C h i l d r e n ’ s T r u s t B o a r d

Bradford Children, Young People and Families Plan

2017 - 2020

ContentsForeword 2Our vision 3Growing up in Bradford today 4The national policy context 4Children and young people services 5Education 5Health 2Focus on child poverty 5

Forewordget involved. If we all work together on shared ambitions, we believe that we can make the difference that is needed.

Bradford is a great northern city and district with a rich history and bright future. Over half a million people live here including over 150,000 children and young people under the age of 19.

We have high ambitions for our District that are referred to in our District Plan. The future success of Bradford depends on our children and young people and we have high aspirations for them. We face some big challenges in achieving these. Not all of our schools are as good as we need them to be and our achievement rates are not yet good enough. We face some real challenges around health outcomes, support for the most vulnerable and high levels of poverty. We are operating in a difficult climate financially.

We are however absolutely determined that outcomes will improve. This will only be achieved if everyone plays their part. Many services rely on each other to be successful, and many contribute to several of the outcomes we are seeking to improve. As a District we are clear that we will only achieve our ambitions if all agencies work together and also importantly if individuals, in this case young people and their families, play their part.

Led by Bradford Council, the Children’s Trust brings together key strategic partners who have the ability to bring about change and the Children, Young People and Families Plan sets out how together we will achieve this.

We want everyone involved with children and young people in Bradford to read the plan and understand what we need to achieve. We also want everyone who reads it to think about what it means for them as individuals and as part of organisations, and to consider how they can play a part in improving outcomes. We want everyone to

Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–20202

Councillor Val Slater

Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing

Councillor Imran Khan

Lead Member for Education, Employment and Skills

Michael Jameson

Strategic Director Children’s Services

Priority 1 6 Priority 2 7 Priority 3 8 Priority 4 9 Priority 5 11 Priority 6 12

Better together 14

Our visionOur children and young people are the future of Bradford. We want them to grow up in a Family Friendly City where every child, young person and family is safe and well. We want them to realise their full potential, have high aspirations for themselves and their neighbourhoods and to become adults who help to drive the prosperity of our District.

Our District is big, diverse and growing fast. We are the fourth largest local authority District in the country with over half a million residents. Bradford is the youngest city in Europe, with 29% of our population under 20 and nearly a quarter under 16. Our greatest asset as a District is our children and young people, and it is they who will help us to achieve our aspirations to grow and develop the economy and prosperity of the District.

Our vision isn’t something that any one organisation or group of people can make happen on their own. For this plan to work, all of us need to work together. This includes parents, the Council, schools, health, the police, business, the voluntary sector and most importantly, young people themselves. We do face some significant challenges which we have outlined, but we are also clear about how we plan to work together to tackle these.

We plan to achieve our vision through having clear goals which we measure, making sure that all partners are working together to achieve the outcomes we need. We plan to use a “strength-based” approach to tackling problems at all levels. This means that whatever the problem is, whether it is something a family is worried about, or something we need to do as a District, we find solutions starting with our strengths and the things we do well.

Our approach to achieving the best for children, young people and families is driven by our priorities and based on the concept that “People Can”. We have clear aspirations for Bradford citizens, but it is very clear that the solutions will be a partnership between the people of Bradford and the organisations which deliver services.

The participation of young people, parents and businesses in making these plans happen is critical. Our Education Covenant identifies ways in which everyone across our district can help support the education of our children and young people, from early years, through school, to finding a good job. Details of the covenant are available on the Council’s website.

In this plan we set out the priorities for children, young people and families, how we plan to achieve these, who is responsible, and what success will look like.

Our imperativesThe partners in Bradford have identified two key imperatives which we plan to tackle together. We believe that tackling them will bring about an immediate improvement to the lives and outcomes for children and young people.

Imperative one: Improve school attendance. We will monitor this by assessing:

l The number of unauthorised primary school absences.

l The number of unauthorised secondary school absences.

Imperative two: Reduce the numbers of missing children. We will monitor this by assessing:

l The number of looked after children who had a missing or absent incident.

l The number of children missing from education in Bradford.

The imperatives will be owned by everyone working with children and young people across the District and will be intensively tracked so that we can monitor change. We will publish progress on them on a regular basis during the lifetime of the plan for public scrutiny.

Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020 3

4 Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

The national policy contextServices for children, young people and families in Bradford are being delivered against a backdrop of significant financial pressure and reducing budgets and at a time of significant policy change across health, social care and education. There is considerable risk of fragmentation, an example of which is the change to schools through academisation and free schools. Bradford Council remains central to the delivery of services for children in the District and in particular is held accountable for outcomes, particularly for the most vulnerable.

The leadership of the Council is crucial in ensuring that outcomes improve for our children and young people and that all partners come together with a shared set of aspirations and goals. The Education and Adoption Act 2016 gives Council’s three key roles in education for children, young people and families

l Making sure every child has a school placel Ensuring the needs of all vulnerable pupils are metl Acting as champions for children and families

The Act also gives new powers to arrange adoption.

Children and young people servicesIn recent years there has been a shift towards greater autonomy for schools with central government also taking on more powers. There is also a move towards more regionally delivered services. Examples are, the removal or revision of the statutory guidance for schools and local authorities; changes in inspection frameworks; the development of sector led improvement; the removal of ring fenced grants and a review and rationalisation of central government data collection although certain key performance indicators (KPIs) remain.

There is a greater emphasis on improving outcomes for Looked After Children through Pupil Premium;

greater support for those leaving care and maintaining placements until 21 or even 25 years; support for the adoption process to prevent any delays and, the further development of early intervention and prevention services through the Early Help offer. New special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) reforms following the Children’s and Families Act 2014 include the conversion of Statements of Special Educational Needs to Education Health and Care Plans and the joint commissioning of care and health services specified in these plans and the development of the Local Offer and personal budgets.

Growing up in Bradford todayBradford has a youth population of over 150,000 young people aged 0 to 19, which represents just under 29% of our total population. Numbers of children and young people are highest in our inner city wards where 40% of the population is aged between 0 and 19 years. The health and wellbeing of children in the district is generally worse than England average. Infant and child mortality rates are poorer than England average and child poverty and obesity rates are higher than England averages (Child Health Profile 2016). We have higher than average numbers of young people with disabilities growing up in the District.

We worked with the National Children’s Commissioner to find out how young people feel about growing up in the District, and the results reinforce what young people tell us directly. Young people growing up in Bradford know they are doing so during a period of real challenge and change, but also at a time of great possibility and hope for the future.

Bradford young people have told us that having a sense of community is important to them, and there is an eagerness from young people to embrace the diversity of the District. They also told us that as a District we have more to do in terms of making sure they feel safe. They share the desire of everyone in Bradford to make the city a safe place to live, work and spend leisure time. Young people from all parts of the District also tell us that they worry about being in separate communities and they want our District to be a place where everyone feels welcome, where communities work together and where they feel they have influence and can be part of shaping the future. Bradford young people have high aspirations to be part of a national and world community and some tell us that they think they may have to leave Bradford to achieve successful careers. We need to also make sure that Bradford young people aspire to use their talents within the District to help create the vibrant wealthy economy that we need.

5Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Health

Focus on child poverty

Education

The Health and Social Care Act came into force in 2013. In addition to NHS changes such as the introduction of clinical commissioning groups and the transfer of leadership for public health to local authorities, the Act introduced new statutory requirements for partnership working. This led to the establishment of health and wellbeing boards with statutory membership, which

are required to lead on the development of a local joint strategic needs assessment to understand the current and future health and social care needs of the local community and the wider issues that impact on health and wellbeing. They are required to publish a strategy to which commissioning should be linked.

Too many young people in Bradford grow up in poverty including many who are in homes where adults are working. This can impact on their ability to thrive and learn and on their emotional wellbeing. The Child Poverty Act 2010 legally binds the government to a commitment

There has been unprecedented change in the way education services are organised over the last four years. Nationally, the academy programme has been accelerated and free schools, established by independent groups and organisations but funded directly by central government, have been introduced. The rise of multi-academy trusts (MATs) is changing the landscape both in relation to locally developing MATs and trusts from out of area working with Bradford schools.

The national curriculum has been reviewed and changed. Examinations at Key Stages 2, 4 and 5 and performance expectations have altered significantly, participation age is now 18 years; and additional funding is available through the Pupil Premium to support “closing the gap” between vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils and their peers. The emphasis for school improvement is now on a sector-led approach, bringing together teachers, governors, local school partnerships, multi-academy trusts, teaching school alliances, school-improvement specialists and local authorities in partnership to develop innovative and collaborative approaches to improve the quality of schools and teaching.

