The Bexley Partnership Agreement with Charlton Athletic Community Trust and Charlton Athletic Football Club
A Partnership Agreement for 2008 to 2011
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Working together for a safer, healthier Bexley - helping Bexley to be fit for the future
Listening to you, working for you
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www.bexley.gov.uk
Contents
Foreword Introduction Working together What do we want to achieve over the next three years? High standards and good practice Governance and partnership Aims, purposes and principles Current partnership activities Signatories to the Agreement Pages 2 & 3 Page 5 Pages 6 & 7 Pages 8 & 9 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Pages 15 & 16 Page 17
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Foreword
The London Borough of Bexley has been working with Charlton Athletic Football Club on successful community projects for 15 years. I was surprised to learn that, during this time, we have never formally recognised our partnership or celebrated our many achievements. By working together we have been able to develop innovative education programmes in our schools, borough-wide youth projects, sports schemes and community safety initiatives. Together they have had a positive impact on our young people and the wider community. This agreement with Charlton Athletic Community Trust and Charlton Athletic Football Club puts the official stamp of approval on the work we carry out together. It also gives us the opportunity to plan ahead and look at how we can further develop our partnership. I look forward to many more years of successful partnership working with everyone at the Trust and the Club. Cllr Teresa O’Neill Leader of the London Borough of Bexley Chair of the Partnership for Bexley
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In 1993 I approached Bexley Council with a view to jointly fund a community officer to work in the borough, little knowing that 15 years later our partnership with Bexley would still continue and be regarded as one of the best club/community borough agreements around. It became the catalyst for more clubs to work in conjunction with local authorities and our relationship is still used as best practice and a model for other clubs and councils to aspire to. Over the years we have strategically worked within Bexley to deliver work around education, health, participation and community cohesion, as well as implementing the hugely successful Charlton Challenge, which is delivered in every leisure centre. More recently we have jointly delivered a Walk to School road safety campaign and a Street Violence Ruins Lives initiative. This agreement will forge even closer links between the Club, Trust and Council, creating a greater knowledge of work that has been delivered and an opportunity to address issues going forward, leading to an effective and far reaching programme across the whole of Bexley. Jason Morgan CEO, Charlton Athletic Community Trust
This is an exciting strategic step forward for Charlton Athletic Football Club, the Charlton Athletic Community Trust and the Partnership for Bexley in developing a more coherent and co-ordinated future multi-agency approach that will expand the reach and effectiveness of the programmes and projects we intend to deliver in Bexley over the coming years. It is also the natural progression that comes out of the resounding partnership work that has taken place over the last fifteen years. Steve Waggott Chief Executive, Charlton Athletic Football Club
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The Partnership Agreement was signed on Saturday 22 November 2008 at The Valley
Introduction
What has happened so far? We may not all have realised it, but Charlton Athletic Football Club has been working in the London Borough of Bexley for about fifteen years. Our co-operation began in 1993 from small beginnings, which saw the appointment of a dedicated Bexley Development Officer delivering programmes such as the Charlton Challenge and diversionary activities across the Borough. On the following pages you will see examples of the work that has taken place over that period. This is what we plan to build upon and develop over the next few years, in order to help us achieve the aims and aspirations of The Partnership for Bexley. Why do we want an Agreement? The priorities for the Partnership for Bexley over the next ten years are set out in ‘Bexley Together’, Bexley’s Sustainable Community Strategy, which has been drawn up and agreed by all of the key partners in the Borough. Alongside, and drawn from this, are the indicators agreed with government and signed off in the Bexley Local Area Agreement (LAA), which gives us our focus for the period from now until 2011. The only way that these indicators will be achieved is through intensive partnership working between the Council and its partners. We believe that the Charlton Community Trust and Charlton Athletic Football Club are major delivery partners. The new Comprehensive Area Assessment framework was published earlier this year, clearly identifying the Local Area Agreement and Sustainable Community Strategy as starting points for judgements on our progress. It is clear that, together with an emphasis on communication and consultation, the ‘duty to involve’ residents will be very important. Many of our targets depend upon getting people involved and the Charlton approach, working with Bexley residents, is very much suited to this. At a recent meeting of the Bexley Joint Management Board, consisting of senior stakeholders across the Borough, senior officers of the Charlton Community Trust provided an overview of their work in Bexley, Greenwich and Kent. A wide range of partnership initiatives was covered and it was clear that the Trust had contributed significantly to the successful delivery of many of the indicators in our first LAA. However, it was felt that a broader agreement would be an advantage, compared to the current position whereby engagement takes place through a wide variety of smaller groups and individual programmes. Furthermore, it is likely that a more formal link would be helpful when developing future programmes.
