York’s Children and Young People’s
Plan
2024-2027
We want York to be
the best place for children and young people to live and grow up.
We will work together to make sure children and young people have
the building blocks needed to be happy, to be healthy, to be safe
and to be ready for the future.
Our Children and Young People’s Plan
sets out our ambitions and provides the city-wide strategic
framework for all partners. The Plan set out our shared moral
purpose, our values and how we work together with children, young
people, families and communities.
At its heart the plan reflects the key things
that children, young people, parents and partners tell us matter
most and what they need.
Foreword Our shared commitment
Mel John -Ross, Independent Chair and Scrutineer for the City
of York Safeguarding Children’s Partnership
As the Independent Chair and Scrutineer for
the City of York Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, I
welcome the Children and Young People’s Plan: 2024-2027.
The vision, values and principles of the
Safeguarding Children’s Partnership all align with our shared
vision that, ‘All children and young people get the best
start in life, are happy and healthy, stay safe and develop the
skills and relationships they need to thrive into
adulthood’.
This shared vision will be achieved by us all
collectively, across our agencies and communities, working together
as a whole system, ensuring that the voice and lived experience of
children, young people and families, is at the centre of everything
that we do.
The City of York Safeguarding Children’s
Partnership has a key role in contributing to and delivering the
shared priorities, as set out in the Children and Young
People’s Plan, ensuring that York is a place where children
and young people thrive.
Martin Kelly OBE, Corporate Director of Children’s
Services, City of York Council
York is a City renowned worldwide for its
history and iconic buildings attracting over 8.4 million visitors
per year who bring over £750m into the economy. It is a city
of happiness, ambition, and innovation with world leading education
institutions and businesses. York has also held a leading
position throughout generations for its visionary ambition to
develop thriving communities with equality of opportunity through
philanthropic social actions to eradicate poverty. This is as true
today as it was in the 1800’s. When it matters, it really is
a city that comes together using positive relationships and
focussed action to address our most complex challenges.
It is these shared values and collective
vision that will support and protect our city’s future for
generations to come. Following many years of austerity and the
considerable implications of a pandemic, our actions today may well
be consigned to a pivotal point in history for the future. The
phrase coined by the famous philosopher Aristotle ‘The whole
is greater than the sum of its parts’ will perhaps never have
been more important as we use our reduced resources differently to
gain even greater impact.
I am delighted that York will continue to hold
nothing but the highest ambition for current and future
generations, using our Children and Young People’s plan to
drive our collective moral purpose through a shared understanding
of the issues. We have used multiple opportunities to listen to
young people and create a vision that is important to them. We are
as one in our partnership that only the best is good enough for all
our children in the city and will use this plan to hold each other
to account to really deliver what matters.
Scott Bisset, Assistant Chief Constable, North Yorkshire
Police
The mission of North Yorkshire Police is to
keep people safe and feeling safe. All children deserve to grow up
in a safe environment, cared for and protected from harm. Most
children thrive in loving families and grow to adulthood unharmed.
Unfortunately, though, too many children are abused or neglected by
those responsible for their care; they sometimes need to be
protected from other adults with whom they come into contact. Some
of them occasionally go missing, or end up spending time in places,
or with people, harmful to them. While it is everyone’s
responsibility to look out for vulnerable children, police forces
– working together and with other organisations – have
a particular role in protecting children and meeting their
needs.
Protecting children is one of the most
important things the police do. Police officers investigate
suspected crimes involving children and arrest perpetrators, and
they have a significant role in monitoring sex offenders. They can
take a child in danger to a place of safety and can seek
restrictions on offenders’ contact with children. The police
service also has a significant role, working with other
organisations, in ensuring children’s protection and
well-being in the longer term.
Vulnerability is at the heart of the service
North Yorkshire Police delivers and ensure the City of York to be
the best place for children and young people to live and grow up.
