WEST SUSSEX AGIS PROJECT TEAM AGIS SEMINAR 30TH JUNE-2ND July

2005 Littlehampton

West Sussex England

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AGIS PROGRAMME – WEST SUSSEX 30TH JUNE/1ST /2nd JULY LITTLEHAMPTON, WEST SUSSEX THURSDAY 30TH JUNE 4.15 ASSEMBLE AT THE TOWN HALL LITTLEHAMPTON 4.30 INTRODUCTION TO THE MAYOR OF LITTLEHAMPTON AND

BRIEF BACKGROUND TO THE EVENT 4.45 WELCOME BY THE MAYOR OF LITTLEHAMPTON 5.00 VISIT TO LITTLEHAMPTON MUSEUM – BRIEF HISTORY OF

THE TOWN 5.45 LEAVE FOR THE “LOOK ‘N’ SEA” CENTRE 6.00 VISIT THE “LOOK ‘N’ SEA” CENTRE 7.00 LEAVE FOR ‘ARUN VIEW’ 7.20 ARRIVE ‘ARUN VIEW’ – FISH & CHIP SUPPER 9.00 LEAVE (approx) FRIDAY 1ST JULY 8.30 ASSEMBLE AT ARUN CIVIC CENTRE 8.45 WELCOME FROM IAN SUMNALL -CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF ARUN

DISTRICT COUNCIL 9.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE DAY AND WORK PROGRAMME -

MEETING CHAIRMAN – Terry Bishop 9.15 – 10.45 – WORK SESSION Police Constable David Gingell – 10-15 minute description of the Safer Schools Initiative – and to lead a discussion on the experiences of police officers in schools. Conclusions and summary 10.45-11.15 – COFFEE 11.15 – 12.30 – WORK SESSION Ian Vinall –Area Manager of the Families and Schools Support - 10-15 minute description of the Joint Action Team (JAT) process – and to lead a discussion on the experiences of inter-agency co-operation in the school system. Conclusions and summary 12.30 – 1.45 – LUNCH (Buffet lunch at Silk Road Restaurant)

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1.45 – 3.30 – VISIT TO THE LITTLEHAMPTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL Jayne Wilson – Head teacher - organised brief tour of school/introduction to the school. Juliet Starbuck et al, to create a Restorative Justice scenario. Jayne and Juliet will facilitate question and answer session. Travel back to ADC – Civic Centre 3.45 – 5.00 – WORK SESSION. INCLUDING PLANNING FOR NEXT MEETING Mike Thomas –Head of Youth Offending Services - 10-15 minutes introduction to the work of the Youth Offending Team in meeting crime reduction targets in particular with reference to Education, Training and Employment (ETE). To lead a general discussion about the plans for each team and how they are planning to use the experiences to create an ‘outcome’ as their contribution to the project. 5.15 – LEAVE BY COACH FOR CHICHESTER COUNTY HALL – West Sussex County Council 6.00 – 6.45 - HOSTED RECEPTION. Peter Moor, Vice Chairman of West Sussex County Council - Edes House. 7.30 - ARRIVE AT WEALD AND DOWNLAND OPEN AIR MUSEUM FOR GUIDED TOUR AND DINNER. 21.30 (approx) RETURN BY COACH TO LITTLEHAMPTON SATURDAY – 2nd July Choice of visits - Her Majesty’s Prison - Ford (restricted to prison staff only) Durrington Custody Centre or Littlehampton Serious Incident Facility – Police only Childrens/Family Centre, Clun Road Wick –Social Services and Education staff

