The Childrens Partnership Strategic Partnership for Early Years - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Children’s Partnership

Strategic Partnership for Early Years and Childcare

Sue Robb National Head of Early Years, 4Children

Learn Explore Debate

March 2016

Programme

• 09.45

Networking with Refreshments

• 10.00

Welcome, aims of the session and overview

• 10.15

DfE policy update overview

• 10.30

Social finance and discussion

• 11.00

Work force strategy and discussion (with coffee)

• 12.45

Lunch served (networking)

• 13.30

30 hours update and discussion

• 14.30

Coffee Break

• 14.45

Hubs update

Interconnectivity Interconnectivity

SUSTAINABLE , FLEXIBLE, HIGH QUALITY 2year

• ld and 3 and 4 year old provision - 15 and 30

hours

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Early Years Foundation Stage Framework Childcare Act 2016

Policy Update

• Consulting on a parental ‘right to request’ wraparound and

holiday childcare at the school where their child attends (up to KS3) from September 2016, and a right for providers to request use of school premises to provide such childcare.

• We have committed to developing a workforce strategy in

2016 which will look at career progression and CPD.

• We have consulted on new proposals for strengthening

paediatric first aid training from September 2016.

• Children Centre consultation expected summer 2016.

Policy update continued

• Life chances
• Best start in life
• Obesity strategy
• Oral Dental health

Oral Dental Health

• 6 month project
• 2 and 3 year olds
• Correct teeth brushing procedures in early

years provision

• Partnerships with dental clinics
• Information for parents
• Resources for practitioners
• Feasibility study of national roll out

Exploring Social Investment in the Early Years

££££££££££££££

• Introduce the governments commitment to growing the

social investment market and provide a brief explanation of social investment.

• Outline some current examples of social investment in

the early years market and DfE’s interest in exploring the potential for social investment as an option for early years providers who are interested in expanding their provision.

• Introduce a social investment tax relief for investors
• Introduced the first social investment bank
• Established the Centre for Social Impact Bonds
• Introduced the first social impact fund

Now looking at:

• Exploring social investment to transform public services
• Growing the social economy
• Strengthening social investment in the market place

• Social investment is the provision of finance to generate

both social and financial returns.

• Social investment is not a grant – there is an expectation of

repayment of the finance, plus a return.

• Social investors are interested not only in ensuring a healthy

return on their investment but also the impact of that social investment.

What is social Investment?

• A variety of organisations can access social investment - for-profit

institutions, charities and social enterprises.

• Social enterprises – trade like any other business but their social

mission means they re-invest or donate their profits to create a positive social impact.

• Government estimates there are now 180,000 social enterprises in

the UK – 15% of small and medium sized enterprises – contributing billions to the economy and employing more than 2 million people.

Who can access social Investment?

Further info:

• Government Social Investment Strategy –

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/social-investment

• Big Society Capital, Cabinet Office and the Foundation for Social Investment are

undertaking a project to improve access to information on investment and finance for charities and social enterprises – resources available via www.goodfinance.org.uk

Exploring social investment in the early years

• The Department is keen to explore the use of social investment in the early

years.

• In the last few years, there have been a number of high profile examples of social

investment in the early years. London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), a social enterprise with more than 30 nurseries, has accessed a total of £2.75 million of social investment to expand nursery places in deprived areas across London. Their mission is to enable all children to access high quality childcare, regardless of where they live. 4Children – a charity with commercial social enterprise arm running services nationally for children and families. Recently accessed over £700,000 to help it expand services for children and families – including ambition to take on an additional 45 Children’s Centres in the next 3 years.

Exploring social investment in the early years

• We recognise that access to investment is often difficult for childcare

providers, particularly those seeking to expand in deprived areas – social investment has the potential to help facilitate access.

• Last year we launched the Childcare Investment Readiness Fund which

has provided the opportunity to learn more about appetite and ability

• f providers to access investment and to explore the feasibility of early

years models to attract social investors.

• Improving skills, knowledge and capability of providers to take on

investment.

• Focus on increasing high quality provision in deprived areas
• Ensuring sustainability of providers and helping them to realise

long-term ambitions to expand.

• 11 organisations are receiving support to enable them to realise their

ambitions to take on social investment to expand childcare places – focused on areas of deprivation, where high quality childcare will make a real difference.

