education briefing

Education

Education The Early Years (0-7) / Y blynyddoedd cynnar

Income Poverty

Current Challenges What Can Be Done? Where To Go?

Education Costs Parents living on low incomes in Wales are struggling to meet increasing and diverse "hidden" costs of sending their children to school.

Utilise the Children in Wales: good practice guide for schools (training available)

Tackling Child Poverty in Wales - A Good Practice Guide for Schools Or Contact [email protected]

Vocational Skills The opportunities to work with parents accessing early years provision on improving skills for work are not always maximised.

Review the links between early years provision, vocational training, skills development and access to employment.

Family Friendly Employers The promotion of family friendly employer working practices remains a priority to help more parents into work.

Visit the website to find out more

http://www.employersforchildcare.org/ Working Families


Income Poverty


Literacy Skills Specialist support in pre-schools – particularly for language and pre-reading skills –benefit’s children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those for whom English is an additional language.

Review the effectiveness of current activity and explore potential for further work.

Literacy Trust

Ymyriad a chefnogaeth Mae ysgolion llwyddiannus yn gweithio mewn cymunedau o amddifadedd yn gosod targedau uchelgeisiol i ddisgyblion, yn eu holrhain yn rheolaidd ac yn ymyrryd ar unwaith os oes disgybl yn syrthio nôl

Datblygu dulliau cadarn o olrhain a chefnogi disgyblion sydd mewn perygl o dangyflawni

ncsl.org.uk Report:-narrowing-the-gap reducing in school variation in pupil outcomes

Education Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg

Income Poverty


Working with Parents The impact of parental involvement and support on children’s education has been widely acknowledged. Parental engagement in deprived areas is often lower than in other areas.

Consider doing more outreach work, including out of hours support and working with vulnerable families.

"not too hard to reach: developing a tool to reach the most disadvantaged families" Teaching Expertise article

Working with others Schools alone are unable to tackle and overcome the effects of child poverty on education. Effective schools working in deprived areas develop creative methods of working with others.

Develop creative methods for the recruitment and retention of staff. Consider recruiting from the local community and ex pupils for all staff positions.

Free school meals administration and take up Efficient, user-friendly free school meal administration encourages take up.

Establish a course of action that ensures that free school meal and other education related grants administration is accurate, efficient and take up of entitlement is in the top quartile of authorities.

Useful strategies for increasing free school meal takeup Food for life article on free school meal take-up


Income Poverty


Sustainable Procurement In 2005 it was estimated that 35% of the £4 billion spent each year by the public sector in Wales was won by indigenous business supporting some 70,000 jobs. Every 1% increase to this figure should relate to an increase of some 2,000 jobs.

Develop a common partnership approach to sustainable procurement that ensures opportunities to support the local economy and skills development of young people are secured.

Buy Wales http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/node/1413 http://www.s-p-i-n.co.uk/toolkit.asp#Socio-Economic

Charging Policies Charging policies and practice that do not fully consider concessions can limit the life chances of the poorest.

Develop robust school charging policy and practice that effectively considers the needs of pupils experiencing poverty and disadvantage.

Oldham Policy on charging for school activities

De Stigmatising Payment Methods Some free school meals and other payment methods stigmatise pupils making them more vulnerable to bullying.

Develop sensitive payment methods within school settings

Cashless Catering http://www.familyandparenting.org/item/1202 Denbighshire Cashless Catering


Income Poverty


Travelling to learn/work Transport is a significant barrier to accessing learning/ employment and training. Learners from less well-off backgrounds are further disadvantaged if they are not funded to travel to work placements.

Review local policy and guidance and develop travel plan to ensure that learners and workers in disadvantaged areas are able to access learning opportunities in the most efficient way possible. Developing a Transport impact assessment maybe a useful evaluative tool.

Sustrans travel planning WAG Funding Advice

Education Play Sport, Leisure and Culture / Chwarae, campau, hamdden a'r

pethe Income Poverty


Engaging children, young people and their families in arts, culture and leisure when there are significant financial barriers.

