SOSCN NEWS
Improving Quality in Glasgow through Achieving Quality Scotland
SOSCN's Achieving Quality Scotland (AQS) is our quality improvement framework for out of school care services. In 2016 Glasgow City Council provided funding for nearly a third of Glasgow services to participate in our mentoring and assessment programme.
After two years of hard-work on the part of the services, we are seeing great results. To date we have made 9 awards, all of which have achieved Gold Star standard and we are currently in the process of assessing 12 further services (with a view of making 25 in total).
Looking at Care Inspectorate grades we also see that the majority of services which have been inspected whilst undertaking, or having completed the process, have had their grades either go up or be maintained at ‘very good' or ‘excellent' levels.
We're also seeing some evidence of great practice. A couple of services have undertaken additional external awards: LGBT Charter Award and the John Muir Trust Award. Other innovative practice which is providing children and staff with new opportunities includes one service where all staff are defibrillator trained (and have their own defibrillator), dog awareness training, vegan cooking, mindfulness practice, holiday food programmes, working with play therapists, writing clubs, music and film making... We have also talked to one manager who wants to undertake a PhD based around play.
We asked services which have achieved the award for feedback, here is a selection of the responses:
What is the biggest difference AQS has made?
“It has given me a system that I know meets the standards and made it easier to keep this up.”
“AQS has boosted the team's confidence and highlighted all of the amazing work that they are carrying out on a day to day basis.”
“Allowing staff to see how valuable the work they are doing is. The positive impact it has on the children and their progress. Staff see a more holistic cycle and understand quality assurance processes better. They have learned, the who, when why and what. Plan act and review cycle process. Making us a stronger team.”
“It enabled an invaluable opportunity to review the unit's current policies and procedures, engaging with our children and parents throughout the process, it also helped improve and build even stronger relationships both internally within the unit, and externally with the school and other services.”
Are quality improvement and review processes now embedded in your service?
“Yes this is something I will take from AQS.”
“Yes absolutely, we have a variety of methods and approaches to ensure we are continually reviewing and celebrating our practice.”
“Yes- moving forward a review of policies and procedures will be re-visited on a regular basis updating or adapting as required.” (TStC)
Would you recommend other services to do AQS? Why?
“Yes, It is a good way to let you know you are meeting the standards and running an efficient service.”
“Yes, the journey is so worthwhile! It's great to identify strengths and to highlight focus areas for quality improvement plans.”
“Yes, I'd highly recommend other services to complete the AQS. It's a challenging experience which requires a great deal of work, but it's definitely a rewarding one which allows a complete review of current policies and procedures ultimately enabling improvements or changes along the way if required.”
Other thoughts
“I am glad Glasgow City Council provided the funding to enable me to undertake AQS.”
“Completing the AQS as a newly appointed Manager to the service has been invaluable, it has enabled me to reflect on my current policy and procedures through the quality improvement framework process. An extremely challenging experience but worth the hard work and effort...A GOLD AWARD... Thank you.”
If you would like to find out more about what's involved, then please get in touch, or see this link: https://soscn.org/quality
New SOSCN Research Reports
We have recently published two new research reports on the evidence collected in our children and parents' surveys.
'Fun!, Fun!, Super Fun!' - Children's thoughts on OSC
From the summer of 2017 to the summer of 2018 we conducted a survey of children attending out of school care in various locations across Scotland. In total, 652 responses were received from children varying in age from 4 years old to 15 years old.
The survey comprised 11 questions, 9 of which were statements children were required to respond with yes/maybe/no answers. The other 2 questions required responses written (or drawn) in the children's own words.
Find out what the children had to say about their out of school care service: read the report: https://soscn.org/downloads/reports/SOSCN_fun_fun_super_fun_childrens_survey_january_2019.pdf
'The service is a lifeline' Parents/carers' thoughts on OSC
From the summer of 2017 to the summer of 2018 we conducted a survey of parents/carers using out of school care in various locations across Scotland. In total, 298 responses were received.
