Minutes:
The Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families provided an update to the Committee on her activities.
As Lead Member for Children, Education and Families, the Portfolio Holder continued to represent the Local Authority in a range of settings both locally and regionally. Other activities included attending the annual Corporate Parenting Fun Day and the Bromley Stars event which had recognized the incredible work of teams and individuals from across Children, Education and Families services. The Portfolio Holder had attended the grand opening of the new Marjorie McClure School site in Chislehurst, and it was planned to arrange a Member visit to the site in the coming weeks.
A Member requested an update be provided on Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in Bromley schools. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that RAAC had not been identified in any Bromley schools following a comprehensive programme of visual surveys and that intrusive surveys would be commissioned by the Department for Education on an as-needed basis where there were any remaining concerns. The Local Authority and Regional Schools Director held responsibility for the condition of Local Authority Maintained and Academy Schools respectively and would continue to monitor the situation closely.
The Portfolio Holder then gave an update on the recent move of the Streetwise Youth Centre to Anerley Town Hall as outlined below:
The move to Anerley town hall has now been completed. In terms of provision at the new venue, we have brought lots of existing resources with us and have access to table tennis, laptops, games consoles, sewing machines, indoor footballs, badminton and uni hockey. We are in the process of organising the installation of a projector and screen and negotiating on use of the studio at Anerley town hall for music sessions.
Additionally, a survey was published in mid-August seeking young people’s comments on what they would like to see at Streetwise, and young people from our Holiday Activity Programme also engaged in a special session where they explored what they would like from the club. Information has also been requested from Youth Ink, which is a lived experience charity that works with our young people within our Youth Justice Service, and Bromley Youth Council.
Starting this month, we are collating the results of the surveys and workshops, and we now move on to meeting those aims, plus onto the publicity campaign. The Council’s Communications Team is leading on the implementation of the marketing campaign which commenced last week. This will include:
· Direct contact with previous members.
· Direct contact with schools, including attending assemblies and open evenings; working with community partners; working with doctors and health centres; as well as an online campaign.
We will have further information on this as we move forward, which we will be happy to share.
Regarding communication with the Youth Support staff – they have been sighted on the changes and forward plan for the development of the new Hub.
Regarding signage and signposting, we will be moving forward with this this month, with a planned review at 3 and 6 months.
And regarding attendance - prior to moving premises our attendance numbers were varying on different sessions between 5 to 15 young people, so averaging around 8-10 young people per session. This has dropped to around 3 to 5 per session over the summer, but most of the work with our young people over the summer has been undertaken in the community (doing outreach work) rather than in the centre, such as the Holiday Activity and Food programme.
Moving forward, we aim to have at least 15 to 20 young people at any one time. As we saw in September last year, when we did a promotion campaign of the Spitfire Youth Club in Biggin Hill, that once started, numbers can increase very rapidly.
In response to a question from a Member, the Portfolio Holder advised that exciting plans were being developed for the refreshed Streetwise provision in line with the consultation responses and the Member requested further details be provided to him following the meeting. An official launch event would be held for the refreshed provision and the Member offered to assist with the marketing campaign, including promoting the new provision with community groups and partners. A Co-opted Member queried whether there were plans to widen the opening hours of the Streetwise Youth Centre and the Assistant Director: Specialist Service confirmed that the operational specification of the refreshed provision would be designed in line with the needs of children and young people. One of the major benefits of Anerley Town Hall was its greater accessibility and this would enable Bromley’s youth services to be more inclusive moving forward.
RESOLVED: That the update be noted.