Congratulations to Enfield Area Partnership

Congratulations to Enfield Area Partnership for attaining Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Status redesignation with a Child First Commendation

Enfield originally achieved the Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Award in October 2019. Amongst the many strengths that were acknowledged at the time were the quality of relationships between service teams, the impact of collocated professionals (including Speech and Language Therapists, CAMHS, Ed Psych, and a Therapeutic Social Worker) on positive outcomes for young people, as well as comprehensive awareness-raising and professional development opportunities which included a diverse range of youth justice workers, including Panel Members. The strategic intent was driven by a vision of young person first, offender second. As the “Child First” concept has grown and flourished across Youth Justice Services nationally, this has simply added to a narrative already at the heart of service practice in Enfield.

The intervening three years has seen further developments:

• Updated protocols supporting more effective joint working across area partnership teams, (so much so that the YOS got a special mention in a recent LA SEND inspection)- there is a joint appreciation of, and commitment to, child-first and child-centred holistic provision
• Comprehensive shared training opportunities that include short video episodic learning, specially produced and curated to support continuous professional development
• Close partnerships between multi-agency panels and the police (which includes neurodiversity and SEN-awareness training), and close liaison with the secure estate
• The role of an Education Panel to assess and respond to emerging critical and complex needs… and assure that those needs are being met, and getting young people back into education
• Council-wide commitment to supporting transition, and participation in the DfE-funded “Change” programme (time-limited and longer-term interventions for children most at risk)

A notable “Child First” service development has been the appointment of dedicated Advisory Teacher (previously an Assistant Head) who will advocate for children and families and challenge schools to ensure that needs are being met: the focus is on working together rather than adversarial, to keep children in the protective factor of full-time education.

Well done Enfield! It has been a pleasure working with you.

Others can learn much from your outstanding practice.