The survey asked a number of background questions: name of service, number of children using the service; age of youngest and oldest children using the service; length of time using the service; whether any children had Additional Support Needs (ASN), and what services were used, i.e., breakfast club, after school care, holiday care, in-service days.
Parents/carers were then asked to rate 22 statements according to a scale from 'strongly agree', 'agree', 'neutral', 'disagree' to 'strongly disagree'. The first 16 statements were based upon their child's experience of the service, 15 of which were grouped around the Wellbeing Indicators (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included). The other 6 statements were based upon the parents/carers' experience of using the service.
Find out what parents/carers said about their out of school care: read the report: https://soscn.org/downloads/reports/SOSCN_the_service_is_a_lifeline_parents_survey_january_2019.pdf
Shaping the Framework - Thanks for taking part!
Thanks to everyone who has taken part in our shaping the framework events so far. These events have been run in partnership with the Out of School Care Team at the Scottish Government and we look forward to working with the team at our remaining events, as well as taking the policy forward this year. We have managed to welcome over 150 delegates to these events so far, and we still have two more fully booked events to come next month in Inverness and Edinburgh. We know that not everybody who wished to attend was able to due to the events being at capacity, and we are sorry that we could not offer places to you all. However, please keep a look out in our membership emails throughout the year for more information on the development of the policy.
3 new articles on the SOSCN Blog
Head over to our website to read our latest blog posts:
CHANGE Project and T.I.C.T.A.C.S. - low cost quality template test of change | Alison Hay
Equal play? Does your service support or challenge gender stereotypes and roles? | Andrew Shoolbread
Recent International policy and research briefing for members February 2019 | Irene Audain MBE
Read all of our blogs here: https://soscn.org/blog
SOSCN TRAINING
Resilience Training
Building Resilience to counteract Adverse Childhood Experiences- how out of school care services can support children in their care.
Participants will gain an understanding of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)- what they are, how to recognise if children are being adversely affected, and how to help build children's resilience to counteract any negative effects.
As part of the training we shall show the film 'Resilience. The biology of stress and the science of hope.' (60mins) and provide opportunities for discussion as well as practical ideas to implement in out of school care services.
The first couple of sessions have been held and received good feedback from participants:
“I will have more understanding of behaviour- be more attentive and listen to children.”
“I will be more aware of children's needs and increase positivity.”
“I will be more aware and thoughtful when a child exhibits 'different' behaviour e.g. angry, attention-seeking”
“I will be more aware of how ACES can affect behaviour and look more into the situation.”
If you would like to find out more, as well as how to book the training, please see this link: https://soscn.org/participate/resilience
SOSCN BHF Heartstart Training
This new free training session from Greig, our activity and wellbeing coordinator, has just started to be offered out to services and the first couple of sessions have gone very well, with participants showing a great interest on what they have learned.
Participants will gain an awareness of how to handle the 5 most likely emergency situations, including CPR, Recovery Position, Serious Bleeding, Choking and Suspected Heart Attack.
Heartstart Training in Coatbridge 25th Feb 2019
The practical part of the training will include using a choking vest, a defibrillation training unit, as well as CPR models - both infant and baby size. Participants will also be shown video clips from the British Heart Foundation Heartstart programme.
For further details, as well as how to book, please see this link: https://soscn.org/participate/heartstart
Physical Activity Training
Greig continues to offer free physical activity and wellbeing training. This training is only free up until the end of March 2019, then a cost will be involved. There are 2 sessions in the series that set out to give participants an understanding of the importance of physical activity, as well as provide them with skills for getting children of all abilities to take part in, and overcome the barriers to, getting active. The second session looks further at the benefits of physical activity in terms of developing children's skills and attributes and looks in more detail at resources and activities promoting inclusion, self-awareness and goal-directed behaviour.
Services consistently give this training good feedback and many services have been booking Greig to come out and do refresher courses or to train new members of staff, so please get in touch if you think you could benefit from this. There will be a limited number of sessions between now and the end of March that Greig will be able to deliver at no cost, however, moving forward from April 2019, this training will be able to be booked for a low cost fee for your service.
