CYP(3) 15

Childrenand and Young People Committee

Inquiry into Parenting Action Plan

Response from ContinYou Cymru

ContinYou Cymru www.continyou.org.uk is part of the wider charity ContinYou - Changing Lives Through Learning -   that works across the UK.

ContinYou Cymru delivers a range of programmes, projects and services across Wales including:
A support service for Community Focused Schools (CFS) and out of school hours learning (oshl) funded by WAG
The Cymru Cooks programme promoting cooking in schools through training and a Tool Kit funded by WAG
Pyramid Clubs - supporting children with emotional needs and their families, with funding from WAG, WCVA and the Big Lottery
V4AC - providing training and accreditation for volunteers in Community Focused Schools and d out of school hours learning funded by WCVA Active Communities

1 Delivery of the Parenting Action Plan

How effective do you consider the implementation of the Parenting Action Plan to have been?

From our knowledge and based mainly on our work in CFS we believe that there is still significant work to be done to really ensure that all parents are able to access the right information and support in the right place and at the right time.

Has the amount of support available to parents increased

It is hard to say as some areas of support have increased, there are some new initiatives and ideas but equally some areas of support and programmes have decreased.

Is support accessible for all parents

No - support is still patchy and not always available where, when and how needed. There are obvious issues in relation to rural and isolated communities, language and culture and a 'stigma’ of needing support as a parent

Is support getting through to the parents who need it most

There are undoubtedly improvements in accessing support for many parents - but often these are the ones who would have found it anyway. It would appear that there are still challenges in providing the right support to those who need it most in a way in which it will be accepted.

Do parents receive more information, and is positive parenting
effectively promoted?

On the whole parents do receive more information - but there is then the issue of the quality of information they receive, whether they can understand the information and sheer information overload!

Do parents participate more in planning services and in schools

There appear to examples of good practice in many areas but still room for improvement. Many parents have to be supported to be able to participate in planning services and in schools.

Are you aware of barriers experienced by parents in accessing support
services and information sources? What are the key reasons for these
barriers?

Examples include: rurality, transport and costs, timing, location, language, ethnicity and culture, not knowing where to go to find out the information they need to access services, the right people to deliver services

Can you provide any examples of innovative practice in ensuring that services and information is accessible, and barriers can be overcome?

Community focused Schools have a real role to play in providing information and services where they are needed, based on local needs and priorities. Recognising that there are often multiple barriers to access and that parents with specific needs are not necessarily a 'group but individuals with individual needs.

2 Continued work on parenting

What do you consider to be the key parenting issues still needing to be

addressed by the Welsh Assembly Government? Providing a range of services and opportunities that meet individual need and may include very basic identification and engagement that has nothing to do with the actual service provision initially.  Enabling local provision to meet local need but by learning form regional and national development.

3 What has worked, and what hasn’t

• Are you aware of any examples of good practice in supporting parents
Can you detail these, and explain why these examples have been
successful?
The following have all been developed as part of CFS provision:

Newport - Preventative Services Strategy

Developing a Community Focused Schools approach is a key part of Newport’s Preventative Services Strategy which has involved piloting a multi-agency team around a cluster of schools. The team offers parents a range of support including on parenting. This approach is now being rolled out to a further four clusters of schools. 

Carmarthenshire - Menter Cwm Gwendraeth

Menter Cwn Gwendraeth has been running LAP (language and play) and NAP (numeracy and play) for parents and their young children with am emphasis on learning through fun (e.g. through food and making smoothies).   

Parenting classes, Coed Eva primary school

The need for the classes has been identified by the school and parents and funding has been secured from the local Health Board.  A community information evening on a range of parenting issues, and which will involve a number of different agencies offering support in this area, is being held shortly.

Flintshire

Some Community Focused Schools funding in Flintshire has been used to support the running of Webster Stratton parenting classes which have been successful in engaging targeted parents and is part of an overall strategic approach. 

Tynyrheol Primary School and Llangeinor Communities First

Using the development of high quality play provision as a tool to help ease childrens’ transition into school and engage with parents is proving a great success. By linking with Genesis and involving a Learning Broker parents who have traditionally been hard to engage with school and their childrens learning and who have a range of needs themselves are now coming into school, taking part in a range of support activities including looking at their own learning. This has only been possible by real partnership working.

ContinYou Cymru’s Pyramid Clubs

Clubs are being run in Cardiff, Powys, Merthyr, Ceredigion and more recently have started in Ynys Mon and Flintshire.  The clubs for children are proving so successful and parents are seeing such a difference in their children over a 10 week period that they are becoming enagaged with their childrens development and learning, with the school and are requesting additional opportunities and support for themselves. This is now being offered through Pyramid for Parents support.

Engaging with Fathers

Helping schools and other organizations to develop their practice in engaging with and involving fathers in parenting is challenging for many. ContinYou Cymru has done initial work in developing advice and training which has been very well received and is already showing an increase in father involvement.

• Can you identify any areas of the Parenting Action Plan which you consider to have been successfully implemented, and any that have not? Why have these areas been successfully implemented, or not?

• It would appear that there have been successes across all areas but different needs need different responses and further development, particularly in addressing barriers and more pro-active engagement and involvement of fathers. Much of the work in reaching those most in need is by its nature more time consuming, more individual and takes a greater amount of individual support. This means that it is often more expensive and the levels of funding required are not necessarily available. The development of partnerships to deliver and to pool funds can take time and energy which also includes a cost. Such partnerships a re essential for strategic and joined up thinking and provision but do not happen overnight and need nourishing along the way.