Maximise use of community settings e.g. integrated children’s centres or community schools to provide subsidised activities. Access extracurricular provision through programmes such as Dragon Sport and 5x60, in which teachers and volunteers provide activity sessions free of charge or at minimal cost. Provide staffed play areas - funding available from Big Lottery fund

The Community Builders Handbook Arts Council Wales fund community arts and dance organisations across Wales who aim to engage children from deprived communities. Sports Council for Wales employ Dragon Sport Coordinators based in local authorities across Wales. The Coordinators work with schools and community clubs to provide opportunities for 7-11 year olds http://www.dragonsport.co.uk 5x60 officers are funded through the Sports Council for Wales to provide extracurricular sport sessions for secondary school pupils.




Retaining participation levels when costs for uniforms, equipment or subs become too high

Explore partnership working with the private sector and/or charities to part fund activities and equipment. Develop a community co operative model in which facilities and equipment are shared. Applications can be made for up to £1000 of Community Chest grant from the Sports Council for Wales to buy sporting equipment to start new clubs or to expand existing clubs. Clubs in deprived communities may also be able to use these funds to purchase uniform for their teams.

Promoting private sector engage-ment in sport for development partnerships http://www.sports-council-wales.org.uk/grants-funding/grant-schemes/community-chest

Minimising the costs of participation for families with more than one child.

Saturday morning school pilots are being developed by the Welsh Sports Council to provide low cost or free additional services in an environment accessible to local families. Increase opportunities for partnership working specifically between CYPPs, Communities First and local arts providers (community arts organisations).

Sports Council - Wales grants




The need to support and promote activities within communities rather than introducing activities through external initiatives.

Building local interest and capacity ensures that services are more sustainable because they attract a critical mass of people, are easily accessible and relate to the locality. Community capacity can be built by procuring funds to provide subsidised costs and underwrite of activities.

Hand in Hand- Arts based Ac-tivities and Regeneration (ACW)

Developing an accurate picture of participation, financial barriers and related outcomes.

Develop a more robust monitoring and evaluation model to reflect the actual number of people engaging in relevant services and measure the impact made.

Unpacking Participation




Lack of Awareness There is limited awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Raise awareness of children and young people’s right to participate under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Welsh Assembly Government policy e.g. Extending Entitlements.

Useful supporting websites on the UNCRC – list some here. Save the Children Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group and Funky Dragon information on website on UNCRC for children and young people. http://www.sccyp.org.uk/participation/resources.php

Being Worse Off Children and young people experiencing poverty should not be worse off as a result of their participation.

Fully review the individual costs of participation and ensure that up front costs are minimised.

Camden documents

Lack of money Monetary issues can often act as a barrier to attending participation activity.

Develop good practice in relation to the reward, remuneration and recognition of Children and young people’s participation, ensuring that it takes into account the complexities of the welfare benefits system.

Good practice Guide www.participationworkerswales.org.uk

Education A Safe Home and Community / Cartrefi a chymunedau diogel

Income Poverty


Preventing Arrears Help to improve tenancy security and transition into stable housing by linking the council’s approach to improving financial literacy skills of vulnerable young people and families to Local Housing Allowance agenda. This could be achieved by developing working arrangements between housing departments/housing benefit administrators and financial literacy educators.

Financial Inclusion Briefing (cih)

Economic inactivity In 2005-6 men and women living in social housing in Wales had a lower rate of economic activity and higher unemployment than those living in other tenures and of economic inactivity.

Explore ways of working in partnership to join up employment and housing solutions. Review housing related procurement processes and investigate the potential for social clauses and employment skills development. Link housing options advice with employment advice

DWP Report on Social Housing and Worklessness


pethe

Income Poverty


The new Local Housing Allowance (LHA) scheme aims to increase financial inclusion by paying housing benefit directly to individuals this poses two risks: 1. There is a possibility that more vulnerable families and young people will put their tenancies at risk through non-payment of rent. 2. Private landlords may face greater risk of non payment if the LHA process is not managed effectively and may be less likely to rent to people receiving LHA.

Develop a robust Local Housing Allowance Safeguards Policy for tenants and landlords that ensures that safeguards are in place to prevent the risk of tenants falling into arrears with their rent and losing their home due to eviction and to provide some assurances to landlords about potentially vulnerable tenants and those who are unlikely to pay.