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AGIS SEMINAR – 30TH JUNE - 2ND July 2005 Littlehampton, West Sussex, England Delegates Terry Bishop Project co-ordinator for West Sussex Juliet Starbuck Senior Educational Psychologist – West Sussex Y.O.T. Jayne Wilson Head Teacher - Littlehampton Community School Ian Vinall Area Manager – Families and Schools Support Mike Thomas Head of Youth Offending Services – West Sussex Y.O.T. Gian Pietro Villa Executive Manager Minors Office (Provincial Police) Aosta Valley Sabrina Biscaro Professional educator - Regional social Policies Management Claudio Buat Albiana Language teacher Sally Larder English Lecturer Prof. Francisco Xavier Pina Prata Universade Autonomade de Lisbon, Portugal Prof. Celia Sales “ Elena Compan Co-ordinator of Projects – Family Care Services – Alicante Spain Dolores Planelles Segui President of Timoneda Association (Teacher’s Association) Helena Crenier Romano Co-ordinator of European Projects Javier Albarracin Hernandez Local police of Elche Vicente Cerda Pomares Local police of San Vicente de Raspeig Joaquin Vicente Calpena Urios National Police of Alicante Miguel Angel Piera Repolles Antonio Aguilar “ Alf Andersson Manager in charge of programmes – Gotenburg – Sweden Mike Rice Prison officer Ingel Granath “ Urban Thiria “ Ene Pill Chief Specialist of General Education Unit - Tallinn Education Ly Kallas Pohja Police Prefecture - Tallinn - Estonia Guests for the Friday Seminar Richard Davies – Chairman of School Governors – Littlehampton Community School Roger Purdom - Vice-Chair Paul Sanderson – Student Services Link Governor Mark Frankland – Children’s Fund Programme Manager Sue Smith – Littlehampton Community School Julian Lee - Head of Behaviour Services, School Improvement Support WSCC Dave Gingell – Safer Schools Partnership Officer - Sussex Police Dan Steadman – Sussex Police Authority

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AGIS Seminar – Friday 1st July 2005 Terry Bishop, Project Co-ordinator for the West Sussex Team, as chairman for the day, welcomed all the delegates and introduced Ian Sumnall Chief Executive of Arun District Council. Ian welcomed all the delegates to the first European conference to be held in the Civic Centre in Littlehampton. Terry Bishop took the delegates through the programme for the day and for the visits being made on the Saturday. The first presenter was David Gingell of Sussex Police. Presentation for AGIS Project. Introduction. Good morning, welcome to you all and thank you for coming to Littlehampton. I am Police Constable Dave Gingell and I am the School Intervention Officer, or Safer Schools Partnership Officer as it is now known for Littlehampton Community School and Angmering School. These are the two main secondary schools that serve the Littlehampton area and I will explain more about the role later. I have been a Police Officer for the best part of 22 years. I have served at a number of stations but spent the majority of my service in this area and the surrounding towns. This is my first role that deals specifically with youth and youth issues. At the end please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer them. The views and answers I give are my own and not necessarily those of Sussex Police. History/Overview. Some years ago the Government looked into the number of street level crimes that were being committed by persons of school age. Police Officers were posted to 100 schools in the 10 worst areas in the Country, with a view to preventing and deterring these youths offending. The first area, within Sussex, that the role of School Intervention was piloted was Eastbourne. This was started in September 2002 (the start of the school year) by PC Roy Miller. Littlehampton followed in September 2003, with PC Brian Towner, who has since moved stations. I started in October 2004 and hopefully will continue for the foreseeable future. The AGIS project is concerned with Littlehampton Community School and I understand you will be visiting there later. It is one of the largest schools in the Country with over 2000 pupils. The catchment area covers a wide range of pupils from very different backgrounds. Some pupils have a very financially secure upbringing, in good class homes, and want for very little. Many have very deprived backgrounds and live in one of the poorest wards in the County. Certainly some of the pupils have a very sad and disturbing home life.