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Working together
In all, across Bexley, Greenwich and Kent, the Charlton Athletic Community Trust currently employs 30 full-time staff and 150 part-time coaches, a number of whom are ‘products’ of the programme, proving that the work of the Trust can help young people to make the right choices, both socially and with regard to their physical and mental health. They engaged with about 330,000 young people in 2007 in a range of programmes, winning amongst other things, the Football League Community Initiative of the Year and the Business in the Community Impact on the South East awards. Their work in Bexley has been used as an illustration of best practice at a number of levels and this hard work and their innovative approach has been recognised at government level, with a number of ministers, including Gordon Brown and Tessa Jowell, publicly offering praise. Some programmes have been copied nationally, including the Charlton Challenge and the ball court leagues. It has been suggested that this led to the development of the national ‘Kickz’ programme. As well as the numerous trained coaches who deliver sports and education programmes to an average of about 2,600 Bexley youngsters each week, three full-time staff are allocated to Bexley, together with a further four shared with Greenwich. Social inclusion activities targeting about 400 young people in the eight to 25 age group taking place at present include weekly Ball Court Leagues at a number of venues, four sessions per week of the ‘Kickz’ Programme and specific focus activities in particular neighbourhoods on up to five nights a week. Many of the sessions take place at unsocial hours, quite late into the evening and at weekends, because this is when they are needed and when the young people want them. Added to this are football development holiday courses at centres and in parks for the three to 12 age group (yes – there are Toddler Soccer sessions too!) as well as a range of other activities, including the Charlton Challenge, delivered in collaboration with Parkwood Leisure. There is a big schools programme in place, which includes 20 after schools clubs and five lunchtime clubs. Specific activities include 20 Kick Start for Life (Healthy Schools) sessions per year and 15 Kick into Education sessions of numeracy and literacy each week. This initiative, which uses football as a vehicle for learning, is operated in conjunction with Bexley Education Business Partnership using the coaches as support teachers, within schools. The children benefit from having a friendly adult to provide encouragement and boost self confidence. Aims of the project are to raise standards in literacy and numeracy for both primary and secondary pupils.
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A full-time Kick into Education Officer was employed in the Trinity School Cluster in September 2007 and at three secondary schools and a Pupil Referral Unit. BTEC, ASDAN and OCN qualifications are on offer, as well as FA courses and inclusion workshop sessions. Altogether, more than 1,500 young people take part in schools programmes every week, as part of the curriculum and outside formal school hours. The Womens and Girls Development Programme isn’t just for those at school. The programme sees the Trust running four ‘centre of excellence’ girls teams, which include Bexley youngsters, the Girls Academy and the first and reserve women’s teams. It includes special girls-only coaching sessions, but it is not ‘only about football’. Alternative activities run alongside Ball Court sessions, from netball to nail art! At Tavy Bridge there are activities five nights a week, including fitness, dance, nail art and cookery, alongside sports like basketball and netball. The coaches leading these sessions are properly qualified to carry them out. As they say at Charlton: “We’re more than just a football club”. Other initiatives for older young people include the Pathways to Employment Programme. As a result of this, 10 Bexley young people are now working as part of the Trust team. ‘SkillsBank’, which began in the summer of 2008,
works with young people aged 16+ who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), aiming to make them employable in the sports and leisure sector, or to encourage them to undertake further education. Some of these young people may already be in, or be in danger of entering, the criminal justice system. Very importantly, The Trust has been engaged in work across the disability spectrum, with both young people and adults. The Ability Counts Programme delivers basic football activity to young disabled children between the ages of five and 16. A number of the Bexley based players have gravitated to senior sessions, operating at the Club’s training ground. A further session caters for adults, with 15 people currently attending. A further fast growing area of work concentrates on the needs of people with mental health issues. There is an activity programme funded by the Crayside Community Centre and the Bracton Centre, which runs every two weeks and has an attendance of about 15. A further session, planned as a joint venture between Bexley and Greenwich Primary Care Trusts, started in October 2008. One of our highest priorities is the target on smoking cessation. The Trust has been involved in this area of work for some time and new courses for smoking quitters are planned to be run in non-traditional, familiar settings. These are planned to begin in January 2009 – just in time for New Year resolutions!
