 Welcome to the
June edition of the e-bulletin. As usual there is no shortage of activity to
report on.
I’d like to
thank all of you who made time to attend the engagement sessions in May. These
are important events for us to meet you and listen to what you are saying.
We talked about
our restorative practice approach and how we are looking to embed this across
all services to help us work and communicate more effectively. I was really
pleased to hear how many people were using “Circles” in the workplace. Other
parts of the council are now exploring how this restorative approach can work
for them too, so the word is spreading! There is an extensive programme of
workshops and I would urge you to attend one if you haven’t already done so.
We also had a
healthy discussion on capturing “the Voice of the Child”. The feedback you
provided – both for good practice and the challenges we face – will be
incorporated into our review of this work. Some of the key themes were that
stability in the workforce will help to build better relationships and that we
can and do engage well with children and families. However, you also said that we
don’t always do this consistently. Areas for development were acknowledging we
do not always record how young people have influenced the decisions involving
them and getting better at sharing our success and best practice. I’m really
pleased that a number of you volunteered to support Ophelia Rix in this work
through a “Task and Finish” group.
I also
highlighted at the engagement sessions that we are refreshing our Improvement
Plan to reflect the progress we have made and to refocus some of the targets
that were set. This work will involve different teams and when it is completed
we’ll share it with you. We will also be undertaking the Social Work Employee
Health Check. Watch this space for further updates.
Ofsted will be with
us again in July for another planned monitoring visit. Such visits are clearly
important milestones for us in our improvement journey and we welcome them.
This time the focus will be on Child Protection Plans and an in-depth look at
our work around pre-birth assessments. We hope Ofsted can see the real progress
and improvements being made from all the hard work that staff are undertaking across
the service.
The Disabled Children’s
Service has joined us from Adult Social Care and I’d like to welcome them.
They are an important element of our improvement journey.
We have also made
some really important appointments after running a national recruitment
campaign earlier this year, focusing on the improvement work taking place in
Kirklees and the unique opportunities this presented for committed and talented
professionals. The feedback from the campaign was very positive and I am
pleased to report that the majority of these key leadership roles have been filled.
I would like to
welcome Michelle Attmere as Head of Service – Early Support. This is a really
important role and Michelle will be able to further develop the excellent work
that has been started in Early Support in the past few months.
Congratulations
to Jo-Anne Sanders on her permanent appointment as Service Director for Learning
and Early Support. Charlotte Jackson, Ophelia Rix, Steve Comb and Christine
Bennett have also commenced as Heads of Services in Child Protection and Family
Support.
Establishing a
permanent, experienced leadership team has been one of the major priorities
since I came to Kirklees and this, I hope you can see, is now in place. It will
help to provide the stability and consistency of approach which will lay the
basis for great services for children and families.
Finally I want
to thank you all for the work you do and for the difference you make to the lives
of children and young people.
Sal Tariq, Deputy Director of Children’s Services
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More Recruitment
Success
There have been
real success stories in getting great staff to join Kirklees since the turn of
the year. With the help of HR, the recruitment strategy and approach has been
refreshed and there is clear evidence that our offer is attractive to
prospective candidates and that Kirklees is viewed in a positive light
externally.
The Improvement
Plan for Children’s Services has two key priorities which are to “undertake a renewed
programme of recruitment for key staff groups” in the Workforce strand and “to
nurture and support confident and effective frontline and middle leadership in
Children’s Services” in the Leadership strand. Recruiting and retaining high-quality
staff remains a major priority. It is an extremely competitive environment - the
pressures on recruitment are not unique to Kirklees and affect most Children’s
Services in the region.
The recent
recruitment campaigns show that Kirklees is seen as an attractive place to
work. Five Service Managers have been appointed in Family Support and Child
Protection, with a mixture of internal and external candidates being appointed.
Three Team
Managers and 13 Advanced Practitioners have also been recruited. The Advanced
Practitioners are additional resources who will be deployed in the Assessment
and Intervention teams to support the development of newly qualified staff.