Childcare Investment Readiness Fund: examples of work in progress (1)

YMCA Fairthorne Group currently have 13 settings based in Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset. As well as childcare, the charity offers a range of other services – housing, out

• f school activities, youth work, well-being support.

The organisation has ambitions to almost double the number of childcare settings it operates over the next few years. They aim to expand using a ‘mixed model’ – whereby 50% of new childcare settings will be established in areas of high deprivation. Through the CIRF, YMCA Fairthorne Group have received support from Baxendale (Support Provider) around financial planning, growth options analysis and advice on preparing for investment.

Childcare Investment Readiness Fund: examples of work in progress (2)

St George’s Lupset is a registered charity based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. They currently operate 4 childcare settings. The charity operates a busy community centre, on the same site as the

• riginal nursery, offering additional services including adult education, health

and well-being programmes and youth services. St Georges have ambition to take on 2 more nurseries in deprived areas and are receiving support from Clearly So (Support Provider) to enable them to be in a position to take on investment. Support has focused around business planning, financial modelling and measuring social impact.

Exploring social investment in the early years – a dedicated fund

• DfE is currently exploring the concept of a dedicated

fund for the early years which will draw in commercial and social investors and help facilitate access to investment for private and voluntary providers seeking to operate in deprived areas.

• Interested? Please email with your contact details:

Explore.SOCIALINVESTMENT@education.gsi.gov.uk

Discussion

Topics for discussion in groups

• Does your organisation have any experience of social investment?
• Under what circumstances would you be interested in accessing social

investment? E.g. currently interested and have capability to take on finance, would need support before being ready, only if grant were not available?

• What are the key barriers to accessing investment (social or otherwise)?
• What kind of support would your organisation require to be in a position

to access investment? Interested in the Fund? Please email with your contact details: Explore.SOCIALINVESTMENT@education.gsi.gov.uk

Early Years Workforce Strategy 2016

Aim of session

• A brief overview of the workforce strategy;
• Approximately 40 minute workshop to help

inform the development of the workforce strategy by helping us understand;

• how providers choose to staff their settings
• what current career paths look like in early years
• the role that qualifications and CPD play in

supporting career progression

• what changes you think would improve career

progression in the sector

Context

• Cathy Nutbrown’s independent review (published in 2013) set out

proposals intended to raise the status and quality of the workforce by improving qualifications

• The qualification levels of staff within the workforce have been

rising:

• Between 2008 and 2013, the proportion of full day care staff

with at least a level 3 qualification grew from 75% to 87%.

• The proportion of those with a degree or higher increased from

5% to 13%.

• 86% of settings have been rated good or outstanding by Ofsted
• The workforce strategy is therefore going to be about what more

we can do to build on an already solid foundation

Overview of the workforce strategy

• Government have committed to developing a workforce

strategy in 2016

• We will be reviewing progression routes in the sector to see

what more can be done to maximise potential of good quality staff to forge a career in the early years. As part of this we will look at Continuous Professional Development.

• We will be considering the support needed to equip the

workforce with the skills they need to support children with SEND.

• Stakeholder engagement is a key part of informing the

strategy

Timing

March:

• The workforce team are out and about speaking to lots of stakeholders in

the sector to help inform the development of the workforce strategy.

• The minister is holding initial workshops with to hear directly from
• stakeholders. These sessions will cover career progression, CPD and SEND.

Stakeholder sessions include; – Training providers – Workforce members – Early years providers April:

• Officials plan to present findings of all of these discussions to the

minister and plan for next steps of the strategy. Summer:

• Over the summer we will develop a strategy and we will share with you

developments of this during the course of the year

September 2014 rule for Level 3 qualifications (1)

• The National College for Teaching and Leadership

(NCTL) defines the full and relevant qualifications that practitioners must hold to be included in the specified ratios at levels 2 and 3 of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

• The Early Years Qualifications List provides

guidance and a search tool to help those delivering the EYFS to identify qualifications that are considered to be full and relevant at levels 2 and 3; http://www.education.gov.uk/eypqd/

Qualifications started before September 2014:

• Practitioners who completed or registered for a qualification before 1

September 2014 must hold a qualification that meets the full and relevant criteria to be counted in the specified ratios at levels 2 and 3. Qualifications started after September 2014:

• Practitioners who registered for a qualification from 1 September 2014

must hold a qualification that meets the early years educator criteria to be considered full and relevant and to be counted in the level 3 ratios.

