Feedback from the Family Hub Partner Engagement event
Dear Partners,
You may recall in the previous newsletter, we referenced our Partner Engagement event that took place in January. This was attended by over 70 partners from across the Family Hub network. We promised to share highlights from this day, which have also been combined with valuable feedback gleaned from smaller discussion with colleagues from the Voluntary, Community and Faith organisations.
Partners were asked to share individual reflections and contribute to group discussions across a number of areas.
In a round of ‘speed networking’ we asked partners to pair up and discuss the following questions:
What do families and young people tell us about how they would like to access services?
We heard that families want help from trusted faces in trusted places. They want support to be accessible beyond usual office opening hours and would like information to be available in written and digital formats.
How does your service actively engage with lesser heard groups?
We learnt that this is often achieved by having services used and led by local communities, using data to understand need and offering incentives to support engagement.
What partnership meetings do you attend which promote understanding of support available to Children, Young People & Families in Merton?
A staggering 31 different forums were identified where partners gather to develop services and share insights! We will draw on this information to shape the future development of a Family Hub Community of Practice approach, enabling us to continue learning from each other.
Within the morning session we also looked at the behaviours and values that underpin our work with families, asking the following:
What ways of working with families and young people do we have in common?
Many partners described being ‘person-centred’ in their approach, holistic and focused on individual strengths. Respectful practice was consistently referenced, and these insights will inform the future development of a ‘Family Hub Pledge’.
How do we promote inclusive practice which recognises and responds to the unique needs of families and individual family members?
Partners shared that we could achieve inclusive practice by using local data to create tailored approaches with the community at the centre.
How is the physical, outreach and digital offer of support to children, young people and their families currently delivered?
We heard about the many different ways in which services are being delivered including through local community venues, social media, information displays and directories. This information will help to shape the Family Hub service offer, whilst ensuring the physical, outreach and digital platform support offer is well promoted and understood.
What might a positive experience of Family Hub model/offer look and feel like to families and young people in Merton?
Partners spoke about the importance of cultural competence, of services being flexible in the way they deliver and the need to build trusted relationships. These reflections will feed into the development of both our workforce approach and service offer within and beyond the transformation period.
During the afternoon session, partners were invited to think about the learning and development needs required to deliver an effective Family Hub model. We encouraged the sharing of reflections across several areas including whole family working and early help assessment tools. We asked for comments on the Family Hub Bitesize Overview modules which will be launching soon. These contain useful about the 24 core Family Hub service offers. Watch this space for more information in our next newsletter! The insights from this session will inform our development of a Family Hub Workforce approach.
And lastly, we sought feedback on the draft Family Hub Partnership Agreement. This forms part of our co-location approach, outlining the expectations of Family Hub services when delivering from shared spaces. We received some invaluable feedback from this session and afterwards, which has informed the revision and finalisation of this document including a name change! Merton’s Family Hub ‘Shared Space Partnership Agreement’ will be going live shortly and trialled across the services that have expressed a wish to co-locate and deliver from Family Hub buildings. Again, please sit tight as this document will be made available very soon!
Be part of something big - Early Years Careers
The Do something Big workforce recruitment campaign is shining a light on the great careers available in the childcare sector. It aims to challenge preconceptions of what it means to work with small children and encourage people to find out how unique and rewarding early years and childcare is. The campaign website has all the information to help people take steps to start their own early years and childcare career, with job application advice, information on training and qualifications and real life stories of those already in early years and childcare.
Lunch and Learn!
Dear Colleagues,
We will be running monthly lunch and learn sessions over the next year to help support colleagues in their understanding of services that will be part of Merton Family Hubs.
Please see the timetable above for details of upcoming sessions. The first session is on 13 March 2024, 1pm - 2pm.
If you have not received an invite and would like one please do email familyhubs@merton.gov.uk
Childcare Choices
The Childcare Choices campaign raises awareness and understanding of the government childcare support for parents to help them with the costs of childcare and drives them to the website to check the support they might be eligible for. The refreshed toolkit includes key information about the existing and upcoming childcare support, as well as a wide range of new digital and ready to print resources to use across your channels, including posters, leaflets, and social media graphics. The leaflet will soon be translated into 11 different languages which will be hosted here.
Please use the information and resources in the toolkit to spread the word about the Childcare Choices campaign and the government childcare support in the coming weeks and beyond.
This is part of the biggest ever investment in childcare in England, which is set to save working parents using 30 childcare hours up to £6,500 per year from September 2025, so they can juggle the job they want with being a parent.
Start for Life 'If they could tell you' campaign
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), in partnership with the Department for Education (DfE), have launched the Start for Life ‘If they could tell you’ campaign, promoting the importance and benefits of strong parent infant relationships. The first years of a baby's life, from pregnancy and the first two years, are so important for their healthy development and this campaign will highlight the importance of building a strong connection during this time which helps them develop into happy and healthy children, able to manage their emotions, develop confidence and learn new things.
The campaign will work to show that baby’s use their body language, facial expressions, noises, and cries which can help parents find the best way to meet their needs. Support and free resources, including tips and learning materials, will be available on the Start for Life website. Elements of breastfeeding and introducing solid foods will also be woven in to the ‘If they could tell you’ campaign.
Partners will be able to support the campaign from 18 March, with a range of resources being made available on the Campaign Resource Centre.
Speech and Language UK - free seminars
Speech and Language UK are offering 3 free seminars, ideal for people working with parents, or you support early years children in a family hub. Written and delivered by our highly experienced Speech and Language Therapists especially for staff who work in or with Family Hubs, these workshops are packed full of up-to-date information and helpful practical strategies to support speech and language skills in the early years.
All three seminars run twice a month, every month (except August), throughout 2024.
ICON eLearning
The ICON eLearning website is now updated. The new training is web-based and includes a certificate upon completion.
You can access the eLearning by:
- If you have access to the members portal, you can click the image below from the members portal on the website (the picture below is an example of what you will see you cannot access the eLearning from the picture here).
- Click this link which is also on the members portal https://training.iconcope.org
- If you do not have to have access to the members portal complete the training via the link https://training.iconcope.org. This link can be shared with colleagues in your organisations they do not need to go via the members portal or have access to the members portal.
You first need to register and then you can complete the training. Please note there is no longer a password to access the training.
Merton's new corporate identity
We have been asked by the corporate communications team to encourage colleagues who are using the Merton branding on their promotional material to use the new visual identity when they come to print out any new leaflets, posters or other promotional material.
If you have an urgent question about the new corporate identity, please contact the communications team: communications@merton.gov.uk.
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