Bradford played host to Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, who found out how community insights, world-leading research and people’s experiences are shaping services in Bradford District and Craven and across West Yorkshire. Dame Rachel visited Miriam Lord Primary School and Farcliffe Family Hub in Manningham before meeting researchers from the Bradford Institute for Healthcare based at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
During her visit to Miriam Lord Primary School, Dame Rachel found out how they are implementing a new pilot service called Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) that is available to children aged two-and-a-half to seven years old at nine participating nurseries and primary schools across Bradford District. The pilot is one of nine running nationally funded by the Department for Education and NHS England. The Bradford district’s approach to ELSEC is very targeted and their delivery model has been co-produced with parents and carers as well as frontline practitioners.
The visit to Farcliffe Family Hub gave Dame Rachel a chance to find out about the general progress of the Bradford Children and Families Trust and especially the rapid development of early help support in the hubs and through partnership systems leadership. She also heard from Julie Bruce, the chair of the parent forum for Bradford and Airedale, that helps them work with families to understand more about their experiences to influence positive changes in health, education and social care. During the visit to the hub, they showcased Bradford Children’s and Families Trust’s ‘integrated front door’ to help people access early help.
Colleagues from NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) shared an update on a change programme taking place across the region that builds on local and regional insight. ELSEC is one example of work being carried out as part of a wider change programme for SEND across the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership led by Wakefield Council.
The final stop of the tour was with us at Bradford Institute for Heath Research where Dame Rachel met with researchers from the Born in Bradford project – the world’s largest detailed study of birth to adolescence. Dame Rachel took the opportunity to visit the neonatal unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary where she was able to witness firsthand the health problems that affect babies born in Bradford due to stubborn health inequalities. Colleagues from the Education Alliance for Life Chances and the Centre for Applied Education Research were then able to describe how partners are working together across West Yorkshire to remove health barriers to education. This showcased how we are connecting datasets across Bradford District and Craven to identify opportunities to improve outcomes for children.
This work is also supporting activity across the ICB including the network of Born and Bred In (BaBi) research studies, child health outcome research at the University of Leeds, and the creation of a Connected West Yorkshire dataset. Work carried out by research teams from our region is informing national policy documents and reports including Child of the North, designed to improve lives of children in the north of England.
Dame Rachel recognised the scale of the partnership work in progress, the impact already, and the potential for the future.