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The Role of School Intervention. At present we have two Officer roles within the schools. School Liaison and School Intervention. The roles should not be confused, although both Officers work together. School liaison covers far more schools and age groups, delivering lessons from road safety to citizenship, and is really the educational side of the Police. The School Intervention role is more towards enforcement. The Officer is placed within specific schools, all secondary and therefore the older age groups. Each Officer has designated schools. As said I deal with Littlehampton and Angmering. At Worthing, the next town to the East of here, my counterpart deals with one school. We will shortly be recruiting a School Intervention Officer for Bognor Regis, who will have 2 schools. At present there are 14 School Intervention Officers in Sussex, with more in the pipeline. I see the job as not to criminalise the youth of today, but to be there as a guide, a source of advice and information and to warn of the consequences of criminal behaviour. Not just criminal records, prison, fines, etc. but career prospects and the reduction of the opportunities to travel (American Immigration Policies). The role is to prevent these young people from committing offences. Once they are in the legal system to the extent that the Youth Offending Team (whom you will hear from later today) are dealing with them, then in practice I have lost them. I see this as a long term project, as the new pupils start school in year 7 they will then get used to the Police as they progress through their education. The types of incident/interventions I deal with are:- Bullying Minor Crime Anti Social Behaviour Drug/substance abuse Attendance Good citizenship I also conduct home visits, act as a liaison between the schools and the Police and assist with Restorative Justice (there is a session on this later today). I work very closely with the schools and assist them in matters of a criminal nature and matters affecting their pupils. I am not there just for the students but also for the staff. I have a phone where staff can contact me at any time I am on duty. I would consider my working relationship with the schools is very good. There have been teething problems, but this is to be expected with different working practices. These have been overcome with meetings between senior school staff and the Police. I attend multi agency meetings on matters concerning school pupils and youth issues, and link in with Education Welfare, Social Services and Youth Offending. The Future. Sussex Police has employed a number of Police Community Support Officers. (PCSO) These are to provide a level of public reassurance and deal with minor issues of disorder. In Littlehampton two of these Officers are currently being trained to act as cover for when the School Intervention Officer is unavailable. There are others who will be going to the feeder schools. Again

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this will help the pupils get used to a uniform presence. It will also help the Police identify, at an early stage, families with problems. These families can then be offered the help they need and will help their children through their schooling. In the long term the benefits of the School Intervention should be:- A reduction in anti social behaviour and associated calls to the Police, A reduction in youth incidents reported to the Police, A reduction in exclusions, bullying and truancy, An increase in the feeling of public safety, A better relationship between youth and the Police and therefore the community, An improvement in relationships between the various agencies. All the above should help free Police resources. Thank you for listening. Are there any questions? Questions and Answers There were questions from delegates regarding the actual duties of the piolice officer in the school - particularly regarding the nature of the real police business – arrests and crime management. There were questions regarding how the officer carried out the task – in the school – in the community and in the home. David told the group that there were no fixed processes and he used the best approach for each situation. He might make a home visit, or ask the family to come to the school. He would follow through with prosecution where appropriate, but overall viewed his work as more preventative. The question of a different approach regarding offences against adults/teachers was discussed. David Gingell explained that he viewed offences against teachers as a very different matter than offences between children. The second presentation was made by Ian Vinall of the Familes and Schools Support Unit of the County Council. His power point presentation is attached as a separate document The delegate group was taken to visit the Littlehampton Community School. This is one of the largest secondary schools in the country. The group was welcomed by a party of pupils and shown into the main hall. Juliet Starbuck and Sue Smith, with a group of young actors, presented a real-life drama of a Restorative Justice conference dealing with a matter of insulting and aggressive behaviour which occurred outside of the school but was dealt with successfully within the school. It must be noted that :- The adults involved are trained in the specific techniques necessary

to manage such a meeting The children – both victims and alleged perpetrators - must be fully

prepared for the situation Any adults attending – parents/carers/friends – must also be

prepared and the nature and rules of the event fully explained.

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A suggested ‘script’ for such a conference follows:- Restorative Justice Conferencing

A Script for Use in Schools Introduction Welcome. I’d like to thank everybody for coming along today. My name is --------------- and I will be co-ordinating the conference today. Before the conference begins, I would like to introduce everybody briefly and indicate his or her reason for being here. You must find out what people want to be called during ‘preparation’. It is important to state why each person is there – do not assume that people will know. Now this may be a difficult/uncomfortable meeting for some or all of you but your attendance here will help us to deal with this problem. The conference will focus on the incident (fight, argument, bullying) which happened last Thursday (yesterday, this morning) in the art room (playground, corridor in B block), involving Sam and John (the offender’s and victim’s name). If more than one offender is involved then you can state all their names. If there has been a series of incidents leading up to this one then you can refer to them. It is important to understand that we will focus on what Sam did and how his/her behaviour has affected others. We are not here to decide whether Sam is a good or bad person. We want to explore how people have been affected. We want to see if we can repair the harm that has been done. We will try to try and make an agreement so that this problem does not happen again. If, Sam, you stick to the agreement then it will be the end of the matter and the school will not do any more. Each of you will be given a chance to tell your story. Everyone will be given a chance to be heard. This means that we will be here for about one hour. Is that ok with everybody? Before we begin I’d just like to show you these ‘ground rules’ (read them through). Is there anyone here who disagrees with these rules? Questioning the Offender(s) Sam, to help us to understand what harm has been done and who has been affected by the incident, could you start by telling us WHAT happened? You may want to ask the offender if they can tell you something about how they became involved in the situation. The offender may reveal

