Annual Report
Support children and young people to make the best start in life and achieve their full potential
Journey First
We launched our £5.4m Journey First programme across the sub-region in September following significant partnership discussions and agreement - designed to help vulnerable young people and adults into employment and positive destinations over the next three years.
Partners in Practice
The Partners in Practice (PiP) programme funded by Department for Education (DfE) is part of the Government’s improvement agenda for Children’s Social Care. It aims to be a ‘genuine partnership between local and central government by bringing together the best practitioners and leaders in children’s social care to improve the system’.
We have worked with six Local Authorities to support who are on an improvement journey as a result of having an inadequate Ofsted Inspection of their children’s services. We act as a critical friend, drawing upon our experience of practice improvement during our own improvement journey.
The Council has received some of this funding for our work around innovation known as, Our Way of Working. The way we and our partners work with children and families is changing fundamentally and Our Way of Working is creating transformational culture change, supporting a common and consistent approach across our multi-agency partnership.
Over 1200 people from partners agencies including schools and Cheshire Police have now been trained in the use of techniques such as trauma informed practice and motivational interviewing with the aim creating a ‘one children’s service’ with a consistent approach to supporting children and families in need. It prompts practitioners to ask, ‘what has happened to you?’, rather than ‘what is wrong with you?’ and considers the root causes of behaviour and how that behaviour is, essentially, a way of communicating need.
Integrated speech and language service
In 2020 our Cabinet agreed to the joint Council/NHS commissioning of a single Speech and Language Therapy service, to support more equitable provision for children, young people and families across the borough. This will ensure they all get the best start in life, develop well and are ready for school.
