Showing posts with label Otherwise Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Otherwise Club. Show all posts

Saturday 26 November 2016

Details of the vital services provided at the threatened Granville Centre

Wednesday's Scrutiny Committee will receive several reports when considering the Granville/Carlton call-in. One appendix describes the work of the various users of the centres. Following on from Zadie Smith's talk last night I thought it would be useful to publish it here in full so that readers are aware of what is currently provided.  

Background Information on Granville Plus Nursery School
Granville Plus Nursery School is a Nursery School, Nursery Schools have a different distinction from a nursery. The Maintained nursery schools: the state of play report (March 2015, Early Education: The British Association for Early Childhood Education) identifies that “maintained nursery schools are local authority funded schools, with a headteacher and qualified teachers leading a team of specialist early years practitioners”, they also identify that just over 400 remain in England. Within Brent only a few Nursery Schools remain.
The latest Ofstead inspection report for the Nursery School (they are inspected under two separate Ofsted frameworks, in the Nursery School (including Horizon, their Additionally Resourced Provision for children with autism), and in their Rainbow provision), both received a “Good” from Ofsted. The Maintained nursery schools: hubs for quality in the early years (Early Education: The British Association for Early Childhood Education) report states that “Nursery Schools are inspected under the Ofsted criteria used for primary schools, rather than those used for early years settings in the private and voluntary sector, with inspections lasting two days rather than half a day.”
Council Officers visited with the Nursery School Headteacher on the 8 September and were shown around the building which includes a recent extension. Key points highlighted included the importance of the outdoor space as an educational tool and for children who live in the surrounding area which is predominantly flat accommodation. The Nursery School has an identified offer for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities. Below is information provided from the Headteacher in regards to the Nursery School.
Officers also met with the parents and with the Governors on two separate events. Information from these meetings are imbedded into this report. From all three meeting the clear message was that they wish to stay on their current site and would not wish to be part of a nursery attached to another school (this is driven partly by not wishing to lose the status of being a Nursery School).
Information provided by the Headteacher:
·      74% of the children are from NW6, with a further 14% from NW10 (Harlesden).
·      94% are from ethnic minorities, and 86% have English as an Additional Language.
·      17% of our children have significant Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including 11 in our additionally resourced provision for children with autism, and a further 8 places for children with a range of significant needs including physical disabilities and medical needs.
·      The children with SEND are fully integrated within our mainstream environment, and our SEND provision, including the autistic provision, was judged outstanding in our latest Ofsted.
·      8% of places are for Children in Need (usually with social care needs, including child protection)
·      All these specialist places are allocated by a borough-wide panel.
·      We are open 8am to 6pm for 48 weeks of the year, with a flexible fees structure, to support parents back to work or college.
·      51% of places are babies and 2-3 year olds, with nearly all the 2-3 year olds funded by the “vulnerable 2 year olds” NEG2 funding.  
·      We provide training placements for NVQ Level 3, and in
 partnership with the Institute of Education have trained staff to become qualified teachers.
·      We employ a number of local people, some of whom had their children here and whom we supported back into employment.
·      Many families have a long association with the school, emphasising their sense of community, so that ex-pupils bring their children to us, and in some cases their grand-children, due to our early years education specialism and ethos.
·      We equally welcome new arrivals, providing a place and an approach that connects them into a community network.
·      The Nursery garden is an integral part of our early years curriculum, and an oasis within a highly urban environment for children that do not have gardens and who are reliant on public space.

Background Information on Barnardos Children’s Centre

Barnardos received a contract in 2016 to deliver Children’s Centres for Brent Council. Barnardos are based within the Granville centre. They are commissioned to deliver 14 Children’s Centres in the borough for a 4 year period with an option for a fifth year.
During a meeting with officers from Barnardos they stated a preference that they wished to stay within the Granville Centre, as the families which they work with come from the local area. They also explained that children’s centres could not “just be closed down”.
Information provided by representative of Barnardo’s following the meeting
Granville Plus Children’s Centre, Granville Road, Kilburn
NW6 5RA
 Supporting all families in the local area with children aged 0-4. Services delivered By Barnardo’s on behalf of Brent Local Authority.
The purpose of our Children’s Centres is to support families of children from conception to 5 years to improve outcomes for the future by supporting the earliest years of a child’s life where there are opportunities to enhance their development. Centres promote outreach services to engage families in their communities rather than expect them to access buildings. Varied programmes and activities are offered that include working with partner agencies including Health Visiting, Midwifery, Citizen’s Advice Bureau Services and Speech and Language Therapists.
The vision for Barnardo’s Children’s Centres in Brent is to provide excellent support, guidance and services for all of our children and their families so they achieve their full potential. We want to ensure that their intervention has a positive and lasting impact on each and every family that they are in contact with, for better outcomes and to improve their life chances. 


