Home-Start
Stroud District
Annual Report 2015/16
Charity no. 1107019
Company no. 05282509
MEET THE TEAM
Trustees 2015/16:
Elizabeth Ewart-James
Heather Cunild
Gervase Hamilton
Duncan Dicks
Diana Lapping
Sheila McGrath
Sheila Marsh
Malcolm Swait
Nicolette Vyce
Janette Wallace
Chairman
Treasurer
Vice-Chairman
(Resigned August 2015)
(Resigned July 2015)
(Resigned March 2016)
Advisors to the Committee 2015/16:
Carol Wilkins, Children’s Centre Manager, Cllr Liz Ashton, Stroud District
Council Representative, Kay Badham Volunteer Rep (resigned December
2015), Harriet Walker Volunteer Rep (appointed January 2016.
Patron: Nell Gifford
Staff 2015/16:
Alex Corgier
Angela Lovegrove
Jenny Kempson
Diane Williams
Senior Coordinator
Family Coordinator
Family Coordinator
Office & Finance Coordinator
Volunteers 2015/16:
Jannette, Kay, Patricia, Kate, Jane, Pam, Deborah, Alison, Alison, Gill,
Roberta, Heather, Hilary, Sally, Paula, Kaisa, Pam, Karen, Christine,
Janette, Anthony, Miranda, Elizabeth, Helen, Becky, Patricia, Jean, Rosey,
Corrine, Lynn, Christina, Julie, Kathryn, Judy, Mary, Prisca, Sarah, Anne,
Daphne, Val, Sue, Melanie, Connie, Lisa, Teresa, Amanda, Vicky, Helen,
Linda, Harriet, Andrea, Nia. Volunteers to the Committee: Susan
Dunnett and Sandra Lampard.
Welcome to our new volunteers:
Alison, Anna, Andrea, Bridget, Clare, Ella, Ine, Janet, Lucy, Magdalena,
Michelle, Monique, Stevie, Susan.
Thank you and best wishes to our retiring volunteers:
Lee, Mary, Margaret, Alison, Sandra, Zosia, Angie, Jayne, Jean, Kate,
Susan, Teresa, Sue, Carolyn.
Home-Start Stroud District
Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Bristol Road,
Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
T: 01453 297470
E: [email protected]
W: www.homestartsd.org
Follow us on Facebook @ Home Start Stroud District
Follow us on Twitter @homestartsd
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
ABOUT US AND THE AREA WE COVER
Home-Start Stroud District offers advice and support to families with
children under 5 living in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire.
THE DISTRICT
There are approximately 110,000 people living in the Stroud District of
Gloucestershire, with around 4370 aged between 0-4 years.
(Stroud District Council Data 2014)
Covering approximately 200 square miles, our community is made up of
small market towns, villages and rural areas.
As with many rural areas in Southern England there are pockets of
deprivation hidden behind the picturesque towns’ facades.
17% of these children are deemed as living in poverty.
Rural isolation and poor transport are issues for families in the district.
3
OUR WORK IN THE COMMUNITY
This year we received over 90 new referrals and were able to support
around 80 families in the community.
The scheme has supported parents and children in this area for over 15
years and in this year we received our 1000th referral.
Our core purpose is to create stronger, happier, independent families
through our individualised support programmes designed to reassure
parents that their problems are not unusual or unique and to provide
them with the skills to better deal with different situations and to give
vulnerable children a better start in life.
Central to our success is
that we work at the heart of
the family – in the home
and we stay for as long as
we are needed; supporting
parents as they grow in
confidence, strengthening
their relationships with
their children and widening
their links with the local
community.
The children we help often come from families with complex and
multiple needs. The families may be disadvantaged through poverty or
may be vulnerable and/or 'hard to reach'. One or more family members
may have a mental health condition more than half have needs relating
to both isolation and low self-esteem and are failing to access support
systems within the community. Our service is known and proven to be
able to engage with some of the most isolated families; they value that a
volunteer is giving their own free time to support them and that their
support is always given in a non-judgemental and strengths-based
way.
This report shows the purpose and achievements of the charity and the
trustees are confident that this illustrates compliance with section 17 of
the Charities Act 2011 which is intended to show Public Benefit as
defined by the Charities Commission.
“This ‘whole family approach’ with practical support, is crucial and I
think we would be lost without it.” Funder
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
EARLY INTERVENTION IS THE KEY
Our work recognises and promotes the effectiveness of early
intervention and support for families who are struggling for one reason
or another. Our experience is constantly being validated by a plethora
of research and reports that point to the importance of early help.
