HeadStart Kent Partnership Agreement
1.0Purpose and Aims of Agreement:
1.1Kent HeadStart Programme Board will create a shared and equal partnership with a sense of collaborative enquiry and collective research to build the resilience of 10-14 year olds. It is a collective attempt to create a lasting change.
1.2This programme willprovidea framework where mutual respect, understanding, and fair treatment are the building blocks for partnership working.This Partnership Agreement is underpinned by the Kent Partners Compact principles. Kent Partners Compact.
1.3 Kent County Council is solely responsible for the grant from Big Lottery, therefore KCC are the sole decision maker for the grant, and any decisions taken by the Board must not conflict with the terms of the grant.
2.0Aim of the HeadStart Kent Programme is:
2.1 To develop a learning culture which enables innovation, creativity and change.
2.2 To aid learning from different approaches which contribute to an evidence base for service re-design and for investment in prevention.
2.3Tobetter equip young people with skills to prevent mental health problems occurring in the first place, and to build the evidence for service redesign and investment in prevention.
2.4To ensure young people are better able to cope in difficult circumstances and do well in school and achieve in life.
2.5To increase emotional resilience for children aged 10-14.
2.6To ensure that any work undertaken is evidence based, and makes a positive impact, by ensuring that both universal and targeted work engages children and families that need it most and achieves outcomes for them.
2.7To involve schools, the voluntary sector and service users in the design, development and changes to policies and services.
2.8To enable a transformation of services for children and young people in Kent and ensure that
emotional health and resilience becomes the basis for all engagement with children and young people.
3.0 The HeadStart Programme focuses on four areas of a young person’s life:
3.1 A child’s time and experiences at school.
3.2 Their ability to access the community services they need.
3.3Their home life and relationship with family members.
3.4Their interaction with digital technology.
4.0Agreed Definition of Resilience for this programme is that used by the BIG Lottery:
4.1 “Emotional resilience; the opportunity for and capacity of young people – in the context of adversity - to negotiate for and navigate their own way to resources that sustain their mental health”.
4.2 Young People’s definition of Resilience: The ability to be mentally strong enough to bounce back from the problems in life.
5.0Key Deliverables of HeadStart Kent:
5.1Utilise and roll out a common definition of resilience, and implement a model to identify its aspects.
5.2To develop and roll out an asset-based approach to working with all young people, communities and families.
5.3To test a range of approaches to building resilience in children, young people and families in Kent.
5.4To identify examples of good practice in building resilience and explore the opportunity to learn from good practice or test new innovative ideas.
5.5To ensure that the programme is organised in a disciplined and thoughtful way, which enables learning to be generated through the utilisation of networks and a Knowledge Hub.
5.6Bring together and identify gaps and develop solutions to ensure young people’s resilience is improved in Kent, through schools, the community, family and digital approaches. This will then be shared across the county.
5.7To ensure programmes which are purchased and/or implemented in universal, community and family settings are evidence based and generate impact.
5.8To connect all mentoring, coaching and social action opportunities within Kent, for young people and families so they are easily identifiable and accessible at the right time and in the right place.
5.9To develop an understanding how young people and families interact positively and negatively with the digital world.
5.10To roll out digital solutions to ensure young people, communities and families have access and are part of the programme, and can interact with it to support their resilience.
5.11To be successful in achieving £10 million pounds worth of additional funding in Kent, so we can undertake a systemicstep-change in the way resilience is developed, beyond the pilot.[1]
6.0 Learning
6.1 The HeadStart Programme Board will use self-reflective learning as part of the action research approach to a continuous cycle of improvement.
6.2 There will be a shared commitment to establishing communities of practice to improve collaboration and learning by all partners engaged in HeadStart.
6.3 The programme board and project teams will be open and honest about what is working, learning from failure and will see failure as a trigger for further innovation.
6.4 Process evaluation will happen at different levels of the partnership supporting the learning process.
6.5 All partners committed to HeadStart will be expected to take part in the development of the knowledge hub, through active engagement in the HeadStart seminars and networks, where there will be opportunities to share and learn about projects within HeadStart and other related activities underway across Kent.
6.6 A key area of learning for HeadStart Kent is to learn how better to engage families and communities of those young people who are most at risk of poor outcomes.
7.0Organisations Involved:
7.1Lead Organisation: Kent County Council (KCC) are solely responsible for delivering the HeadStart project in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Big Lottery Grant.
7.2Partner Organisations will undertake to act in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant so far as discharging their obligations under the agreement.
7.3Roles and responsibilities:
i)All Board agencies will have a designated lead member of staff for the partnership.
ii)All Board agencies will have the ability to be flexible, innovative and to ensure that any changes in good practice, guidance and legislation are incorporated into the running of the programme.
iii)Attend any performance monitoring and evaluation meetings, training, seminars, and other reasonable requests.
iv)Delivery partners, as well as board members are expected to, declare any interests and participate in a HeadStart, sharing progress and learning across the Programme, with the HeadStart Kent network.
v)Participate fully in the National Programme Evaluation and Local Evaluation of HeadStart including the implementation of a validated measurement tool for young people’s emotional health and wellbeing and for their parents and carers, once best practice is identified.
vi)The partnership will adhere to professional and safeguarding service standards.
7.4Local Delivery Groups will be represented on the Programme Board.
7.5Whilst providers of services are being procured those who apply will not be part of the decision making for awarding that contract. The information to procure will be offered through the Kent procurement portal.
7.6Any organisation delivering the services on behalf of HeadStart Kent will have a reporting and advisory function in relation to their activities, and will not be part of any decision making processes which puts them in a preferential position to other providers.
7.7In the event of any subcontracting arrangements the prime contractor will be expected to adhere to Kent Partners Compact principles within the contract chain.