The local authority still has a responsibility for the educational outcomes and health and wellbeing of all its children and young people. The Council is working with the Regional Schools Commissioner (who has direct responsibility for all academies and free schools) to use its statutory powers to ensure all schools are held to account for the achievement of all their pupils.

to eradicate child poverty by 2020. The Act requires local authorities and other named statutory partners to cooperate, understand needs and develop and deliver a strategy for tackling child poverty.

6 Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

A great start and good schools for all our children

Bradford today

Currently in Bradford outcomes for young children for health and well being and school readiness at the end of Key Stage 1 are well below national average, and in deprived areas they are significantly worse than for the district as a whole. Our biggest challenges are around making sure children arrive at school ready to learn, flourish and achieve and hence get the benefit of foundation stage education and beyond. In this way they will have a good start in life and reach their potential as set out in the Marmot Review of 2010.

Our ambition

For children to be ready to learn when they start school they will need a good start in life – this includes mothers having a healthy pregnancy, good early maternity care, babies with a good birth weight and a safe birth. Parents

will know how important it is to build strong bonds with their babies and young children, they will understand how to nurture and support their children’s welfare and development from the very start. Children will have good early nutrition and be well-cared for in a family context that nurtures them and meets their needs, giving a secure foundation for good health and wellbeing. They will live in a warm, safe and stable home environment and feel loved, safe and secure with their parents or carers. Parents will value and use early learning, play and support services and understand how to get children ready to start school. Young children will have opportunities for play and early learning with their peers. By the time children start school they will have good social and emotional development and good language and communication skills. Children will be ready to enjoy, learn and thrive at school. We will also ensure that our children make a positive transition from primary to secondary.

Making it happenl Ensuring the Integrated Early Years Strategy,

which is a joint plan for all agencies for children aged 0 to 7, is fully implemented across all early years services

l Maximising resources across the partnership l Maximising the opportunity of the Better Start

Bradford programme, ensuring all early years resources across the District are evidence based and are focused on improving outcomes for children aged from 0 to 7, especially those who are more vulnerable

l Making early learning improvements especially in at risk groups

l Improving health and wellbeing to include specifically improvements in infant mortality rates, obesity rates and poor oral health levels in young children

l Helping parents to develop their knowledge and skills about parenting

Success measures by 2020

l Improvements for infant mortality rates, obesity rates in primary school children and the percentage of poor oral health in five-year-olds so that they are all at national average rates or better

l Early years foundation at good levels of development above the national average

l KS1 assessments have improved across all key areas and are above the national average

l These improvements will also be significantly faster in more deprived areas of the District to reduce the inequalities that currently exist

l Promoting integrated working across the early years workforce

l Ensuring that families who experience disadvantage are supported to access opportunities

PRIORITY 1 Ensuring that our children start school ready to learn

7Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

A great start and good schools for all our children

Our results are not yet as good as we would like them to be in all of the key stages. In Bradford in 2014/15, 45.5% of young people got GCSE grades A* to C including English and maths compared with 53.8% for England and 52.8% across our statistical neighbours.

Our biggest challenge is GCSE qualification levels and the low numbers of our students achieving a Level 3 qualifications by the time they are 19.

Our ambition

A greater proportion of Bradford’s children than national, will reach the government standard for a ‘good level of development’ at age five, and we will exceed the national average in the main measures of attainment and progress at each Key Stage.

Making it happenl Putting in place the Bradford Education

Covenant between schools, the Council, parents, young people, business and employers, communities, and the Government.

l Investing, attracting, developing and keeping the best school leaders, teachers and classroom assistants

l Working with people nationally and regionally to encourage the best sponsors to support our schools in Bradford as well as encouraging local sponsors to work in more schools

l Reviewing our post-16 provision by working with partners across the District and the city region

l Working with employers, schools, non-school based providers, parents and young people to raise aspirations

l Using the Future in Mind (a new programme about better mental health services for children and young people) to improve emotional wellbeing for individual young people

Success measures by 2020

l Every child to attend a school rated good or betterl Children’s attainment and progress at the age of 11

to be as good or better than the England averagel GCSE attainment and progress to be as good or

better than the England averagel The percentage of schools in which leadership is

judged to be good or better by Ofsted meets or exceeds the national average.

l The percentage of young people achieving Level 2 and Level 3 at age 19 will be half the current gap to the national rate.

l 600 new secondary school places will be availablel Vulnerable children in education will be safeguarded

through the development of an effective Education Hub

By 2017 significantly more 16-year-olds will achieve 5 good GCSEs including English and mathematics, and will go on to achieve a Level 3 qualification (equivalent to A Level) by age 19. We will make faster progress on educational attainment to catch up with and overtake the national averages.