• To count in the ratios at level 3, staff holding an early years educator

qualification must also have achieved GCSEs in English and maths at grade C or above.

• A qualification that has ‘early years educator’ in its title or offers an ‘early

years educator’ pathway is considered full and relevant.

September 2014 rule for Level 3 qualifications (2)

Workshop session

Introductions at your table and quick ice breaker (5mins)

• Introductions
• What did you want to be when you were a

child?

• What attracted you to work in early years?

Workshop session

Group discussions:

• Career progression in the sector (15 mins)

– Is there a clear career path in your setting that enables keen and able staff to progress? – Is there a typical career progression route in early years? If so, What is it? Can you map it out/draw it on the flip chart paper? – If not, what do you think the gaps are? E.g. provision of appropriate qualifications at various levels, type of job roles in sector Feedback from groups (5 mins on top point from each group)

Workshop session

Group discussion

• What practical changes do you think could be

made in the short term to improve career progression?

• What changes do you think need to be made
• ver the longer term?

Flip charts around the room for people to post comments on the following:

• Do you have some good practice to share on supporting

staff to progress?

• Please rate the following CPD needs in your setting using

numbers to identify the most important (1) to least important (5)

– Safeguarding – SEND – Speech and Language – Transition – Other (tell us what)

Progress on implementing the 30 hours pledge

Autumn 2017 Autumn 2016 Summer 2016 Winter 2015 Spring 2017 Spending Review Draft regulations and statutory guidance published

Royal assent

Early implementers begin August 2015 Early implementer EOI Early implementers announced October 2015 Lords report stage Report on funding review Regulations made Statutory guidance to LAs Refine operational details based on early implementation Active learning of early implementers begins July 2015 Lords Committee Stage June 2015 Childcare Bill Introduced The Budget 2015 Confirmation

• f delivery

model and eligibility criteria Autumn 2015 Spring 2015 30 hours free childcare available for working parents of three- and four-year-olds The Bill Funding Early implementers Regulations /guidance Summer 2015: Conversation with Parents

What we have achieved – Early Implementers (1)

• We formally announced Early Implementer Package on Tuesday 2nd February. Press

coverage and sector reaction to announcement has been very positive.

• The Department received 69 Local Authority applications, developed in partnership

with childcare providers, as part of a formal Expressions of Interest process. These were rigorously assessed based on a selection criteria agreed by the Ministerial Task Force.

• Around 5,000 children residing in York; Northumberland; Newham; Hertfordshire;

Portsmouth; Swindon; Staffordshire; and, Wigan will benefit from thirty hours of high quality, free childcare from September 2016.

• York will offer all eligible children within their area a place under the Childcare Bill

provisions, so the online eligibility checking system will be tested.

• Given the scale of the challenge, the department has also set aside £4million to

support an additional 25 Local Authorities to develop innovative flexible childcare for working parents, and to make sure that we can meet the needs of children with Special Educational Needs, in homeless working families, and in rural communities.

Selected early implementers will operate as six regional clusters

X8 LA Early Implementer… …areas will provide some working families with the additional 15 hours a year ahead of schedule. It will also allow us to test the delivery of the additional 15 hours in preparation for full roll-

• ut.

X25 Early Implementer Innovators… …areas will provide valuable learning to support roll-out of the 30 hours offer by developing approaches to address key 30- hour delivery issues on SEND, flexibility & quality, sufficiency and work incentives.

This approach will see LA work collaboratively to build momentum around a common purpose.

What we have achieved - Childcare Bill

• Introduction in the Commons –

26 October

• Completed parliamentary stages
• n 2nd Feb 2016
• Royal Assent (TBC)
• Read about progress of the Bill:

http://services.parliament.uk/bil ls/2015-16/childcare.html

1 – 2 – C – R -3 1 – 2 – C – R -3 Consideration ( Ping Pong) Royal Assent

Eligibility

Eligibility for the free entitlement will include households where: Both parents are working and/or:

• One parent working in lone parent family (earning equivalent of 16 hours

a week on National Minimum Wage including those receiving tax credits

• r Universal Credit)
• One/ both parent/s is away on leave (parental, maternal etc.)
• One/ both parent/s on Statutory sick

One parent is employed and:

• Other parent has either: substantial caring responsibilities/ and or

disability And we’ve said that the Secretary of State will discharge her duty to secure 30 hours of free childcare through local authorities

Joint Online Childcare Application

What is it?