A recent cross-party manifesto The 1001
Critical Days (the importance of the conception
to age two period) (2014) highlights the
importance of acting early to enhance the
outcomes for children. It advocates a holistic
approach to early support and states; “Outreach
and volunteer services will potentially provide
the greatest success in reaching the most
vulnerable and isolated families.”
A report from the Sutton Trust (2014) (Baby
Bonds - Parenting, attachment and a secure base for children)
strongly concludes how secure attachment in the first three years is
fundamental for children’s later development and life chances, and
hence social mobility; that early attachment has wide and lasting
consequences, including for other priority outcomes like cognitive,
language development and educational attainment and retention:
“The overwhelming finding in our review is that warm, sensitive, and
responsive care, from both mothers and fathers, builds secure
attachment. It is also clear, however, that economically or emotionally
insecure parents will find it harder to provide this. Policy in the UK has
already addressed some of the factors that threaten good early
parenting and secure attachments, but more can be done. In particular,
there is a group of families whose children are at-risk for insecure
attachment, but not (yet) indicating problem development, who could
benefit from increased service engagement and ‘parent-training’. In
addition, early interventions with very high-risk or troubled families with
children under age three, can promote secure attachment and
development, especially when skilled practitioners support parents and
model sensitive and responsive care. For both national and local policy
makers, this would represent a sound preventative investment.”
“In view of the many cuts taking place across all allied statutory
services Home-Start is quite literally a life-line for many children and
their families. The service of early intervention is cost effective.”
Philanthropist and Funder.
5
VOLUNTEER SUPPORT CHANGES LIVES
Our team of over 65 volunteers are given comprehensive training (40
hours over a ten week period) and are supported and supervised by
three professional coordinators. Home-Start volunteers are subject to
DBS checks and satisfactory references. Volunteers are at the heart of
our scheme and our success is based on their skills, their generous gift
of time and the sharing of their knowledge. This is underpinned by
robust recruitment, training, supervision and quality assurance systems.
“Home-Start volunteers are great at helping families to access
community groups and other services…. and this piece of work is vital.”
Children Centre family worker
The distinctive relationship with families made by a volunteer rather
than a paid member of staff encourages engagement from reluctant
users and enables a trusting relationship to unfold in families who might
have no prior experience of unconditional support and friendship.
Our volunteers make a huge difference. They support whole families,
taking care not to come between parents and their children, and seek to
model good parenting skills. Each volunteer visits on the same day each
week, spending 3-4 hours with the family and continuing to work with
them for as long as they are needed, whether this is 3 months or 2
years.
They spend time with the children
talking, listening, reading and playing
- encouraging creative and educational
activities and involving parents in this
play. They know that it is only early,
preventative intervention which will
break the cycle of deprivation and that
the first years of a child’s life are
crucial to the development of
language and learning. Home-Start
receives referrals for families needing
help, and assesses each case, making sure that the help is going to
those who need it most.
“I think you run an excellent well managed and professional service.
You are very competent, experienced and offer on of the best services in
the county.” Infant Mental Health Service
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
This has been another exciting year for us. We have now passed our
1,000 family referral since we started 17 years ago. The referrals
continue to come in thick and fast. No doubt there is an extra need now
that there are continuing cutbacks in children’s services. We are still
managing to attract a really high quality of volunteers and our four staff
are really busy keeping the show on the road.
This year we went through our Quality and Assurance review ably
assisted by Trustees Gervase Hamilton, Sheila McGrath and the staff.
In this year, we were offered the opportunity of taking over the running
of the two day Westonbirt Fair on the 25th and 26th of October 2016
which raises a significant sum every year - (as much as £30,000). With
the aid of a part time paid organiser and a committee headed up by
Francis Cunild we very much hope to exceed that. The reason we were
offered this opportunity was, because in past years, our volunteers who
assisted when we were one of a number of benefitting charities so
impressed the retiring committee that they came to us first when they
decided to retire.
We were also very pleased that
Nell Gifford, of the magical
Gifford’s Circus, kindly agreed to
be our patron. The circus which
gives so much pleasure every
year to so many children every
year in this area is something we
are delighted to be associated
with. We look forward to
developing this relationship in
the future.
