From 2017 to 2023 LEAP’s Community Engagement programme delivered:

Our parent volunteers are known as Parent Champions.  They use their local knowledge to support other parents and carers, introducing them to children’s centres, LEAP services and broader early year offers. They help connect local families.

LEAP is committed to supporting the personal development of all our volunteers. We supervise and train our Parents Champions, providing them with the resources they need.

Parent Champions have inspired us to trial more distinct Champion cohorts, including:

From Q4, 2016, to Q4, 2023, LEAP has run 62 training session and courses, supporting a total of 373 Parent Champions.

Lambeth is a very diverse borough serving an array of communities. One in ten households in Lambeth have no household member who has English as their main spoken language¹⁰. The most common main spoken languages other than English are Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, French, and Italian. Nearly 150 languages are spoken by Lambeth school children¹¹.

Through tailored marketing, strong partnership working and positive word-of-mouth experiences, the LEAP Parent Champion programme and Befriending service has had a diverse and representative volunteer base. Many of our volunteers can speak other languages. 

Kimberlin Dunkley, Parent Champions Co-ordinator, explains how volunteers support parents in need of trusted friends.

The Befriending service was a small programme of work initially trialled by LEAP in late 2019. We developed the service with the help of parent volunteers, who, like LEAP, saw the need to support new and expectant parents to access early years services. 

In addition to the common challenges facing new and expectant parents and carers, many other factors can prevent parents from engaging with early years services: language and cultural barriers, socio-economic issues (such as overcrowded housing), unemployment, and having no recourse to public funds.

Barriers to engagement

A limited understanding of early years support can give rise to the assumption that children’s centres and other early years provision are an extension of social services, or other official bodies such as the Home Office. Some parents are wary of providing information about themselves and their children, resulting in a reluctance to engage.

A Befriender (a designated peer supporter) can encourage and reassure parents to ask honest questions, reducing their fears. The building of trust through this distinct arm of volunteering-work can help remove the barriers which prevent engagement with services.

Fear of being judged by others can also take its toll. Being a non-English speaker can adversely affect parents trying to assimilate into group settings. The role of the Befriender is vital in being a trusted friend, helping the parent feel supported in the initial phase of attending groups. Over time the parent becomes more familiar and confident to make these interactions on their own and will start making their own connections with other parents

Building a network of support

As a borough, Lambeth uses holistic and person-centred approaches (like social prescribing) to support engagement and take-up through the primary care network. The LEAP Befriending service has explored and mirrored this approach.

The peer-to-peer approach had the aim of giving parents comfort in knowing that they are not alone and that there is support available. It was hoped this would lead to an increase in early years engagement and service uptake. The hypothesis was that parents would (because of their befriending relations) slowly build their network of support through more frequent interactions with other groups of parents. 

Pooled from the central parent volunteering programme, volunteers received bespoke Befriending training. The Befriending training course is designed to give volunteers the necessary knowledge and skills needed to form trusted and sustainable relationships with their peers. Volunteers are given the space and opportunity to practice active listening, understand their limitations and role in safeguarding, and most importantly reflect on how their own experiences can work to support others.

Appropriate training and matching

Befrienders are trained over a three-week period, during which volunteers also develop an understanding of the LEAP’s programme aims and services offered. Volunteers are provided with the resources to enable confident signposting of local support services.

Once Befrienders are trained, they are then matched with parents based on similar traits and experiences. For example, having children of the same age, heritage, and background. There are regular check-ins to review progress.

The duration of Befriending relationships varies, with some relationships lasting longer than others. Initial befriending support is offered over a 6-month period but is not limited to this time. Longer relationships can be needed if parents are initially apprehensive about using the Befriending service or there are issues such as domestic violence or problems with housing.

In some cases, as a result of careful monitoring, the Befriending relationship may undergo a pause until a resolution of these more pressing personal issues.