• Parents will be able to apply online for the extended

entitlement (i.e. the second 15 hours)

• This online application will enable parents to apply for

Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) delivered by HMRC at the same time. Why a joint online application?

• Eligibility criteria are broadly aligned
• Provides a simple customer journey for parents who are

accessing both schemes (they will only need to enter their details once)

LA Role

• We want to build and improve on the successful delivery of the existing

free entitlement with the extended free entitlement for working parents.  99% of four-year-olds taking up a place  94% of three-year-olds taking up a place.  157,000 two-year-olds from the 40% more disadvantaged families taking up a place.

• Model Agreement: LAs currently need to draw up provider agreements

and set requirements that potential childcare providers must meet in

• rder to receive funding to deliver early education places. For 30 hours

this could be simplified through a model agreement.

• Prompt Payment: We know that when small providers, and particularly

childminders, are paid less frequently that this is a real issue for their

• viability. We want to ensure providers are paid in a way that supports a

growing flexible market

• The Department is fully committed to delivering a flexible childcare offer through the

extended entitlement to meet the needs of working parents.

• We want to emphasise that the existing entitlement can already be delivered flexibly and we

will look at positive examples of flexible provision to build on. We know, for example, that a number of providers already offer a stretched entitlement.

• We will also look at what the Government can do to remove barriers to flexibility and to

encourage new providers to enter the market. We know that the number of childminders

• ffering the existing entitlement is growing and we want to work with LAs to encourage more

childminders to offer the extended entitlement. Actions we could take:

• Possibly allow funded hours to be accessed beyond 7am-7pm
• Encourage partnerships between schools/maintained nurseries and childminders

38

Flexibility

Children with Special Educational Needs

• The Government is committed to ensuring that all families have access to

high quality, flexible and affordable childcare.

• The Spending Review announced that there will be an uplift in the funding

providers will receive and a protection for the majority of high needs.

• We understand parents of disabled children too often experience problems

accessing childcare.

• We are considering SEN funding for early years as part of the wider

consultation on a fairer funding system in 2016

• We are encouraging innovative approaches to provide flexible childcare for

disabled children or children who have special educational needs through

• ur Early Implementers

Consultations

The government plans to run a number of consultations in the coming months:

• Reform of early years funding system including Early Years

National Funding Formula

• Design of 30 hours delivery model
• Free School meals and Early learning for two year olds –

earnings thresholds

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Partnerships making a difference

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs The programme

• Originally funded by the DfE in 2013 as a two year

programme with an additional funding in 2015 to produce the SEN and Disability in the Early Years Toolkit with the Council for disabled children

• Funded for an additional year in 2015-16 to test

different ways of extending the programme

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs Programme approach

Recruit a Good or Outstanding school, children’s centre

• r PVI settings to work with at least eight settings

including childminders to develop an action plan that

• improves the quality of provision;
• supports the provision of new childcare places focussing on

funded two year olds where this is seen as a gap; and

• supports parents with their working patterns by offering

blended childcare and early education

16 Community Hubs across

12 schools(6 maintained nursery schools) 1 children’s centre 3 PVI settings 1 LA

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Year one

• City of York Hub
• Homerton Early Year's Centre
• The Ebor Childcare HUB/Robert

Wilkinson Primary Academy

• Wooler Children’s Centre (Belford

Pre-School and First School)

• Bluecoat Church of England

Primary School

• Sheringham Nursery School and

Children’s Centre

• Funfishers

Year two

• Haxby Road Primary Academy
• Allerton Church of England

Primary School

• Vanessa Nursery School
• Brotherton and Byram

Community Primary Academy

• Dorking Nursery School and

Children's Centre

• Norbury Hill Cubs Day Nursery
• Cleadon Tower Nursery
• Featherstone Nursery School
• Weoley Castle Nursey School and

Children's Centre

OPM independent evaluation

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Improve the quality of provision in the first two years:

• 82% of providers in a baseline survey felt that local practitioners’

recognition of the importance of CPD was ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. This rose to 100% in the follow on survey.

• 93% of providers felt that the hub has been ‘very’ or ‘fairly’

successful in ‘providing opportunities to share practice and learning amongst practitioners to improve quality’

• and the same proportion rated the hub as ‘very’ or ‘fairly’

successful in ‘increasing practitioners’ recognition of the importance of quality’

• 67% of providers reported that their hub’s activities have led to

improvements in the quality of local provision.

