Impact Report

Our Impact Report sets out what we have been doing over the past 12 months and highlights some of our proudest achievements. 

You can download our Impact Report 2023-24 here (PDF) or you can read the text version on this page.

Impact Report contents

• Welcome

Section one: Who we are

• We are good at what we do
• Our workforce
• Smart working
• Supporting children, young people and families
• Schools and special educational needs and disabilities
• Families engaged and empowered through participation

Section two: Celebrating our proudest moments

• Achieving through our family hubs
• Achieving fun and engaging holiday activities
• Achieving with our families
• Achieving positive futures through apprenticeships
• Achieving for young people through our youth centres
• Achieving for our children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities
• Achieving a more diverse and inclusive organisation

Welcome

We are Achieving for Children, and this is our impact report for 2023-24. It sets out what we have been doing over the past 12 months and highlights some of our proudest achievements.

Who we are

Achieving for Children (AfC) is a not for profit organisation that is focused on supporting the children and young people of the Royal Borough of Kingston, the London Borough of Richmond and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, to live safe, happy, healthy and successful lives.  

We are an organisation of 1,400 children’s services practitioners and are dedicated to putting children and young people at the heart of everything that we do. Our delivery model supports integrated services across education, health and social care to achieve positive outcomes for the families that we work with. 

We actively seek the views of children and young people when shaping services and believe that we have a responsibility to make sure that their voices are heard, not only in AfC, but also with partners and across our communities too. 

We work closely with local partners including our local authorities, schools, colleges, early years providers, health, adult social care, the police and the voluntary sector to support and champion a joined-up experience for children, young people and families who live and learn in our boroughs.

We are good at what we do, as demonstrated by a range of positive inspection outcomes

• 100% of schools across Kingston and Richmond rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’
• 92% of Windsor and Maidenhead schools rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ 
• Our children’s social care services are judged by Ofsted as ‘Outstanding’ in Kingston, and as ‘Good’ in Richmond and in Windsor and Maidenhead 
• Our independent fostering agency (IFA), which operates across all three  boroughs, has been judged ‘Good’ 
• We received a ‘Good’ rating across all areas following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of our Health Visiting and School Nursing Service  in Windsor and Maidenhead  
• We achieved ‘Good’ inspection ratings of our Youth Offending Services in  Kingston and Richmond, and Windsor and Maidenhead 
• We achieved a ‘Good’ rating for our Way to Work apprenticeship 

Although we are extremely pleased with what we have achieved, and the external recognition we have as a result, we are not complacent, and we remain committed to improving our services further.

Our workforce

Undoubtedly, our greatest strength is our talented workforce and we aim to create a supportive and encouraging environment for all our staff. During the year, we reviewed our organisational recognition
scheme, including establishing a kudos recognition scheme and a re-launch of our annual staff awards. This reviewed approach enables us to celebrate and champion the great work our workforce demonstrates each and every day. Since the scheme was launched in July 2023, 1,121 separate ‘thank you’ and ‘kudos’ recognitions have been granted by staff to other colleagues.

The new staff recognition awards process proved incredibly popular, with over 469 nominations across the whole organisation. This was a significant increase from last year’s total of 299.

There were:

• 36 winners
• 31 runners up
• 38 honourable mentions

All of the above were celebrated across the three operational areas at the staff award events, with over 300 of our colleagues attending across all three boroughs. This represents a significant number of ceremony attendees who came together to celebrate their achievements and congratulate one another.

Whilst we are working hard to celebrate and retain our workforce, we are aware of the challenges many managers are facing recruiting new employees. In a competitive market, promoting the additional benefits any employee will receive is vitally important for the future and current workforce. Over the last 12 months, we have improved many of these benefits, including extending our annual leave entitlement, offering salary supplements and reviewing the discount schemes available.