Protecting the vulnerable has been and remains one of our foremost
priorities. It is embedded within our ‘Plan on a Page’
strategy that underpins the work of everyone across North Yorkshire
Police. North Yorkshire Police benefits from strong partnership
arrangements to reduce the harm and risk to children. We will
continue to work and build upon our partnership arrangements with
both statutory and non-statutory partners to intervene early and
prevent harm to children.
Michelle Carrington, Director of Nursing and Quality, York
& North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, Humber and North
Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
The contribution of children and young people
in establishing our priorities for the coming years has been
invaluable and this partnership approach to developing this plan is
testament to the way we pledge to work together to improve
the outcomes of children and young people in our city. We are
committed to the delivery of the plan and recognise the role we all
must play in ensuring the children and young people in York achieve
the outcomes they deserve. We want every child to have the best
start in life and have the support they need for their mental and
physical health needs at the earliest possible opportunity. We want
to ensure everyone has access to the right care and support that
responds to their changing health needs and, wherever possible,
support people to be independent and in control. We want children
to thrive despite any difficulties they may encounter in their
health and life circumstances and should children's lives be short
we are committed to ensure that they and their families have the
best possible care at end of life.
Both the NHS Long Term Plan and the York's
Health and Wellbeing Strategy place special emphasis to improving
health outcomes for children and young people and this CYP plan
helps carve out how collectively we can support the CYP of York and
their families and the communities to live happy and healthy
lives.
What makes a ‘good’ childhood?
Everyone’s experience of childhood is
unique. There are some common fundamental building blocks that need
to be in place for children and young people. When they have
these building blocks in place it creates the right environment for
them to belong and to thrive.
The Children’s Society developed The
Good Childhood Index in 2010. This uses 10 areas of life to build a
picture of what makes a ‘good’ childhood.
Children’s Rights
The United Nation Conventions on Rights of the
Child consists of 54 articles that need to be met in order to
meet children’s basic needs and help them reach their
potential. Central to this is that every child has basic
fundamental rights. These include the right to:
What is it like to grow up in York?
NOTE: Can this section be made up to be very visually
engaging as an infographic.
What do children and young people tell us?
We asked over 3,000
young people how happy they are with life at the moment?
Overall, 56% of pupils are happy
or very happy with their life
Younger children are much more likely to
report happiness than older young people (70% in year 4 vs 33% in
year 12).
Only 20% of non-binary children reported
happiness with their life, students who are LGBT or have a long
term health condition are also much less likely to report
happiness.
On the Stirling Children’s Wellbeing
Scale (SCWBS), the overall York score was 39.2. We know in York the
Stirling Children’s Wellbeing Scale score goes down as young
people get older. Children in Year 4 have a score of 44, this
reduces year on year to 35 in Year 12. (In a bubble call out ‘The Stirling Children's Wellbeing Scale
is a questionnaire designed to measure emotional and psychological
wellbeing in children aged 8 to 15 years. The questions cover a
range of topics, including positive emotions, relationships with
others, and sense of purpose. The minimum for the scale is 12 and
the maximum 60. Currently the mean average score is 44 with 50% of
all scores within the range of 39 and 48.)
We asked over 3,000
young people how much does worry affect their life?
Overall, 31% of children say
worry stops them from doing things in their lives.
High levels of worry were most commonly
reported by year 12 pupils (48%), non-binary pupils (60%), pupils
with long term health conditions (52%), and LGBT pupils (60%).
In younger pupils worry about the
environment/climate was common, in older pupils worry about school
work or exams was common.
17% of children
and young people say they do not have an adult they can speak to
about their worries.
We asked over 1,600 children and young people
how much they think their views made a difference about different
things. Across all areas 21% of children thought their views would
make a difference. Younger children were more likely to say their
views made a difference compared with older young people.
In 2022 1,500 children and young people took
part in the Make Your Mark survey. York Youth Council used the
results in focus groups with young people and identified three
priority areas:
We would want to replicate a visual similar to the one in the
Hampshire Children and Young People’s Plan (see embedded
image below).