Local Housing Allowance Safeguards for tenants and Landlords Policy

Sefton Safeguards policy

Education Income Maximisation / Employment / Heb fod dan anfantais o

achos tlodi Income Poverty


Unemployment and worklessness in families are major factors in child poverty. Paid work is seen by the government as a route out of poverty, however the ability to achieve higher quality and sustainable jobs is also important.

Develop in partnership a cohesive local approach to reducing worklessness. That co-ordinates local resource, understanding, data and expertise. Consider the use of outreach services and IT solutions to assist in reducing Worklessness.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation : Local initiatives to help workless people find and keep paid work

Research indicates that benefit take-up is an issue within Wales Official figures show 44% of couples with children are paying out much more than they need to in council tax. HMRC state that in 2005-2006, 60,000 families did not claim their entitlement to Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit which amounted to £80m of unclaimed Tax credits.(central estimates)

Consider the feasibility of undertaking in work benefit-take up take up activities with working families on low incomes. Such activity should be multiagency involving experts from the voluntary sector.

http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/publications/publication-display.do?id=22235 http://www.entitledto.co.uk/default.aspx

There is currently no obligation on councils to take responsibility for promoting improved take-up of welfare benefits. Despite this, there is a growing expectation from Central Government that benefit checks and help to claim benefits should be integrated within council key services.

Consider the feasibility of providing holistic benefit checks for vulnerable families within key frontline services in partnership with the voluntary sector and encourage the take up of WTC/CTC and DLA (especially for children) and Attendance Allowance.

The unclaimed millions: dla and cancer patients CPAG: Out of Reach: benefits for dis-abled children Citizens advice: Tax credit take-up re-source pack




Operating without a bank account can lead to significant costs leading to poor families hav-ing to pay a poverty premium.

Consider developing a multi agency ap-proach (credit unions, voluntary sector, housing, health) to addressing financial in-clusion for families and consider innovative approaches using the internet as a means of delivering accessibility to competitive rates/products.

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/toolkit.shtml http://www.nowletstalkmoney.com/gb/en/default.html http://www.basic-skills.co.uk/ouractivities/financialliteracy/ http://www.pfeg.org/ http://www.learnaboutmoney.org/index.php http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/




There is little awareness among young people of the national minimum wage and employment rights in general.

Consider reviewing the potential role of the youth service, schools and Careers Wales in the promotion of basic employment rights.

TIGER This interactive guidance site run by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) can be used by workers, employers, professional advisers or anyone with an interest in knowing how the national minimum wage law works. BERR - Employment Relations The Employment Relations Directorate at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is responsible for the National Minimum Wage legislation. The website has a detailed guide to the National Minimum Wage, including a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs). Citizens advice: Tax credit take-up re-source pack


Service Poverty


Basic Skills Improvement Develop robust approached to improving basic skills.

http://www.basic-skills-wales.org/bsastrategy/en/resources/early_years.cfm http://www.basic-skills-wales.org/bsastrategy/en/resources/early_years/family_programmes good_practicepack.cfm http://www.basic-skills-wales.org/bsastrategy/en/cross_phase/financial_literacy_homepage.cfm

Childcare Quality The quality of childcare is extremely important in relation to children from low income families as it exerts more influence on the development of these children when compared to others.

Develop robust methodologies for early years improvement, targeting provision which caters for families experiencing poverty.

Care Council for Wales The Effective Provision of Pre-School Edu-cation (EPPE) Project: Final Report A Longitudinal Study Funded by the DfES National Day Nurseries Association


Service Poverty


Assessment of Childcare Sufficiency In responding to the assessment pay particular attention to income gaps, geographical gaps in information and provision in disadvantaged areas, time gaps that act as barriers to work.

Staff Training Research shows that children made more progress in settings which had staff with higher qualifications, especially those with a good proportion of trained teachers on the staff.

Consider developing robust workforce development plans for early years and play staff.