We will close the gap for attainment between children from areas of high deprivation compared to the rest of the district. All of the District’s schools will be judged good or better by Ofsted by 2020. Primary schools and secondary schools will see significant improvements in the new attainment and progress measures.

There will be a good range of high-quality secondary school options, including the Industrial Centres of Excellence, developed through partnerships between schools, colleges and business sectors.

Educational attainment for looked after children and children with special educational needs will be better than the national average. We will work as a partnership to improve educational attainment, recognizing the contribution of the wider community and non school based activities in driving up standards.

PRIORITY 2 Accelerating education attainment and achievement

8 Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Better Skills, good jobs and a growing economy

Bradford today

Currently in Bradford, unemployment levels for young people aged 16 to 18 are lower than anywhere else in West Yorkshire, with high levels participating post-16 in line with the legislation. This is a really good news story for the District.

Our challenge lies post-18 when unemployment rates rise. Adult unemployment in Bradford is high, with 64.9% of the population in work compared with 71.1% nationally. Rates of unemployment for young people under 25 are even higher. The proportion of adults in Bradford in lower skilled occupations is high at 38.8% of the workforce, compared with 34% nationally.

We have particular concern about some of our more vulnerable children, those with special needs, those who are looked after and care leavers, and those whose education has been disrupted. We want to get better outcomes for these groups in particular.

Making it happenl To continue to involve business people

in preparing young people for successful working lives

l To develop the Bradford Pathways approach with business and education working together to put in place effective programmes of career preparation

l Continue to deliver a transition service for young people which focuses on those most vulnerable to non participation post 16

l To work with employers (including Children’s Trust partners) and training providers to increase the number of apprenticeships in the District

l Encourage participation of young people in a range of activities that can enhance employability and develop core skills

Success measures by 2020l Bradford Pathways programme in place in 60% of

secondary schoolsl The ICE (Industrial Centres of Excellence)

programme recruits 1500 young peoplel NEET rate below the national averagel The percentage of young people meeting their duty to

participate up to the age of 18 above the national.l 2.3% of Bradford Council workforce is made up of

apprentices l Extending the challenge to all partners to offer

opportunities for young peoplel Increased provision of high quality sixth form places

(graded good or outstanding)

Our ambition

Young people will reach adulthood with good health, a higher level of educational attainment and skills including life skills such as financial literacy. By 2020 the current generation of children and young people will be well on track to reach their potential and achieve their ambitions for the future. They and their families will have better understanding of different career paths and will know which qualifications and skills they need to reach their aspirations. They will leave school as rounded individuals who are well-prepared, self-motivated and ready for work, with relevant qualifications for the jobs they aspire to. The current generation of young people will be confident, ambitious and knowledgeable about the world of work. By 2020 all young people will be reaching adulthood well-qualified and highly-skilled for the successful future that they wish to pursue. Youth unemployment (aged 19-24) will reduce and young people will make a major contribution to the District’s future prosperity.

PRIORITY 3 Ensuring our children and young people are ready for life and work

9Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Better health, better lives

Bradford today

Some families in Bradford face real challenges. As a District we have high numbers of vulnerable children and young people. Just under a quarter of children are classified as living in poverty, and the District is forecast to have increasing numbers of children and young people with complex needs such as severe disabilities and long term health problems. In 2014 Bradford had 3,890 incidents of domestic violence reported where a child was present and 30,000 contacts made to children’s social care. We do have young people who are victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and children who go missing from care, home and school. We have high numbers of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. For instance, children in Bradford are two-and-a-half-times more likely to be deaf than the average child nationally.

Our challenge is to identify and respond to these needs early in the life of the problem and, by doing so effectively, to reduce the need for children requiring statutory social care responses.