As ever my thanks to the staff, the trustees, the volunteers and others
who provide links for other agencies such as special advisers and
friends of Home-Start. We were sorry to lose Duncan Dicks and Nicky
Vyce and thank them for their valuable help in the past.
Last, but not least, I would very much like to thank our funders who in
difficult times continue to support us enabling us to provide a very
valuable service to the early lives of so many children.
Elizabeth Ewart-James, Chairman
7
A WORD FROM OUR
VOLUNTEER REPRESENTATIVE
I have been a volunteer for Home-Start since 2001, 15 years, and I have
recently been attending Committee meetings as a potential trustee. I am
a trained primary school teacher working part time teaching art and I
also volunteer as a support mentor in a local secondary school.
I have supported 11 families through Home-Start and am currently with
a family I have been with for over 2 years. I have 3 adult children and
did my training when my youngest child was just about to start school
and have really enjoyed my time as a volunteer whilst working with a
huge variety of families. I feel it is a real privilege being accepted into a
family as a volunteer and I love using my own skills and experiences to
help that family to cope and make sense of what is often a very difficult
and stressful time.
I decided this year that I would like to become a Trustee to help support
Home-Start continue to help with fundraising as resources get tighter.
My individual contribution is to challenge myself by cycling from
Nailsworth to Paris in June 2016, a distance of approximately 300 miles.
I am also Volunteer rep, providing a point of liaison for the volunteers
and the Trustees as well as organising social events to produce a
cohesive and friendly group to work within.
Harriet Walker, volunteer
Volunteer Groups on Preparation Courses
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
HOME-START CONVENTION 2016
Our Family Coordinators, Angela and Jenny, attended the Home-Start UK
National Convention ‘Brighter Futures’. Jenny has written us a brief
overview: “This was an inspiring convention with some great
motivational speakers and interesting workshops to attend. One of the
highlights was listening to Professor Tanya Byron and we both would
have liked her to have had a longer time slot! We had plenty of
opportunity to share ideas with other schemes and have some
interesting discussions around the difficulties and solutions that
schemes face nationally. There was a very moving ceremony in the
evening to honour all the wonderful volunteers and awards were given.
‘Release your inner social activist’ - was one of the workshops I
attended, it looked at how to use data to coordinate support for
stakeholders who want to be involved in what we are doing. This really
helps to build long-term relationships to ensure ongoing support. We
looked at the importance of using MESH (monitoring and evaluation
system in Home-Start) to show families journeys alongside individual
stories and quotes; simplicity is key, showing outcomes using case
studies and quotes not just figures. Also MESH can show how HomeStart enables families to access vital services and can highlight what
other services are needed but not available. These are powerful
quantitive outcomes that can show the work that our scheme is doing.
Indeed, recently, the New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) launched a report
on shared measurement methodology as part of their Inspiring Impact
programme. Home-Start’s MESH is quoted throughout the publication as
a positive model of using a shared measurement tool.
This graph shows family supported in 2015/16 coping scores
at initial visit and at end visit. (MESH)
Jenny Kempson, Family Coordinator
9
BIG HOPES BIG FUTURES!
Big Hopes Big Future (BHBF) is a tested and proven approach to helping
parents create a positive home learning environment for their children.
To date we have trained 8 of our lovely
volunteers with the BHBF programme, which
focusses on helping children start school
ready to do well and reach their full potential.
The volunteers enable parents to develop their children’s
early learning through play, reading, games and fun
activities. They support parents to create a positive home
learning environment for their children and encourage
good behaviour and routines. They help children and
parents prepare for and manage the transition into nursery
and school.
It is about understanding the families’ individual needs,
helping parents to overcome their own learning
difficulties and barriers to learning, to help parents to
understand the benefits of early learning for their
children. Our volunteers come alongside the parents to
focus on language and cognitive skills, daily living skills
and the ability for children and parents to adjust their
behaviour.
Through partnership with parents the volunteers are
able to role model and use a wide variety of
resources to help encourage children to speak
clearly, recognise their name, enjoy songs and
rhymes, to have regular reading at home, be involved
in fun activities, to be able to work independently, to
be able to use the toilet and wash their hands, to dress themselves, use
a fork, use scissors, to be able to wait patiently, to play with other
children, to take turns and share etc.
BHBF is a proven tool for ensuring children start school better able to
enjoy learning. We are using it as an additional service to our Core
home-visiting volunteer support.
We would like to thank the
Gloucestershire Community Foundation Trust and the Freemasons Trust
for their financial support in the development of this area of work.
