commissioning, resource
allocation and joined up services and relationships
with citizens and service users.
Principle 3: Reducing Demand, Changing
Expectations and Behaviour – Policies and
strategies will be focused on actively managing, and
where possible, reducing demand for services in order
to manage costs within reducing resources and to
eliminate waste.
Principle 7: Productivity and Value for Money –
policies and strategies will be able to demonstrate
a commitment to delivering improved outcomes or
reduced social costs in ways which minimise financial
cost and waste and maximise economic efficiency
and societal impact. This may involve a degree of
trade-off between incurring costs in the short-term
against intended longer term benefits, and recognition
that some aspects of wellbeing and public value are
not amenable to economic measurement. There also
needs to be consideration of the balance to be struck
between the economic risks inherent in innovation,
and the potential future cost benefits which could
accrue if innovation is successful.
Such policies and strategies will require the Council
and partners to work with citizens and service users
in order to change expectations that existing services
can continue to be provided in the same way and at
the same level.
Such policies and strategies will also involve citizens
and service users in ways which change their
behaviour so that they take greater responsibility,
individually and collectively for meeting their own
needs.
Five Year Forward View Bradford District
Health & Care
Principle 4: Investing in Prevention and Early
Intervention – A critical approach to managing
demand in ways which reduce cost, eliminate waste
and develop more positive, co-productive behaviours
is through shifting strategies upstream towards
preventing costly problems occurring in the first place,
or at least intervening in problems before they become
chronic and intractable.
This Five Year Forward View (2014-2017) report
was published in 2014 by Airedale Wharfedale and
Craven, Bradford District and Bradford City Clinical
Commissioning Groups includes a commitment to the
Marmot Review and specifically this includes giving
children a good start in life and maximising their
capabilities.
Research demonstrates that such strategies work best
when they engage partners working on common or
related outcomes, where resources can be pooled or
aligned, and where delivery is joined up and engages
service users in designing and delivering the outputs
and interventions which lead to improved wellbeing
and/or reduced social failure.
10
Appendix 3
Strategy and Delivery Plans
Bradford’s Children and Young People’s Plan provides the over-arching strategic framework for the Integrated
Early Years Strategy.
There are a number of multi-agency strategies and delivery plans that are currently being implemented across
the district.
These include:
lNew Deal for School Readiness
lSEND Plan
lEducation Improvement Strategy and Plan
lLooked After Children Strategy / Plan
lHealth and Wellbeing Strategy and Health
lBradford’s Play Strategy / Plan
Inequalities Action Plan
lEarly Childhood Services Service Plan
lChild Poverty Strategy and Plan
lEvery Baby Matters Strategy and Action Plan
lSafeguarding Board Action Plan
lOral Health Improvement Strategy and Action Plan
lEarly Help Board Strategy and Action Plan
lWomen and Infant Nutrition Group’s Plan
lEarly Learning Strategy
lHealth Visitor Implementation Group Action Plan
and Integrated Care Pathway Action Plan
lTwo Year Old Expansion Plan
lChildcare Sufficiency Plan
lParenting & Family Support Strategy
lObesity Strategy and Action Plan
lChildren’s and Maternity Network Plans
11
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available in other formats such as large print
and Braille. Please call 01274 433582.