here - St James

St James’ Sure Start Children’s Centre
Advisory Board meeting
Date &
Thursday 13th February 2014
Time:
1pm-2.30pm
Venue:
Allhallows Primary Academy
Avery Way
Allhallows
Rochester
Kent ME3 9HR
Present:
Virginia Wilson (VW) Head Teacher St. James’ C of E Primary Academy Charlotte Watson (CW) Children & Families Strategic
Manager St. James’ Children’s Centre Dr Gary Holden (GH) Executive Principal/CEO of the Williamson Trust Michael Costello (MC)
Chairman of the Williamson Trust/ St James’ C of E Primary Academy Governor with special responsibility for the Children’s Centre
Sue Lamb (SL) Medway Early Years Chris Arundell (CA) Medway Early Years Moira Atkinson (MA) Prospects Services,
Nicola Carpenter (NC) Home School Support Worker Chattenden Primary School, Diane Haskins (DH) School Community Officer
Hoo St Werburgh Primary School and Marlborough Centre Ray Naine (RN) Medway Family Information Service (FIS)
Pauline Wagon (PW) Medway Adult and Community Learning Service (MACLS) Jayne Lingham Administrator, St James’ Children’s
Centre (minutes)
Apologies:
Dawn Bradley & Briony Dray Health Visiting Service, Strood & Rural tea Clare Smith Head of EYFS St James’ C of E Primary
Academy Tina Fursey Kent Police Keith Clear Medway Parent & Carers Forum Nicola Parkinson Smilers Pre-school
Teresa Gissing Little Saints Pre-School Veronica Cordier UJ Community Partnership Keith Morrison St James’ C of E Primary
Academy Board of Trustees.
MINUTES
1
ACTIONS
Introductions and Apologies.
VW called the meeting to order at 1pm, welcomed those present and asked all attendees to introduce themselves.
2
Minutes of the last meeting.
The minutes of the Advisory Board meeting held on 17th October 2013 were presented for approval and were agreed as a true
record of that meeting.
Matters arising from the previous minutes.
All actions have been completed unless mentioned below.
Item 3 Para 7 of the minutes of 17.10.13 refers: The workshops offered by VW to be delivered to parents by a member of her
teaching staff did not take place. The planned Adult Maths course is currently being delivered by a MACLS tutor weekly at St.
James’ until July 2014.
3
Children’s Centre Manager’s report.
CW presented the Children’s Centre Manager’s report which had been circulated prior to the meeting. (Duplicate copies of the
report are available from the centre on request). Points arising from the report are as follows:
Priority 1 -To increase participation of children & families attending the Children’s Centre.
Page 5 of the report:
 Attendance is expected to increase in Chattenden following the recent reintroduction of midwifery services in that area. CW
is looking to reintroduce midwifery services to Grain and Hoo.

CW has made contact with the Rector of the Parish of High Halstow & Allhallows with Hoo St Mary and with Karen Willing
from Stoke Methodist Church.

With reference to the CC target to capture 70% of children aged 0-5years with particular focus on the most deprived
families within the SOAs, encouraging them to access Early Years education (2 and 3 year old funded children), and with
the recent closure of the PVI in Allhallows in mind, SL asked CW if she knew the average age of children now attending
sessions in Allhallows and raised the question of whether the Children’s Centre (CC) needs to look at more provision in
Allhallows. CW confirmed that most of the children are aged between 18 and 24 months. CW discreetly talks to relevant
Page 2 of 6
MINUTES
ACTIONS
families on the subject of funded 2 year old places and writes to families identified as not having taken up the offer of a
funded place. CW has also introduced a Fun and Games session in Allhallows that takes place on a Monday morning at
Allhallows Primary Academy.
Page 6 of the report:
 In response to a question from MA, CW confirmed that the data in the comparative data table relates to families in the St.
James’ CC area only.
CW

In light of the fact that the percentage of attendance for some areas remains unchanged, it was suggested that it would be
useful to consult partners in these areas to find out why they think numbers have stayed the same and what they think
could be done to increase attendance.

One reason for the significantly higher attendance at Grain is that the larger events are primarily hosted at the centre at St.
James’. Parents drive or car share to travel to these larger events.

Feedback from families from High Halstow and Upnor indicates that they feel that they do not need the CC services. They
have said that they are happy to pay for alternative services of their choosing.

MA and VW both feel that the lower attendance at Chattenden may be somewhat due the fact that the Community Centre
isn’t an ideal venue; it isn’t an inviting building. NC said that the parents’ perception is that the centre is not safe.
Historically, there has been a problem with youths hanging around the premises, sometimes smoking drugs. CW assured
those present that the safety issues have not been apparent during CC sessions. She has nonetheless made contact with
Peter Jackson, a Community Warden, and will continue to work with him.NC drew on her knowledge of the area to explain
that there isn’t a sense of community among the Chattenden residents. Chattenden is divided by a very busy main road.
The population is transient, in particular among the families placed in accommodation closer to the community centre.

Using the Chattenden data as an example, MC asked if it is possible that the remaining 55% are travelling to attend CC
services in nearby Strood, or beyond, and asked if this could this be the same from the other villages in the CC reach. The
answer to this question is yes and this information is available in the full CC data pack. NC shared her knowledge that
some parents from Chattenden attend Temple Mill Children’s Centre. SL reiterated that the important thing is that families
are accessing CC services and the emphasis is not on where they attend.
CW to look
at
partnership
working
Page 3 of 6
MINUTES
ACTIONS

CW to
MC asked if the above was the same for parents in Hoo. DH said that her knowledge of the families in Hoo indicates a
need but feels that the low attendance at Hoo is due to the fact that the CC runs one session only there. DH suggested the
CC undertakes an analysis of need on the Hoo Peninsula that can be used to plan delivery of CC services. CW explained
that she is working in partnership with the Medway Adult Community Learning Service (MACLS) and the UJ Community
Partnership to map the adult and family learning on the peninsula and will be exploring ways in which learning can be
delivered effectively on the Hoo Peninsula. They are jointly planning a Taster Day to attract parents. Parental consultation
could take place as part of this event.