There is an ongoing focus to support our recruitment and retention activity, and we have appointed colleagues to work closely with managers to help improve our attraction, selection and onboarding process. Practice leads have also looked at opportunities to progress into the hard to fill roles and have provided an extended offer, which now includes step-up into social work and the social work apprenticeship offer. We are committed to providing opportunities for advancement across our social care teams. This includes enriching the support offer to our workforce and providing safe, happy and healthy working environments.

Smart working

As an organisation, we are always trying to find ways to work smarter. For example this year, significant progress has been made in terms of digital transformation.

Robotic process automation (RPA) has been used together with artificial intelligence (AI) to access AfC’s education system, Synergy, updating the admissions module with address verifications for primary and secondary school applications. Across three admissions rounds in Kingston and Richmond, 3,322 records were updated in Synergy using RPA, all of which had been cross checked with Council Tax records using automation. The match rate in Kingston, where multiple Council Tax extracts were merged prior to processing, was 68% for junior and 63% for primary, a 64% increase on previous single extract processing.

Missing persons reports from the police have been processed using RPA, starting and ending missing episodes automatically in the Liquid Logic case management system and notifying the Missing Person’s (Misper) team to improve service reliability. Of the 545 missing report contacts created in Q3 and Q4, 38% were created and processed entirely with RPA.

Work has continued with the introduction of the digital customer platform, which has seen over 4,000 interactions recorded and seen 58 processes digitised.

Leveraging machine learning for document translation, we are increasing content accessibility for families at a reduced cost.

Supporting children, young people and families

Early intervention and prevention is at the heart of our work with families so that we are able to meet the needs of children and young people as early as possible and well before statutory services are required. Our impact report sets out our excellent early help offer and highlights our children’s centres, family hubs and our incredibly successful holiday activity and food programme.

We are working hard to make sure that when we do need to support a child or young person in care, they are placed in the best possible accommodation and receive the correct support.

To help us to do this, we operate a number of in-house accommodations. This includes our children’s home, Hope House in Richmond, which opened in September 2020, and our purpose-built overnight short break care centre, Rainbow House. Both are well established now and provide high quality care for our most vulnerable children and young people.

In July, the Windsor and Maidenhead cabinet also approved the decision to develop an in-borough three bed children’s home, intended to be a sister home to Richmond’s Hope House.

We are excited that we are working with Kingston Council to develop a new children’s home which we hope will be open by autumn 2025, so we can support more of our children and young people locally.

Our support for children and young people in care, and on the edge of care, is always developing and improving. Last year we started an early help and social care transformation programme across all three
boroughs. This review will take place over the next few years, and will look at how we deliver all of our social care services so we can focus on working in the ways that have the most impact and best meet the needs of our communities.

The transformation programme is dedicated to fostering a family-first culture that prioritises and empowers family networks when it is safe to do so. Simultaneously, it aims to support kinship caregivers in providing stability and familiarity, allowing children and young people to be raised in a familiar environment surrounded by people who are connected to them.

The transformation efforts are focused on streamlining the process for families to access support, ensuring that children and families receive the appropriate assistance at the right time, regardless of their needs or backgrounds. This approach should make it easier for families to obtain the necessary help and experience a more consistent practitioner relationship when receiving support.

Schools and special educational needs and disabilities

We are really proud of the excellent school standards in Kingston, Richmond, and Windsor and Maidenhead which are amongst the highest in the country. Outcomes remained high in summer 2023 across all key stages. In Kingston and Richmond 100% of schools are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ and 92% of Windsor and Maidenhead schools are rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. 

Over recent years considerable progress has been made with increasing the quality of several aspects of Kingston’s and Richmond’s SEND system. To reflect developments, including changes in local needs, the  establishment of Integrated Care Systems, as well as the government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, both Kingston’s and Richmond’s SEND Futures Plans have been updated. These plans set out  how we, Kingston’s and Richmond’s Local Area SEND Partnership, will work with children, young people and their families to improve our services on a  continuous basis, within the financial resources available to us.  

