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CHILDREN’S PLAN: ONE YEAR ON
11 December 2008Vision for 21st century children’s services On the anniversary of the flagship Children’s Plan, Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, today set out his vision for 21st century children’s services to help deliver the ambition of making England the best place in the world to grow up. Announcing a new £200 million ‘co-location fund’ to bring health, education and children’s services together under one roof, Ed Balls also promised more support for those who work with children, building capacity to work across boundaries to join up and support services so that children come first - not just in child protection but in all aspects of children’s lives.The ‘Children’s Plan: One Year On’, a progress report on the last year, will be sent to key partners including every Children’s Centre, school, GP practice and Director of Children’s Services.Ed Balls also launched an interactive online Children’s Plan village to make it easier for professionals - and parents – to see how all the Children’s Plan’s achievements and announcements fit and how everyone works together. Ed Balls said:“One year into the Children’s Plan and there is much to celebrate and be proud of. But at the same time there are still too many young people not fulfilling their potential, too many schools where standards are not high enough and we can never be satisfied until we have done all we can to protect every child from abuse, harm and neglect. “We now need to invest in all those who work with children, and build capacity to work across boundaries so that our services are not just about providing a safety net for the vulnerable – but also about unlocking the potential of every child. Local leadership is vital to embed the Children’s Plan - we need to win the hearts and minds of everyone who works with children.“This is not just about the Government churning out policy papers – every one of these is an essential part of the jigsaw. The immediate lessons of Haringey are being addressed, but the wider vision remains as important as it ever was – it takes the whole community, working together, to make every child safe, healthy, enjoying their childhood and preparing for their future.”To enable everyone to play their part, Ed Balls today set out:- Improvements to recruitment, training and support right across the children’s workforce – focusing on the need for a long-term programme of change to support improvements in social work.- Extending the remit of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) to create a new leadership and management programme for Directors of Children’s Services- New Social Work Taskforce- to look at improvements in front-line social work practice to inform a long-term programme focusing on the reform of initial social work training, improvements in the quality of professional practice attracting and retaining the brightest and best people to social work; and strengthening the delivery system which supports and challenges professional social workers.- Special Educational Needs - £31million for pilots for children with SEN to achieve their potential and work with schools to identify best practice in securing good outcomes for children with SEN. It will also develop tools and approaches for supporting children with SEN effectively and for working with their parents.- National Challenge – £41million for 85 Local Authorities. The first wave of funding from a £400m pot for LAs to work with low performing schools over the next few years. This money is on top of the billions going into rebuilding schools across the country.- Employer taskforce - the new task force, set up with at least £1.5million of Government funding over three years and led by senior business people and employers, to focus on improving literacy and numeracy in primary schools, making enterprise education more effective and supporting the most challenging schools through the National Challenge. - Employer engagement – a new strategy, Building Stronger Partnerships, to encourage greater partnership between employers and schools to boost the learning and future prospects of young people.
Also announced as part of the anniversary celebration:- A National Play Strategy outlining the Government’s long term vision and actions to deliver safe, accessible and exciting play opportunities for all children. £25million allocated to 10 Local Authorities to build new state of the art adventure playgrounds and a further £1million to 79 Local Authorities to revamp existing play sites.- The vision of the 21st Century School, which will transform education by forging strong links with parents and the wider community – putting children at the centre of learning. - The School Report Card, which will give parents an ‘at a glance’ picture of school performance in joint consultation with Ofsted.- Sir Jim Rose’s interim report on his root and branch independent review of the primary curriculum outlining plans for a new curriculum that would mean a smoother transition between early years and primary and offer more opportunities for play and child-based activities, easing parents’ concerns about an abrupt change from play in early years to formal teaching in primaries. - The report also suggested that schools need to move with the times and teach much secondary school Information Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge earlier at primary and that summer-born children should start primary school the September after their fourth birthday and some children should start part-time.The proposals build on a year’s work of reform including:
- More childcare help for parents with more places for two, three and four year olds;- Almost 3,000 children’s centres across the country giving more parents better access to health, parenting and work advice;- Successful Family Nurse Partnerships pilots helping young and vulnerable mums across the country;- Introduced the Early Years Foundation Stage so parents can be sure of the quality of early learning for children;- Made progress towards personalised learning for every child, improving the way schools identify learning needs, and trialling the use of one-to-one tuition;- More specialist support for children with special educational needs;- Launched the UK Council for Child Internet Safety in response to Tanya Byron’s review;- Published ‘Staying Safe’ action plan to help keep children safe from harm;- Launched MyPlace – a £200m scheme giving young people a greater say in the positive activities in their area;- More short breaks and equipment for disabled children, as well as respite care for families;- Improved quality in schools, with large falls in the numbers of failing or underperforming schools;- Roll out of National Challenge for schools meaning no school is left behind – including specific programmes to target secondary moderns and coasting schools;- More schools are open earlier and close later – meaning more opportunities for the wider community, and a hub for other services like health, advice and support for families;- Launched a £100m a triple track approach to tackling youth crime, focussing on prevention and intervention as well as enforcement;- Launched the Youth Alcohol Action Plan to help young people reduce their excessive and dangerous drinking.More information can be found at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/oneyearon Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'
Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Press Notice 2008/0282
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