Data needed for this is:
|
Data
|
Number or %
|
Value
|
Source (if needed)
|
|
Population
0-19
|
%
|
44,054
|
2021 Census
|
|
0-19
as % of Population
|
Number
|
21.7%
|
2021 Census
|
|
Gender
Split Male 0-19
|
Number
/ %
|
21,886
(50.3%)
|
2021 Census
|
|
Gender
Split Female 0-19
|
Number
/ %
|
22,168
(49.7%)
|
2021 Census
|
|
SEN
Support
|
%
|
10.5%
|
2022/23
|
|
EHCP
|
%
|
2.3%
|
2022/23
|
|
FSM
eligibility – Primary
–
Secondary
|
%
%
|
15.9%
14.3%
|
2022/23
|
|
Care
Leavers, age 17-21
|
Number
|
75
|
Q1
2023/24
|
|
CLA
|
Number
|
263
|
Q1
2023/24
|
|
Mental
Health Disorders
|
Per
100,000
|
109.3
|
KPI
(CHP31)
|
|
Overweight
Yr 6
|
%
|
31.5%
|
2021/22
|
|
Overweight
Reception
|
%
|
22.7%
|
2021/22
|
|
Persistent
Absence Primary
Persistent
Absence Secondary
|
%
|
15.3%
26.2%
|
2021/22
over 6 terms
|
|
NEET
|
%
|
0.9%
|
Q1
2023/24
|
|
Schools
|
Number
|
63
|
|
|
Good
or Outstanding Schools
|
%
|
89%
|
Q1
2023/24
|
|
Good
or Outstanding Playgroups and Day Nurseries
|
%
|
94%
|
Q1
2023/24
|
|
Good
or Outstanding Playgroups and Day Nurseries
|
%
|
99%
|
Q1
2023/24
|
Our shared vision
We want every children to be safe, healthy and
happy in strong resilient families, living in diverse inclusive
communities with equal opportunities to ensure they achieve their
full potential and the best possible outcomes.
We know that for many children, young people
and families York is a great place to live and grow up. We also
know that isn’t the story for everyone. Still too often
difficulties in families lives mean children don’t achieve
their full potential.
In developing our vision we have taken time to
listen to what children and young people say matters to them. We
have also looked at what data tell us about growing up in York and
what impacts on children and young people children securing good
outcomes. We are ambitious and recognise that we can only achieve
our shared vision and priorities by working in partnership across
the city.
Our vision is that:
All
children and young people get the best start in life, are happy and
healthy, stay safe and develop the skills and relationships they
need to thrive into adulthood.
We want York to be a place where outcomes are
good for all children but with a clear focus on closing gaps in
outcomes for children and young people who don’t have the
same opportunities as their peers.
Our Shared Ambition - How we work
Why do we do what we do? This strategy is more
than just a plan. This strategy is the beating heart of what drives
us, not just as professionals but as people. This plan transcends
professional boundaries. It is a rallying statement of our shared
ambition, hope and commitment to become the city children and young
people need.
To realise that ambition all of us have to
work together. Together, we become a force for positive change,
harnessing our collective expertise and boundless enthusiasm to
create hope and opportunity. Let us be bold and unashamed in our
dedication, for the success of this plan will change lives, change
communities and change our city.
Through co-production with children, young
people and families we have developed the shared values below.
These values should drive how we work together and with
families.
Can the value
headings and sub values be made into a visual e.g. bubbles/ven
diagram.
Caring
1.
Caring and Relational: We foster caring, relational
connections to build trust and a sense of belonging.
2.
Right Place, Right Time: We take responsibility to support
families to access the early help in the right place, the right
time and the right place.
3.
Empowerment: We are committed to empowering families,
carers, and young people by giving them a voice in decision-making
processes and supporting their active participation in shaping how
we work.
Together
1.
Family-Centred: We prioritise the well-being and needs of
families and young people, acknowledging them as experts in their
own lives. We know children and young people get the best outcomes
when they can live safely with their own families and networks.
2.