Equality Works Care Council for Wales http://www.wcs.org.uk/Managers_Guide.pdf

Breastfeeding Despite considerable efforts to encourage breast feeding in the UK, rates have remained static for the past 20 years with a strong disparity between social classes and ethnic groups

Consider reviewing the level of provision and support available to disadvantaged mothers.

http://www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/en/docs/FINAL_Breastfeeding_Guide.pdf


Service Poverty


Food Poverty The inequalities in what families eat – de-pending on their socioeconomic group, where they live in Wales, and their ethnic back-

Think about establishing a group to work through the nutrition and food poverty toolkit.

http://www.heartforum.org.uk/downloads/Nut_TkitAll.pdf

Reaching Out Outreach work remains a particular challenge for early years programmes, specifically with regards to improving services for fathers, the parents of children with disabilities, and for ethnic minorities in areas with smaller minority populations

Consider innovative approaches to outreach for early years provision such as investing in Children’s Information Service Outreach.

Toolkit for Reaching Priority and Ex-cluded Families

Positive Behavior Promoting positive behaviour within early years settings can be particularly challenging in deprived areas.

Utilise the Behaviour 4 Learning website which aims to ensure that teacher educators and trainees are provided with high quality relevant resources that enable trainers and trainees engage with the principles of behaviour for learning to improve the management of classroom behaviour, enable achievement and foster the emotional wellbeing of learners.

http://www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk/index.aspx?menuId=10126


Service Poverty


Curriculum and Teaching Schools that are ‘learning organisations’ and prioritise classroom experiences and learning rather than teaching have been found to be successful in reducing the gaps in educational attainment caused by poverty.

Tailor the curriculum specifically to the needs of the pupils and consider flexible approaches to teaching methods.

14-19 Learning Peacehaven Community School

Supporting Educational Attainment Develop effective Children and young people partnership monitoring arrangements for educational attainment specifically targeting underachievement.

Contact Partnership Support Unit for available resources. Contact Charlotte Drury PSU Manager (029) 20468616

Improvement & Accountability Schools that successfully counter the disadvantages caused by child poverty possess excellent systems to monitor and evaluate the quality of the curriculum.

Review the current monitoring arrangements for educational inequality and ensure that good practice is adopted.

the extra mile: How schools succeed in raising aspira-tions in deprived areas


Service Poverty


School Leadership Consider appointing a member of staff to act as a school champion for child poverty.

School Leadership Establish a “no excuses” culture where no one gets away with not working, not behaving, not trying, not co-operating or not attending.

The Extra mile : How schools succeed in deprived areas

School Leadership Schools that successfully address educational inequalities have dynamic leaders who establish a ‘can do’ culture and value and motivate staff.

Further improve management and leadership development for educational staff especially within schools with a high proportion of free school meal entitlement.

The Extra mile : How schools succeed in deprived areas WAG school effectiveness framework


Service Poverty


Basic Skills Lack of basic skills limit the ability of pupils to partake in educational and skills based activities. This limits employment opportunities

Work with the Basic Skills Cymru to develop a robust approach to developing Basic skills attainment at post 16.

Basic-skills-Wales: post_16 resource

Curriculum and Teaching Schools that are ‘learning organisations’ and prioritise classroom experiences and learning rather than teaching have been found to be successful in reducing the gaps in educational attainment caused by poverty

Further develop pupil centred approaches that assesses what would it take to achieve good outcomes for each individual child.


Basic Skills Lack of basic skills limit the ability of pupils to partake in educational and skills based activities

Work with the Basic Skills Cymru to develop a robust approach to developing Basic skills attainment at primary level.

Basic Skills Wales


Service Poverty


School Leadership Develop a culture which is characterised by an assumption by teachers that they need to earn pupils respect and attention by using interactive teaching techniques.


Basic Skills Lack of basic skills limit the ability of pupils to partake in educational and skills based activities.

Work with the Basic Skills Cymru to develop a robust approach to developing Basic skills attainment at secondary level.

Basic Skills Agency

Communities First Communities First now has a responsibility to address Child Poverty.

Consider good practice in partnerships between schools and regeneration projects that address child poverty, skills and educational attainment of the most vulnerable in society.

http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/983.asp homeoffice.gov.uk activecommunities


Service Poverty


Raising Aspirations In many areas in Wales that are experiencing poverty there is a “perceived poverty of ambition”

Support and further develop a range of informal education provision that helps raise aspirations, confidence, self esteem and motivation.

extending entitlement

Information advice and Guidance Focus advice and guidance services for those at risk of disengagement.

