RichardS

So it's today - 19 February 2008. Over the last year many, many North Lincs folk have been exercised by getting ready for the JAR (Joint Area Review) of our children's services that took place in October 07. Council, PCT, voluntary sector, Police, schools, Fire and Rescue, Connexions, colleges, probation, hospital and healthcare providers and others. A lot of people. The JAR is hard work and takes over everything, at least it seems that way. The report is public today and it's says we are good at what we do across the board - with many outstanding features in our work. So that's good then! The report  and a summary can be found at www.everynorthlincschildmatters.org.uk .

This is a brilliant outcome. I can't repeat too often my personal thanks to all those across our Children's Service and the Trust partnership who contribute so much every day. The down side of all this is how much time and energy the inspection processes in local government take up - detracting from doing the job. The Lifting the Burdens initiative is a good thing and the new CAA process promises a lot - but we do need to get the balance between effort into the job and effort required to meet inspection and reporting requirements a little more in focus. The real message of today is the North Lincolnshire is a great place for children and young people. Have a look - www.everynorthlincschildmatters.org.uk . Today is a good day.

I spent two hard working days last week with colleague Directors of Childrens Services and some senior staff from the DCSF  at the delightful Oxford Thames Four Pillars Hotel. No, this isn't an advert - it is a lovely place on the outskirts of Oxford with the river Thames in the back garden, but with the intensity of the programme we might as well have been in a Travel Lodge on the M40! (I have nothing against Travel Lodges by the way and make regular use of them during the bike racing season in case they are reading this). The session, combined with a meeting of the Association of Directors of Children's Services council, was an opportunity to share ideas and possibilities around the vast and growing national children's agenda. Naturally a lot of time was given over to the new government Children's Plan (found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/childrensplan/ ). This a very broad and reasonably detailed setting out of the national agenda by government and well worth a look if you haven't seen it so far. The big issues are of course at the delivery end. What will the developments proposed add to our capacity to improve the lives and life chances of our children and young people? The Children's Trust and partnership working seem to be here to stay, as does the role of the DCS, thankfully.

                          Nice hotel......      and a busy conference......

I dashed back from Oxford on Friday afternoon to be at a celebration dinner at North Lindsey College's Kingsway Centre recognising the award of beacon status for their work with 14 to 16 year olds in their dedicated 14 to 16 centre. This was smart black tie dinner hosted by the Principal and college corporation which raised over £500 for charity on the night. It was also very appropriate to acknowledge the college's beacon status as the best in the country - yes that's right  - the best in the country - for this provision, which incidently only began 3 years ago. A massive thing for the college and North Lincolnshire. I was pleased that several secondary Headteachers were at the event as the beacon status is built on the excellent partnerships that exist between the college and local schools. 

Back in the real world (ie here!) I at last managed to visit the Youth Service's "new" building in Oswald Road today. I should have visited it in October when it opened, and then in December, and I eventually made it in February. Such is life. The building (No. 74) houses a gorup of activities which directly support young people in one way or another. The team there are really friendly and obviously enjoying working in a relatively pleasant recently refurbed building. It seemed a nice place to go each day - I left for Pittwood House feeling a little jealous really. The place we do our work has a huge influence on how we feel about ourselves and the work we do. That's a key message we are addressing in school building via BSF for example. No child should have second best if we can do something about it.

By the way - February 7 was European Safer Internet Day, but safer internet activities of one sort or another are going on all month it seems. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has launched this campaign for parents and carers. It is urging them to register now to help keep their child safe when using social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.By logging on to http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/, parents receive regular updates that cover all aspects of what children are doing online: from running through some of the terminology used to identifying types of behaviour that children may start to show if they are being targeted online. Children can also press a button to report abuse.

The internet and cyber space are such a big thing for us all now - especially for young people. Many young people are oblivious to the dangers of online chat rooms and while on the face of things, they seem a great way to meet new friends and exchange information, there are risks too that parents and children need to be aware of. It is so easy for personal information to get into the wrong hands and we need to highlight the risks and advise parents how they can help protect their children. Have a look at this - http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ - if you are a teacher there are some great materials you can download.