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What do we want to
A range of success measures linked to local priorities are detailed in The Bexley Sustainable Community Strategy and we have set ourselves a number of targets in our LAA which will help in achieving our agreed priorities. The long history of effective partnership working in Bexley will help us to continue to achieve real results. We believe that the formalising and development of our collaboration with Charlton Athletic Community Trust will be a key factor in support of our intention to use the LAA to develop more effective relationships at a national, regional and local level. The Trust, through its activity-based approach, can assist us in achieving our goals in a number of areas. For example, we have pledged to: Build safer and stronger communities through: • reducing anti-social behaviour on our streets, including drug and alcohol-related disorder, youth disorder and graffiti. The Partnership runs a number of education based programmes aimed at delivering numeracy and literacy sessions which run alonside coaching, PE and healthy eating lessons. • reducing crime, including violent crime, ensuring that local people feel safer and have less fear of crime. • encouraging and supporting all local people, including those of different backgrounds, to work and live together.
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achieve over the next three years?
Develop healthier communities for adults - including vulnerable adults and older people by: • ensuring that people enjoy healthier and longer lives by developing improvements in health and well-being, and public service integration. This includes developing services to tackle risk factors for ill health, and a community where there are cultural and leisure opportunities to improve health and allow local people to feel welcomed and included. • ensure that people enjoy healthier and longer lives by developing improvements in health and well-being, and public service integration. Develop services for children and young people through: • improving educational standards and outcomes for all children and young people in our schools and narrow the gap for vulnerable groups. • improving levels of school attendance and reducing exclusions, encouraging all children and young people to stay in learning and to move into employment, training or higher education at sixteen, including working with 16 to 18-year-olds who are not in education, training or employment (NEET). • implementing initiatives and develop youth provision to ensure that children and young people lead healthy lives, engage in a range of positive activities and have emotional well-being. Working with Charlton can certainly help us, in terms of providing positive activities for young people, reducing the number of youngsters deemed as NEET and reducing the number of under-18 conceptions in the Borough. Other specific areas where we want to improve include further reductions in levels of smoking cessation, and reducing levels of obesity in all age groups. For example, the Trust will be a major supporter to our schools and voluntary organisations in helping to deliver the new national target for every school child to take part in five hours of sport a week. Last, and by no means least, we must not forget our aspirations relating to the 2012 Olympics, with links through the London Youth Games and the Cultural Olympiad. The Charlton Community Trust will certainly be a key partner in these areas.
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Tamer Tuna (right) is a Bexley resident and first year scholar at the Charlton Academy. Tuna has already started to make a name for himself in the U18s and reserves this season, twice finding the net for the senior academy side at the start of the campaign. Tuna’s rise up the football stream started at Crook Log Leisure Centre in Bexleyheath when he joined the Charlton Challenge award programme as a six-year-old. He was invited to attend one of the advanced centres run by the community deptartment. After some coaching from the development staff, he came to the attention of the Club’s youth set up as a U9 player.