Windsor and Maidenhead also have a published SEND strategy in place (2022-2027), which outlines six co-produced priorities for children and young people with SEND locally. The successful delivery of these six  priorities is being supported through four implementation groups, with ongoing oversight and monitoring through the Local Area SEND Board.

Richmond local area was most recently inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in October 2023, when the judgement was that the local area partnership’s SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and that the local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed. 

Windsor and Maidenhead SEND services had a ‘Written Statement of Action’ (WSoA) in place following the Joint Area SEND inspection in 2017 (and revisit in 2019). On 31 May 2023, they received a letter from the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England stating that based on the evidence provided, it was the view of the DfE and NHS England that local area partners had demonstrated clear and sustained progress. This meant that local area partners no longer needed to continue with formal monitoring, and Windsor and Maidenhead was removed from a written statement of action. Since then, Windsor and Maidenhead have continued on their SEND improvement journey and preparation work is underway for future inspection visits.  

Our fifth annual RBWM* Inclusion Summit, which took place in February 2024 at Windsor Racecourse, was a great success. The event was co-produced between Achieving for Children, the parent carer forum SEND  Voices RBWM, the Independent Advice and Support Service, the Children and Young People’s Integrated Therapy Service and schools. It was an opportunity to highlight how we are working together to support children and young people (0 to 25 years) with special educational needs and disabilities and their families.  

Based on feedback from last year’s summit, the presentation session was followed by an opportunity for attendees to engage in a selection of workshops. These covered SEND support in schools, emotional regulation, the newly redesigned Local Offer website, and the use of PCPath (Person Centred Path). Ellen Compton-Williams, from SEND Voices RBWM, said that the workshops were a chance for ‘feedback, interaction and to find out what people need’. 

In October 2023, the Access All Areas transition event took place. This was  a transition and careers event for young people with SEND in Kingston and  Richmond and their families to speak directly to local employers, colleges,  supported internship providers and professionals from other support services about what is available to them as they transition out of education. A total of 357 people attended. There were 59 exhibitors for the young people and families to meet and interact with. This included representatives  from health, social care, education and employment and more. 

*Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Families engaged and empowered through participation

Participation and engagement with children and young people is incredibly  important to us. We have done lots of work over the last year to make sure we can hear the voices of our children and young people, such as establishing regular meetings between the Youth Council and the AfC Board of Directors, and working with our children in care councils to support their peers who are being looked after by our social care services.  

To facilitate continuous improvement in service delivery, there are various participation groups in place that enable an ongoing dialogue between AfC and the children, young people, and families it serves. These groups include the Girl’s Forum, Kickback (for children in care), Inclusion Ambassadors, Children in Care Council, Parent Champions Network, and Cafe (structured, small group conversations). These platforms allow for consistent communication and feedback, ensuring that the voices and experiences of the service recipients are heard and inform the ongoing enhancement of service provision.  

In 2024, AfC refreshed its participation strategy, which over the next three years, aims to reinforce and integrate a coordinated, meaningful, and consistent approach to participation across the organisation. This renewed  strategy will strengthen and embed participatory practices throughout, ensuring that the voices and perspectives of children, young people and  families are actively sought, valued and incorporated into decision-making processes and service delivery. 

As you will see in this impact report, we have been very busy over the past 12 months and achieved a lot. However, we still want to do more. Based on the progress we have made in 2023-24, we are confident about the future of Achieving for Children and our ambition to reach every child and young person who needs us, so that they are able to live safe, happy, healthy and successful lives. 

Celebrating our proudest moments

The following section highlights the meaningful impact Achieving for Children has had on the children, young people and families we serve. We are proud to celebrate the fantastic achievements of our dedicated workforce and share some of our proudest moments from the past year.

Achieving through our family hubs

In Windsor and Maidenhead, we established our family hubs approach, which brings together children’s centres, youth centres and parenting services. Our family hubs are now fully staffed and demand for services has been high. 