Inclusivity: We believe in creating an inclusive and diverse
city that respects and celebrates the uniqueness of each individual
and family, irrespective of their background, culture, or
identity.
3.
Diversity and Inclusion: We embrace diversity, recognising
unique experiences, needs, and the importance of using language
that allows for open expression and understanding.
4.
Equality of Importance: We recognise that no single service
or agency is more important than another. All services are
essential components of our city and we strive to create a seamless
system where each service's value is acknowledged and
respected.
Trusted
1.
Collaboration: We value strong partnerships and actively
seek collaboration among families, communities, professionals, and
organisations to create a collective impact on the lives of
children and young people.
2.
Compassion: We approach every interaction with compassion
and understanding, recognising that each person's journey is unique
and may require different levels of support.
3.
Communication: We believe in open and respectful
communication. Through honest dialogue, we work together to find
collaborative solutions that benefit everyone involved.
Developing our plan
A team of partners working across the York
came together to help develop our new Children and Young
People’s Plan. Together we:
·
Listened to what children and young people across the city told us
about their lives and living in York.
·
Developed a ‘children’s rights’ co-production
toolkit. We tested this with young people to help raise awareness
of children’s rights and understand what our priorities
should be.
·
Reviewed existing strategic plans across the city.
·
Reviewed what data and intelligence tell us about living and
growing up in York
We are committed that children and young
people must have a voice, are heard and are listened to.
In developing our Children and Young
People’s Plan we drew together key messages from children and
young people through lots of different forums.
Make the list
below more visual collection of sources showing all these elements
building towards .
·
2023 Co-Production and Joint Partnership with children, young
people and families
·
2023 Annual Show Me That I Matter and I Still Matter reports
·
2023 Annual Advocacy Report
·
2023 UMatter Report
·
2023 City of York Safeguarding Children’s Partnership
·
2023 York Youth Council
·
Access4All
·
2022 Public Health Survey
·
2021 Voice and Involvement Strategy Evaluation
·
2021 York Human Rights Indicator Report
Children’s Rights Toolkit
To support the development of the Children and
Young People’s Plan a children’s rights co-production
toolkit has been developed. The toolkit raised awareness of
children’s rights and helped children and young people
explore priorities in the context of children’s rights. The
feedback gathered through these sessions have added to existing
messages from young people.
In autumn 2023 we supported the roll out of
the Children’s Rights Co-Production toolkit. Any agency can
pick up and use the toolkit. It is available online by visiting
The child's lived experience – CYSCP
(saferchildrenyork.org.uk).
Best Start in Life
We know that the way children start their
lives has a significant impact on the way they live their lives.
The experiences that children have pre-birth to five lay the
foundations for their adult lives and have a profound impact on
well-being, health, educational achievement and economic
prosperity.
The importance of early years is reflected in
our Joint Health and Well-Being Strategy 2022-2032 –
‘Start Good Health and Wellbeing Young, giving special
emphasis to the key formative early years of life as the best place
our investment can go, creating from maternal/preconception health
and beyond the conditions for our families, communities and young
people to live healthy and flourishing lives.’
We know that being at risk of poor outcomes
during this period severely impacts on life chances and limits
social mobility for children in our city.
We want to work together with communities to
support this critical period of child development and change for
families. Our aim through this plan is to improve all
children’s outcomes with a specific focus on:
·
Developing nurturing, protective relationships and
·
Appropriate early childhood education to deliver (on infant and
parental mental health leading to) improved speech, language and
communication outcomes.
This will ensure that all children, but
particularly those who are most at risk of poor outcomes, make
secure transitions into school.
We will know we are
making a difference by:
·
Absolute gap in % of children totally or partially breastfeeding at
6-8 weeks between highest and lowest York ward (4 year aggregated
ward data) (CHP34a)
·
% uptake in Healthy Start Vitamins
·
% take up of the two year old childcare offer (ES9).
·
% of childcare providers rated by Ofsted as ‘Good’ or
‘Outstanding’ (CYPL11b + CYPL11a).
