PO48.1 - Integration of Active and Creative Communities into Education, Children & Families
North Lanarkshire Council · 6 February 2023
Back to Communities Committee — 6 February 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
North Lanarkshire Council Report Communities Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref JO’N/HL Date 06/02/23 PO48.1 – Integration of Active & Creative Communities into Education, Children & Families From Janie O’Neill, Chief Officer of Education (South) E-mail liddleh@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07973726496 1. Background 1.1 Active & Creative Communities (ACC) was established on 1 April 2021 following the insourcing of services from the former Culture & Leisure North Lanarkshire. In February 2022, and in support of the Delivering for Communities review, ACC moved under the remit of Education, Children and Families. In June 2022, Active Schools and Outdoor Education transferred into the remit of ACC. Executive Summary This report provides an overview of the integration of Active & Creative Communities into the broader Education, Children and Families remit, outlining progress to date and planned next steps. The integration of services supports a broader approach to the provision of a broad, general education which supports health and wellbeing, pride of place and creation of pathways into employment and further education. Recommendations It is proposed that the Communities Committee: (1) Note progress to date and approve planned next steps as outlined in paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5. (2) otherwise, endorse the contents of the report. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities Ambition statement (15) Encourage the health and wellbeing of people through a range of social, cultural, and leisure activities
Page 2
2. Report 2.1 The Plan for North Lanarkshire sets a direction for ACC which works towards a priority where our focus is on Improving the Health and Wellbeing of Our Communities. Much of the work undertaken within the service area over the last 18 months has focused on an overall drive which seeks to encourage health and wellbeing across all age ranges and needs by allowing access to a range of social, cultural and leisure activities. With the integration of ACC (and other service areas) into Education, Children and Families, there was an opportunity to consider renewed principles to express the reconfigured directorate’s core purpose. This included the following commitments: • We enable people across our communities to experience positive wellbeing, achieve their full potential and live independently. • We strengthen the sense of pride of place, community wellbeing and the social and cultural capital of North Lanarkshire residents. • We strive to ensure there are effective pathways in place for people to access educational and employment opportunities, and that barriers people with additional needs have (from childhood through into adulthood) are addressed through interventions. 2.2 In working with colleagues across the Service, ACC has sought to reinforce such priorities, alongside Education’s key priority of providing an explicit focus on improving outcomes for children and families, as part of the wider planning to improve outcomes as part of We Aspire. 2.3 ACC activities, specifically linked to Education, Children and Families over the last 18 months are outlined below: Active NL • Support and delivery of the Club 365 programme throughout the year and during holiday periods. • Supporting delivery of sessions for Future Fridays. • Working with individual schools to provide sports development sessions. • Joint working with a number of secondary schools in our Support for Sport programme, focussing on mental health and wellbeing for young people. • Provision of free gym access for young people during study leave in 2022 – 2000 young people taking advantage of offer. • Keeping the Promise – free gym and leisure passes for care experienced young people and a plus one. • Virtual Schools Sports Academy – working in partnership with Virtual Schools to increase attendance and participation within the young person's school life. We also work with Virtual Schools to provide swim and skate passes for the group and their families. • Active Teen – free, off peak gym access for 11-15 year olds throughout all NLC venues. Over 7000 young people are participating. • With the support of New College Lanarkshire, we have developed a Personal Development Award
Page 3
in Health and Wellbeing, currently being piloted for further roll-out to S4-S6 pupils. Museums & Collections • Facilitate a programme of visits to museum venues with provision of a tailored learning programme to meet school and pupil needs. • Work with colleagues to support delivery of Future Fridays opportunities. Recent examples include the Museum Takeover which offered young people the opportunity to work in Summerlee for a period of weeks building new skills and enjoying a taste of working in museum sector. Another example was the development of the Young Archaeologist Programme. Creative Resources • Supporting delivery of Future Fridays through provision of a range of visual and performing arts projects. • Offering opportunities for young people to work with professional staff on the delivery of events programming. Recent Workforce for the Future was an example of this very successful approach. Community Libraries • Supporting pre-school and early school development through links to Bookbug Scotland. • Linking with colleagues to support the delivery of Duke of Edinburgh awards for young people across North Lanarkshire. • The Community Libraries team is currently leading on development of a new model of delivery for school services, linking with colleagues from across Education, Children and Families. Active Schools • Active Schools Co-ordinators work with all schools providing a range of extra-curricular activities, supporting development of a volunteer network, building pathways with local sports clubs and delivery of the Club 365 and ASN holiday hub programme. • The Active Schools team support the development and delivery of the Mental Health, Wellbeing and Resilience delivery plan. • Supporting leadership development from P6 to employment, linking to a range of roles in NL including YPSP, Ambassadors and Sport Leaders. • We continue to develop the SAC Inactive Girls programme across secondary schools. Outdoor Education • The Outdoor Education programme at Strathclyde Country Park has been operating since 2020, offering week-long sessions for P7 classes across North Lanarkshire. ASN schools also participate in tailored programmes, with pilot sessions now being offered to secondary schools as appropriate.
Page 4
2.4 Looking to the future, ACC is working with the Growth Team on a submission of two bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland. These bids seek to re-develop Airdrie Town Centre as an “arts town”, exploring the cultural and sporting heritage of the town. This project has offered an excellent opportunity to work alongside Education colleagues to develop potential projects which will involve our school pupils and families across the town. Projects will not only spark interest in local history, but offer the potential for work experience and pathways into employment in the creative arts. 2.5 In addition to such specialist projects, ACC continues to work with Pathways teams to offer work experience and employment opportunities for young people. Much progress has been made and we seek to develop further opportunities in the future. 2.6 Financial Position 2.6.1 The work to further integrate ACC into a broader educational offering has been managed within existing ACC budgets. Financial Solutions are closely involved in monitoring the impact of all service changes. The Active Teen programme was supported by one off funding of £300,000 during 2022-23 and will come to an end on 31 March 2023. The team is working with Financial Solutions to consider whether an alternative, more cost effective option can be offered for 11-15 year olds in the future to allow the programme to continue in some capacity. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Continued commitment to promoting health and wellbeing from an early age and supporting the development of healthy habits. 3.2 Supporting effective pathways into education and employment by focusing on opportunities to allow young people to gain skills and experience in a range of cultural and leisure settings. Janie O’Neill Chief Officer for Education (South)
Page 5
5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Some inputs outlined are delivered with the assistance of one-off funding (primarily Active Teen) which will come to an end on 31 March 23. Ongoing discussions with Financial Solutions continue to consider potential impact. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi?
Page 6
Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where appropriate, we work with Corporate Communications to promote initiatives for young people, for example Active Teen. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The ACC Risk Register comprehensively covers all project/programme risks and is managed appropriately. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.