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Increasing places for funded 2-year-olds in the first two years:

• Survey found an increase in the proportion of providers who rated

the availability of childcare places for funded 2 year olds as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

• Whilst this data indicates improvement in availability, there is still

more work to be done to increase providers’ awareness of local need, and to meet this need in practice.

• Over half the providers indicated that they ‘don’t know’ whether

there is a need to increase provision for funded 2 year olds locally.

• The proportion (27%) of providers intending to offer or increase

funded places for 2 year olds did not change across the programme.

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Increasing opportunities for blended childcare in first two years:

• Our surveys found relatively little awareness of, or demand for,

blended childcare amongst parents.

• Parents who did know about or had used blended childcare were

more likely to rate it as ‘easy to organise’ at the end of the programme than at the beginning.

• Likewise providers rating blended childcare opportunities as

‘excellent’ or ‘good’ increased during the lifetime of the programme

• Whilst these positive improvements are encouraging, they also

indicate a continued need to create more opportunities for flexible childcare and increase parents’ awareness of what is available to them.

21 Community Hubs across

10 schools(7 maintained nursery schools) 4 children’s centres 2 PVI settings 5 LAs

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Cohort or direct supported Hubs

• Earlham Early Years Centre
• Grange Park Primary
• Oasis Academy Limeside
• St Edmund's Nursery School and

Children Centre

• Brookhill Nursery School
• Thorpepark Academy
• Linaker Primary School &

Children's Centre

• West Bridgford, Ruddington and

Edwalton Children’s Centres

• Kirkby Children's Centres

Control or arms-length supported hubs

• The Haringey Nursery School for Training &

Development Consortium

• Castle Childcare Community
• Ronald Openshaw Nursery Education Centre
• Warrington Hub
• Hill & Woodside Hub
• KYRA Early Years
• Rosendale, Cherry Tree & Liz Atkinson

Children’s Centres

• Early Years Improvement Team - Cornwall
• Little Owl pre school nursery
• Embsay Children's Centre
• Clapham Manor & Heathbrook children’s

centres

• Cheshire SEND

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Fifteen improving practice case studies

• effective use of data
• two-year-old places
• PVI Led Hubs
• transitions
• teaching schools

Five will be on SEND practice and the other 10 are on supporting

• leadership
• blended childcare
• childminders
• partnership working
• childcare information widget

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Improve quality: Transitions -Top Practice Tips

• Identify areas of practice and documentation that deal with both home and setting visits

when a child moves into a setting or on into school and then agree common standards  Provide training and moderation opportunities for all the settings as a way of identifying any strengths and challenges in the approaches used  Ensure that approaches and documentation are adopted that meet the needs of the child, the parent and the school or setting  Work to engage childminders as partners as they will have a key role in being a bridge between the home and a setting or school for many children.  Use the Hub to help manage the contact between schools and settings as well as a forum for parents to discuss transitional arrangements

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Supporting two-year-olds places: Top Practice Tips

 Work with all partners especially children’s centres to agree the local supply and demand of places for funded two-year olds and ensure they are of high quality  Strategically work to join maintained nursery schools into authority wide hub of expertise supporting two-year old places  Identify ways of engaging childminders from working with the local authority; to

• ffering space and resources in the school and other centres

 Work with the PVI to identify and tackle challenges to existing three-four old places if two year-old places expand  Support parents to understand available childcare options and the transitions of two-year-olds to childcare through home and home learning programmes

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Blended childcare and early education: Top Practice Tips (1)

 Develop access to local information and advice for parents that explains the different childcare and early learning options through websites, leaflets and family information events  Work with the local authority and local parents to assess where the childcare and early education is needed and for what combination of ages  Use hub meetings as an information exchange to build up a picture of the local market especially for children with special educational needs and to identify where to improve quality

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Blended childcare and early education: Top Practice Tips (2)

 Make working with and supporting childminders a priority as this widens flexibility for many parents but also ensure that trust is built with all partners  Acknowledge that hub partners may be in competition but parents often need more than one provider so establishing trust in the hub partners is key  Plan that demand for flexible childcare and early education is likely to increase

PRESENTATION BY: PRESENTATION BY:

Evaluation of Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Tim Vanson

Emerging evaluation findings

8 March 2016

EVALUTION AIMS AND ACTIVITIES

• Understanding whether progress of Phase 1 and 2 hubs is

being maintained in year 3

• Comparison of progress and impact of different models
• f hub support (cohort and control groups)
• Evaluation comprised:
• Survey of cohort hubs and parents at start and end of

year 3.