·
Absolute gap in % of children who reach expected level of
development at 2-2.5 years of age between highest and lowest York
ward (4 yr aggregated) (HV24a).
·
% of reception year children recorded as being overweight (incl.
obese) (NCMP03)
·
Population vaccination coverage - Dtap / IPV / Hib (2 year old)
(CSB15)
·
Population vaccination coverage - MMR for one dose (2 years old)
(PHOF137)
Happy and Healthy
We want children and young people to be happy
and grow well. Partners across education, health, social care and
voluntary services are committed to improving the general health
and wellbeing of our children and young people by working
together.
In making healthy lifestyles a part of all of
our services, children and young people will grow up knowing that
this is our ambition for everyone.
Where people need support with their health we
want them to access the right help, at the right time and in the
right place. This means we will work together to establish
integrated care systems that ensure needs are met as early as
possible and more targeted interventions are available for those
that need them.
In York, we want all children and young people
with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to be happy
and live the best lives they can. Our way of working as a strong
partnership will create better opportunities and demonstrate better
outcomes. Working with families at the earliest opportunity through
coordinated early identification, assessment and support.
Together we will create the long-term
conditions with families and communities to ensure children and
young people can thrive and enjoy the best life they can.
We will know we are
making a difference by:
·
Under 18 admissions for Mental Health need with a high prevalence
of common Mental Health illness, suicide and self harm rates
(CHP31)
·
The number of hospital admissions for self-harm amongst young
people aged 10 to 24 (CHP32).
·
Absolute gap in % of Year 6 recorded overweight (incl. obesity)
between highest and lowest York ward (3 year aggregated)
(NCMP12a)
·
Number of children in temporary accommodation (HOU102a)
·
% of children who achieve a Good Level of Development at EYFSP
(EH7)
·
School Health and Wellbeing survey – Stirling Well-Being
Scale (Primary)
·
School Health and Wellbeing survey – Short Warwick-Edinburgh
Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) (Secondary)
·
School Health and Wellbeing survey - Good Childhood Index
(Primary)
·
School Health and Wellbeing survey - Good Childhood Index
(Secondary)
·
Emergency hospital admissions for asthma in 0-19 year olds per
100,000
·
Emergency hospital admissions for diabetes in 0-19 year olds per
100,000
·
Emergency hospital admissions for epilepsy in 0-19 year olds
per 100,000
·
A&E attendance for 0-4 year olds
·
Infant mortality rates
·
Hospital admissions for dental caries (tooth decay) at age 0-5
years
We want our children, young people and
families to be able to deal with all that life brings; when they do
need support and advice, we want them to be able to get it when
they need it from the right people.
We want to help families and communities to
support our children and young people to be resilient and to
provide safe places for them to live and grow up. When working with
a child or young person, we will understand the power of the
relationships they have in their family, friends and their
community, and how these impact on their lives.
Together we will implement our Early Help
Strategy to identify and support those in need of help. We
recognise the role all partners play in keeping children and young
people safe. When we identify children at risk, we must make sure
that all the services work well together so that the risks can be
reduced as quickly and effectively as possible.
Through the implementation of our Building
Brighter Futures Practice model partners across the city will work
together in a more consistent and meaningful way. The practice
model will provide a common language and way of working that
identifies and builds on the strengths in families and keeps
children safe in their families and networks. We want to safely
reduce the number of children and young people needing to come into
care and increase support in communities and family networks to
help children and young people to stay safe.
We will know we are
making a difference by:
·
Number of Early Help Assessments initiated (CYPL2c)
·
Number of referrals to Children’s Social Care per 10k
(MIPACK1)
·
Percentage of referrals re-referred within 12 month rolling period
(CSB05)
·
Number of children on Child in Need plan (EFL5)
·
Number of children on Child Protection Plan (EFL2)
·
Number of children on Children and Young People in Care (EFL1)
Ready for the future
Our shared ambition is that children and young
people will leave education with the qualifications and skills they
need for employment, training or further study.
