Carlisle

Getting Started

Children’s Centre Staff identified potential volunteersCoffee mornings held to plan the project Applied to Daycare Trust for funding and trainingDBS and volunteer training held

Our Uniforms

• What do you think?• They were

designed in consultation with staff and volunteers and caused quite some discussions

Carlisle

• Northern city with a population of 105,000

• Large land area with many rural villages and farms

• 4.5% Black Minority and Ethnic population

Ways of Working

Carlisle South – Botcherby & Petteril Bank

Carlisle West – Morton & Newtown

Wendy, Fiona, Jo, Sarah and Kirsty

Suzanne, Leeanne, Vicky, Kate, Katrina, Marie

Our roles

Leaflet dropsDoor knockingVisiting Schools and Nurseries Community CentresCoffee morningsFollow up phone callsLiaising with staffKnowing the communityRecognising new opportunitiesPlanning strategies to engage new people

Using the data

• Using local information systems to identify areas of high deprivation and low reach (estart, observatory )

• Working with the local service coordinators to identify targeted groups not attending

• Signposting and referrals to funded twos• Local knowledge of the area invaluable

What’s on Now?

• we always had an event on for people to come to

• People were encouraged to bring the “monitoring cards” in to these sessions

Monitoring Cards Each Parent champion

gave out different coloured “calling cards” to the people they met, if these cards came back to the centre it would indicate who had given the card out and where and let us know if the scheme was working

As an incentive to bring in the cards people were entered into a monthly draw for a £10 Asda voucher

Town Centre LaunchProject Launch

Getting the word out

The launchThe Press:-“The Parent Champions are a friendly, caring and enthusiastic group who want to do the best for their communities”News and Star

Freebies!

What Our Parents Think

“Everyone is so friendly and approachable”

“I didn’t know about the Children's Centres”

“Very persuasive!”“It can be very lonely

in rural areas-it is good to get out”

“They listen to you!”

“My boys love the crèche “

“They offer so much”

“I was scared to go out on my own”

Caren-a success story

We met Caren when door to door knocking in a rural village and gave her information on the courses runningThis led her to attend “Time 4 Me” course and put her two boys in crècheShe is now on the Parent Forum making decisions about her local Children’s Centre

Further TrainingBreastfeeding, referral to childcare, safeguarding communication skills, and outcomes, Opportunity to do the Children and Young People Workforce L3 diplomaTraining will be ongoing as needed

Success in Numbers

• Number of parents reached• November 115• December 125• January 458• February 338• March 93

Success in Quotes“Been a parent

champion has given me a lot more

confidence, I am enjoying meeting new people, and

have made a lot of new friends”

“Been a parent champion has given

me other opportunities, confidence of

speaking, talking to others.”

“It has built confidence and

now helped towards getting

my job.”

“They have proved to be excellent volunteers, very knowledgeable about their community and committed

to getting results. They have undoubtedly connected new

families to our services groups and activities are

busier as a result. “

“I have been able to do my L3 with excellent support

from staff”

“I have got to know the BME community in Carlisle and

begin to understand their

barriers”

Kim: Morton Local Service Coordinator

Wendy, Jo and Fiona have been a great help to me, supporting with the mammoth task of promoting upcoming activities, especially out in the rural wards of Morton. This has been effective with re affirming some links within the Burgh ward, and recently the girls delivered a ‘what’s on event’ on a Saturday alongside Burgh’s library book drop. This has now led onto plans to deliver an Easter holiday activity in Burgh village hall to support engagement from the rural families, helping to break down some of the barriers to access such as lack of transport and social isolation.Kim

And from management:-“We were very keen to introduce the Programme into Carlisle as we could really see the benefits of local parents accessing our Children’s Centres sharing the benefits to other parents within their community. The parents recruited have really exceeded our expectations and have introduced families into the Centre that we would have otherwise struggled to engage. The project fits well within Barnardo’s volunteer programme, with the volunteer training providing the firm foundations and support to become competent volunteers alongside additional training and sessions relevant to their role to enhance their learning and skills.It can be seen how the Parent Champions have grown in confidence and creativity in their ways of supporting others and have become valued volunteers within the Carlisle team. I’m now not sure how we managed without them!” 

TweakingKeep the volunteers

together as a teamAllow time to meet

together and discussBusiness cards

didn’t work but nice to have-other monitoring approaches needed

Recruiting volunteersKeeping volunteersGetting staff on

board across the cityUse the individual

monitoring sheets rather then the group one to gather better data

Challenges

So what?

• The monitoring reports have shown an increase of 17% reach for 0-4s Q3 in Newtown and 14% increase in Morton compared to this time last year. We can’t say its fully due to PCs however are sure they have been a big influence. The Local Authority have asked for this method of engagement to be shared as an area of good practice