We have provided one-to-one support to 896 children. 7,687 children and young people have attended group sessions on topics such as digital safety, drug and alcohol awareness, and self-esteem. 

We provide a full menu of interventions to improve parents’ skills and knowledge, such as the positive parenting programme and baby massage classes. Our family hub model includes our health visiting services, which offer all families with a new baby a health assessment within two weeks of birth. It was inspected this year and we were really pleased to receive a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating, which demonstrates the positive impact we are having. We receive lots of positive feedback from the families we have worked with. 

This includes the following:

"I feel very lucky to have you as my case worker. It’s not just myself, both boys really enjoyed your company and looked forward to seeing you! You’ve really helped to restore order to our lives!"

"It’s hard to put my feelings about your support in a few words. From the moment I had a phone call with you, I felt an instant connection. You have been very sensitive and conscientious about how to approach the challenges in our home. You have shown great understanding about the situation, your advice was spot on (especially when we talked through things after Triple p sessions). I really appreciate your help and understanding - I couldn’t have asked for a more experienced, knowledgeable and helpful person.  

You have helped and supported my child so much when she was going through transition to school. I have learned so much from you and the Triple P. Your experience, especially the knowledge, how to deal with a teenager with autism spectrum condition (ASC), made a huge difference in my life. I am currently passing  on to my husband strategies I have learned, so we can work together and improve our parenting."

The first family hubs in Kingston and Richmond are due to launch in September 2024, at The White House for Richmond and Old Malden for Kingston.  

Family hubs aim to provide a balance of universal, early intervention and targeted support to families with children aged 0 to 19 years, or up to 25 years for young people with SEND.  

We will be bringing together services from children’s centres, the Youth Service and Early Help together with partners we already work with, and hopefully many more, to deliver a range of supportive activities and events to improve the health and wellbeing of children, young people and their families within the wider community. The key outcomes for the family hubs will be focused on the following areas: 

• health 
• education 
• keeping safe 
• practical support 
• parenting 

At Old Malden, the new space aims to create flexible spaces including consultation rooms, a sensory space for SEND and multifunctional spaces for professionals and families to use. Improvements to the kitchen space aim to create a community kitchen area to provide an array of activities and sessions and support in decreasing the gap in food poverty across the local area. We plan to deliver adult learning and employment support. The offer is aligned with the council’s Community Hub programme. 

At The White House, the family hub will see the children’s centre and Youth Service sharing the space with community services in a single building, including the foodbank, Citizens Advice Richmond, Age UK, fitness and  activity classes, and support groups. Through a collective approach, we hope to provide a holistic offer to children, young people and their families, and wider community.  

In June 2024, we will have a plan for the next family hub in each borough and will work with partners to develop the offer that meets the needs of the local area. 

Achieving fun and engaging activities

We know that school holidays can be a difficult time for some families trying to juggle childcare with work.  

To support our families during school holidays, we successfully delivered the FUEL (Feed Ur Everyday Lives) programme in Kingston, Richmond, and Windsor and  Maidenhead in response to the Department for Education funding for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme. This was our fourth year delivering the  programme, which took place over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays, offering a range of fun and enjoyable activities and food to children and young people aged 5 to 16 years who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM).  

Across all boroughs, the programme grew throughout each holiday period with  increasing numbers of providers, locations and spaces on offer. In total, almost 52 different partners worked with us to deliver the programme; with over 1,300 children and young people attending a range of fun and exciting activities. Of these, over 200 of the children and young people had additional needs.  

Our families love the programme. Some of the feedback we received includes:  

"My children had lots of fun with friends and met some new ones. All the staff are amazing, friendly and professional. The FUEL/HAF programme has given them so many fun activities to do, and kept them moving. I think it has been beneficial for them to have a routine similar to school hours too. They have made new friendships. They always look forward to attending! We’re just so thankful and extremely grateful for the FUEL/HAF holiday programme. It really is a great holiday club and I would highly recommend it."