8.0Financial and Contractual Arrangement:
8.1 Kent County Council is responsible for all funds received from Headstart Big Lottery Fund.KCC will keep records of all project expenditure, and any partner organisations receiving fundswill provide evidence of spending on a monthly basis. Any new grant funded posts must beopenly advertised and this applies tonew posts being recruited to by partners if funded by HeadStart Kent.
8.2.1In order to analyse and learn from the programme the partnership requires:
i)A copy of resources used for delivery; including workforce development tools.
ii)Service standards to be clearly identified through project proposals.
iii)Designated lead member of staff for the partnership.
iv)Ability to be flexible, innovative and to ensure that any changes in good practice, guidance and legislation are incorporated into the running of the service.
v)Attend any performance monitoring and evaluation meetings, training, seminars, and other reasonable requests.
vi)Delivery partners, as well as a board members, are expected to participate in a HeadStart Operational Group, sharing progress and learning across the Programme with broader partners.
vii)Participate fully in the National Programme Evaluation and local evaluation of HeadStart including the implementation of a validated measurement tool for young people’s emotional health and wellbeing and for their parents and carers, once best practice is identified.
8.3BIG’s terms and conditions of grant will be complied with by the partnership and providers of HeadStart services. If there is a conflict between the terms of the Partnership Agreement and the Fund’s terms and conditions of grant, the Fund’s terms and conditions of grant will always take precedence:
9.0Policies and Procedures:
9.1Kent County Council will be responsible for leading the administration, organising meetings
and keeping records of the programme.
9.2The partnership group will meet quarterly, and each partner is expected to feedback to their networks.
9.3Stakeholder groups will meet quarterly to enable learning to take place. This will be
undertaken with the University of Kent and Canterbury Christchurch University, to enable knowledge exchange and development of evidence based practice. These events will include both schools, statutory and community and voluntary sectors.
9.4Records of meetings will be kept on the “HeadStart Kent” on line forum, and will be kept for a minimum of 7 years after the completion of the funding stream.
9.5All partners will keep the HeadStart Kent records for 7 years after the completion of the funding streams, including reports, finances and project resources.
10Monitoring and Reporting:
10.1 The partnership will produce a monthly report identifying:
i)The activity and impact of the HeadStart Kent Programme.
ii)Indicators of fixed term exclusions, attendance, referrals to KIASS and Stirling Children’s wellbeing scale will be used as way of measuring the impact of the programme on a monthly basis with the schools it is being developed in.
iii)Schools and service providers directly involved in HeadStart Kent will also give their analysis onhow the programme is making a difference.
iv)Proformas will be completed by the partner organisations to gather the information
above on a monthly basis.
v)The partnership approach of monitoring and reporting may alter when the programme-
level evaluator is appointed by the BIG Lottery.
10.2KCC will provide a standard proforma for reporting. A requirement is that service users will
be involved to feedback on how the programmes have made a difference to them.
10.3 BIG Lottery and the National Audit Office will have access to the premises of both the lead and its partners to access records relating to the project. This will be a period of 7 years after the agreement has ended.
11.0Communication:
11.1The programme will be communicated through the Partnership Boardand Knowledge Hub.
Kent County Council will lead county communications, and in partnership with district level agencies, district councils and schools, will communicate the programme at a local level. The online Knowledge Hub and appointed county manager to ensure HeadStart Kent is co-ordinated across Kent, and links with the wider national network.
11.2KCC Communication Services and the Director of Kent’s Preventative Services will lead any
county and national media enquiries.
12.0Branding:
Partner organisations receiving any part of the grant will follow the Branding requirements for Fulfilling Lives, including the “crossed fingers” Big Lottery logo.
13.0Changes to the Agreement:
13.1Any requested changes to the agreement will be fully explained and discussed at the
partnership board, where they will be agreed.
13.2Where disagreements between partners may arise, a resolution will be sought and worked
through, so the partnership is sustained and requirements to the fund sustained.
13.3Formal resolution will be sought outside of the board, if it is between 2 partners.
13.4The partnership will vote on any changes, and the chair will have the casting vote.
14.0Duration of the Agreement:
14.1 This will initially be for Phase 2 of the Big Lottery Grant – 1st August 2014 – 31st December 2015. Initial Projects will be run from 1st August 2014 - 31st December 2015. If successful, the partnership will be reviewed and continued for full project role out.
14.2 However, it is envisaged thispartnership will lead to a transformation of services for
children and young people in Kent and ensure that emotional health and resilience becomes the basis for all engagement with children and young people.
14.3 KCC may terminate the agreement if for any reason the funding or work is suspended,
terminated or superseded.
15.0Approach to Sustainability:
15.1 The ultimate aim of the HeadStart programme is to better equip young people, so to prevent mental health problems occurring in the first place, and to build the evidence about what works. The ambition is for Head start to enable a transformation of services for children and young people in Kent and ensure that emotional health and resilience becomes the basis for all engagement with children and young people. HeadStart Kent is a catalyst for focusing change in Kent, the wealth of resources in Kent will be realigned to focus on prevention.
16.0Membership and Signed Declaration:
16.1 All partners must sign and date the agreement.The list of partners is included in Appendix 2 which outlines their roles.
16.2BIG’s terms and conditions of grant will be complied with the attached:
16.3Key Contacts for HeadStart Kent:
Kent County CouncilPatrick Leeson (Responsible for BIG Grant)
Kent County CouncilFlorence Kroll(Programme Lead)
Kent County CouncilAngela Ford (Programme Manager)
The signatories agree to implement the provisions of this Partnership Agreement:
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[1]The central question will be: how can we build the emotional resilience of 10-14 year olds preventing children and young people needing specialist emotional wellbeing interventions. Within that is an understanding where and how the issues are created and how our interventions impact on building sustained resilience of children young people and families.