To support this all children and young people
will feel safe and supported in their school and will be excited
by, and enjoy learning with, good teachers who go the extra mile
for them and have ambitious expectations for everyone.
All children and young people will learn in
inclusive schools will give them the very best experience tailored
to their age, needs and ability.
Young people will have developed the
confidence, resilience and independence needed to be successful in
adult life.
We know the actions we take today have an
impact on all our futures, and for the next generation to enjoy the
same quality of life we do today we will be mindful of our impact
on the environment, actively contributing towards York’s
ambition to be net zero by 2030.
We will know we are
making a difference by:
·
Number of children and young people permanently excluded in the
primary/secondary (RM12, RM13)
·
Number of fixed term exclusions in the primary/secondary
sector (RM15, RM16)
·
% of 16-17 year olds who are NEET who do not have L2 qualification
(NEET02c)
·
Secondary school persistent absence rate (87aa)
·
Average Progress 8 score from KS2 to KS4 for disadvantaged children
(eligible for FSM in the last 6 years, looked after and adopted
from care) (KS4j)
·
%pt gap between children (eligible for FSM in the last 6 years,
looked after and adopted from care) and their peers achieving 9-4
in English & Maths at KS4 (KS4i)
·
% of pupils achieving 9-4 or above in English & Maths at Key
Stage 4 (KS4c)
·
% of care leavers aged 17-21 in suitable accommodation at last
birthday (147)
·
% of care leavers aged 17-21 in employment, education or training
at last birthday (148)
·
Children and Families in Poverty - Income Deprivation Affecting
Children Index (IDACI) (DOD08)
Delivering our plan
This plan belongs to the city. It spans across
our entire strategic landscape for children and young people and
should influence our work at all levels. The coordination of the
partners delivering the Children and Young People’s Plan sits
with the City of York Safeguarding Children’s Partnership
(CYSCP) and will need to reach across other relevant strategic
partnerships in our city.
The CYSCP will coordinate the work of partners
and review what difference we are making through our Children and
Young People’s Plan.
We will be guided by five delivery principles
that will inform our discussions and actions ahead:
1.
We will increase collaboration and cooperation by working with
partners to encourage changes in the way we live and behave. We
will create and strengthen partnerships among businesses, the
public sector, civic organisations and our institutions in higher
and further education to ensure that action and knowledge is
generated and shared to the benefit of children and young
people.
2.
We will continuously adapt to change, taking bold action by
trialling new and emerging ways of working. We will be pragmatic,
focusing on actions within our immediate control and influence, and
prioritising actions that deliver best value. We will publish an
annual Children and Young People progress report.
3.
We will build fair, inclusive, healthy and sustainable communities
by promoting the positive social and economic benefits of
supporting children and young people and by supporting the health
and wellbeing of those who need it the most.
4.
We will create new employment and education opportunities,
preparing young people for adulthood. We will proactively seek
alternative funding streams and attract additional investment,
whilst being mindful of reduced budgets.
5.
Good governance and evidence-based planning will guide our actions
ahead. All partners will take accountability for delivering actions
and provide assurance that allows us to review progress and adapt
actions.
Working Together - A call to action
For this plan to really achieve its ambition
it takes all partners in the city to take accountability for its
delivery. The first step you must take is genuinely answering these
questions from children and young people.
·
What is your individual role in ensuring children and young
people have the best start in life, are happy and grow well, are
safe and are ready for the future?
o What
are you going to actually do?
o How
are you going to hold yourself to those commitments?
o How
are you going to work with others?
o How
will you involve children and young people?
o How
will you develop and embody our shared values?
·
What will your service do?
o How
will you use this plan to shape how your service works?
o What
will your service actually do?
o How
does your service hold itself to those commitments?
o How
will you prioritise how your service uses its resources?
o How
will your service change how it works with children and young
people?
o How
will your service work with others?
o How do
people from the front line to the senior leaders understand what is
required?