Recruitment to
frontline roles is critical to be being able to deliver high-quality services. There
was an exceptional response to our campaign for newly qualified social workers
and 27 candidates have been offered permanent posts. The feedback from the most
recent recruitment events was very positive, with great candidates who were
keen to join Kirklees.
In Early Help
there has been an overwhelming response to our advert to the re-modelled Family
Support Worker role, with over 90 people applying for roles in Family
Support and Family Group Conferencing. An update on these roles will appear in
the next bulletin.
Meet Our New Heads of
Service
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Steve Comb - Seconded Head of Service, Corporate Parenting
Previous position and organisation
I’m seconded from
Nottingham City where I was Head of Service, Children in Care, for three years
How long have you been a social worker
and where did you start?
I’ve worked in Looked After Children’s
services for 26 years. I started off in Leeds as a care officer and before I
joined Nottingham City I worked in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
What do you most like about working in
social care?
You are working with some of the most
vulnerable children in the area and this is both a big responsibility and
opportunity. Some of the work I have been involved in has made a real change
for the better for young people and seeing that is the best part of the job. In
this role I can work with great staff to support them to make a difference too.
Hopes for the role
I really want to contribute to
Kirklees becoming an “Outstanding” authority and provide the best services we
can for the children we have responsibility for.
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Christine Bennett – Head of Service, Assessment
and Intervention
Previous position and organisation
Before I came to Kirklees, I was Assistant
Director of Children Fieldwork Services in Sheffield since 2016. I
had responsibility for strategic leadership and development of services including
accountability for children in need, child protection, looked after children
and adoption.
How long have you been a social worker
and where did you start?
I qualified as a social worker in 1998 and
commenced my social work career with Sheffield City Council. I
have 20 years’ experience working in frontline children’s statutory social work
and over seven years’ experience as a frontline manager and leader
What do you most like about working in
social care?
Working with children and their families to
make a real difference to the circumstances they find themselves in. In my
various roles I have done this in different ways, but it’s always about working
with people to enable them to achieve their potential.
Hopes for the role
I believe that if we all work together we
will transform the lives of children, young people and their families in
Kirklees. This we will achieve by developing a culture of trust and respectful
conversations. It is important to recognise the role staff play and by
investing in them through good supervision we can encourage them to develop a
career in Kirklees.
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Ophelia Rix – Head of Service, Safeguarding
& Quality Assurance - Principal Social Worker
Previous position and organisation
I worked in Leeds
Children’s Services as Service Manager for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance.
In my previous role as Service Manager for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance I
led and managed policy, procedure and practice for safeguarding children. The
primary function of the role was to quality assure the practice of safeguarding
and planning for children and to work with Children’s Services and other key
partners to provide support and challenge for practitioners and to identify
themes in practice that require improvement.
How long have you been a social worker
and where did you start?
I qualified as a social worker in 1991 and
commenced my social work career with Tameside Council. Prior to my
social work career I worked with children and adults with a learning disability
and with children in an early years and residential setting. I have
26 years’ experience of working in frontline Children and Families statutory
social work and over nine years’ experience as a manager in Bradford and Leeds
What do you most like about working in social
care?
I am passionate about working with children
and young people and believe that promoting the welfare and safety of children
and young people is paramount and have ensured that this is reflected in the
work that I have undertaken to date.
I believe that working together as a team,
building positive and trustful relationships within the workforce, will
contribute to sustaining improved outcomes for children, young people and their
families.
Hopes for the role
As the Principal Social Worker I am keen to
ensure the ongoing development and support offered to all staff that will
provide them with a range of learning opportunities that will contribute to
building skilled confident practitioners at all levels.
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Charlotte Jackson – Head of Service, Assessment
and Intervention
Previous position
and organisation
In
Leeds my role was a Service Delivery Manager. I had responsibility for the
Front Door safeguarding hub, as well managing a locality safeguarding team.
How long have you been a
social worker and where did you start?