The effectiveness of the Careers Wales Companies in supporting young people in making a successful transition from education to employment

Smooth transitions Develop robust methods that track those at risk of becoming a NEET, deal swiftly with dropout and develop efficient coordinated youth support services.

TOOLKIT ALIGNING PROVISION Developing provision to meet PSA Targets for Attainment of Level 2 at 19 and Reducing the proportion of Young People who are not in education, employment or training (NEET)


Service Poverty


Basic Skills Low levels of basic skills in work hamper the ability of employees to progress and perpetuates in work poverty.

Prioritise basic skills within your own organisations and encourage all partners to sign up to "Basic skills employer pledge". Complete and implement the action plan.

Basic-skills-Wales: employer pledge

Community Schooling Extended schooling and out-of-hours activities are particularly important to disadvantaged pupils: they do not enjoy the range and richness of out-of-school learning available to their more advantaged peers.

Explicitly target Community Schooling provision at the most disadvantaged communities/young people.

Community Focussed Schools: Making it happen a toolkit

Curriculum and Teaching Cultural opportunities provide many benefits which can increase childhood resilience. Those who grow up in poverty have fewer recreational, social and cultural opportunities.

Provide cultural opportunities that pupils would otherwise not have access to (sport, art and other activities)

Enhancing pupil learning on museum visits (TL_MUSEUMS)


Service Poverty


Working with Parents Parental engagement in supporting learning has been found to be a key factor in increasing the attainment of vulnerable pupils.

Consider using the Scottish toolkit parents as partners in learning toolkit to enhance current work.

teachernet. workingwithparents parents as partnersinlearning toolkit

Working with others Consider bringing in role models to show people from their own background that can be successful.

http://www.infed.org/biblio/role_model_education.htm http://www.teachers.tv/video/244

Curriculum and Teaching Extended Schools and out of school activities programmes that provide effective and complementary educational support to vulnerable children play a significant part in reducing the gaps in educational attainment.

Priorities community schooling in schools with high populations of pupils entitled to free school meals.

Literacytrust.org.uk/socialinclusion nfer extended schools


Service Poverty


Smooth Transitions In Wales, the proportion of young people not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET) aged 16-18 is at a relatively high level – at around 10-12% or 12,000 young people for nearly a decade.

Develop a partnership approach to the reduction of NEETs focusing on early intervention.

WAG Consultation paper on NEETs http://www.bild.org.uk/03books_autism.htm http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/children/docs/neet-toolkit.pdf

School Rewards Develop robust recognition and reward and practices.

dfes.gov.uk keystage3 downloads

School Rewards Develop in partnership a flexible pastoral and youth support framework

dfes goodpractice WAG: A whole school approach to be-haviour and attendance


Service Poverty


Learning Coaches Undertake Learning Coach training on child poverty.

Learning Coaches (Wales)

Intervention & Support Successful schools working in deprived communities set ambitious targets for pupils, track them regularly, and intervene immediately should any pupil fall behind.

Develop robust pupil tracking and support mechanisms for pupils at risk of underachievement

WAG A focus on achievement: Guidance on including pupils with additional needs in whole school target setting

School Exclusion Work with the Community Safety partnerships to develop robust responses for excluded pupils and appropriate resources to re engage them with education.


Service Poverty


School Exclusions Prevent vulnerable children missing out by adopting approaches that minimise the potential for school exclusions.

http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/961.asp http://www.teachers.tv/video/2542

Education Health Freedom from Abuse and Exploitation / Iechyd, a rhyddid rhag cam-drin a

Service Poverty


Access to family planning services

Poverty and deprivation, poor educational achievement and low expectations have all been identified as key factors contributing to high rates of teenage pregnancy Poverty is a key risk factor for teenage pregnancy. Girls whose families are in social class V (unskilled manual) are ten times more likely to become teenage mothers than girls from professional backgrounds. They are also far less likely to have an abortion if they do become pregnant. Providing well targeted family planning and sexual education programmes are essential and linking this provision to the education curricula i.e. via P.S.E. would support the mainstreaming of some family planning and sexual health advice.