Our ambition

We have a programme of activities called “Journey to Excellence” which have been designed to transform the way in which we support our most vulnerable children and families. Journey to Excellence includes early help; Signs of Safety - which is a new approach to working with families across the children’s workforce; the transformation of how young people with special educational needs and disabilities make the transition to adult social care; and a reimagining of the way in which we structure and run our residential units.

The development of an early help gateway ensures that any intervention or approach takes into account the whole family and as a result repeat referrals and the demand on specialist services have been significantly reduced.

We want the Signs of Safety model, which is about building on families strengths, to be embedded across all partners. Families will live in safe neighbourhoods with a strong sense of community and where there are supportive community networks within a wider environment that has good air quality, safe open spaces and access to leisure facilities.

Children and young people will be safe and well looked after within their families, and provided with safe, alternative care if they are not able to remain within their home. Families will understand how to keep their children safe from accidents, safe online and safe in the wider environment. Families and the professionals that support them will know the signs of child sexual exploitation and know how to act on them.

We will deliver on our plans to remodel placements for looked after children, with smaller children’s homes, more foster care for teenagers and a shared model of care across placements in place. Children in crisis will receive a rapid and supportive response and there are more safe places.

An integrated service for children with complex health and or disabilities will be in place and more young people will be accessing direct payments.

Across what we provide we are aiming to offer services that respond to the needs of individuals, are personalised and offer control and choice. We also aim to deliver services that contribute to achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people.

PRIORITY 4 Safeguarding the most vulnerable and providing early support to families

10 Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Making it happenl Reviewing the early help offer the Council and

its partners provide to families to ensure they get support at the point of need. This process will start with test and learn pilots

l Changing the placement provision for children who need to be in care ensuring that it is appropriate, and improving the quality of placement choice

l Establishing a joint transitions team for children and adults with disabilities and complex needs to ensure there is a seamless transition to adulthood

l Working with social investors (organisations who provide money for schemes that will save money in the future) to create capacity to support families with disabled children and complex needs to reduce the likelihood of them needing alternative accommodation

Success measures by 2020l Effective multi-agency early help model in place

across the Districtl Reduced numbers of contacts to social carel Reduced numbers of children in the care and child

protection systeml More children with complex needs being cared for

locally

l Developing a very clear safeguarding approach to the most vulnerable children and adults across the District

l Working with partners to reduce the numbers of young people drawn into criminal behaviour with the consequences this brings for their victims, communities and themselves

11Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Better health, better lives

Bradford today

In Bradford, just under a quarter of children are classified as living in poverty. Low wages mean that children living in working households can still live below the poverty line. Too many children and young people in Bradford live in housing that is not good enough, and experience households where fuel poverty is a significant issue. Bradford has high rates of infant and child mortality. We also have high levels of child tooth decay, high levels of childhood obesity and higher than average levels of self harm by children and young people especially in more deprived areas of the district.

We have a strategy for the health and wellbeing of people in Bradford and we also have a plan to tackle the inequalities we have in health which all partners have signed up to. We know that key strategies for children and young people are fully implemented across the district to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities for children and young people.

Making it happenl Address child poverty by improved

housing; support services for families in crisis including early help; increased education and training opportunities for young people and programmes to support unemployed people back into work

l Deliver the Integrated Early Years Strategy & Action Plan 0-7 years

l Reduce obesity through a range of interventions to increase activity and healthy eating such as HAPPY (healthy and active parenting programme for the early years)

l Implement the actions in the Future in Mind transformation plan

l Deliver the oral health Improvement action plan

l Deliver the Every Baby Matters action plan l Put in place and implement the self-care

children and young people’s workstreams

Success measures by 2020l Health and wellbeing outcomes to be as good

or better than the national average with reduced inequalities across the district compared to regionally and nationally

l The specific outcomes monitored will include child poverty, infant mortality, obesity, school readiness, poor oral health levels, accident and self harm admission rates