I
have worked with children and families since 1987, working with both the
council within children’s centres as a nursery nurse and then working within
the voluntary sector as a parenting co-ordinator, support worker and later as a
service manager. I then qualified as a social worker in 2005 where I practiced
as a social worker in an assessment team in Leeds, moving on to a team manager
and then latterly a service Delivery manager in 2012.
What you most
like about working in social care?
For me this work is about making a difference to the lives of children and
families. I get enormous satisfaction and pleasure seeing social workers work
with children and their families to support them to effect change, which in
turn enables children to live in happy, safe environments in which they can
grow and develop.
Hopes for the
role
My
hopes for the role are to inspire social workers and managers where we can work
together to ensure the children of Kirklees are central to everything we do and
children and their families are provided with the best services. I want to
contribute to the exciting and challenging improvement journey to ensure
Kirklees becomes an outstanding local authority.
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Michelle Attmere – Head of
Service, Early Support
Previous
position and organisation
I worked for Calderdale Council for almost 11 years and my most
recent position was Service Manager: Early Years and Early Intervention. My
responsibilities included Troubled Families Co-ordinator, lead for missing
children, Children's Centres, SENDIASS, Early Years statutory duties and Early
Intervention Panels.
How long have you been a
children and young people worker and where did you start?
I have worked within children and young people’s services for over
30 years, with the past 14 years being in a Local Authority. I started my
career as a nanny after gaining my NNEB and then went on to open a
private day nursery which I ran for 16 years. My roles within Local Authorities
have included Day-care Manager, Children's Centre Manager and Area Manager and
Service Manager for Early Years and Childcare.
What do you most like
about working in social care?
I have a strong passion for working with children and
families and the most rewarding part is when there are positive outcomes
and a difference is made to a child's or/and their family’s life.
Hopes for the role
I am looking forward to joining Kirklees Council at the beginning
of July as Head of Early Support and being part of the improvement journey. I
have high aspirations for the role and the Early Support service and know that
there is already some good work being done. I strongly believe that if
children and families receive the right support at the right time, issues can
be prevented later in life and children and families will have better life
chances.
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Celebrating Fostering Success
 As part of celebrating Foster Care Fortnight, Kirklees Council
organised a celebration event for 24 local foster carers who
have been in the profession for 10 or more years.
As well as being served afternoon tea, each of them
was presented with an award in honour of their long-term service, which has
helped transform the lives of hundreds of vulnerable children. The awards were
presented by Cllr Viv Kendrick, lead member for Children’s Services
One guest was Dewsbury-based Brenda Whitworth, who has
been a foster carer for 33 years. She began fostering with her husband, Ian, in
1985, until he sadly passed away in 2010. Together they’d welcomed dozens of
children of varying ages and ability levels into their home on a long and
short-term basis and adopted two children. Since Ian’s death, Brenda has
continued to foster and looks after her 30-year-old adoptive son, Liam, who suffers
from Asperger’s syndrome.
Now aged 67 and a grandmother of five, Brenda says she
has no intention of stepping back from what she loves doing best. “So many
people have asked me when I’ll retire but I have no intention of doing so. I
wouldn’t know what to do with myself. There are so many children out there in
need of a stable, happy home life and I want to be able to help. I love having
a full house so while I’m still fit enough I’d like to carry on. I don’t see
myself or what I do as special. I’m just doing what I enjoy doing.”
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Early Help Update –
A New Name
Early
Help practitioners have been busy consulting with a range of partners to
develop the Kirklees Early Support strategy. The latest meeting is planned for
13th June and previous sessions have involved representatives from health,
schools, the voluntary sector, police, K&C Careers as well as Communities,
Public Health, Community Plus, Social Care and the managers from Early Help.
There
has been an acknowledgement across all partners that Early Support is not the
responsibility of one organisation but involves all partners working together
to bring their different strengths and resources together. The new strategy
emphasises the inter-agency approach in Kirklees and the development of a model
of support known as “Thrive” which has started with health and education
partners. At the heart of the strategy is the right conversation with the right
person at the right time and to work with families in a way that develops
confidence and resilience.
