Congratulations to Croydon Area Partnership for attaining Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Status (Redesignated) with a Child First Commendation
From the earliest days of this Youth Justice SEND project in 2016, when Croydon’s “Missing Mondays” initiative was identified as something that every Service around the country could benefit from learning about, the Area Partnership has been at the forefront of effective partnership working around children and young people who have entered, or were at risk of entering, youth justice pathways.
Croydon first achieved Quality Lead status in 2020. Effective partnership work with the LA SEND Team was celebrated then, and continues to grow, including data integration using Capita One system, proactive networking with the secure estate to enable support, and resettlement and transition-planning for children with EHCPs in custody. High-needs funding is quickly made available if a child entering a youth justice pathway is identified to need it through screening and assessment.
The skillset of frontline professionals continues to develop, through embedding trauma-informed practice, and detailed assessments of Speech Language and Communication Needs that lead to Court Reports supported by a Communication Passport.
Prevention work continues to develop at a pace, moving further downstream leading to a continuous fall in both the cohort size and first-time offending rates. The intensity of effort, the development of funded provision, and the impact of this work, must be celebrated as examples of outstanding Child-First practice:
A number of regular, focussed meetings ensure that no child slips through the safety net: These include the “Missing Mondays” and “Multi-disciplinary Education Panels” that work closely with Fair Access Panel to ensure primary and secondary early intervention and early help; this now is extended to include high-level Risk Vulnerability Management Panel (RVMP) that meets weekly to address the needs of children at risk of reoffending, and a Complex Adolescents Panel (CAP) where service leaders meet weekly at Senior Level to discuss and address the most complex cases within the Borough
Saffron Valley Collegiate (the Local Authority PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) provision) has also developed an effective, intensive twelve-week intervention and support programme, dual registration and designed to work holistically with the child and the family, to prevent the catastrophic impact of permanent exclusion.
ETE and resettlement opportunities continue to flourish, with the recent addition of Skill Mill provision, close working with the Croydon Post-16 NEET Taskforce Group, and nurtured relationships with local 16+ providers such as Croydon and Bromley College.
Well done Croydon! It has been a pleasure working with you.
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