Our ambition

Poverty will no longer have the impact that it does at the moment on children and young people’s health and wellbeing and on their educational attainment. Children and young people will live in safe, suitable housing. There will be fewer accidents in the home, and fewer families will live in fuel poverty or be reliant on food banks. All children will be registered with a GP and a dentist so that problems can be spotted early. Families will be supported and empowered to ensure their children grow up healthy, well and emotionally resilient. Fewer five-year-olds will have poor oral health, more families will be providing children and young people with a healthy diet and children will be more active overall. Childhood obesity is in line with national average or below at both 4/5 and 10/11 years. Long-term and serious health conditions in children and young people will be well-managed, with fewer emergency hospital admissions. Infant and child mortality will have reduced, parenting skills improved and early years achievement will be in line with national indicators. Children and young people with disabilities will have access to good pathways for learning and independence. Children and young people with social and emotional health issues will receive a timely referral to mental health services. This is linked to our priority to have good quality housing for families.

PRIORITY 5 Reducing health and social inequalities, including tackling child poverty, reducing obesity and improving oral health

12 Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Safe, clean and active communities

Bradford today

Services for children and young people touch all families. Currently there are significant numbers of young people actively participating in the shaping of services. This is very positive and already there are many examples of how this has changed what we do. Our challenge is to continue to grow the number of young people who are involved, and to enable the voices of young people to be listened to, heard and respected so that they influence change. We have the challenge of responding to what young people have told us in the way in which we design, deliver and influence services. We also need to find better ways to include the voice of younger children.

We need to be clear how we have acted in response to the challenges young people have set us (which we have summarized in the “Growing up in Bradford” section) and that we feed back to them about the difference made. This is also about how we work with partners and in particular young people to develop the District, making Bradford a great and safe place to grow up and live and work.

Our ambition

Our aim is to address the challenges young people have set us to make the District a positive place to live and work. Bradford’s “People Can” approach is based on developing a new relationship with the people of Bradford around how services are developed and delivered in the future. It is important that this extends to children, young people and families and that they have a central role in doing this within services for children including education and social care. We will put in place ways of listening to the voice of children and young people in all of our services. We will also make sure that we have in place structures for listening to what they say, opportunities for them to be part of the solutions and evidence that we have changed and developed services in response to this.

PRIORITY 6 Listening to the voice of children, young people and families and working with them to shape services and promote active citizenship

13Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Making it happenl To put in place a Youth Voice framework for

Bradford that includes opportunities to influence decisions, to challenge and to take part in recruitment

l To ensure that we respond to what young people tell us and address the challenges through effective partnership

l To have strategic support and leadership in promoting opportunities for Youth Voice across all of the sectors who deliver services for children and young people

l To work with partners to make sure we hear the voice of younger children and families

l To develop effective pathways between the District’s young people and strategic and decision making bodies including the Children’s Trust and the Safeguarding Children Board

l To make sure that there are a range of opportunities for all staff directly working with young children and young people in all sectors to develop their skills and confidence in listening and responding to children’s voices

l Review with young people the effectiveness and influence of Youth Voice and feed back the findings of the review

l Use the review to set out annual plans for participation activities taking into account the voice of all young people

l To reach into and work with communities to make sure representation of a full diversity of young people including those who may not otherwise have a voice in decisions that affect their lives

l To develop ways of listening to the voices and views of younger children by supporting early years settings to develop a listening culture so children’s experiences and views inform day-to-day practice, the quality and sustainability of settings, and their response to community needs

l To support social action carried out by young people in their communities

Success measures by 2020l There is evidence of policy and service change in

the District in response to the voice of children and young people

l Youth Voice is an integral part of the annual service planning across the partnership and is evidenced in the plans developed in all areas

l Partners routinely work together to enable and support children and young people’s participation in Youth Voice and the outcome of this feeds into District planning for children and young people

l There is evidence of young people from a range of communities and with a range of vulnerabilities having their voice heard in the District

l Children and young people report that they feel listened to and we can evidence and see the difference made as a result of their voices being heard

l That we have clear channels of two way communication that enable us to feedback to children and young people as well as finding out their views, wishes and feelings

l There is evidence of early years settings actively seeking, listening to and acting on the views of children to drive continual improvement reflected in the Ofsted inspections

l Formal and informal learning opportunities are provided for practitioners to develop practice, share good practice and offer peer support

14 Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

Better together

Bradford Children’s Trust

The Bradford Children’s Trust is the leadership group which brings together all of the partners who work with children and young people. The Trust’s role is to make joint plans and to hold everyone to account for the outcomes for children and young people.

