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Children’s Partnerships Team

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Overview of the Team

The Children’s Partnerships Team is the first point of contact for work that involves partners across the County in order to deliver and improve outcomes for children, young people and their families. Our programme of work supports the local priorities as set out in the Buckinghamshire Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP), as well as delivering a number of national requirements. The Team sits within the Learning, Skills and Prevention Division of Children and Young People’s Services, Buckinghamshire County Council. Members of the Team have a broad range of skills that can support a wide variety of work, including:

• Managing, implementing and delivering partnership programmes. • Project Management and evaluation. • Training. • Consultation. • Business Planning. • Web Management.

The Team works in a flexible way that enables us to:

• respond quickly and effectively to changes in policy; • take on new programmes of work; • deliver a range of programmes and commissioned work at

both a local and national level.

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Key areas of work and expertise

Specialist Areas:

� Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Work Experience, Internships and Placements � Communications � Project Management � Strategic and Business Planning � Training (designing and delivering) � Web Management

Consultation/Participation:

� Children and Young People’s Participation � Event Management � On line consultations

Programmes of Work:

� Children’s Centres � Connexions � Family Information Service � Information Sharing � Partnership Working � Workforce Development

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Specialist Areas:

Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Work Experience, Internships and Placements

The Team developed a scheme for hosting apprentices across the Learning, Skills and Prevention Division. The scheme allows all teams to commission pieces of work from the apprentices, giving them varied work experience across the Division. Work experience, internships and work shadowing are also offered in a variety of settings.

� Four apprentices have achieved an NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Business and Administration to date. � All four secured temporary or full time work within the County Council. � A new cohort of three apprentices working towards NVQ Level 2 has been in place since June 2013. � Three short term and one longer term work experience placements hosted. � Successful Under-Graduate internship hosted for a 2nd year Politics

student. � Currently hosting a Graduate Trainee. � Looking to support the Traineeship Programme in 2014.

Communications

The Team has well-established and effective communication links with partner organisations and is knowledgeable about the relevant people to approach for different areas of work. The Team has developed a high quality process for communicating with schools, including the Schools Bulletin and Governor Times.

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Project Management

Members of the Team are qualified and experienced in managing and supporting projects, from one-off events such as Employment Fairs and promotional activities, to longer term complex projects including the national Payment by Results Trial in 35 of Buckinghamshire’s Children’s Centres. Current projects include:

� Re-tendering the 35 Buckinghamshire Children’s Centres – project managing the tender process.

� Children’s Centres Annual Conversation - piloting a new approach to the Annual Conversation with Buckinghamshire’s Children’s Centres.

� Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Local Offer - part of the SEN reforms proposed within the Children & Families Bill, due for implementation in September 2014. Information about what the ‘offer’ is for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or disability from education, health and social care providers.

� Munro Project Strand 3 – redesigning forms on ICS as part of improved use of ICT by social care staff. � Inspection Ready – supporting Children and Young People’s Services to be aware of the new Ofsted

Inspection Framework and to understand what is required to demonstrate the effective work that takes place. � Safeguarding Board contribution – membership of the Monitoring & Evaluation sub-committee and

participation in audits.

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Strategic and Business Planning

The Team is responsible for producing, implementing and evaluating a number of key strategic plans including the Buckinghamshire Children and Young People’s Plan, the overarching document that all partners working with children and young people sign up to. The Team oversees Portfolio and Business Plans for the County Council’s Children and Young People’s Services.

Training (designing and delivering)

The Team is experienced at designing, developing and delivering training courses and workshops. Examples of previous work include:

� Family Outcome Star Awareness Training for managers and partners.

� UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools and Early Years Award.

� Loan Shark Awareness Training. � Elements of financial budgeting for young people. � Skills Training for Children’s Centres.

Web Management

The Team provides guidance, advice and constructs effective and appealing web sites. Other support provided includes:

� Development and maintenance of County Council Children and Young People’s Services and Partnership web pages in partnership with colleagues.

� Managing web sites to enable communication with professional partners. Examples are SchoolsWeb, Early Years Web and Children’s Centres Web.

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� Development and maintenance of the website for the Buckinghamshire Learning Trust. � Development and maintenance of e-forms and web applications for County Council Children and Young

People’s Services. � Contribute to the ongoing improvement of the online booking system for schools.

Consultation/Participation:

Children and Young People’s Participation

We can design and run sessions or events to involve children and young people in decision making.

� Each year we organise an event for the national Children’s Commissioner for England’s ‘Take Over Day’ where children and young people are invited to take over a job or task for the day. This has produced excellent outcomes such as a guide for schools and teachers on how to support Service children moving into the school and developing the ‘freshbucks’ Twitter page https://twitter.com/Bucks_FIS

� The Team is a key partner in the design and delivery of the bi-annual Children and Young People’s Residents’

Survey to consult with children and young people on issues that are important to them and, due to our

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partnership working, we are able to facilitate projects to try and address some of the issues that are raised.

Event Management

Team members are experienced at planning, coordinating and running events, from celebrating the work of schools and showcasing services at the County Show, to running specialist events to promote employment opportunities and schemes for Service families.

On line consultations

We specialise in developing and running web-based consultations in partnership with colleagues. The Team is skilled at producing consultations which can be bespoke to partners’ requirements. These consultations can be developed online so the results can be available for data analysis immediately.

