Agenda item

Penny Kenway, Head of Early Years and Childcare, and Jason Strelitz, Acting Assistant Director of Public Health, made a presentation to the Committee, copy interleaved, during which the following main points were made –

·         The Committee noted progress made on the First 21 Months programme, early education for funded two year olds, and the introduction of the integrated review.

·         It was noted that the relatively high levels of deprivation in Islington had a negative impact on the education and health of children in early childhood. Although Islington did not compare favourably to other London Boroughs and nationally in areas such as tooth decay, obesity, learning and development and homelessness; Islington did perform favourably in levels of immunisation and breastfeeding.

·         Immunisation levels had significantly increased since 2008. It was commented that this was leading to better outcomes for families and indicated that related publicity had been successful.

·         Significant progress had been made on infant mortality, which had decreased from above the London and England average in 2003-05 to below average in 2009-11.

·         Although Islington was behind national and inner-London averages in terms of children achieving a ‘good level of development’ at the end of reception, the percentage of children achieving this level had increased from 39% in 2009 to 58% in 2014. Whilst this was encouraging, the Committee commented that it appeared that Islington was consistently behind other inner-London Boroughs and enquired why this may be. It was suggested that the particularly high levels of deprivation in Islington meant that local children had to progress further to achieve the ‘good level of development’ standard.

·         The apparent decrease in ‘good level of development’ performance in 2013 was due to changes to the early years foundation stage profile assessment criteria. Since this date the Council had worked with teachers to moderate their assessments and increase understanding of how children can be best supported to achieve their full potential against the assessment criteria. A particular focus on language and personal social development had been adopted, however it was noted that further work was required to increase physical mobility.

·         It was noted that the issues most frequently presented to Children’s Services included domestic violence, neglect, parental mental health, and parental disputes. Key factors identified in social care assessments included drug and alcohol abuse in addition to these. It was requested that exact figures be circulated to the Committee.

·         An overview was provided of the services available to pregnant women, children at age 0-2, and at age 3-4. It was explained that universal activities at Children’s Centres such as ‘stay and play’ sessions helped to signpost families to targeted and specialist services.

·         The key challenges facing early years services were (i) information governance and consent for information sharing, (ii) further integration of services; and (iii) ensuring ICT systems enable the impact of services to be measured.

·         A member suggested that due to the financial climate it was unlikely that the Council would be able to increase resources to services in the near future. It was therefore queried what cost-effective measures could be taken to support the work of early years services. In response, it was advised that the service recognised the difficult financial climate, however investment in ICT systems could lead to a more efficient and targeted service, which may both save money and improve outcomes.

·         It was explained that the relatively high levels of deprivation in Islington attracted early years pupil premium funding of around £300 per pupil per year.

·         It was commented that the Committee could further investigate (i) if the most deprived families were accessing children’s centres for the right amount of time; and (ii) the consistency of early years provision, as although all providers were committed to learning, it was thought that different providers gave differing levels of priority to literacy and numeracy. A member of the Committee suggested that publicly comparing providers on such measures may help to raise standards.

·         A member of the public queried in which areas Islington children needed to make the most progress. In response it was advised that further work was needed to develop literacy, numeracy, and understanding of the world.

RESOLVED:

That the progress of the Council’s early childhood services be noted.