Wednesday's Scrutiny Committee will receive several reports when considering the Granville/Carlton call-in. One appendix describes the work of the various users of the centres. Following on from Zadie Smith's talk last night I thought it would be useful to publish it here in full so that readers are aware of what is currently provided.
Background Information on Granville Plus Nursery School
Granville
Plus Nursery School is a Nursery School, Nursery Schools have a different
distinction from a nursery. The Maintained nursery schools: the state of play
report (March 2015, Early Education: The British Association for Early
Childhood Education) identifies that “maintained nursery schools are local
authority funded schools, with a headteacher and qualified teachers leading a
team of specialist early years practitioners”, they also identify that just
over 400 remain in England. Within Brent only a few Nursery Schools remain.
The
latest Ofstead inspection report for the Nursery School (they are inspected
under two separate Ofsted frameworks, in the Nursery School (including Horizon,
their Additionally Resourced Provision for children with autism), and in their
Rainbow provision), both received a “Good” from Ofsted. The Maintained nursery
schools: hubs for quality in the early years (Early Education: The British
Association for Early Childhood Education) report states that “Nursery Schools
are inspected under the Ofsted criteria used for primary schools, rather than
those used for early years settings in the private and voluntary sector, with
inspections lasting two days rather than half a day.”
Council
Officers visited with the Nursery School Headteacher on the 8 September and
were shown around the building which includes a recent extension. Key points
highlighted included the importance of the outdoor space as an educational tool
and for children who live in the surrounding area which is predominantly flat
accommodation. The Nursery School has an identified offer for children with
Special Education Needs and Disabilities. Below is information provided from
the Headteacher in regards to the Nursery School.
Officers
also met with the parents and with the Governors on two separate events.
Information from these meetings are imbedded into this report. From all three
meeting the clear message was that they wish to stay on their current site and
would not wish to be part of a nursery attached to another school (this is
driven partly by not wishing to lose the status of being a Nursery School).
Information
provided by the Headteacher:
· 74% of the children are from NW6,
with a further 14% from NW10 (Harlesden).
· 94% are from ethnic minorities, and
86% have English as an Additional
Language.
· 17% of our children have significant
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
(SEND), including 11 in our
additionally resourced provision for children with autism, and a further 8
places for children with a range of significant needs including physical
disabilities and medical needs.
· The children with SEND are fully
integrated within our mainstream environment, and our SEND provision, including
the autistic provision, was judged outstanding in our latest Ofsted.
· 8% of places are for Children in
Need (usually with social care needs, including child protection)
· All these specialist places are
allocated by a borough-wide panel.
· We are open 8am to 6pm for 48 weeks
of the year, with a flexible fees
structure, to support parents back to work or college.
· 51% of places are babies and 2-3
year olds, with nearly all the 2-3 year olds
funded by the “vulnerable 2 year
olds” NEG2 funding.
· We provide training placements for
NVQ Level 3, and in
partnership with the Institute of Education have trained
staff to become qualified teachers.
· We employ a number of local people,
some of whom had their children here and whom we supported back into
employment.
· Many families have a long
association with the school, emphasising their sense of community, so that
ex-pupils bring their children to us, and in some cases their grand-children,
due to our early years education specialism and ethos.
· We equally welcome new arrivals,
providing a place and an approach that connects them into a community network.
· The Nursery garden is an integral
part of our early years curriculum, and an oasis within a highly urban
environment for children that do not have gardens and who are reliant on public
space.
Background Information on Barnardos Children’s Centre
Barnardos
received a contract in 2016 to deliver Children’s Centres for Brent Council.
Barnardos are based within the Granville centre. They are commissioned to
deliver 14 Children’s Centres in the borough for a 4 year period with an option
for a fifth year.
During a
meeting with officers from Barnardos they stated a preference that they wished
to stay within the Granville Centre, as the families which they work with come
from the local area. They also explained that children’s centres could not
“just be closed down”.
Information
provided by representative of Barnardo’s following the meeting
Granville
Plus Children’s Centre, Granville Road, Kilburn
NW6 5RA
Supporting all families in the local
area with children aged 0-4. Services delivered By Barnardo’s on behalf of
Brent Local Authority.
The
purpose of our Children’s Centres is to support families of children from
conception to 5 years to improve outcomes for the future by supporting the
earliest years of a child’s life where there are opportunities to enhance their
development. Centres promote outreach services to engage families in their
communities rather than expect them to access buildings. Varied programmes and
activities are offered that include working with partner agencies including
Health Visiting, Midwifery, Citizen’s Advice Bureau Services and Speech and
Language Therapists.
The
vision for Barnardo’s Children’s Centres in Brent is to provide excellent
support, guidance and services for all of our children and their families so
they achieve their full potential. We want to ensure that their intervention
has a positive and lasting impact on each and every family that they are in
contact with, for better outcomes and to improve their life chances.
Background information on the Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club
The
Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club occupy space within the Granville Centre.
During the meeting the following was discussed in regards to the range of
activities carried out by the two functions:
Providing
free meals to those in need – they receive food donations from local retailers
including the newly opened Mark and Spencer’s Simply Food in South Kilburn.
This can be up to 150 meals at a time.
Provide donated items for people to take
freely such as clothes
Provide
children’s activities
Provide fitness activities
Has a community garden where
people can learn about food and where food used in the kitchen is grown
Provide
meeting space
Provide access to computers
One
of
was that the space that they operate from was welcoming and that people felt
comfortable to come into the space to have a meal.
the key
points raised in regards to the Granville Kitchen and the meals it provides
Information
provided directly by representative following the meeting:
The
Otherwise Club has 50-60 families a year who are members since we started at
the Granville Plus Centre in February 1993. We also have at least 2 families
each month who just visit.
That
amounts to more than 250 individuals using our services a year; as a family is
made of at least 2 people and often up to 6 or 7. One long term member family
has 9 people in it.
We are
mostly self-funded but also receive some small grant and volunteer run. We are
a registered charity for over 15 years (Charity number 1071831)
Last year
we had 8 young people taking 20 GCSEs between them, with 90% passing with B or
above. We have done numerous trips within the UK including an annual trip for
30 people to a farm outside of Glastonbury.
We have taken groups of young people
to Germany 4 times, Spain twice, France, 3 times, Italy 4 times and are
planning a trip to Cuba in December 2016
We
started Granville Community Kitchen over 2 years ago
It is now serving 120-150
meals at our weekly free community dinner.
We have regular film nights and
dance nights with up to 30 people attending these evenings
We serve lunch on
Thursdays in term time serving 30-50 meals each week.
The Kitchen ran a Summer
Scheme in July -August 2016 with 85 children and young people attending mostly
from the South Kilburn area
We collect surplus food from the local Marks and
Spencers since the day it opened and from M&S Kilburn for nearly a year.
We
also receive surplus food drops from food redistribution charity City Harvest
London.
We are
seeing our numbers increasing weekly, and expect these to rise further with the
coming benefit cap.
The
Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club would want to stay on site.