2008 got off to a flying start, as expected. There are no more quiet times; perhaps it’s a week off work that lulls you into a false sense of security? But with the return of wet weather and the risk of floods in the area the council was quickly on its toes. Although the problems the rain brought this time were well below the level of the June 07 floods it was pretty bad if your home was one of those affected. The flooded area of our offices has yet to be reoccupied 7 months after the event. That brings home to those of us with no direct experience of flooding at home just how long lasting the impact of a flood can be. I am aware of colleagues who’s homes were flooded for the second time this last month or so  - that really is tough.

Three things of note from the last 5 weeks. First, the JAR inspection is still up there as a live issue. We commented on the feedback. Got the draft report for further comment and now we wait for 19 February when, if all goes according to plan, the JAR and Enhanced Youth Inspection reports on North Lincolnshire will be published. Now there is something to look forward to! As previously said in several places - we did well through the inspection period, we have a brilliant story to tell, and North Lincolnshire is a great place to be for children and young people. That will all come through in the report I am sure. With the JAR out of the way we can get on with the day job. Thanks again to all who contributed. We will be publishing the details and our take on them as soon as the report comes out. Watch this space.

The Children's Board met in January. This is the key cross agency partnership body working under the Children Act, it is in fact our Children's Trust. At present the Board is looking at how it might become a more inclusive and proactive group as the Act and the ECM initiative anticipated. It is hugely encouraging to see the commitment to moving our arrangements forward right across all the organisations in the partnership, giving real substance to the ECM ideals. Although we have Trust arrangements in place through the Board and the Pathfinder Trust the time is right to move things on a little way. The statutory deadline of 1 April 2080 is no problem for us because of this, what matters to us now is what we need to do to develop our partnership further. Have a look at www.everynorthlincschildmatters.org.uk for more information on all this.

Lastly, prompted by the reference to a website, things ICT related have taken up a fair amount of time this month. I was at the Becta National Strategy Group meeting this month representing the Association of Directors of Children's Services. Becta are developing the second stage of the national strategy for ICT in learning at the moment and have launched a new campaign named "Next Generation Learning". Both the strategy and the campaign hinge on recognising that a great deal has been achieved in harnessing technology in learning in and out of school, and that the environment is shifting towards increasingly digital lives for young and old. This was a theme at the Council Management Team meeting this month where there was a really stimulating and strategic discussion of where the council needs to go in its thinking on ICT and the digital world. We are anxious not to be left behind in the development of online and other means of communicating and offering services or information to local people.

 
By the way - today I visited St Barnabas’ Primary School in Barnetby. It’s a great school and I had a really enjoyable hour or so seeing the school at work and talking to the Head about the school and its pupils. After a month of committees and meetings of one sort or another it was just the reality reminder I needed – and the chocolate biscuits were great!

This is the start of something new. For almost 2 years I have been sending "The Month" (as an email message)  to colleagues across the North Lincs Children and Young Peoples Service. Even Headteachers have not been spared. Like it or not its arrived.....a lot of not I suspect.

To mark the start of a new year I am starting something new  by using proper Blog software via ReadMyDay ie this site. It will mean that all my reluctant North Lincolnshire Council readers will be spared at least one unwanted email a month, and those who do want to find out what Deputy Chief Executives or Directors of Children's Services get up to will be able to choose to do so! I hope someone does.

The added benefit of doing it the right way is that I will be able to add a few extras, maybe a photo or two for example. I will carry on noting the highlights of my job and above all celebrating the work of colleagues across North Lincolnshire whose commitment to young people makes the team here the best there is, and of course the achievements of our young people themselves.

I have put links to North Lincolnshire Council's website and to our Every North Lincs Child Matters website onto my Blog page - if your are not from around here please have a look. There are a lot of very good things going on in North Lincolnshire.