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Commissioning the right services is a complex task involving detailed assessments of cost and benefit, and evaluating the evidence base and local acceptability. Completing the decision making and procurement process is a huge milestone to celebrate. But the job has only just begun once a new service has been commissioned, so how do you ensure you have a solid implementation plan to get the most of it for your local families and workforce?
In this article, we take a look at approaches to implementing EasyPeasy’s evidence-based home learning environment (HLE) and parenting support programme from three of our local partners.
Coventry City Council
Coventry City Council is a ‘trailblazer’ local authority in the Department for Education’s Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. Building on their already strong early help offer based on their Early Help Strategy 2023-2025, Coventry City Council have commissioned EasyPeasy to form part of their strategy to reach and support children who may not achieve a Good Level of Development by the end of reception. Currently 61% of children across the city achieve GLD, 4% lower than the national average, and amongst disadvantaged children many of whom are clustered in specific wards and neighbourhoods across the city, the figure is just 46%. With the key roles for the programme still being recruited, Coventry have focused on a streamlined implementation strategy designed to kickstart delivery, make best use of limited resources, and include both a universal, and targeted-selected workstream to tackle the school readiness gap.
To support universal access to EasyPeasy for families with young children, Coventry City Council is using digital and physical resource packs designed and provided to them by the EasyPeasy team to raise awareness across the city. Pull up banners, tote bags, and fliers are being distributed across different events throughout the year, including at their Best Start for Life Launch, a recent Family Hub event with Dame Andrea Leadsom, and at their upcoming early years conference. They have circulated assets from the digital pack to all of their schools and libraries in their local area to ensure that parents can easily download the EasyPeasy app by scanning the unique QR code. Coventry City Council will be monitoring registrations via their Impact Dashboard which reports on the number of families and children reached.
Their targeted-selected strategy is complementing this wider awareness raising activity. By analysing their data on where gaps in GLD are most prevalent across the city, Coventry City Council have identified eight family hubs and three additional VCS outreach centres in areas of deprivation. Coventry City Council’s plan includes targeting EasyPeasy training opportunities to practitioners working in these settings. These training sessions will help practitioners gain a deeper understanding of how to tailor EasyPeasy to support specific families and children who are at risk of falling behind. Training days include focused time to work through specific use cases with practitioners allowing them to build EasyPeasy more effectively into their existing relational practices as well as to build EasyPeasy into referral pathways.
Through using the monitoring tools available on their EasyPeasy impact dashboard, Coventry City Council will be able to monitor take up by postcode areas across the city and view the distribution channels that are working best to reach families, whether through libraries, nurseries, community health visitors, digital channels like social media, or word of mouth.
Walsall Council
Walsall Council's approach to implementing EasyPeasy is rooted in a comprehensive review of their Family Hubs Needs Assessment, which we reviewed together to identify local priorities and shape an effective EasyPeasy implementation plan. A headline finding is recent drops in GLD scores between 2019 and 2021 during the pandemic, which are over and above those of their statistical neighbours, region, and the national average. In 2020/21, 58.5% of children in Walsall achieved a Good Level of Development, a drop of 9%points since 2019 compared with -6.4% points regionally, -6.4% points with statistical neighbours, and -6.6% points nationally. This means Walsall have dropped in ranking from 138 to 147 out of 152 LAs in England.
Unvalidated data from a recent DFE study now shows us that there are now improved outcomes for children under the age of 5 in Walsall. Walsall GLD has increased by 5% between 2022 and 2023 compared to a 2% increase nationally. In terms of GLD for children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), Walsall is 1% above national compared to 4% below last year.
This data and the pronounced fall in outcomes during the pandemic is suggestive of potential additional challenges faced by local families in creating positive and stimulating home learning environments that we know are so influential on children’s early outcomes. To address this, Walsall Council will employ EasyPeasy’s localisation functionality to target evidence-based content covering key early learning areas for parents and carers subscribed to the app. Through using these features, Walsall Council is able to curate a bespoke virtual parenting programme designed for their local families that responds to local needs, as well as being evidence based and quality accredited.
Walsall’s local priorities include:
North Northamptonshire Council
In North Northamptonshire, the Council’s Family Hub strategy is strongly focused on the communication and language abilities of their 0-5 population, given the considerable influence these skills areas have on shaping outcomes throughout school years. Communication and language overall achievement in North Northamptonshire is 77.9% compared to 79.5% nationally, with outcomes unevenly distributed across ward areas. In Wellingborough, the figure is just 73.3%, a trend that has been ongoing since 2016. Wellingborough also has an overrepresentation of disadvantaged families, with 55% of households based in the bottom 40% of Lower Super Output Areas.
North Northamptonshire Council has developed a targeted-selected implementation strategy for EasyPeasy which aims to help reduce the gap in language and communication development for disadvantaged children. Central to the strategy is integrating EasyPeasy into their speech and language pathway that is used locally. North Northamptonshire practitioners have previously been trained to use the Wellcomm screening tool to identify delays in language and communication development. In this implementation strategy, EasyPeasy will be referred to parents of children found through Wellcomm to be at risk of falling behind in their language development. The Council is also exploring the potential to use EasyPeasy to support children and families whilst they are on waiting lists for more intensive support from Speech & Language Therapists.
Early communication and engagement is central to learning, interaction, well-being, and life chances. EasyPeasy’s language and communication content has been reviewed by experts from the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists and approved by the content quality mark, PIF Tick. Through integrating EasyPeasy into North Northamptonshire’s language pathway locally, the Council aims to intervene early to support children’s early development. Through North Northamptonshire’s EasyPeasy Impact Dashboard, key stakeholders will be able to monitor reach and registrations to EasyPeasy in real time, as well as view reach to families in the bottom 40% of LSOA areas as well, ensuring they are delivering on their strategy to reduce gaps both within and beyond the local area.
Through making use of flexible and localised features available within EasyPeasy’s digital service that align to priorities highlighted in Walsall’s Family Hubs Needs Assessment, Walsall Council have developed a strong and well defined implementation strategy to help overcome the recent challenges faced locally to GLD.
When implementing EasyPeasy into Early Help or Family Hub strategy, we want to support local authorities to take a dynamic and adaptable approach, demonstrated brilliantly here by Coventry City Council and Walsall Council. These examples showcase the potential for local authorities to tailor their implementation approach with EasyPeasy to fit their organisational strategies based on the unique combination of needs and resources available locally. By aligning with local objectives and engaging stakeholders, we look forward to continuing to work in partnership with local authorities to empower parents and enhance child development.