As
part of the consultation with our staff it was suggested that the Early Help
service is renamed “Family Support Service.” This fits more closely with the
work that staff teams are undertaking and helps clarify to partners what our
service can provide. This change to “Family Support Service” reinforces the
fact that the service is part of a wider partnership across Kirklees with specific
areas of responsibility.
Welcoming
the change of name, Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director, said “I think this is a
very positive move for the service. Staff have been heavily involved in mapping
out how the service will develop and its focus on a broad range of family
support activities. I think this will end any confusion that we are responsible
for all early help work and that the best work for children and families is
carried out in partnership with a range of different organisations and
services.”
In
2018 the Department for Education (DfE) allocated capital funding to all Local
Authorities in order to build capacity and provision for specialist school
places through a wide-ranging consultation with children and families, and with
all partners.
As
a result we will receive three allocations of funding over the next three years
to make improvements and build capacity at Newsome High School (specialist
provision for Physical Impairment), Honley High School (specialist provision
for Autism Spectrum Condition) and Ravenshall Special School (Complex Needs).
However
our consultation gave us a wealth of information which we are using to build
capacity to meet additional needs across the whole education system. We have
been working in partnership with parents and carers, leaders from a range of
our schools, Early Years settings and post-16 settings, and alongside
colleagues from specialist support services, health and Adult Social Care to
develop an action plan which addresses the barriers to inclusion which were
identified through the consultation – workforce development, a better way for
transition for our children and a more creative use of our resources. The
action plan is shared and monitored with all partners.
Its
aim is that wherever possible the children of Kirklees can attend their local
school, where they can thrive and achieve.
With
so many new starters we are providing an opportunity for all new starters to
find out about Children’s Services:
Getting to Know Children’s
Services: 22nd June – 9.30 – 4.30 at Huddersfield Town Hall
For
managers in Family Support and Child Protection to update you on the revised supervision
policy and procedures and your role in making these effective:
Managers Supervision
Briefing: 26th July – 9.30 – 12.30 at Huddersfield Town Hall
For
staff in Family Support and Child Protection:
Making the Most of
Supervision: 17th July – 9.30 – 4.30 at Huddersfield Town Hall
Our
next Masterclass:
Modern Slavery: 16th July
– 10.00 – 1.00 at Huddersfield Town Hall
All
above events can be booked through Mipod Xtra
If
you haven’t taken the opportunity to participate in our Restorative Approaches
Introductory Workshop you can book a place on future dates here
The
next two sessions are:
at the Hudawi Centre on Tuesday 3 July at 9.30am – 12.30pm or 1.30pm – 4.30pm.
Two good Ofsted outcomes
Our
Children’s Homes, Woodlands and Healds Road, have recently been inspected by
Ofsted and the outcome was that they were both judged to be “Good”.
These
judgement were improvements on previous visits and reflect the hard work that
staff have put in to improve the outcomes for young people.
The
inspector reported at Woodlands: “The young people are making good progress
across all aspects of their development. The young people are making, and
sustaining, strong relationships with a committed team of staff. One young
person said: ‘I have got round-the-clock support here. The staff are here for
me if I want to talk’.”
At
Healds Road the report stated “Relationships between young people and staff
have improved greatly. The group of young people residing at the home has
reduced in size. This has helped staff to focus on building positive and secure
relationships with the young people that are based on trust.”
Kirklees Fit and Fed
A
quick plug for some work being undertaken by colleagues in Community Plus.
Community
Plus and partners are pleased to be supporting the development of a Co-Produced
Holiday Hunger programme. Kirklees Fit and Fed
conference was delivered in April, with the support of StreetGames and other partners.
There
have been subsequent local meetings with third sector providers across the four
Kirklees localities. We would still like to hear from services and
organisations, who might be interested in supporting the initiative. For more information contact ashley.fothergill@kirklees.gov.uk
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