"The club has been amazing for my autistic son. He has a lot of additional needs and has funding at school and a reduced timetable, and in the process of receiving an education, health and care plan (EHCP). However, the club has been able to manage his needs effortlessly. He was placed in the special educational needs (SEN) room of the club and the staff have been absolutely amazing with him and he’s actually enjoyed going there and wanting to go again! I only booked him for one week, but he wanted to go back for the second week too."

Some of the children said: 

"The food was nice and the staff were very kind, funny and friendly. I liked the activities because they were fun. The staff put a lot of effort and energy into all the activities we did. The children were also friendly and I made a few new friends."

Achieving with our families

We want to make sure we are giving good support to those of our families who may need some additional help. To do this, we have established the Families First model. 

In Kingston and Richmond, the Families First Team is a multi-disiplinary team of practitioners working with families who present with a trio of vulnerabilities  (domestic abuse, mental health, substance misuse) through the key principles of co-location, joint working and group supervision. Over 445 families have been supported and the project has shown that for most families, where the Families First Team provides support, they are less likely to need as much help going forward and are better equipped to help themselves. The feedback received from families has been excellent:

"Thanks for all your work with me and getting me to a positive good mindset.  It’s been a very rewarding journey for me and I’m thankful for all you’ve taught me about myself and what’s important to my inner strength and the importance of being present and mindful."

"(Worker) has made a tremendous difference to helping us to reframe our approach to the dysregulation of (children) by giving us practical guidance on what we can do to adjust our reaction to help them more. She was highly empathetic and very well informed and qualified to help. We felt very reassured from speaking with her and we are very grateful for the help she kindly offered us. THANK YOU."

"I want to share how much my professional relationships with the Families First Team have meant to me. I have found all of you to be an amazing asset in AfC, you are a highly skilled team of multifaceted practitioners that work best together. I have had some of the best reflective and solution focused conversations with you all individually and collectively of my career to date."

"Parent receiving Families Together Support  

Overall you have given me confidence and reassurance. You made me feel that everything will get better and that I can speak openly about how the situation was also affecting me. I like the fact that we did the work but it didn’t feel so formal it was done in a nice relaxed way. You always checked that the sessions we were doing were what I needed, and that they suited my family situation. I feel like your service matched the right person to work with us. I have found you to be very understanding. You gave me a voice when I couldn’t handle it. Especially in meetings."

"Young person receiving Families Together Support  

My home life has improved, it’s way better than it was this time last year... T has supported me by including me whenever she spoke to my mum and she’d listen to me, she’d also include the issues I have raised about my mum’s parenting to my mum in a calm manner. During the two sessions T has educated me a lot on self-harm and drinking."

Childcare Strategy and Information Team 

The Childcare Strategy and Information Team in Kingston and Richmond provides ongoing crucial support to families, ensuring they can access the early education and childcareentitlements their children deserve. Through phone, in-person and written assistance, the team has been instrumental in supporting families who face the greatest barriers to high quality early years provision. This has allowed more children to benefit from the valuable early interventions available, setting them up for success. The team’s efforts have also been  pivotal in supporting parents back into work by helping them navigate the childcare system. The impact of this work is evident in the consistently high rates of 2 year olds from low  income families who are looked after or in receipt of disability allowance accessing early years entitlements in Kingston (81%) and Richmond (80%), significantly above the national  and outer London averages. 

The words of one parent, who accessed support during a challenging time, highlights the impact and importance of this service. This mother was eligible for funding and was provided one-to-one support to help her access early years entitlements. This enabled her to continue her studies and training to become a social worker:

"You’ve been amazing. Yesterday was a breakthrough! The Butterfly Service at the primary school has space... Thank you, even your conversation the other day helped me so much. God bless you."