Brook information sheet Planned Teenage Pregnancy- JRF perspectives on teenage pregnancy and community based support mechanisms SCIE research briefing

Access to a safe and healthy environment

It is very often the environment in which a child or young person is living that can have the most impact on their health. Children living in poverty are more likely to be exposed to substandard facilities, such as school toilets or a lack of open access play areas. The public health strategic framework will set out a vision of improved public health and wellbeing for all children and young people by 2020. But for the framework to be successful action at a local level must begin now with reviews of community facilities and a better understanding of the links between wellbeing and poverty.

Public Health Strategic Framework Route to Health Improvement (WLGA) Review of school toilets (WAG &WLGA)

Education Play Sport, Leisure and Culture / Chwarae, campau, hamdden a'r pethe

Service Poverty


Adequately targeted services and evaluation of outcomes focused on enhancing the participation and engagement of children from deprived or hard to reach communities.

Local authorities are not required to collect information that indicate the number of children from deprived wards who are accessing cultural and leisure services. This continues to undermine targeted planning and provision. A local pilot initiative to collect data and improve targeting would be a step forward.

Sport Action Zones Arts and Public Engagement : Patterns. Processes and levers for Change Arts Council Wales databases offer details of community arts organisations which operate across Wales

Lack of joined up local indicators that link access and participation

In the absence of Key Performance Indicators, local Indicators could be developed to enhance access for children in deprived wards, using the Free Swimming and other similar initiatives as benchmarks.


Service Poverty


There are very few audits of available services mapped against deprivation indicators. This makes planning activities very difficult. Funding for play services is rarely reviewed continuing on the basis of historical information. An audit of services and funding streams would align current resources to children’s play needs

In all local authorities there is sustained investment in cultural venues. This in turn needs linking up with local community groups, school curricula and youth services to increase access and opportunity e.g. school visits to museums, hiring of mini buses via transport grants and organising walking buses. Sustainable community provision linked in with local priorities e.g. reclaiming unused land to create new play spaces by working with the environmental services and planning departments. Greater use and development of play impact assessment to support the need for increased provision. linking the wider community with educational and environmental agendas.

www.playwales.org.uk 0 Play Impact Assessments Bridging the Gap –from policy to implementation working together to combat poverty (Swansea, Glasgow & Newham)

Education Participation and Decision Making / Cymryd rhan yn y broses benderfynu

Service Poverty


Schools Councils The creation of School Councils are a recent legal requirement practice is varied and knowledge of making the process inclusive is limited.

Utilise the relevant resources/toolkits available on the following websites.

http://www.schoolcouncils.org/resources http://www.schoolcouncilswales.org.uk/

Workforce Development There is a perception that there are skills gaps in relation to the delivery of participation activities relating to child poverty.

Training adults in the participation of children and young people living in poverty so that they can support, encourage and facilitate this process.

The Participation Unit has a list of participation trainers from across Wales. The Unit is also piloting a Train the Trainers in children and young people’s participation which will cascade training across Wales.

Limited local knowledge There is limited research on the local barriers to participation caused by child poverty

Undertake participatory approaches to explore the barriers to participation of hard to reach children and young people / children and young people living in poverty in particular.

Download the good practice guide on ‘Ensuring Inclusion’ from www.participationworkerswales.org.uk Contact organisations with expertise in reaching hard to reach groups e.g. Black Voluntary Sector Network

Education Participation and Decision Making / Cymryd rhan yn y broses benderfynu

Service Poverty


Lack of Resources There are limited practical resources for facilitating the participation of vulnerable children and young people with sensitive issues such as child poverty.

Use resources available e.g. Dyamix ‘Spice It Up’ pack for games and activities. Draw on good practice from other areas / organisations

Sign up as a member to the participation e-briefings for the Participation Workers’ Network for Wales and get examples of good practice from across Wales. Download good practice guides on children and young people’s participation from www.participationworkerswales.org.uk. Liaise with local participation workers / youth forum workers who have a remit for the participation of children and young people locally. Liaise with local school councils. Liaise with Funky Dragon, the Children and Young People’s Assembly for Wales, which has a national remit for children and young people’s participation.