Photographer: Edmund Boyden
High standards and good practice
Qualifications All the coaches employed by the Charlton Athletic Community Trust are subject to enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks. All coaches working at Bexley schemes will hold FA and other sports governing body coaching qualifications, child protection and first aid certificates. Coaches are actively encouraged to continue their personal and professional development by working towards higher qualifications, not only in football coaching, but also in achieving NVQs combining Health and Social Care with Criminal Justice. Coaches are trained in conflict resolution, carrying out risk assessments to ensure full compliance with health and safety legislation and to provide safe activities and engagement. Training is provided for coaches to be able to recognise signs and symptoms of substance misuse and how to provide or refer to appropriate support systems. Additional training is available covering healthy lifestyles, teenage pregnancy and sexual and mental health. An area of great importance in collaborative working is that of the local youth services. Access for coaches to youth work training can be helpful not only in improving their skills, but even more importantly, in bringing together the statutory and voluntary youth sectors, with all the benefits that such seamless working can bring to young people. The Trust sees one of its roles as helping to support and assist hard-pressed local services to hit their targets. Evaluation and monitoring As is the case with any project or programme, one of the keys to success is evaluation of the work that is taking place. This will include such things as attendance levels at events, both overall and by individuals. Even more important, of course, is whether the aims of the programme are being met. Furthermore, if we are to attract and access external funding and encourage partner organisations to contribute resources, we must have evidence that what is being provided is actually ‘making a difference’. The Trust recognises that increased participation in scheme development is critical to future success. In support of this, the Home Office accredited substance evaluation tool is operated, which ensures that every young person’s attendance at a session is recorded. A further model that could be developed in Bexley is one that has been commissioned by the Trust elsewhere, where a university research department is operating an evaluation process. Involvement of local communities will not only influence future activity, but it will also assist in delivering Bexley’s targets relating to community consultation, engagement and involvement.
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Governance and partnership
In order to ensure good cross-agency communication, the Trust and Club will report to the Partnership for Bexley, either directly or through its working groups, at the discretion of the Partnership Board. It is suggested that a Bexley – Charlton Steering Group be established. This group would be comprised of representatives, at the appropriate level, from the key organisations engaged in collaborative working with the Trust. The membership may represent the public, voluntary and private sectors. The purpose and remit of the group would be to: • maintain a focus upon the key aims and objectives of the Bexley Partnership and to ensure that the development of programmes led, or contributed to, by the Trust reflect these aims • support the delivery of high quality activity • identify and agree new areas of collaboration • ensure that effort is not duplicated and that added value is provided • co-ordinate work between and across agencies • act as a focal point for communication with the many and varied groups currently involved in managing and running existing programmes • identify and aim to access potential future sources of funding to ensure ongoing sustainability • monitor and evaluate effectiveness of delivery • promote and share innovation and good practice • ensure that projects are presented in a cohesive manner and that all partner contributions are recognised.
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Partnership for Bexley, Charlton Football Club and the Trust working together to make a difference in our community
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Aims, purposes and principles
The main purpose of the Agreement is to build more formally upon the excellent working relationships developed between the Charlton Athletic Community Trust, Charlton Athletic Football Club and the various partners which make up the Partnership for Bexley. This will ensure that future working is based upon, and sits within, a strong framework of expectations and partnership support. A key aim will be that the Charlton Athletic Community Trust and Charlton Athletic Football Club will continue to extend their reach and impact in assisting the Partnership for Bexley to build a safe, strong, healthy and prosperous community in the London Borough of Bexley. The principles set out here are intended to support mutual collaboration and co-operation between the Trust, the Club and the Partnership for Bexley. This Agreement does not seek to replace, duplicate or undermine other existing or planned arrangements. • To work together to deliver the best possible outcomes and benefits for the residents of the London Borough of Bexley. • To ensure the full inclusion of all interested bodies in planning, developing and delivery of activity programmes. • To take account of, and be responsive to, the needs of residents and localities. • To ensure that, when new opportunities are presented, whether as a result of local or national initiatives, full consideration is given to assessing their suitability for operation in Bexley. • To develop partnership structures to support planning at strategic and operational levels. • To maintain the highest possible standards of operational delivery. • To establish a system of monitoring and evaluation to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of programmes.