Achieving positive futures through apprenticeships

Way2Work is Achieving for Children’s approved apprenticeship training  provider listed on the Register of Approved Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP). It offers high quality apprenticeships and traineeships, and works  with employers to provide relevant and meaningful training to anyone aged 16 plus. It offers apprenticeships in a range of sectors including early years, business support, customer services and teaching. And as well as working with local businesses and schools to provide opportunities, it provides apprenticeships within Achieving for Children.  

Throughout their apprenticeships, learners receive information, advice and guidance, including CV development, interview skills and assistance with their job search. Way2Work is a specialist in supporting the most vulnerable learners, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, children who are looked after and care leavers. We know that this is having a positive impact.  

• 93% of our learners progress into a higher apprenticeship, employment, or further training 
• 88% of our Way2Work apprentices rate the quality of teaching and learning as good or better 
• 94% would refer Way2Work to a friend  
• We are particularly proud that 100% of apprentices that complete their apprenticeships in Achieving for Children remain with the organisation 

At the end 2022-23, Way2Work was supporting 75 apprentices. Of these, 24 are directly employed by Achieving for Children, 23 are aged 16 to 24 years old, 31% are from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, and 8% have special educational needs or disabilities, are children looked after, or are care  leavers.  

"AfC Way2Work has helped me in so many different ways by supporting me and making sure that I am happy in my workplace. They picked an amazing workplace for me and I absolutely love my job. Would 100% recommend to anyone searching for a job or some guidance on what they want to do."

Futures Groups 

Futures Groups (Kingston and Richmond) was a year-long therapeutic group  pilot programme to support 11 young people who experience emotionally related school avoidance (ERSA). Parents and their children were offered 10  to 15 support sessions focused on a range of themes. The sessions for young people were arts based with a narrative approach whilst sessions for parents focused on topics such as self care and developing confidence. The pilot shows promise as overall there was an increase in school attendance and return to school.  

Young people expressed the following about the pilot programme:

"There should be more groups like this."

"I am sad there is no session next week."

"As facilitators, we have noticed the young people have changed from being very quiet in the first online sessions to very chatty with each other and ourselves in the in person sessions. Discussing the challenges they experience, their feelings and how they have overcome these challenges. Young people shared stories from their family and cultures. They also shared stories of things they enjoy doing or good experiences such as holidays they enjoyed."

Achieving for young people through our youth centres

BOOST Programme  

The BOOST programme has made a positive impact on young people struggling with emotionally related school avoidance. This one-day-a-week provision at Ham Youth Centre takes a participative, learner-centred approach  where youth have input into the services they receive. BOOST offers a  nurturing, supportive space with programmes tailored to the needs, interests and aspirations of the young people involved, aiming to build confidence and resilience. With guidance from experienced youth workers, young people engage in activities, workshops and discussions to boost self-esteem and coping skills. Over 50% of young people served each term have successfully returned to full-time schooling, while others show improved wellbeing.  The programmes’ strengths lie in empowering youth voices, providing personalised support, and equipping them with tools for resilience amid challenges. 

A parent said their child:

"X has grown some confidence in the midst of a sensitive time. Being helped by staff, fun and lighthearted activities, has given him back his self awareness. With peers around him that help each other, his love for being  16 cared for and caring has blossomed once again."

BREATHE Programme 

A programme supporting children and young people aged 8 to 13 years in RBWM who are, or have been, affected by unhealthy, conflicting and abusive  behaviours in the parent or carer relationships. The programme is delivered in partnership with the Family Hub Service and the DASH Charity: 

• to increase confidence and esteem 
• to reflect on past experiences 
• to increase understanding of healthy and unhealthy relationships • to learn strategies to support wellbeing 
• to understand how to keep safe 

Celebrating Hong Kong Culture  

Ham Youth Centre’s holiday programme shone a spotlight on the rich cultural heritage of the Hong Kong youth in our community. A weeklong series of activities was thoughtfully designed by our regular Hong Kong young members to introduce others to important parts of their identity. This powerful project fostered connection and understanding, with young people from different backgrounds gaining invaluable insights into Hong Kong’s vibrant culture, while the young people from Hong Kong experienced a sense of pride  and ownership within our supportive space.  