Processes Improving the process of children and young people’s participation and the quality of their experience overall remains a key issue for practitioners.

Use the National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards as a guide. There are seven standards: information, it’s your choice, no discrimination, respect, you get something out of it, feedback and improving how we work. Keeping to these Standards will mean upholding what children and young people have identified as the core components of participation.

Download the National Participation Standards document and the Self Assessment Pack from the website www.participationworkerswales.org.uk which shows how to measure and evidence against the Standards to improve good practice.


Service Poverty


Homelessness Further develop services that help prevent people becoming homeless in the first place, such as advice, mediation and ongoing support. Mediation workers

Youth Homelessness local Authority Prevention Tools/

Home Safety Accidents within the home are a major health problem throughout Wales and are associated with a range of factors including poor housing conditions and poverty.

Develop robust information provision and projects regarding the prevention of accidents with vulnerable families.

http://www.rospa.com/homesafety/wales/whsc/links.htm

Child Pedestrian Injuries Develop robust safe home to school arrangements

home to school transport consultation saferoutestoschools.org.uk roadsafetywales.co.uk


Service Poverty


Child Pedestrian Injuries Child Pedestrian Injuries are strongly related to with deprivation.

Explore methods of improving road safety in disadvantaged areas. Via the NSF arrangements within key action 2.38.

department for transport t roadsafety re-search

Homelessness Local authorities, through their homelessness strategies, should provide the direction and create the framework within which all agencies join up to bring together a range of accessible options that open up genuine opportunities for homeless people.

CHC homelessness toolkit

WLGA Homelessness and housing advice toolkit

Education Income Maximisation / Emplyment / Heb fod dan anfantais o achos tlodi

Service Poverty


Living in social housing is a key risk factor associated with child poverty and worklessness

Consider the potential for housing services to work with tenants to address worklessness. For example Sheffield Council, housing services and the local Jobcentre Plus (JCP) are joined-up and in some cases even co-located and in other local authorities planning, regeneration and Section 106 agreements have been utilised to address issues of worklessness and skills.

TESCO Stockport Regeneration Partner-ship


Participation Poverty


Children’s Information Services Poor communication with parents about the range of services available limits participation.

Develop a range of materials to support the promotion of early years provision to parents who are at risk of experiencing poverty.

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/_doc/P0002522.pdf

Fathers Fathers’ involvement in the earliest months of a child’s life may be critical to later outcomes.

Utilise the information provided and review practice.

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/_doc/P0002547.pdf

Lone Parents Lone Parents participation Needs of disabled participation, ethnic minority.

Ensure that steps are taken to research the local needs of lone parents and other groups at risk of child poverty.

Day Care Trust




At risk Groups Lone Parents, the disabled and some ethnic minority families are at risk of child poverty.

Ensure that steps are taken to research the local needs of lone parents and other groups at risk of child poverty.

Listening to lone parents about Childcare daycare trust Listening to parents of disabled children about childcare daycare trust




Participation in Schools They suggest that it is only through listening closely to young people that we can begin to fully understand issues associated with poverty, disadvantage and educational achievement.

Further develop in partnership to place the voice of families and children at the centre of discussions around the scrutiny of educational achievement and progress the nature of provision to effectively target educational inequalities.

participation for schools web site

Stigma Children experiencing poverty from a very young age show a clear awareness of the difficulties that they face in and out of school and how this will affect the outcomes of their schooling.

Develop supportive mechanisms that prevent stigma and bullying

The impact of poverty on a young child's experience of school

Education Health Freedom from Abuse and Exploitation / Iechyd, a rhyddid rhag cam-drin a



Engaging local people in learning about nutrition

Cymru Cooks Cymru Cooks supports the development of cookery clubs, as an out of school hours learning activity. Clubs can now register on the Cymru Cook website either by downloading an online form or a word docu-ment.

Cymru Cook website




Maintaining engagement over a period of time

Creative and innovative methods can be used to respond to community needs, enhance interest and ensure the development of new skills.