Collecting and assimilating data is always a problem in terms of CC staff time; the CC identified some new families who
attended the Mobile Farm day in Chattenden but was unable to track future attendance, if any, by these families for this
reason. This could be somewhat addressed by information sharing through partnership working/partnership meetings. This
partnership working could be an effective way of identifying and capturing information about children and families, including
those who don’t access CC services, and capturing important information around outcomes for children. As an example of
this, SL asked the partners present if they knew of any families who have attended the Sticky Fingers course and whether
they have seen a difference in families in terms of outcomes for the children.

Linking to the above point, the Advisory Board model is one of bringing partners together around the same table to provide
effective governance and share knowledge and good practice. However, the rural nature of St James’ CC’s reach could be
a barrier to partners meeting as one body in one particular venue. The question was posed-should the Advisory Board
consider sub advisory groups to meet within the reach areas, with area representatives feeding back area- specific needs?
As an action to take this forward, CW will review Advisory Board membership to ensure there is a good cross section of
representatives.

In response to a challenge from the floor, CW confirmed that she is currently unable to say that the CC is capturing 100%
of parents listed in the New Birth Data. Partnership working could again be a way to boost engagement with parents with
new born children and to meet this target. As an example, partners working with a 4year old child might see that ‘Mum’ has
a new born and might consider passing this information to the CC-if data sharing in this way satisfies data protection laws.
CW was then challenged to consider whether the CC is capturing 100% of funded 2yr old children or working with all
children at school entry. It is important to ensure that information is captured at every stage.
organise
parental
consultation
CW to
review Adv.
Board reps.
Page 4 of 6
MINUTES
ACTIONS
Priority 2-page 8 of the report.
• Fathers accessing services-GH and MC both referred to the link with the Williamson Trust and the opportunities that might
exist for accessing facilities and/or expertise through partnership working.
• Increasing access for disabled children- Drawing on her knowledge and past experience, VW explained that children with a
disability are very quickly engaged in other services. Again, partnership working is key in seeking information to ensure that
the families’ needs are being met. The CC needs to be very careful when working in a specialist field. It could be that the
role of the CC is to build a good knowledge of services available in Medway and to signpost families to theses services.
Priority 4- Page 8 of the report
 Staff will be given training to enable them to support breastfeeding mothers.
MC congratulated the CC staff for the steady increases in attendance and meeting targets as highlighted in the data shown
within the report.
4
Advertising/Children’s Centre Launch.
Item 4 of the minutes of 23.05.13 refers: The decision was made to postpone the re launch of the centre at the meeting of
23.05.13.CW subsequently made the decision to target advertising for the centre and has :
 Invested in banners which have been placed around the peninsula.
 Bought T Shirts, fleeces and jackets for the volunteer ambassadors. Promotion of the centre is an important part of the
volunteer role.
 Timetables are now printed out-of –house. The cost to do so is 50% lower than in-house copying. We are therefore able to
print and circulate more timetables.
 The timetable is displayed on the CC website www.stjamesisleofgrain.org.uk. JL will email a link to our website to NC who
will ensure the link is added to Chattenden Primary School website.
JL to email
link

5
Parents Forum.
CW tabled Appendix 1 for discussion.
The number of nominations for parent representatives to the Advisory Board is low. Parents from Stoke said that it was
difficult to attend meetings in the afternoon without children and said that it would be better if meetings were held in the
Page 5 of 6
6
MINUTES
ACTIONS
morning when children would be in pre-school. This suggests one of the factors prohibiting parents attending Advisory Board
meetings is childcare.
CW posed the question to the board ‘Should the time of Advisory Board meetings be changed from the currently agreed times
and dates?’ GH said that the meetings need to fit around parents needs and again wondered if there is a need for smaller,
more local meetings. NC kindly offered to circulate Parent Forum information and ask for volunteer parent representatives
through her school. NC said that she could see no reason why schools couldn’t collate the views of parents through school
PTAs, parents evening questionnaires etc. for feeding back to the CC.
CW was challenged to consider linking parent forums into existing parent forums within the schools on the peninsula.
CW
Adult Education on the Hoo Peninsula.


7
PW briefly outlined how MACLS is working with CW to map the adult and family learning on the Hoo Peninsula, to explore
ways in which learning can be delivered effectively on the Hoo Peninsula. Any board members wanting further information
can contact CW on 01634 270341 or at [email protected]
MACLS will be writing a new directory and will use the results of the mapping exercise to plan delivery of services on the
peninsula.
AOB.
There will be an Employability Celebration at the Corn Exchange, Rochester, on the 26th February 2014. For further
information, please contact [email protected].
8
Closure of meeting.
VW thanked those present for attending and closed the meeting at 2.40pm.
Date of Next meeting.
The next Advisory Board meeting will be held on Thursday 24th April 2014 from 1pm-2.30pm at Chattenden Community
Centre, Swinton Avenue, Chattenden, Rochester, Kent, ME3 8PH.
Page 6 of 6

Download Report