Agenda item

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES the amendment to recommendation three of the report from an annual update to a bi-annual update.

2.    APPROVES the investment into the partnership model with Thrive at Five.

3.    APPROVES in principle, to enter into the five-year Partnership Agreement with Thrive at Five subject to legal and finance review and approval.

4.    APPROVES, in accordance with the agreed amendment; to receive a bi-annual update of progress.

The Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

 

The purpose of the report was to seek approval of the Council’s involvement with Thrive at Five as detailed in the report. The decision required an Executive decision in line with the constitution at section 6.38.1 (b).

 

Thrive at Five was a registered national charity that aimed to help children in the early years develop strong foundations for life and learning. They built capacity in communities by supporting parents and carers and enabled collaboration across the public, private and voluntary sectors to achieve sustainable change in early years outcomes. They were a place-based initiative, bringing significant resource and capacity to the areas within which they worked. They operated in areas where the Local Authority worked as a key partner and were pathfinding the development of an approach and a replicable model that could be implemented across the country.

 

Thrive at Five were currently working in Stoke-on-Trent and Redcar & Cleveland, as their first and second pathfinders respectively. They were now looking for another area to partner with to deliver a pathfinder. The report outlined the rationale for Middlesbrough agreeing to work with Thrive at five.

 

The quality of a child’s early experience was vital for their future, as children that started school developmentally ready would have a happier, healthier life. Conversely those that started behind fell further behind as they progressed through school. School readiness was shaped by many interrelated factors such as the effects of poverty, the impact of high-quality early education and care, and the influence of ‘good parenting’.

 

In Middlesbrough a significant number of children started school behind their peers without the skills necessary to flourish at school. The average figure hid significant variances between areas of Middlesbrough that contributed to the inequalities experienced. In some Middlesbrough communities it was more likely that a child would not be ready for school on starting at Reception.

 

The attainment gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers had continued to grow over the last 20 years, particularly in locations where poverty was at its highest, like Middlesbrough, where significant socio-economic challenges had driven inequalities in attainment in recent years.

 

Parents and carers, and their children, often struggled because the system of support around them in their community was fragmented. A 2021 Government review reported “The Start for Life offer is still patchy, is not joined up, and is not easily accessible for parents, making it almost impossible for them to navigate the system”. Strategies for support were often developed in a piecemeal fashion, without sufficient reference to what the evidence and data, including, critically, the views of parents, said about needs and how best to address them.

 

Thrive at Five saw Middlesbrough as a good fit with their ethos as they wanted to work in areas where there was a driver of disadvantaged inequalities in levels of child development and strong local system leadership and commitment. As a local area Middlesbrough had a strong commitment to improve outcomes in the early years, and therefore aligned well strategically with Thrive at Five. Whilst there had been some progress, it had been difficult to bring about significant and lasting change to the abilities of children starting school. To improve outcomes for children there was a need for a collective effort with the public, voluntary and private sector working more closely together and with better connection to families and the local community. This was exactly what Thrive at Five aimed to achieve.

 

It was commented that the agenda for the meeting of Executive was focused on investing on young people. However, this was important given the statistics showing a 40% school readiness gap between certain areas of the town. This initiative, alongside programmes such as SHIFT, would help reduce this.

 

It was also commented that children and young people had not featured prominently on the policy agenda for the previous 14 years and this needed addressing. The approach detailed in the report relied on the knowledge and expertise of communities. Which was vital to the programme success.

 

The Mayor suggested that recommendation three in the report be changed to six-monthly rather than annual.

 

OPTIONS

 

If Middlesbrough Council chose not to enter into a partnership and do nothing, it pass-up the opportunity to bring an additional £3m of funding to narrow the outcome gap in school readiness.

 

The commitment from Thrive at Five to work with Middlesbrough was an opportunity to bring in investment, capacity and expertise to bring about positive and lasting change for children in the early years which would ultimately reduce the demand for more costly services and intervention in later life.

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES the amendment to recommendation three of the report from an annual update to a bi-annual update.

2.    APPROVES the investment into the partnership model with Thrive at Five.

3.    APPROVES in principle, to enter into the five-year Partnership Agreement with Thrive at Five subject to legal and finance review and approval.

4.    APPROVES, in accordance with the agreed amendment; to receive a bi-annual update of progress.

 

REASONS

 

The Health and Wellbeing Strategy had adopted a mission-led approach, where each mission was a response to a significant local challenge, where innovation, working together and aligning resources had a big part to play in driving large-scale change. Missions could not be resolved by any single agency acting in isolation. Each mission had a set of ambitious goals that further articulate and explain that mission.

 

The mission, “We will narrow the attainment gap between children growing up in disadvantage and the national average” included two goals on children’s attainment, the first one being to “eliminate the school readiness gap between those born into deprivation and their peers”.

 

The Middlesbrough Council Plan 2024-2027 included an aim to improve attainment in education and skills. There were wide inequalities in the abilities of children starting school in Middlesbrough. The gap in development at Reception age widened as children progressed through the school system. Improving the overall school readiness and reducing the gap in attainment was critical to improving attainment on leaving school.

 

Whilst there has been some progress, it had been difficult to bring about significant and lasting change to the abilities of children starting school. To improve outcomes for children there was a need for a collective effort with the public, voluntary and private sector working more closely together and with better connection to families and the local community. This was exactly what Thrive at Five aimed to achieve.

 

The Thrive at Five model was a partnership approach, with Thrive at Five bringing expertise, enthusiasm and resources. The proposed Council investment would leverage in twice as much additional investment from Thrive at Five.