Each day, 45 to 50 young people eagerly participated, immersing themselves in experiences like Chinese cooking, a calligraphy workshop, lion dancing, dragon boating, badminton, fencing, and even an exhilarating go-karting adventure. A memorable trip to central London allowed participants to explore historic sights before indulging in a delicious meal in Chinatown. With over 30 Hong Kongese young people in attendance during the week, this initiative fostered a deeper sense of integration, cultural exchange, and empowerment within our community. 

"Most definitely my son gains a lot from the youth club as we as parents and carers know that being able to leave our care and be in a safe and supportive environment with youth workers in attendance to help and support them is a sure way of them developing a strong independence for themselves."

Achieving for our children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities

We are working hard to improve the inclusive services we provide to children  and young people with SEND. This includes supporting our young people with SEND to transition to independence and adulthood through our supported internships. 

Harry has a diagnosis of autism and has specific difficulties around social communication. He left a local sixth form college and became not in education, employment or training (NEET). AfC’s NEET programmes enabled him to join a social action project and supported with specific information and preparation to successfully apply for a supported internship with a multinational company that’s based locally. During his time at the company, he was able to carry out a project with their document handling team and was able to use his photography skills to support the team with digital marketing. As a result, he was able to secure paid employment at a local art’s centre.  

Harry said:

"I’m extremely grateful for the support I received from AfC and the experience I gained (at the company) and Project Search, as both experiences helped me to be more confident in a workplace."

Eleanor attended Kingston College’s supported learning department where she learnt a number of skills that prepared her for work and independent living, but she wasn’t quite ready to access employment at the point when she’d finished this programme. She found out about the Mencap study programme through  an information event launched by Achieving for Children, and thought it might help her to get some support with accessing employment. She completed the  two year study programme with Mencap and this included a work placement  at the Early Learning Centre in Kingston’s Bentall Centre. After finishing the supported internship with Mencap, she found a part time role at a nursery local to her home which has offered her six hours a week helping set up for the children and supporting the staff with activities.  

The Portage Team for Early Years  

The Portage Team for Kingston and Richmond supports parents and carers and children under 5 years with identified additional needs and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through early intervention and support. The extended programme offers group sessions, social events, stay and play sessions and various activities designed to enhance children’s development through interaction, play, attention and listening skills.  

As one parent shared... 

"There’s honestly nothing I would change about the Portage sessions themselves… they were great! The only thing I’d change is to have a longer period of time. It can take my daughter, and probably other autistic children, a longer time to trust and bond with the individual, so I feel outcomes would be even better."

Throughout this academic year, the Portage Team has supported a total of 123 children through home visits and group sessions. The core programme and extended offer has had a positive impact on children by enhancing their skills, fostering community between parents and carers, improving social communication skills, and empowering parents and carers.  

The different group sessions have successfully supported children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) as well as those diagnosed with ASC or on the social communication pathway. Stay and Play sessions and special events like the annual Christmas and Easter parties have brought joy, inclusivity, and a sense of community to families with complex needs and  disabilities. With a dedicated team of six, the Portage programme is looking for further successes and positive impacts in the future. 

RBWM’s annual inclusion summit 

RBWM’s annual inclusion summits have been running since 2019. These events are held for parents and carers of children and young people with SEND. In February 2024, over 160 attendees came to the event. These  summits help us to understand how children with SEND can be better supported through services.  