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some information that helps people to understand the lead up to events or, perhaps the pressures that are on the young person. What were you THINKING at the time? You may have to ask ‘What were you feeling’ at the time if the YP doesn’t share any of these thoughts. DO NOT ask WHY. What have you THOUGHT about since this happened? If the young person has difficulty self-reflecting here then don’t worry, just move on. You may get more of a response once they have heard the victim speaking. WHO do you think that has been affected by your actions and in what way? This is, of course, a crucial part of the process and will give an insight into the young person’s understanding of consequences and the effects of his or her behaviour on others. Exploring the Harm This is, perhaps, the first step on a long road for a young person who has done wrong. It is where they might start to think of themselves as part of a community rather than just everything being about them. Lessons on empathy, self – reflection, responsibility, etc may come later. This order is crucial. It must not be changed. The parents of the offender must hear what the victims have experienced before being invited to speak otherwise they may start to defend their son or daughter without knowing all of the facts. If there is no obvious victim, for example the young person has been caught using drugs, then speak to the person who first made the discovery, then ask the next person who had to be told, etc. TO VICTIMS: What did you THINK at the time that this happened? What have you THOUGHT about since? How has this incident AFFECTED you? You may want to ask how the YPs family and friends reacted when they heard about the incident or, if the victim is a teacher, how their colleagues reacted.

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Victims, particularly if they are adults, should be encouraged to talk about their feelings. If they are teachers they may find this hard but it really is more effective if they can show a little bit of themselves. It may be necessary to have a chat with them about this beforehand. TO VICTIMS SUPPORTERS: What did you THINK about what you heard about the incident? How do you FEEL about what has happened? What has happened since? TO OFFENDER’S SUPPORTERS: You may want to acknowledge how difficult this must be for the offender’s supporters. If there are two parents and you suspect one is likely to dominate then direct your questions specifically to each one – person the ‘quieter’ one first. What did you THINK when you first heard about this? How do you FEEL about what has happened? If the parents are very negative about their young person at this stage it may be necessary to find something positive to say about the young person, ie, acknowledge that they are there to change, to move on. If the parents attack the school then let them do it (within reason) and just be patient. It could be a defensive reaction. What has happened since? How has it AFFECTED you? Acknowledgement and Apology TO OFFENDER/S: Now that you have heard from everybody about how they’ve been affected by what you’ve done is there anything you want to say to John (the victim), or anyone else here? Agreement TO THE VICTIM AND THE VICTIM’S SUPPORTERS:

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What did you want to see happen as result of the meeting today? What do you think could be done to repair the harm? TO THE OFFENDER AND THE OFFENDER’S SUPPORTERS: Does that seem fair? Is there something that you would like to see happen to help you? TO THE|WHOLE GROUP: I would now like to summarise what you have agreed upon. SUMMARISE: I will now write down what has been agreed and I will give each of you a copy – and let’s hope that this agreement can help to repair the harm that has been done. The delegate group appreciated the drama played out for them. Some questions of clarification were asked. The group was then given a tour of some of the facilities at the school ending in the library for refreshments and a question and answer session with the Head-teacher and two of the governors of the school. The group returned to the main seminar venue.