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Launching the ‘Street Violence Ruins Lives’ initiative, an educational based awarness programme
Current partnership activities
Football development programmes The two core strands of the football development department of the Charlton Athletic Community Trust are the school and education programmes and the holiday courses and Charlton Challenge programme. In the last few years football development has grown in the borough of Bexley. This is due to the Trust being proactive in looking to expand the programmes in the area and a partnership, multi agency approach to all of the initiatives. School and education programmes The Trust currently runs 26 after-school football or multisport clubs each week utilising school playgrounds, as part of the extended school agenda. Every primary school in the borough will be engaged with the community scheme at some time during the year. This might be in the form of assemblies, free curriculum coaching, or after school and lunchtime clubs. For the last four years the Trust has worked in partnership with Bexley PCT delivering the healthy school programme ‘Kick Start for Life’ involving 20 schools per year receiving a six week programme linking exercise, healthy eating and sport. All schools in Bexley have now been awarded Healthy School Status. ‘Kick into Education’ is a programme that the Trust has developed in partnership with the Bexley Education Business Partnership working with primary school children who are underachieving in numeracy and literacy. Coaches engage the children with the National Curriculum using football as the learning tool. Following the success of this project within Bexley, the Trust has received funding from the Football Foundation of £82k for a full-time officer based at Trinity School, working in the local cluster of primary schools to help raise standards of basic education skills. Holiday courses and the Charlton Challenge During school holidays, Community Scheme Solutions, the delivery arm of the Trust, works in partnership with the Council and Parkwood Leisure to utilise park sites and leisure centres within the borough, holding week long and one or two-day football courses. For example, during the summer school holidays of 2008, 16 well attended courses, supported by multi-agency outreach work, were delivered in Bexley. Sites used included Hall Place, Marlborough Park, St George’s Park, Penhill Park and Crook Log and Erith sport centres and Erith Stadium.
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Current partnership activities
Continued
Similarly, for the last 12 years the Trust has worked in partnership with leisure provider Parkwood Leisure, to deliver football activities in the Borough’s leisure centres, with the Charlton Challenge football skills programme. At present, around 400 children each week attend the Challenge at Crook Log, Erith and Sidcup leisure centres. Whilst the Charlton Challenge caters for children aged five to 12-years-old, the Toddler Soccer programme is aimed at three and four-year-olds, with the goal of helping to develop motor skills, physical development and social skills. Again, these are delivered in the sports centres with 150 toddlers attending the weekly sessions. The Trust also works in partnership with the Council’s leisure and sports development department on programmes such as disability and mental health provision, fetes and shows and the London Youth Games. The social inclusion programme The social inclusion department of the Trust engages with young people across Bexley to provide sustainable diversionary activities that promote acceptable behaviour in a safe, fun and healthy environment. The project aims to build safer, stronger communities through the development of young people's potential by linking into the following agendas: Every Child Matters; Pathways to Employment/Further Training; Reduction in Crime/Disorder and ASB and the Integrated Youth Strategy. At peak times more than 600 young people are actively engaged in sports activities across the borough each week, with the delivery focus on: • Work in Pupil Referral Units, Pre-Exclusion Units and mainstream schools. The primary focus is on teamwork, leadership, communication, fitness, life-skills and building awareness around issues of sexual health and drugs/alcohol misuse, amongst others. • The Bexley Ball Court Leagues are peer-led competitive leagues, encouraging positive behaviour in areas of high Anti-Social Behaviour. The league builds bridges between young people and Safer Neighbourhood Policing Teams and the Metropolitan Police. • Sporting activity within youth clubs in the borough, again focusing on life skills such as teamwork and communication. • The estates-based sessions run in geographically targeted areas which demonstrate high levels of Anti-Social Behaviour/crime & disorder.
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Signatories to the Agreement London Borough of Bexley Neighbourhood Services Youth Service and Youth Offending Team The Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team Orbit Housing Association Gallions Housing Association Bexley Care Trust Connexions – Northumberland Heath Erith Resource Centre Plus Rainer – Crime Concern Howbury Pupil Referral Unit
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Charlton Athletic Community Trust aims to:
• Work in partnership with various organisations to target vulnerable young people aged 8-19 who are at risk of offending. • Deliver an estate-based project (including inter-estate and representative matches), whilst guidance on healthy living (including exercise, fitness and nutrition) will be provided to all young people accessing sessions. • Contribute to a reduction in offending and re-offending rates amongst the target group. • Contribute to a reduction in crime & ASB in targeted areas within Bexley. • Contribute to a reduction in truancy and exclusion amongst the target group. • Provide targeted assistance and support to 8-19-year-olds and their families, focusing on those children most at risk of offending, truancy or exclusion. • Maintain records for all participants, including baseline statistics, volunteering and engagement levels. • Provide access to the following activities for young people: football coaching matches and related games and activities; advice and guidance on health, exercise and nutrition (including physiology); social interaction and communication skills. • Promote the service to other service providers and local residents.
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