This year there was a selection of workshops on SEND Support, the Local Offer, emotional regulation, the Children and Young People’s Integrated Therapy Service therapies and PCPath (Person-Centred Path) that attendees could attend after the presentations, and these provided in-depth information and the opportunity to ask questions specifically about those topics. The Marketplace was a bustling environment with 20 stalls, all providing information on the support they can provide families and professionals. 

"Great event. Loved the marketplace and Manor Green was the icing on the cake - so joyful and a great reminder through some of the young people what inclusion is all about. Really well organised event and really interesting as well. Thank you."

At the end of the summit, 30 children from Manor Green School performed  the song ‘Moment of Truth’. They were simply outstanding! Their smiles whilst they performed were infectious and the lyrics of the song were so true for the event, and what we across the borough wish to achieve:

It’s about reaching out, closing up the distance
Instead of hate, celebrate all the ways we’re different 
I am optimistic, yes, I do believe 
We have the power to make this world a better place
But if it’s ever gonna change  
We gotta come together, me and you 
In a moment of truth

SEND Futures plan launch  

Held in Kingston and Richmond, in April 2024, this event set out our shared vision for SEND and the current position across the borough. While the event  recognised our achievements, it also focused on our shared challenges, and priorities for the future. The SEND conference will be taking place in October 2024, which will include parents, carers, and practitioners from 135 organisations, coming together to share ideas and best practice in SEND. 

Post Diagnostic ASC Support Service  

A new pilot service for parents and carers of newly diagnosed autistic children and young people was established in providing a one year package of practical and emotional post-diagnostic support. The service has been  delivered by a small team including a counselling psychologist and two full time assistant psychologists. The support included four individual check-ins during the year for each family plus access to a group for parents and trial  groups for children and young people. 

Over 220 families to date have accessed the support during the 18 months of  the project. 

Feedback from families has been extremely positive, highlighting that it created inclusivity for families with neurodivergent children, improved the rate  of responsiveness to their queries whilst the individual check-ins provided the  opportunity to connect with other families.

"It was an excellent service, especially because as a parent with a recently diagnosed autistic child, you feel a bit lost."

"This is a fantastic service being offered (to parents) to understand and support neurodivergent individuals and create inclusivity."

"I think the one-to-one sessions are an amazing idea - a great opportunity to discuss our own individual situation and really appreciate this support."

Achieving a more diverse and inclusive organisation

Our strong focus on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has continued during 2023-24.  

Our staff-led EDI Board has continued to be instrumental in driving forward EDI  improvements across the organisation.  

We are delighted to have a fully established menopause network, led by staff. 

During Black History Month (BHM) in October 2023, we put on an extensive programme. This programme included special guest speaker, Bernadette Thompson OBE, spotlight articles from staff celebrating Black women through history under the theme ‘Saluting our sisters’, and dedicated training delivered by  a systemic psychotherapist. 

A workshop gave participants an opportunity to reflect on the construction of ‘race’ and how it influences professional interactions in the workplace. We will continue to examine how the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has created an opportunity to work towards a collective culture that is inclusive and applies  anti-racist practices. 

This year, the Ramadan Challenges returned to AfC with Muslim staff inviting colleagues to share one day of fasting with their muslim colleagues to raise understanding and awareness of the challenges and rewards of observing Ramadan. Last year, colleagues who joined in the day’s fast felt humbled by the task and were keen to do it again the following year. 

In 2024, the Youth Council in Kingston and Richmond completed accredited racial literacy training, equipping members with invaluable knowledge and awareness about racism’s complexities. Leveraging this understanding, they partnered with the Safer Kingston Partnership to develop an online questionnaire exploring young people’s experiences with racism. The response was fantastic, with 1,300 young people participating, demonstrating their eagerness to contribute their voices to this critical conversation. 

Thank you

Collaboration and partnership working are instrumental to our success as an organisation. Thank you to all our staff, service users and partners for helping us achieve our ambition to reach every child and young person who needs us, so that they are able to live safe, happy, healthy and successful lives. We look forward to having further positive impact over the coming year.

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