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The delegate group in the Littlehampton Community School

In Arun Civic Centre – Council Chamber The final work session of the day was a presentation from Mike Thomas – Head of Youth Offending Services for West Sussex. Mike focussed on one of the many objectives set for Youth Offending Teams by central government. This is a target of ensuring that 90% of children and young people in the criminal justice system, under the supervision/oversight of the Youth Offending Teams across England and Wales, are in Education, Training or Employment. (ETE) This target is shared with other agencies – particularly Connexions – a relatively new agency that provides Personal Advisers to support young people aged between 13 and 19 to assist them in remaining engaged with ETE. Mike referred to the problems around young people in custody and how they are dealt with on release. He also referred to the issues around anti-social behaviour and the pressures being put on children and young people to behave against a background of adult behaving badly. (I have not received a copy of his notes) This presentation closed the formal part of the seminar. Arrangements were made for the various visits for the Saturday morning. SATURDAY – 2nd July Her Majesty’s Prison - Ford (restricted to prison staff only) Durrington Custody Centre or Littlehampton Serious Incident Facility – Police only

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Childrens/Family Centre, Clun Road Wick –Social Services and Education staff The dates of the next seminar were agreed – to meet in Tallinn Estonia on the 13th and 14th October 2005. Brief report on the visit to the Sure Start Centre in Littlehampton on Saturday 2nd July. The presentation by Stuart Fairweather is attached as a separate document Sure Start in Littlehampton aims to provide the best possible services to support all children under five years, and their families, through positive commitment and partnership between those working and living in the area. It support local families and committees to ensure that every child under 5 years living in the Sure Start area has the opportunity to start school ready to learn and enjoys a happy, healthy and safe life. Some examples of project services are:- Guidance and support on breast feeding, health eating Parenting information and advice Access to specialist services A programme to promote the development of children’s speech and

language Support for families who have additional needs Creation of a wide range of play and learning opportunities for babies and

pre school children Support for women with post natal depression Portuguese translation and support Antenatal support Toy library services Support and help to quit smoking Information shop Shoppers Creche Childminders network

The unit is based on multi-agency work, bringing together workers and professionals to engage directly with the parents and families who are using the centre. The management of the unit involves parents in the direct issues of the services provided, include how the budget should be spent and the range of services being provided. This has posed some problems for the ‘professionals’ involved, but the approach has been a success. The team includes:- Nursery nurse Home visiting team Outreach library worker Toy library co-ordinator Midwife

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Portuguese community worker Information officer Health visitor Volunteer and training co-ordinator Smoking cessation workers Creche workers Family support workers Educational psychologist Portage worker Complimentary therapist Childminding network co-ordinator IT trainer

All services are culturally appropriate and are delivered in a way that is inclusive, ensuring that they meet the needs of all families in the area.

The delegate Police Officers were given a tour of the Police station in Littlehampton and then taken to the custody unit in Durrington. P.C.Gingell explained the working and processes of the custody process and also the ranking system of the police service in England and Wales. The prison officer group visited Her Majesties Prison Ford. This is a ‘open’ prison close to Littlehampton. The group were given a tour of all

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the facilities in the prison and were able to discuss the ‘group’ programme with officers at the prison. PRESS RELEASE AGIS SEMINAR – WEST SUSSEX 30TH JUNE- 2ND JULY Littlehampton played host to an international day-long seminar where experts and practitioners shared information and good practice ideas about school truancy and exclusion. Under the umbrella funding of the AGIS budget, this two year EC project has brought together teams from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Estonia and Sweden, and the host team from West Sussex. The title ‘Pupils on the streets – police officers in schools’ has encouraged the sharing of information and development of both research and practical interventions to address these issues. The West Sussex team, comprising representatives from the Police, (David Ginell) West Sussex County Council’s Families and Schools Support section, (Ian Vinall) the West Sussex Youth Offending Team (Juliet Starbuck) and the Littlehampton Community School (Jayne Wilson) are promoting and analysing the use of early intervention techniques through multi-agency referral meetings and restorative justice techniques in the school and the community to reduce, where possible, the necessity for more formal sanctions such as exclusion. The delegates stayed in the Littlehampton area and were welcomed to the town by the Mayor, Councillor David Dyball. In addition to visits of professional interest, the party had a reception at County Hall in Chichester hosted by Peter Moor, Vice Chairman of the County Council. The seminar itself, supported by the Sussex Police Authority, was hosted by Ian Sumnall Chief Executive of Arun District Council. For more information contact Terry Bishop – AGIS project manager 07775 522855

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