Angela Lovegrove, Family Coordinator & BHBF Lead
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
SCHEME REPORT 2015/16
There is so much lip service given to the idea that everyone should have
an equal start in life, that equality of opportunity is there for all to take,
however, as a family support service dedicated to this ideal, the reality
that we come across nearly every day is that families often need a
helping hand to ensure they achieve their potential and are not held
back by obstacles and fences they are unable to climb over on their own.
We also observe that these same families often climb over one hurdle
only to be faced by another different-shaped-one a few miles further
down the line. That’s why the enduring non-judgemental support
offered by us can be such a lifeline to parents and their children and is
the reason why we provide support and friendship to families for as long
as they need us by their side.
One of the hurdles faced by so many families is that of poor parental
mental health and this year I spent a lot of my time developing a project
around better understanding and supporting mental wellbeing in
parenthood. Recently there has been increased positive recognition that
supporting good perinatal mental health is vital to the long-term
wellbeing of children and families; the National campaign
‘Everyonesbusiness.org.uk’ run by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance
has helped push this important issue into the spotlight. As a scheme we
recognised that over two thirds of all our referrals had poor parental
mental health as a central facet of need and this propelled us to want to
think further about this issue.
Following an evaluation with serviceusers, professionals, volunteers and
the community as a whole we began
to develop a community model of
what good practice in supporting
families with poor mental health
might look like. We were so pleased
to receive the backing and funding
from the Gloucestershire Clinical
Commissioning Group to expand
and develop this model in the
Stroud District as well as to help us
expand into the Quedgeley and Kingsway areas of Gloucester as from
the 1st of April 2016.
Alex Corgier, Senior Coordinator
11
Quality Assurance in Home-Start
The quality of a scheme’s practice is assured by the Home-Start Quality
Assurance (QA) System for Schemes, a bespoke QA System developed in
collaboration with Charities Evaluation Service (designers of PQASSO).
This robust system is based on a programme of self-assessment against
Home-Start’s Quality Standards and a process that focuses on the
ongoing development and continuous improvement of all practice areas
relating to the governance, management and service delivery of local
Home-Start Schemes.
The standards fall into the following 8 Quality Areas:
1.
Governance and Strategic Planning
2.
Learning and Improving
3.
Managing Resources & Finance
4.
Managing Staff
5.
Managing Volunteers
6.
Managing Information
7.
Welfare of Children and Supporting families
8.
Working in Partnership
Home-Start UK’s QA team conducts detailed external review every 4
years and can accredit the schemes QA work if all mandatory and key
requirements are met. Home-Start’s QA System for Schemes has the
endorsement of the Charity Commission for England and Wales and its
QA Specialists are accredited ISO internal auditors. In addition HomeStart UK holds ISO 9001accreditation and the Investors in People Award.
Home-Start Stroud District demonstrated full commitment and
compliance with the Home-Start QA System by providing a full set of
completed self-assessment reports with details of resulting action plans
and progress reports. The scheme also provided all requested
documentation for the desk top review.
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
SHOWING APPRECIATION!
“
Comments from families supported by Home-Start:
“Home-Start support gave me confidence in myself by showing me to
believe in my skills as a mum”
“Thank you for coming into our lives, not judging but offering the gift of
time, care and support.”
“My Home-Start volunteer was able to forge a wonderful relationship with
my daughter and become another caring adult in her life, which as a mum
with no local relatives with invaluable.”
“Home-Start made it ok to admit that raising children can at times be
difficult and that it is fine for anyone of any background to ask for help.”
“My volunteer listened, helped with the children, let me talk to her and she
showed me how kind people can be. She reduced my feelings of isolation
and gave me hope.”
“I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted after becoming a
single parent of a sick baby. To be honest I was dubious to begin with,
having a stranger in our house and entrusting her with the most precious
thing I ever have, my baby. That was a year ago and I don’t know what we
would have done without her. Words can’t express how grateful we are for
all she has done for us.”
“Home-Start has made a difference to me in many ways - improved my selfesteem and confidence, helped me overcome my postnatal depression.”
Comments from Home-Start home visiting Volunteers:
I was attracted to volunteering for Home-Start because of its “reputation,
its philosophy and principles and the fact that I had observed the
positive impact of the work of the organisation during my working life.”
The thing I enjoyed most about my time with Home-Start was “getting to
know the family that I was assigned to and feeling that the help I was
providing was appreciated and made a difference.”