The role of the Children’s Trust is also to challenge us all to work together and to deliver the best possible services and outcomes.

l Putting in place a programme of challenge and discussion about the key outcomes

l Helping to keep all agencies focused on a shared set of outcomes

l Working as partners and with service users to co-design services

l Using the joint strategic needs assessment to inform our service development and commissioning

l Jointly developing, delivering and resourcing strategies and action plans to meet the priorities in the Children, Young People and Families Plan

l Seeking opportunities where appropriate to jointly commission services to meet priorities

l Addressing barriers to meeting priorities and to identifying future needs, including communication, information and data sharing

l Ensuring safeguarding underpins all activity and to provide a framework for the effective operation of local arrangements

l Focusing on preventative and early intervention services for children, young people and families in the context of the early help offer which builds resilience and self reliance

l Monitoring and evaluating performance against agreed priorities of the Children’s Trust and to ensure that actions are taken when outcomes are not improving

l Using performance monitoring information, statistical data, intelligence and evaluation to inform future planning, commissioning and

Examples of the tasks that the Trust will be responsible for are:

decision making and maintain an overview of progress towards achieving the stated outcomes and targets

l Keeping the children’s workforce informed and involved, providing clear direction, development and training as necessary

l Ensuring children, young people and families have a voice in the decision making that affects them

l Clarifying and simplifying governance structures and decision making

l Building upon good practice and developing an evidence based approach to what works

l Improving outcomes for children, young people and families through multi agency redesign where this is the best way forward

To do this effectively the Trust needs to: l Understand the data and see Bradford’s

performance in light of what is happening in the region and nationally

l Provide leadership and scrutiny of the District’s priorities as they relate to children and young people. In particular the Trust will take responsibility for Priority 1, A great start and good schools for all our children

l Make sure that partners are working together and that resources are being used to the best effect

l Set the strategic direction for the development of integrated commissioning for children, young people and their families

15Bradford’s Children, Young People and Families Plan 2017–2020

The priorities within the Children, Young People and Families Plan have been developed following consultation with children and families and our partners. We have also made use of the joint strategic needs analysis and the lifestyle survey completed by many of our young people.

We worked with over 500 children and young people at a number of different Youth Voice events in the District, and also asked the Children’s Commissioner to help us understand how young people feel about growing up in Bradford. We have reflected the headlines from this in the section of the plan about Growing up in Bradford today, and it is these issues that are driving the plan.

Bradford has five key District priorities which are “owned” by different strategic partnership groups in the District. It has been developed alongside the

A great start and good schools for all our children Children and Family Trust Board

Safe, clean and active communities Safer and Stronger Communities Partnership

Better skills, more good jobs and a growing economy Producer City Board

Better health, better lives Health and Wellbeing Board

Decent homes that people can afford to live in Producer City Board and Housing Partnership

Priority Which group is the key partnership lead?

How have the priorities been identified?

How does the Children, Young People and Families Plan fit with other plans and strategies?

As part of this consultation, young people worked with strategic leaders at a special Children’s Trust event to enable their voices to be heard directly at a senior level. Our Youth Voice consultations have explored and enabled young people to not only tell strategic leaders of the things that are important to them, but have also facilitated and will continue to, support, encourage and empower young people to work with us going forward.

As a partnership we have also reviewed the data, looked at the outcomes and the challenges. We have compared ourselves with other similar places and with national information and set ourselves aspirational targets.

District Plan which looks at the priorities for all areas including for children.

There are a number of detailed plans that underpin the work in these areas. These are owned by different groups who have specific responsibilities. The role of the groups named above is to bring partnership contribution and challenge to the delivery of outcomes for Bradford.

The key plans that are driving the development of services for children and young people are:

l 5 year Forward Plan and Sustainable Transformation Plan

l Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Health Inequalities Action Plan

l Children and Young People’s Plan (Children’s Trust)

l Bradford Safety Children Board (Safeguarding) Action Plan

l Ofsted School Improvement Action Planl Journey to Excellence Transformation Plan l Integrated Early Years Strategy for children 0-7

years l Workforce Development Strategy (under

development)l Innovation Plan (under development)l Future in Mind Strategy 2015-2018

Although the priorities are owned by the groups above, all of them affect children and young people, and the Children’s Trust needs to have an overview of this.

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