Suckley Community Plan Children and Families Group

Thursday 11th March 2010
PRESENT: Mark Molloy Andrew Grieve Jacqui Molloy Di Holloway Ali Capper		APOLS: Matt Meakin Marie Woodruff Kate Phillipson Emma Smith
ITEM	ISSUE DISCUSSED		ACTION
1	Background Andrew outlined the background to the Community Plan and explained that he was facilitating the first meeting until a Chair was chosen. It is hoped that all task groups set up for the Community Planning process would be able to report to the Parish meeting in May – date to be confirmed. It is recognized that there are likely to be cross cutting issues across the task groups which need to be identified to avoid duplication of effort.		All
2	Ways of working Mark agreed to Chair the group and the role of minute taker will rotate. There will be two meetings prior to the May Parish meeting and then future dates agreed. A questionnaire will be designed to encompass all the questions from the task groups to establish the demand for services – the group will need to decide what these might be for children and families. To be agreed at next meeting. Census data about the village has been supplied but this is now 9 years old which has a significant impact for this group. It was agreed the group need to consider working across parish boundaries as services are more likely to become sustainable by this approach Andrew to send email contacts to Mark for the next agenda and notes of meeting to be sent out to group members.		MM/All All/MM AG/MM
3	Discussion Points Some early exploration of the available data and a brainstorm of services currently known/operating in the village. Group wants to explore the use of the Church for community space which includes activities for children and families. Its close proximity to the school lends itself to some joint working which can be discussed with the Head teacher who is going to become a member of the group. Mother & Toddlers is an existing voluntarily run group - run by mothers. There is a view is that in addition to a Mother & Toddlers group, the village/Suckley school need a pre-school offering. Most likely not to be a 8am to 6pm nursery solution for babies and toddlers (too much local competition with Tiblands and Little Grobags) but more likely to be a proper pre-school setting that runs in school hours and is aimed at 2 years up to and including the pre-reception year. Most likely something either run by the school or with strong links to the school and is something that could be extended to offer the wraparound care the school will need to offer in the future. In its simplest form a “supervised playgroup” run to Ofsted standards. Sustainability of the Mums and Toddlers group is a topic that requires some attention Links with Sure Start Children’s Centre discussed as they have a responsibility for 0-5 services in the parish. May want to go back to them to ask for their views re need in the parish Existing playground equipment might be in the wrong place as it currently doesn’t get used very much. Activities for older children are lacking – some ideas for summer/holiday activity were discussed as it is thought that there are people in the Parish who would be prepared to offer facilities if a programme is organized. The use of a Face Book type tool was discussed as a way of keeping Parish children in touch with each other as they are all at different schools. Accessibility for children with disabilities might be an issue if there are disabled children in the Parish (the census data showed 9). There may be other children excluded from activities due to transport difficulties, caring responsibilities etc that the group might need to address to ensure all children are supported to take part in anything offered. The Group decided not to consider issues about babies as it was thought this should be with the Health and Well being group. We wanted to establish some thoughts and ideas of children/young people in the Parish and agreed to start by asking the school to help with this by talking with some of their children.		DH
4	Future Agenda Items Feedback from the schools discussion. Further exploration of the census data. Mapping of existing provision and potential resources. Identification of obvious gaps to be explored within a community questionnaire Prepare for report to the May meeting re draft plan of action		MM
	Date of Next meeting Date: Thursday 15th April Time: 8.00 – 9.00 Place: Stocks Farm

Thursday 15th April 2010
PRESENT: Matt Meakin Emma Smith – note taker Mark Molloy - chair Di Holloway Ali Cappa		APOLOGIES: Kate Phillipson Andrew Grieve
ITEM	ISSUE DISCUSSED		ACTION
1	Introductions to new group members/background: Mark introduced the new task group members and gave a little bit of history both to the community plan process and the task group. Marie Woodruff and Jacqui Molloy will no longer be members of this group but will concentrate on the Health & Well Being Task Group
2	Notes of meeting – 11^th March Agreed – and actions updated as follows: Pre-school task group – now in place and taking forward these developments. Aim is to have the service in place by 1^st Sept’. Will start off in The Old Hop Kilns and hoped to eventually move into the church in about 18 months time. Will be set up as a community charity. Flyer going out in about a week’s time to gauge demand. Agreed this should no longer fall within the remit of this group Links to Sure Start – discussed the role of Sure Start Children’s Centres and again the need to be mindful of the Parish ensuring services being delivered are meeting the 0 – 5 community/parents needs. Any developments that fall out of the Community Plan need to make they are not replicating the role of statutory services in this area. Keep under review Moving play area – this is under consideration by one of the other task groups as is safe cycle routes for children through the village. Mark to ensure we are kept informed by other task group of thoughts/developments on these issues which are also being raised by the children		AC/DH All MM
3	Census/Service data – what is it telling us? Census data thought not reliable and very out of date. Impression is that there are more children in the village than indicated. Matt informed the group of his impressions/experiences from a school population perspective: High mobility of children living in housing association accommodation There are a group of very vulnerable children/families who would benefit from and respond positively to improved local support services Mother and toddler groups could play a proactive role in supporting disengaged families to access existing services Agreed the following: Matt to access more up to date data via the LA (Acorn) and share with the group. This will only cover school age children. Information to include surrounding parishes given the small size of Suckley and how children are moving across parish boundaries for different service Consideration to be given to set up a small project for some of the children/young people in the village to undertake their own census of volume and demand for different services/activities		M Meakin MMeakin/DH
4	What are the children/young people telling us? Matt undertook a discussion with KS2 pupils and presented their views to the group in a short report. Di also undertook a conversation with a small group of young people as to their views of village life/services/activities etc. The following is a summary of their thoughts: Children & young people feel there are few opportunities to come together to build/maintain friendships/networks Children in particular wanted more things to do in the holidays and evenings e.g. listen to music/watch films as well as outdoor activities e.g. quad/mountain biking Discussion was had about using the Malvern DC Youth Unit and covering the costs of this via existing trust funds The following actions/thoughts resulted: To bring a representative group of children/young people together to ask them about what activities they would see as priorities to work on first Via the parent/governor group see how we could mobilize a broader group of parents/adults to support the development of activities and there ongoing supervision Identify what resources we have in the village that could be made accessible to children/young people during holiday periods etc for example swimming pools/tennis courts/transport Make some of the activities family based Next steps to be explored in more detail at next meeting
5	Possible questions for inclusion in Community Questionnaire i. What kind of local services/activities would your children benefit from being involved in? Please specify whether this is during evenings, week-ends and or holiday times ii. What kinds of local services do you think are either lacking or not being delivered in the most helpful way to support you as a parent? Mark to take these questions to the Community Plan Steering Group Meeting		MM
6	Community Plan Steering Group Meeting Date yet to be set down but the group supported the view that all members should try to attend the first meeting, (not just the chair) to both meet others from the task groups and get a sense of the ‘bigger picture’ of thoughts/ideas emerging, identifying the cross over points. Mark to let people know date of first Steering Group Meeting
7	Date of Next Meeting Date: Thursday 29h April Time: 7.30 – 9.00 Place: Holloways