“The best most comfortable training I’ve been on in 20 years.”
“I have thoroughly enjoyed the course, sharing knowledge and
experiences as well as the content. Our facilitators have created a safe,
informative environment which has covered difficult topics well.”
“This has been a fantastic and very interesting course, led by a great
team of Coordinators that have made me feel that I can do this.”
13
2015-16 HIGHLIGHTS
Manager of Morrisons Store in
Nailsworth presenting a cheque for
£5000 from the Morrisons
Foundation to Home-Start Trustees,
December 2015.
Family and ducks enjoying the
benefits of WWT Slimbridge
Family Party June 2015
Cheque presentation from
Sainsburys in Dursley to
Home-Start Trustees,
June 2015
Home-Start Christmas meal at
Egypt Mill December 2015
Home-Start display at
St Laurence Church
Christmas tree Festival 2015
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509
THANK YOU SUPPORTERS!
Our sincere thanks go to all those who have supported us during the
last financial year.
To our major funders for their loyal and continuing support:
Hill Valley & Vale Children’s Centres, The Peter Lang Children’s Trust,
Stroud District Council, and Stroud Town Council, The David Thomas
Trust.
To those who have given us grants this year:
Gloucestershire Community Foundation, The Susanna Peake Charitable
Trust, The Morrisons Foundation, The Freemasons, Red Nose Day,
Sovereign South West, Tesco Charity, GreenSquare Group and S Lewis .
To our local sponsors:
The James Tysoe Trust, Coventry Building Society Stroud, The Barnwood
Trust, Inner Wheel of Stroud, Fascinating Rhythms, Sainsbury’s Dursley,
Slimming World Dursley, Minchinhampton Ladies Club, D Doughty, Scott
family, S Rolfe, L James, S Marsh, J Penn, D Lapping, L Lapping, H Cunild,
C Landry, P Brooke.
To those groups & individuals who have supported Home-Start SD
this year:
Cotswold & Vale Health Visitors; Mary Healey-Health Visitor, David Drew;
Dursley United Charity, Stroud Life, Family Information Service, Louise
Woakes, Flo Atkins-Sure Start, Foodbank & Kids Stuff; Hill Valley & Vale
Children’s Centres; Home-Start Cotswold, Home-Start Bristol, Matt
[email protected]; Mel Angove-Beresford Group, Nailsworth Town
Council, Stroud Children & Families Team, Stroud VCA; St Laurence
Church Christmas Tree Festival; Young Gloucestershire, Slimbridge
Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, and of course to all our volunteers who gave
of their time and those who donated expenses.
NUMBER CRUNCHING!
Families supported during 2015-2016 –76
Children supported during the year – 175
New referrals this year – 92
Volunteers supporting families during year – 55
Newly trained Volunteers this year – 14
15
MONEY MATTERS!
Much energy this year went into
making a sound bid to the Big
Lottery for funding to run a 5 year
project on perinatal maternal mental
health. Despite getting through to
the final round and being
complemented on the application,
funds were not made available
which was very disappointing.
However the year has ended on a
positive note as the Gloucester Clinical Commissioning Group has
allocated funds to get the project underway and we are hopeful of
getting further funds from local sources to continue work in this crucial
area.
We are fortunate in our funders many of whom have consistently
supported us for many years despite increasing financial pressures. A
wonderful array of donors also do so much to support us financially.
In the year 2015-2016:
Income: £114,271
Expenditure: £115,961
Net loss for the year: £1,572
Reserves: £50,000
Other funds brought forward: £1,961
Reserves
The Trustees of Home-Start Stroud District have set a reserves policy
which requires that £50,000 of funds are to be held in reserve to meet
the costs of redundancy, and 3 months running costs should the
scheme need to be closed down. The reserves may also be used to
cover for any temporary shortfall in funding but must be re-instated as
soon as replacement funds are received.
Review of Risk
The treasurer reports to the board at its regular meetings relating actual
income and expenditure to the approved start of year budget. Risk is
assessed and future expenditure reviewed.
A full set of accounts is attached or available from Home-Start Stroud
District. We are very grateful to our accountant Claire Owen of Owen
Accountants, Patch Cottage, High Beech Road, The Pludds, Ruardean,
GL17 9UD for preparing these accounts.
Heather Cunild, Treasurer
Home-Start Stroud District, Annexe 3, The Wheelhouse, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Glos. GL10 3RF
Registered Charity No. 1107019 Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 0528509