• Snapshot interviews with control group hub leads.
• Case study fieldwork in six hubs (3 cohort hubs across

the 3 phases + 3 control group hubs) involving interviews with the hub lead, providers, and where possible, parents.

MAINTAINING PROGRESS IN YEAR 3: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

• Two thirds (72%) of Phase 1 and 2 hubs able to answer

‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that the hub’s activities in the last year had led to improvements in the quality of local provision.

• Common examples of quality improvement included:
• Attending a range of training and sharing good practice.
• Stronger joint working and relationships between settings.
• Improving transitions and levels of school readiness.

MAINTAINING PROGRESS IN YEAR 3: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

– 70% Phase 1 and 2 hubs strongly agreed or agreed that early years

and childcare providers currently work well together to share practice and learning to improve quality.

– Improvements in monitoring quality also described, this included:

• More informal discussions and reflection
• Use of new templates, documentation and QI plans
• Joint moderation
• Setting measurable targets to work towards
• More robust analysis of needs to inform service design

MAINTAINING PROGRESS IN YEAR 3: SUPPLY AND FLEXIBILITY

• In terms of increasing supply and flexibility key findings from the

follow-up survey of Phase 1 and 2 hubs include:

• 70% agreed that being a member of the hub had increased

their awareness of parent’s wishes and needs for childcare in the local area.

• 64% rated the information for parents about the early

education and childcare places on offer as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

• 59% indicated that it was either ‘very’ or ‘fairly easy’ for

parents to find up-to-date information about the availability of early education and childcare places in their area.

• Compared with improvements in quality, improvements in

flexibility and supply associated with hub working were less pronounced in the follow up survey data, although a number of positive examples of work in these areas emerged.

MAINTAINING PROGRESS IN YEAR 3: CHALLENGES AND ENABLERS

• Enablers included:
• Dynamic and committed leadership who can articulate why it

matters and keep up the momentum

• Having a clearly defined goals to help unite members
• Valuing what all members can contribute and responding to

local needs e.g. specific training needs, sharing policies, preparing for Ofsted

• Developing the social and informal life of the hub to strengthen

relationships and commitment

• Challenges included:
• Continuing to recruit new members and managing attrition
• Getting buy-in from the hard to engage providers
• Challenges in releasing staff to attend hub meetings

COMPARISON OF CONTROL AND COHORT GROUPS: LEARNING AND REFLECTION

– Hubs toolkit and case studies felt to provide a helpful source of

inspiration and guidance in the early phases, particularly those in the control group.

– Network meetings appeared to be an essential component in helping

providers across the two groups to develop and implement plans by providing opportunities for networking, learning from others, and

• ne-to-one conversations.

– Early and intensive support from 4Children appears to be a key

enabler in helping to shift hubs from the ‘ideas’ and ‘planning’ stages into the ‘delivery’ phase. However, where there is a committed leadership of the hub who is able to dedicate time, set clear goals and a vision progress can be made regardless.

– Local authorities have in some cases played a valued facilitative role

in helping to establish hubs. However, progress can stall where there is no ‘handover’ to a lead setting who can ‘operationalise’ the vision.

COMPARISON OF CONTROL AND COHORT GROUPS: LEARNING AND REFLECTION

– The desire for sector-led improvement is emerging as primary

motivator for establishing hubs. Improving supply and flexibility while important, appear to be more secondary.

– School based providers are proving well placed to lead hubs as they

have the capacity, ‘clout’ and infrastructure to engage potential members and support activities. Their interest in improved school readiness is another key driver for them.

– Ability to meet 30 hours cited as key driver across both groups in the

• ne year programme. In the follow up survey six out of ten cohort

providers agreed that hubs working will increase their capacity to deliver 30 hours, while just one out of ten disagreed.

– Key challenges to delivering 30 hours included: lack of places; limited

space and facilities, lack of funding to meet costs, lack of suitably qualified and experienced staff, impact on two year old places.

Early Learning and Community Childcare Hubs

Any questions?