Yale Centre for Digital story telling at Yale College Wrexham, is now working with Communities First areas to deliver new and exciting experience and skills to the public.

Lack of local capacity A number of councils work in partnership with communities first partnerships, the arts council, sports councils and other voluntary sector providers to bid for funding and enhance local community capacity, specifically in the arts and cultural pursuits. Such collaboration ensures community needs are met whilst increasing facilities, access and engagement. The sports council, working with local authorities, has developed a programme called 5 x 60 aimed at increasing access to physical activity and sports. Sixth formers from across Wales have been trained to deliver support to younger children, enhancing both their skills and values and ensuring increased participation. Local grants are available from the Sports Council for Wales to support small enterprise organisations in their provision of local sporting opportunities. Grants are also available to a wide range of organisations to support the development of capacity.

The role of sport in regenerating communi-ties




The need for local services to encourage greater participation.

There will be enhanced participation if service provision is worthwhile, fun and gives opportunity to gain new skills or an award (e.g. Millennium volunteers Grant scheme) Development of intergenerational projects enhances skills and provides access to services e.g. cinema night or cultural trips. Some local authority areas have sports’ councils who provide a voice for local clubs. The umbrella body for these is the Welsh Association of Local Sport Councils. The Libraries for Life scheme launched by WAG should encourage greater engagement with and use of local library facilities

Communities First Network- Billy Brown Creative Partnerships Arts Council Wales strategies for promoting participation and funding opportunities. WAG Statement 2005 Welsh Association of Local Sport Councils Libraries for Life




Play Research over recent years has repeatedly highlighted children’s declining presence in the outdoor world that was traditionally their playground. Possible causes are traffic, fear of crime, negative attitudes to children in public and planning policies that take little account of their needs.

One of the main reasons children give for not playing outdoors more is that they and their parents are afraid for their safety. Fear of strangers, traffic and bullying by other children combine to keep children in their own homes. Good play provision protects children through reducing unacceptable levels of danger, while allowing them the opportunity to challenge themselves and use their initiative

Child's Play: Facilitating play on housing estates Open Space and Children's Play Areas Checklist

Participation and Leisure Consider the creation of a virtual team to work with homeless families in hostel and other settings. The idea of a virtual team is to bring together services such as a link social worker, education welfare, children’s worker and other agencies to co-ordinate their work. Each team member would retain their existing line management and job title but would be given time to contribute.




Participation and Leisure Children in hostels and in temporary accommodation have a loss of social contact with friends and limited play and leisure opportunities which can limit their development.

Review the need for a children’s worker to be employed within housing departments (using Women’s Aid as a model for this service) to assess and support children and their parents. Their role could include referral to other agencies, advice around childcare, provision of play and leisure at the hostel and information on local resources for children.

Education Participation Children and young people experiencing homelessness/temporary accommodation issues are at risk of low educational participation.

Consider linking the Education Welfare Service to the support homeless families and families in temporary accommodation in maintaining children’s education. Consider developing a protocol to better identify, monitor and help homelessness children/children in temporary accommodation in attending their original school or in changing schools. You may wish to review the need for a dedicated worker within Education Welfare to specifically support children in temporary accommodation/ homeless families.

Education Income Maximisation / Employment / Heb fod dan anfantais o achos tlodi



Lack of appropriate profession debt advice can adversely affect participation and access to services.

Develop a coordinated approach that links voluntary sector and statutory provision to deliver streamlined debt advice provision.

Citizens Advice Cymru is the lead Organisation of the Financial Inclusion Fund project, which offers face to face debt advice in Wales

Families and young experiencing poverty often face difficulties accessing financial products and internet deals such as basic bank accounts.

Basic Bank accounts Toolkit E.g. Carmarthen LA and Carmarthen CAB have worked to ensure that Local Housing Allowance claimants have access to bank accounts

Basic Bank Account Toolkit for Housing Benefit claims is designed to guide other Local Authorities through the process of setting up the same kind of service we have with one bank and to address any questions

education briefing

Documents

families education

education costs parents

school variation

free school meal takeup

vocational skills

early years provision

skills development

effects of child poverty