Investors in Families Bedfordshire 7 May 08

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Investors in FamiliesBedfordshire7 May 08

• John Grainger
• Development Manager

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• IIF has given us a superb opportunity to
  celebrate how our staff, parents and governors
  work together to raise achievement, enjoyment and
  aspirations of families. We have joined together
  to decide a path forward

• I was very proud to lead the first submission by
  a school to gain IIF status. I sincerely believe
  that this is the only way to support children and
  their families who are disaffected and feel
  outside the mainstream routes to success to
  achieve

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IiF is.

• a tool to enable schools to determine areas of
  development and
• a framework within which to place new initiatives
• a method for relating work with families directly
  to core business

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Who is it for?

• Schools of all types and from all phases
• Childrens Centres and nurseries
• PRUs
• Youth projects
• Libraries
• Any setting where children and young peoples
  learning is the main agenda

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Feedback from pilot

• Completion 5 July 07
• Broad range of schools
• Evidence collection process trialled
• Assessment framework tested
• Positive feedback from schools

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How does it fit with other initiatives?

• Childrens Plan
• family centred childrens services
• partnership with parents is a unifying theme
  of the Childrens Plan
• Extended schools core offer
• advice and guidance for parents

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Rationale

• A national award locally organised
• Local assessment within national criteria -
• allowing for local circumstances
• Rooted in Every Child Matters
• Whole school commitment
• Families recognised in every form, including
  corporate parents
• Schools network locally and nationally

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• Investors in Families has been a fantastic
  resource to celebrate with parents how much
  'impact' we are making on children's learning by
  working together in partnership

• Investors in Families has given me the
  opportunity to celebrate what we are already
  doing but also to consider where we are going

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Structure of the award (1)

• IIF will
• provide a standards framework
• train assessors
• monitor and QA the scheme
• accredit schools
• manage the web site
• The local authority will
• implement the scheme locally
• monitor standards locally
• recommend schools for accreditation

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Structure of the award (2)

• Governing Body staff agree commitment whole
  school approach
• School registers with local authority
• School decides how it will put together portfolio
  and action plan - completion
• Local Authority assesses school
• Local assessment leads to recommendation for
  award

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Process of collecting evidence

• Opportunity for long term benefit
• Involvement of key partners
• Wider ownership of IiF award
• Qualitative process
• Not just another badge to collect

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Constructing the Portfolio

• Generic evidence
• 5 pieces of activity specific evidence from each
  of the 5 Outcomes ECM assessment of impact
• Ideas for further development (Action Plan)
• This is the minimum requirement. Many schools
  will have more pieces of evidence in their
  portfolio

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Generic evidence

• 1. The school should demonstrate its strategic
  commitment to and development of work with
  families by highlighting the relevant sections of
  its School Plan
• 2. The school should detail the success
  criteria that it uses to gauge whether its work
  with families is successful or not and give some
  idea of its current assessment of its progress.
• 3. The school should demonstrate the processes it
  has introduced so as to ensure that work with
  families is a whole school approach rather than
  being fragmented and not wholly effective across
  all the schools activities.

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• 4. The school should demonstrate how it strives
  to ensure that all families and all parents are
  included in its work, not only those easiest to
  engage with and to make contact with.
• 5. The school should summarise those extended
  activities that enhance its work with families
  and specify those partner agencies that
  contribute to this aspect of the work.

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Activity specific evidence

• The school should provide for each of the 25
  activities
• the appropriate evidence of the success of the
  activity, and
• an assessment of its impact on children and young
  people, families and the school.
• Evidence is acceptable in a variety of
  different forms narrative, pupils work,
  photographs and video, testimonials, school
  policies and records, newspaper cuttings, and so
  on. Focus on what most clearly demonstrates
  effective practice and use that material.

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The action plan
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Assessing the Portfolio

• The assessor will
• Check that school has included 5 pieces of
  appropriate evidence and its impact for each
  Outcome
• Discuss that evidence with governors,staff,
  parents and students
• Raise any issues for clarification
• Discuss and agree areas for development
• The assessor will provide a short written report,
  recommending approval or deferral pending further
  development

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• Investors in Families has given us the
  opportunity to acknowledge the "unseen" work that
  we do to engage and support families, and also
  the opportunity to reflect on how we can develop
  our work further

• Investors in Families has helped to validate our
  strong belief in, and commitment to, whole
  community cohesion.

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Local customisation

• Additional generic evidence
• Specified activity specific evidence
• Criteria for ensuring quality of process
• Intervention model
• Benchmarking model local standards for work
  with families

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Cost

• 3,000 per year
• 700 one-off assessor training
• 50 admin fee for each school recommended for the
  award
• Assessor time
• Moderation of process

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Further information

• Visit www.investorsinfamilies.org.uk
• Email john.grainger_at_investorsinfamilies.org.uk