In the early 1990s I often attended party conferences to argue for better childcare and early help for families, sometimes speaking to half-empty rooms. It felt like a niche political issue, and the idea that schools could have a leading role to play in delivering family support wasn’t even on the radar.
Since then a lot has changed, though most parents still need help at some point - and for some, substantial support. That could be with baby health or speech and language in the early years, mental health, children struggling in school, housing, finances, debt or the impact of poverty.
Of course, schools see the problems that children and parents are struggling with every day - often going without support. School leaders know the impact it has on education and life chances.
The impact of Sure Start
I’ve seen how access to good quality, timely support can be transformative. That’s why I was so keen to work at the Cabinet Office in 2001 on the delivery of Sure Start, and why I led a national charity that ran children’s centres.
The dismantling of Sure Start after 2010 and the cuts to early intervention funding were a historic mistake.
The consequences are the large number of families in crisis, or on the edge of it, going without help; high rates of absenteeism from school; the growing epidemic of poor mental health; the increasing numbers of children with special educational needs and disabilities; and the ever-higher amounts being spent by councils dealing with late intervention.
The recent Institute for Fiscal Studies report showing how Sure Start was making a significant difference to the educational outcomes of some of the most disadvantaged children, as well as improving health outcomes, was particularly frustrating to read.
The Sure Start offer of local, place-based, universal, joined-up help, built on trusted relationships with people who are there for the long term, is not easy to replicate.
Schools and early years provision
Family Hubs are welcome but they are too few and have little investment - they don’t come close to meeting the scale or ambition of Sure Start. At the current rate of rollout, it would take another 30 years to reach all the areas of disadvantage that Sure Start was going to reach.
Children and families don’t have time.
Yet neither should we turn back the clock. Whoever wins the next election has made it clear there will not be the spending bonanza required to rebuild that infrastructure. And while the early years remain a priority, there are also pressing demands for support for children and families of school-age children.
But we can be creative about delivering updated, joined-up support for vulnerable families with children of all ages, including using our existing school infrastructure. It’s an opportunity that we think political parties should take.
Political change for education
That’s why today the Centre for Young Lives and the Child of the North are publishing a report putting forward an evidence-based plan for connecting and coordinating support and service in and around education settings.
It makes the case for a new updated model of Sure Start that puts schools and nurseries at its heart, providing services such as school breakfast clubs, after-school and holiday provision to help with childcare, access to family support and advice, support for early years development, access to mental health support for children, and youth and social workers.
We’re not calling on schools or school leaders and teaching staff to deliver it - that would be for support organisations, including a strategic partnership of statutory services.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear that with the right support network, most schools do have the potential to be the focus of a vital resource for children, families and communities.
As trusted anchor institutions accessed by most children, they are often already the first port of call when families need help. They also have existing connections to other services and organisations that can provide support.
Schools at the forefront
Of course, there are already many schools and trusts that are bringing schools together with the community, voluntary groups, local service providers, local business, faith groups and others.
The West End Children’s Community in Newcastle has eight local primary schools as its anchor institutions, at the centre of a partnership that is empowering local families. It is providing help to combat poverty and boost children’s life chances by joining up sectors that may not usually collaborate, such as education, health services, the local authority, culture and voluntary services.
The Education Alliance for Life Chances in Bradford, led by the leaders of multi-academy trusts, the local authority, health trusts, policing, universities and faith groups, is working to connect data and share information to improve issues like safeguarding, poor school attendance and the identification of children at an increased likelihood of being autistic.
Trusts like Oasis and Reach have already spent many years building relationships and trust with the local community, putting their schools at the heart of delivering help and support in a range of different ways, alongside delivering a good education, in some of the communities facing the biggest challenges.
Building strong communities
There are many others, too, all providing excellent models to draw on. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
But we can’t just rely on the ingenuity of school leaders and charities that already recognise the crucial role that schools play in building strong communities.
So today’s report calls on political parties to commit to developing a national mission in government that puts children, families and schools at the heart of connected and co-delivered services within a new framework of local preventative support.
It argues for ring-fencing funding for local areas so they can provide the programmes, activities and services that can make a real difference, like breakfast clubs, before-and-after-school and holiday clubs, in-school health and support teams and community provision, working with integrated care boards to develop imaginative collaborations between health and other services.
Through this collaboration these new local partnerships would identify and spot problems early, and ensure the right support is in place before crisis hits. Integrated care boards should already be including education leaders when designing and coordinating services for children and young people.
Network of children’s centres
The days of some schools sitting in isolation, shut up for the holidays, focused almost exclusively on exam results, should be the past. I’ve met many MAT and school leaders and teaching staff who are passionate about making sure their schools are part of the community, belonging to everyone and delivering similar services to those provided by Sure Start.
I’ve also met politicians on all sides who recognise how a more holistic school offer can identify those children most at risk of falling through the gaps and work with local services and support to resolve problems and support families to succeed.
There is no reason why this should not be happening everywhere, or why it should not be a core aspect of our education system. Or, indeed, why it shouldn’t be rewarded by Ofsted when it is delivered well.
The need for a new ambitious infrastructure of support delivered alongside schools in partnership with other local services and organisations has never been greater.
Let’s be ambitious about what can be achieved by supporting schools to become the heart of a modern, fresh start for Sure Start, and begin to rebuild the network of support that can transform the lives of children and families.
Anne Longfield CBE is executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives
For the latest education news and analysis delivered directly to your inbox every weekday morning, sign up to the Tes Daily newsletter
