Congratulations to Bristol Area Partnership

Congratulations to Bristol Area Partnership for attaining Youth Justice SEND Quality Mark Status

It has been a pleasure working with the Bristol Youth Offending Team over the past two years to identify areas of strength, of which there were many, as well as areas that needed further development. The Team has shown a willingness to self-evaluate critically and draw on effective practice from our national network of AYM Teams to accelerate progress. This Award is an acknowledgement of a journey well-travelled, and the Area Partnership’s commitment to improving life outcomes for some of the most vulnerable young people in the city.

We acknowledge:

• significant and sustained progress in formalising working relationships between the Youth Justice and SEND Teams. This includes the co-construction of effective and comprehensive joint actions, effective information sharing and provision mapping, and support in and out of custody that will inevitably lead to better outcomes for young people with SEN in youth justice pathways
• Effective and comprehensive professional development programmes for front-line staff, which includes trauma-informed training and awareness, a focus on girls with autism (for example), and the introduction of Enhanced Case Management
• A focus on effective multiagency work to identify children at risk of entering youth justice pathways; this includes a relatively new high-level Exploitation Oversight Meeting, with Service Leads working together to ensure effective provision mapping and interventions.
• Other effective multiagency work can be seen through ETE (Education Training and Employment) Outcomes Meetings and the introduction of the Turn Around programme. The Youth Offending Service is investing heavily on prevention and desistance. This includes a growing success in engaging with schools more effectively to ensure needs are met within full-time education settings to avoid exclusion and isolation.
• Significant contributions made by your co-located professionals (Speech and Language Therapist, Ed Psych, Nurse etc.) to identifying and meeting needs, as well as supporting the wider professional development of the front-line team.

It is also wonderful to see how strategic partnerships are triggering new thinking and new ways of working across other Children’s Services Teams. It is significant to see the major post-16 provider (City of Bristol College) represented at Youth Justice Board Level.

Bristol is well-placed to build on these solid foundations and push forwards towards Quality Lead status in due course. We wish you the very best on your journey.