Management Support

Welcome to the Management Support section of the Hertfordshire Children's Centres website. This section of the website is designed to support Hertfordshire's Children's Centres management teams.

Jobcentre Plus New

Jobcentre Plus is responsible for assisting people of working age find jobs through its network of Jobcentre Plus offices.

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire District has fourteen Jobcentres, nine in Hertfordshire and five in Bedfordshire plus two Benefit Centres.

Jobcentre Plus has produced a signposting information document for children’s centre staff which can be found here.

Jobcentre Plus ‘Signposting Information’

• Acrobat pdf, 431kb/19 pages, 12/10/2011, jobcentre_plus_oct11.pdf

Hertfordshire Partnership Managers

• Acrobat pdf, 20kb/1 page, 12/10/2011, jc_partnership_managers.pdf

Changes to Home Start services contract in Hertfordshire

Home-Start in Hertfordshire deliver a contracted home visiting outreach service in the county, for the Hertfordshire County Council and the Primary Care Trust.  As part of Children, Schools and Families transformation programme, the current contract has been reviewed so that the focus becomes one of early intervention.  An agreed variation to the service will now be in place this year, from 1 April 2011 and can be viewed below:

• Adobe pdf, 44kb/2 pages, 23/03/2011, homestart_service_spec.pdf

Minimum Standards for non registered creches

Access to suitable and affordable childcare is one of  the biggest barriers to accessing support, attending a parenting support programme or family learning course; as a result the provision of a crèche is likely to increase the number of participants in a parent or family focused activity. As the safety of children is paramount a document outlining the minimum standards for the provision of non-registered crèches in Hertfordshire for children aged 0 – 8 years has been compiled, and replaces all previous versions. This document complements existing commissioning toolkits for Schools and Children’s Centres and is intended as a reference for both service providers and service commissioners and will protect both service providers and users in the following ways:

• service users: children and parents
  • safeguarding the welfare of children
  • identifying where there is provision of good quality non-registered crèche provision
    
• service providers
  • raising awareness regarding best practice
  • receiving appropriate support in adapting practice to meet guidelines

For more information and to view the document follow this link:

• Word 2003, 942kb/10 pages, 23/03/2011, min_standard_nonreg_creche.doc

Staff name badges

Please complete this new form for all new staff name badge requests.

• Word 2003, 57kb/1 page, 23/03/2011, badge_order_form.doc

Sure start children's centres statutory guidance

The Government is committed to Sure Start children's centres. Children's centres play a crucial role in early intervention, ensuring families can get help when they need it, tackling issues early and helping to prevent costly problems from emerging later on. The Government wants the network of children's centres to be retained but focused much more effectively on those families who need them the most. We have ensured there is enough money in the system through the new Early Intervention Grant (EIG) to keep the network of children's centres.
Local authorities continue to have duties under the Childcare Act 2006 to consult before opening, closing or significantly changing children's centres, and to secure sufficient provision to meet local need so far as is reasonably practicable. Statutory guidance accompanies these duties, which outlines how the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 provisions relate to children's centres.

The statutory guidance advises local authorities, primary care trusts and Jobcentre Plus on the action they should take to comply with their duties. It will be particularly useful to local authorities, as they work with their local communities to plan future children's centre provision.  The following sections of the guidance are particularly relevant:

• Section 5A of the Act: The duty to make sufficient provision of children's centres to meet local need, so far as is reasonably practicable - pages 10-11 of the guidance, which emphasises that local authorities should ensure universal access to children's centres is achieved and all children and families can be reached effectively, especially the most deprived
• Section 5D: The duty to consult before establishing, significantly changing or closing a children's centre - pages 15-18 of the guidance, which emphasises that local authorities should allow adequate time for responses, actively encourage parents from disadvantaged groups to participate, and demonstrate in their decision how they have taken consultation responses into account

We are now working with a range of partners to develop a new shared vision for Early Years, which is to be published as a policy statement in the spring.

• www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/AllPublications/Page1/DFE-00020-2011

Children's centre funding 2011-2013

Funding for all 82 children's centres in Hertfordshire will be maintained until at least March 2013. This was confirmed at a Cabinet meeting of county councillors held on January 17 2011. The Coalition Government has confirmed its support for children’s centres which will continue to provide a universal service whilst targeting resources and services at the most disadvantaged. The Early Years Evidence Pack that accompanies the Department for Education (DfE) grant allocation to local authorities for 2001/12 and 2012/13 states the case for investment in the early years based on evidence which shows that this investment increases attainment; minimises the influence of social class and poor home environments; and increases social mobility.

In the light of this national policy framework, the County Council’s network of children’s centres will continue to have an important role in promoting early learning and development, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. To read the Cabinet report in full visit

• www.hertsdirect.org/mm/15520666/15744560/item4cab170111.doc

Safe use of the internet

Advice for professionals who work with children, when using any form of ICT, including the Internet

• Adobe pdf, 50kb/2 pages, 10/02/2011, usingtheinternet.pdf

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Children's Services Poster

This new poster is perfect to print off and display to provide a quick and easy to read overview of some of the services that children's centres may offer.

• Adobe pdf, 382kb/1 page, 08/11/2010, childrens_centres_poster.pdf

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Health and Safety FAQs

Ensuring Health and Safety in our children's centres is one of the most important aspects of management. These Frequently Asked Questions will answer some of the every day questions managers may come up against. Also included are weblinks to more detailed information on the Hertfordshire Grid for Learning website.

• Adobe pdf, 31kb/1 page, 22/09/2010, health_safety_faqs.pdf

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Good Practice in Recruitment and Selection Fact Sheets

Hertfordshire County Council’s Childhood Support Services has created a suite of fact sheets to give providers of early years education, childcare and play, up to date information in recruitment and retention processes.

The fact sheets complement the Safe Staffing Handbook written by the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board which, in line with current legislation, gives information on safe recruitment.

• www.hertssafeguarding.org.uk

The fact sheets provide tips and information on interviewing and include interview questions, how to advertise vacancies, information on how to retain staff, performance management and succession planning and can be found on the HertsDirect website at:

• www.hertsdirect.org/services/healthsoc/childfam/csupportservices/resources/recruitmentfactsheets/

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Developing Extended Services in Schools

The document below gives guidance to headteachers, children’s centre managers and extended services co-ordinators about the flexibilities and constraints available to them as employers in organising staffing to provide more flexible (including extended) services to their pupils and communities. The guidance here summarises, and elaborates on, briefings provided since the Summer term 2007 about flexible nursery entitlement and extended services. N.B This guidance is for schools only.

• Adobe pdf, 50kb/5 pages, 12/02/2009, changing_employment_contract.pdf

These documents available as PDF documents. They require a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to be installed on your computer to view them. To download a free copy of this software please click on the image below.