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Programmes of Work:

Children’s Centres

The County Council Children’s Centres deliver a wide range of services, activities, advice and support to families who have children under the age of 5. The work of the Centres is regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure it meets the changing needs of communities and families, as well as to evidence sustained improvement. We are committed to raising their profile and ensuring that the Centres link with wider strategies to support children, young people and families across Buckinghamshire.

Connexions

Working with Connexions Buckinghamshire staff, who offer information, advice and guidance to young people aged 13-19 years and up to 25 years with learning difficulties/disabilities, we provide marketing and communications support. This includes:

� Raising and maintaining awareness of the Connexions Service throughout Buckinghamshire � Managing the Connexions Buckinghamshire brand to ensure all communications are on brand, including the

Connexions Centres. � Managing Connexions Buckinghamshire website and social networking sites. � Involving young people in the design of the Connexions Buckinghamshire Service. � Raising the awareness of Staying in Learning Longer (Raising the Participation Age).

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Family Information Service

The Buckinghamshire Family Information Service (BFIS) provides parent/ carers and prospective parents with information, advice and assistance on activities, childcare and parenting. It is the principle service for information to parents for the Local Authority and can be accessed by website, social media, telephone, email, text and outreach. BFIS receive an average of 15,000 people visiting the website, deliver approximately 20 outreach session per month, have 1,430 Facebook followers and 610 Twitter followers (as of October 2013). BFIS offers extra support, particularly for families of children with SEN and/or disabilities, or struggling with family finances. They also support children and young people through advice on the BFIS website Youth Zone, via the @freshbucks Twitter account and at events in schools, college open days and employability fairs. The BFIS website is the only website in the county to promote the sessions and activities in all 35 Sure Start Children’s Centres.

BFIS won the national Family Engagement Award for Public Sector at the inaugural Family Friendly Award 2013 for its work supporting parents through social media. They have also developed a Professionals’ Directory that partners can use to access contact details for other professionals from a range of organisations across the county.

Information Sharing

The Team embeds the understanding of the Multi-agency Information Sharing Code of Practice principles in front line multi-agency work and supports the development of inter-agency detailed procedures. Two workshops are offered each year. We work in partnership with Early Help, in particular the Family Resilience Service, to support the use of the Family Outcome Star; deliver awareness training and support the development of

new processes and Ofsted Inspection readiness.

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Partnership Working

Team members are strategic leads for a range of corporate and partnership projects, including:

� Co-ordination of the Children and Young People’s Partnership Executive and the three Local Children and Young People’s Partnership Boards. These are multi-agency Boards who devise local projects that will deliver outcomes for children and young people. The projects are run by Task and Finish groups made up of operational staff from relevant organisations. Current projects include:

- Job Clubs. - Family Employability. - Sharing Resources. - Family Budgeting.

� Child and Family Poverty: leading the implementation of the strategy, working closely with partners to

develop and coordinate projects that meet its objectives. Effective links have been made with the England Illegal Money Lending Team who supported our campaign in 2012 to help people understand how to avoid loan sharks or what to do if they were already involved. Over 600 people attended the sessions and this campaign attracted the Stop Loan Sharks Champions Award - Regional Winner August 2012. Other projects completed or being scoped include: - Employment fairs for young people. - Energy saving campaigns. - Intensive support to young people to improve educational and work

outcomes. - Financial management skills with school students. - Asian Women’s Enterprise Group.

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� Families First – Delivery and Impact and Evaluation Work Strands: leading on these two work strands. Children and Young People’s Services Lead on the Chesham Community Wellbeing Group.

� Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy: leading on the

implementation of the strategy by working with the Strand Leads to monitor and update the plan and deliver the agreed outcomes.

� Welfare Reform: raising awareness of changes under the reforms

and working to minimise their impact on families.

� Armed Forces Community Covenant: supporting the implementation of the Covenant, particularly the Education, Children and Young People’s Theme. The Covenant aims to support the Armed Forces Community and make it easier for them to access the services they need.

� Rights Respecting Schools Award: management of and key delivery partner for the Award in

Buckinghamshire schools and early years settings. We co-ordinate the promotion, development and growth of the Rights Respecting Schools and Early Years programme in Buckinghamshire by developing and delivering training to schools and building effective relationships with key stakeholders and schools to implement the programme.

Workforce Development

The Team lead on the induction, development and retention of a workforce that best meets the needs of children, young people and families. This includes supporting innovation and cultural change through activities such as leadership seminars, co-constructed professional development programmes, task-and finish groups and a regional succession leadership programme. The lead helps to support the implementation of the Early Intervention Strategy, Social Value policy, post-Munro reform of Social Work, Buckinghamshire Academy

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for School Leadership, Children and Young People's Services leadership seminar programme, Health Visitor programme and the Families First (Troubled Families) initiative.

How We Can Help You

Requesting Project Support To help us better understand your requirements please complete the Work Request Form. Charges Charges for undertaking work are assessed on a case by case basis. These will be discussed with you on receipt of the Work Request Form. Some pieces of work may not incur a charge.

If you have a project or piece of work that you think we could assist you with please contact us on 01296 387657 or email cpt@buckscc.gov.uk to discuss your requirements.