For more information please see this link: https://soscn.org/participate/active-training
ACHIEVING QUALITY SCOTLAND
Awards Update
We are delighted to have made 8 AQS GOLD awards so far this year. We have also received portfolios from a further 13 services that our hard-working assessor is busy assessing at present, and we really look forward to seeing the new reports and making the awards once they are ready. Keep up the good work.
New gold awards have been awarded to: Happy Little People, TASC Knightswood, TASC St Clares, TASC St Antonine, TASC St Ninians, Carnwadric After School Service, Shawlands OSC, and Indigo Childcare (St Barts).
OTHER NEWS
Free Online Training Courses with Futurelearn
There are some free online courses available with Futurelearn that may be of interest.
Caring for Vulnerable Children
Develop an understanding of some of the approaches involved in caring for vulnerable children, with this free online course.
Duration: 6 weeks. Weekly Study: 4 hours. Start Date: 15 April 2019
Find out more and register: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/vulnerable-children
Inspiring Young People In STEM
This program of short, flexible courses will support you in engaging and inspiring children and young people in STEM.
There are 4 parts to this course, all available now. Registration for each is free, however you can pay in order to get accredited.
Find out more and register: https://www.futurelearn.com/programs/stem-volunteering
Raspberry Pi Foundation
The Raspberry Pi Foundation have 14 free courses available on Futurelearn to help you learn new STEM skills. Most courses are either available now, or are starting March 2019, so please visit the link below to find out more or get registered: https://www.futurelearn.com/partners/raspberry-pi
More STEM Resources
There are some more resources to be found at the links below if you are interested in promoting STEM activities within your OSC. Please see these links if you want to find out more.
Click2SciencePD
Click2SciencePD, developed by Nebraska Extension with funding from the Noyce Foundation, provides online STEM professional development resources for out-of-school time trainers and coaches supporting frontline staff or volunteers working directly with youth.
Visit their website here: http://click2sciencepd.org/
National AfterSchool Association (United States)
This similar organisation to SOSCN, but based in USA, has produced an Afterschool Tech Toolkit and much of the content is relevant for STEM work here too in out of school care.
The Toolkit can provide you with resources and strategies to enhance your current programming: https://naaweb.org/afterschooltechtoolkit
NSPCC Talk Pants Campaign
The NSPCC 'Talk Pants' Campaign provides information and guidance on how to talk to children about staying safe from sexual abuse. A simple way to teach children how to stay safe, the guidance uses a friendly dinosaur called Pantosaurus and a fun activity pack, to assist you to help them learn the key messages without using any scary words.
Find out more here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/underwear-rule/
CARE INSPECTORATE AND SSSC
SSSC Updates
The SSSC has just updated their MySSSC portal with enhanced ways to find out what you need to know and do. Find out all about it here: https://www.sssc.uk.com/knowledgebase/article/KA-02610/en-us
The SSSC are hosting two pilot events this March looking at the future of SSSC registration. The events are taking place in Glasgow this March and you can book your place for free by following this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sssc-workshops-for-registrants-glasgow-registration-57183443218
Care Inspectorate Updates
There's a new healthy eating publication from the Care Inspectorate. It relates to all early learning and childcare services and includes examples of good practice in out of school care services as well as nurseries, childminders and playgroup. https://hub.careinspectorate.com/media/836652/food-matters-nurturing-happy-healthy-children.pdf
Download a copy of the Care Inspectorates publication Animal Magic – all about the benefits of being around and caring for animals in care settings. http://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/4476/Animal%20Magic_2018.pdf
Don't get caught out - Care Inspectorate Guidance on Safer Recruitment and Management of Medication.
We have found that Care Inspectorate inspection reports within the OSC sector have often been highlighting the absence, or unsuitability, of these policies. Both of these areas are covered in guidance that the Care Inspectorate have published on their website. Here are links to find out more:
Safer Recruitment Through Better Recruitment: https://hub.careinspectorate.com/knowledge/safer-recruitment/
Management of medication in daycare of children and childminding services: https://hub.careinspectorate.com/media/189567/childrens-service-medication-guidance.pdf