Background information on the Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club

The Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club occupy space within the Granville Centre. During the meeting the following was discussed in regards to the range of activities carried out by the two functions:
Providing free meals to those in need – they receive food donations from local retailers including the newly opened Mark and Spencer’s Simply Food in South Kilburn. This can be up to 150 meals at a time.
Provide donated items for people to take freely such as clothes
Provide children’s activities
Provide fitness activities
Has a community garden where people can learn about food and where food used in the kitchen is grown
Provide meeting space
Provide access to computers
One of
was that the space that they operate from was welcoming and that people felt comfortable to come into the space to have a meal.
the key points raised in regards to the Granville Kitchen and the meals it provides
Information provided directly by representative following the meeting:
The Otherwise Club has 50-60 families a year who are members since we started at the Granville Plus Centre in February 1993. We also have at least 2 families each month who just visit.
That amounts to more than 250 individuals using our services a year; as a family is made of at least 2 people and often up to 6 or 7. One long term member family has 9 people in it.
We are mostly self-funded but also receive some small grant and volunteer run. We are a registered charity for over 15 years (Charity number 1071831)
Last year we had 8 young people taking 20 GCSEs between them, with 90% passing with B or above. We have done numerous trips within the UK including an annual trip for 30 people to a farm outside of Glastonbury.
We have taken groups of young people to Germany 4 times, Spain twice, France, 3 times, Italy 4 times and are planning a trip to Cuba in December 2016
We started Granville Community Kitchen over 2 years ago
It is now serving 120-150 meals at our weekly free community dinner.
We have regular film nights and dance nights with up to 30 people attending these evenings
We serve lunch on Thursdays in term time serving 30-50 meals each week.
The Kitchen ran a Summer Scheme in July -August 2016 with 85 children and young people attending mostly from the South Kilburn area
We collect surplus food from the local Marks and Spencers since the day it opened and from M&S Kilburn for nearly a year.
We also receive surplus food drops from food redistribution charity City Harvest London.
We are seeing our numbers increasing weekly, and expect these to rise further with the coming benefit cap. 
The Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club would want to stay on site.



Monday 7 November 2016

Hope for Granville Plus Nursery and Granville Kitchen in new Cabinet Report

The Granville Plus purpose built extension - will it survive?
 A new Cabinet report going before the Brent Cabinet on November 15th gives some seeds of hope for those campaigning for the Granville Nursery Plus, Otherwise Club and the Granville Kitchen. LINK

The report admits that there was a negative public reaction to the proposals for the Carlton and Granville Centres:
Key feedback from the consultation and through officer meetings has been that the community has been upset that there has been a lack of consultation prior to the 25 July 2016 report and that they were not presented with options for the site. It should be noted that the 25 July 2016 Cabinet paper was focused on meeting timescales in order to adhere to a tight timescale for the Greater London Authority (GLA) funding (described below). There has been upset that the occupiers were not engaged and that the services which are being delivered were not understood by the Council. There was a large response that would not wish to see the buildings being demolished and for the current facilities to stay within the buildings. The current occupiers, whilst also wishing the building not to be demolished, would be amenable to development as long as they stayed on the site. 


Phase one would be the refurbishment and reconfiguration of the Granville Centre to allow an Enterprise Hub to be established.

Phase 2 would require further consultation and a £1m fee for design and consultancies. Decisions on the plans will be delegated long-term to Richard Barrett, head of South Kilburn Regeneration. The report appears to show that the officers have listened to the concerns of campaigners as put forward on this blog LINK  LINK  LINK but of course there is many a slip 'twixt the cup and lip.

  • The work of the design team will also include proactive consultation and engagement with affected stakeholders, service users and residents with protected characteristics such as:  
  •  the diverse group of children, the majority of whom are from BAME backgrounds and with English as a second language, attending the Nursery School and Barnardo’s operated Children’s Centre and their parents/families 
  • SEND children and service users with disabilities  
  •   Residents, elderly and economically disadvantaged groups who use the Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club*
Although is must be remembered that proposals are subject to consultation, discussion with various bodies and a Cabinet decision next year the report outline what they anticipate:

The Council is seeking to review options for Phase2 in light of the consultation provided within this report. The Council would seek to engage with a Design Team to take forward a review of the options for the site and to conduct in-depth engagement with the local community. The Council would envisage that the site would still deliver an Enterprise Hub, Education/Community Space and Housing, with the priorities being: to secure a permanent enterprise hub, to secure the future of the Nursery School, to secure the future of the Barnardo’s operated Children’s Centre (within the South Kilburn area although not necessarily on this site) and to secure the future of the Granville Kitchen and Otherwise Club as being incorporated into the Enterprise Hub space.
The Council would seek that a Nursery School would remain on site, though the location within the site may change as part of a redevelopment. One important aspect to note in regard to the Nursery School is the importance placed on the external area which, in an urban area such as South Kilburn where a number of the children can be expected to live in flats with no external play area, provides a safe environment for them to explore; it is also an integral part of the educational aspect of the Nursery School therefore the re- provision of suitable external space, if this area is to be utilised in any redevelopment, will be highlighted in the specification provided to the appointed team.
The Council would anticipate that the Granville Kitchen and the Otherwise Club would integrate within the Enterprise Hub space. The Council would envisage that a Children’s Centre would continue to be operated within the South Kilburn area, but that this may not necessarily be from the Carlton and Granville Centres Site, though the intention at this time is that it would stay on this site until more detailed options are examined.
Brent Start is due to leave the Carlton Centre in 2017 as they are developing their own property strategy which will see them reduce their permanent physical presence whilst maintaining their offer to residents and a more detailed separate report will be brought to Members in due course to outline this strategy. However for the purposes of this report it is believed reasonable to presume that a future Brent Start function operating within this site is not envisaged beyond mid-2017. As the Concorde Café does appear to be linked with Brent Start, when Brent Start vacates the Carlton Centre, officers would need to consider if the café can continue to operate and it may not be suitable to accommodate this on site. In the longer term the Council would need to consider if a café function is appropriate in this building, especially as a new café is proposed as part of the “Peel” site. Therefore officers will need to enter into discussions with Concorde Café regarding the future of their operation post vacation by Brent Start.


*The Otherwise Cub is a resource centre for Home Educator families.