Extended Services in North Hartlepool (ESINH)

How Extended Services in North Hartlepool is collaborating to tackle barriers to educational achievement.

Summary

This case study outlines the leadership arrangements for Extended Services in North Hartlepool. The aim of the partnership is to tackle long-term barriers to educational achievement by building capacity for community leadership.

Key outcomes

Short-term objectives have largely been achieved. These centred on building trust between stakeholders, scoping needs and establishing a robust constitutional arrangement.
Early joint ventures have included establishing a family befriending service and developing a shared approach to supporting children with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.
Based on this case study, community partnerships could usefully consider the following questions:
- What intelligence could help to identify and connect with influential families and individuals from each of the multiple communities served by a school or partnership?
- What benefits might a formal arrangement offer, such as a not-for-profit or community interest company? What measures would be necessary to ensure that the benefits outweighed any costs?
- What skills and additional capacity might be produced from seconding one or more specialists into a community partnership?
- In what different ways do community partnerships and local authorities work together for the benefit of children and their families?

Background

Extended Services in North Hartlepool (ESINH) is a partnership comprising leaders of seven schools, one secondary and six primaries, with representatives from the local authority and a community organisation. Its purpose is to bring community groups and providers together to ensure that services offer the right support to tackle barriers to children’s learning and achievement.

North Hartlepool, in the north-east of England, is in the two per cent of most deprived wards in England. The community demonstrates poor social cohesion, is culturally isolated and has very low aspirations.

The schools in the partnership are: St Helen’s Primary School, St Bega’s RC Primary School, West View Primary School, Clavering Primary School, Barnard Grove Primary School, St John Vianney RC Primary School, St Hild’s CE School.

Challenges and issues

Attainment is poor: at Key Stage 3 it is well below the average for the authority; 36 per cent of students achieve A*-C grades at GCSE.
The community has low aspirations. Thirteen per cent of young people are not in employment, education or training (NEET). Fifty-one per cent of adults hold no formal qualifications, and 35 per cent receive benefits. Twenty-nine per cent of adults have poor literacy skills, and 70 per cent have poor numeracy skills.
Teenage pregnancy rates are among the highest in the country. Levels of crime are persistently high, especially criminal damage to property.
Members of the community see themselves as culturally diverse and identify with very small geographical areas which mostly correlate with housing estates. ESINH has therefore had to engage deeply with local communities in order to understand how to differentiate its approach for different sections of the community.

To be an effective strategic group and match their ambitious plans, the partnership needed high levels of social capital. However, they also needed to be open to a wide group of organisations and individuals. It has been a challenge to learn how and when to invite contributions, how to balance inclusion with efficiency and how to maintain the pace of development.

The Extended Services in North Hartlepool approach

Establishing a brokerage board

The partnership is working to establish a brokerage board as a new model for joint school and community leadership. Through it, a wide range of stakeholders will together develop processes for collaborative planning and decision making, and establish protocols for delegating responsibility to project groups.

The ESINH approach is ambitious in its vision for a collaborative model of community leadership for the board in the longer term, represented by its possible formation as a not-for-profit company in its own right.

Leadership structure

ESINH is chaired by a headteacher from one of the primary schools. Two others – a leader in the secondary school and a community activist from the third sector – are seconded part time to support both the partnership and the brokerage board.

Defining ESINH’s role

The partnership has worked with the local authority to negotiate a role that complements and adds value to existing provision such as Sure Start children’s centres, extended schools provision and other community-focused initiatives.

Forming a community interest company

ESINH formed a community interest company – a type of company intended for social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good’. The company will enable the partnership to support the work of local community groups in meeting the needs of families.

Agreeing a long-term vision

ESINH’s vision for the future of children in Hartlepool is expressed as a set of success criteria for ‘David’, an archetypal Hartlepool student.

David will benefit from enhanced, enriched and extended life chances. He will value learning for himself and his children. He will contribute to the community using his skills and abilities, be engaged with local politics and may be a future leader. He will be able to mobilise his neighbours to help him solve his own problems, and will live in an inclusive, outward-looking community that is focused on solutions.

Raising awareness

The partnership has used tools such as the Bridge Change Leadership Framework and Delta 6 to create a series of facilitated stakeholder events. These are designed to raise awareness of the brokerage board and build a sense of ownership of its objectives.