Targeted youth support: redesigning services - schools and other agencies work together to identify at-risk young people at an earlier age

Issue

The majority of young people involved in truancy, anti-social behaviour and youth offending in Gateshead start to be referred into services age 12. Of 50 high risk young people identified by the Youth Inclusion Programme in the borough's targeted youth support (TYS) pathfinder area, 48 are at secondary school.

Local frontline service staff believe young people at-risk of these behaviours could and should be identified at an earlier age. If they are, this might prevent these issues manifesting once they get to secondary school.

Background

The TYS pathfinder area is served by a school cluster comprising a secondary school and five feeder primary schools.

The youth inclusion support programme (YISP) has a multi-agency assessment panel called Amber Programme in the area that assesses young people at risk of offending and anti-social behaviour.

The local behaviour improvement programme (BIP) operating in behaviour and education support team (BEST) schools, which presently doesn't operate in the pathfinder area, has developed a simple vulnerability audit tool. This can be used to identify children of primary school age who have risk factors that might limit their ability to achieve their full potential. The risk factors identified are supported by extensive national and international research evidence. Schools find it simple and valuable to use.

The school cluster has recognised the challenges faced by young people during their transition from primary to secondary school. In response, it has employed a teacher to work in primary schools to prepare children for this change.

Actions prompted by TYS

The Gateshead TYS change process identified and recognised a committed and motivated frontline workforce that wanted to move the agenda forward.

A change team of frontline practitioners including representatives from the local school cluster, youth offending, young and community learning, the emotional wellbeing team, police, Connexions, the voluntary sector (eg. Barnardos) and the education welfare officer (EWO) was formed as part of the TYS change process.

The team recognised the need to develop common understanding and practice in information sharing across local services, supported by local training. Once they'd reached this understanding, the team was able to collect data to assess the number of young people in the pathfinder area requiring extra support.

The principle education welfare officer who had worked on developing the tool with the BEST teams was brought onto the team to support this work.

Other members of the school cluster also met with the change team to discuss the potential of identifying children and young people who may be at risk of needing services before they meet the threshold for statutory intervention. As a result, all five primary school headteachers in the pathfinder area have agreed to apply the vulnerability audit to children in their schools, to explore the extent of the need for support at an earlier stage.

Benefits and results

The TYS process has brought a new and varied group of people together in a different setting which has enabled them to look at entrenched issues from a different perspective.

It was straightforward to set up multi-agency meetings because the commitment was there. People recognised the need to find time and replace some things, says Richard Taylor from Barnardos.

As a result of the collaboration, the change team has built a locally based, multi-agency group of frontline practitioners able to benefit from shared resources. If their requirements are beyond the local resources they can refer into Gateshead's South Area Panel, which can draw down additional resources.

The South Area Panel has developed from and built on the Amber programme Youth Inclusion Support Panel. It now includes representation from social care and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and is able to tackle a broader range of issues and wider age group than its previous youth offending remit.

There is a belief that this way of working from the bottom up to better support and equip service staff will achieve real change and that this will rapidly improve successful outcomes for families.

The local authority

Gateshead is an urban and deprived local authority. Its TYS pathfinder is based in a relatively stable white working class town Birtley some distance from the main centre of Gateshead.

Click to read further case studies related to redesigning services to help young people with particular needs.