Partnership working vital to service

The LEAP volunteering team could not operate this Befriending service alone. Partnership working has been vital in trialling this delivery.

The Befriending service relies heavily on strong relationships built with partners such as Better Start workers in children’s centres who can identify families who may benefit, and initiate referrals into the service. They also provide further support by checking in regularly with the parent referred. 

By working closely with local partners, the Befriending Coordinator can gain a comprehensive understanding of the needs of the parent, so that clear action plans can be made to provide targeted support.

Over the duration of the service, partnership working has included a range of LEAP colleagues, children’s centres, and other partner services such as The Gaia Centre. Gaia offers confidential, non-judgmental, and independent support services for those living in Lambeth who are experiencing gender-based violence.

Rising to a big challenge

Referrals into the service were not consistent. Ongoing promotion of the service was required. Although regular reminders to health partners such as GP practices and health visitors increased the referrals received, this was an area that required constant work.

The Befriending programme ensured good referral pathways were established within LEAP and to wider Lambeth services. However the Befriending service itself could not provide support for parents with more complex needs. 

We also learned about improving communication with parents who might benefit from the Befriending service. It quickly became apparent that there was a need for promotional flyers to be translated.

Most of our referrals (78%) were parents who had English as a Second Language (ESOL) needs, with the majority being Spanish speakers. 

Finally, this was a small-scale programme. The capacity to coordinate, as well as the ability to scale-up the level of support, was restricted.

With each Befriender-parent relationship there was a responsibility and requirement for patience and time.

Kim Stanway, Parent Champion Coordinator, explains how LEAP’s Digi-Champs programme was developed.

Trialled in April 2022, the Digital Champion or Digi-Champs project was parent focused and community led. It was designed and developed in collaboration with parents. This work aimed to provide free friendly peer-to-peer support to families, in need of accessing safe and reliable early years information in Lambeth.

Parents and carers with young children wanted the practicality and ease of digital support during routine visits to children’s centre settings. Parents told us that they wanted support in relation to navigating the online environment.

Supporting parents to access key services

Support was particularly needed with applying for nurseries, saving money, accessing local health services, and signing up for early years activities. This feedback was consistent with the 2022 State of the Borough report published by Lambeth council. The report found that residents reported lower levels of confidence in relation to accessing and using public services, as well as evaluating what online content is safe and reliable.

Good collaboration with parent volunteers, local parents and key local stakeholders was essential as we developed this digital support offer. A pool of parents from the central parent volunteering programme were identified and provided with additional training to help ensure that local families could access safe and reliable information about online early years services and increase their digital skills and confidence.

Making the sessions easy to attend

Digi-Champs training sessions (2x two hours) covered the role and limitations of a Digital Champion; practical knowledge of how to deliver Digital Champion sessions; how to best support other parents; and where to find additional local or national support and resources. To ensure the programme was inclusive for our parent volunteers, a free creche was provided for all training sessions. Volunteering sessions were kept within school hours and in school term-time only.

Children’s centre spaces were the settings preferred by parents to deliver this work. Therefore, it was important to involve children’s centre staff in this initiative from the outset. Monthly drop-in Digi-Champs sessions were embedded into Stay and Play activity sessions delivered from three children’s centres. A referral pathway was also agreed, and sessions were advertised in their printed and online termly timetables.

Adapting to changing needs

The changing landscape. Over the timeline of the project, the needs of local parents were further compounded by increases to the cost-of-living. Parent requests reflected a sign of the changing times, and the project was adapted to suit. The dominant parent requests included finding support in relation to broadband social tariffs, home energy assessments, discounted utility bills, NHS Healthy Start cards and library memberships.

Digital impact in numbers

Increasing the take-up of the free, early-learning for two-year olds offer was also a key priority for Lambeth’s Family Information Service. The Digi-Champ model provided opportunity to support this, and volunteers were trained to fully understand the entitlement and how to help parents apply for it online.

Over the course of the project, Digital Champions helped parents to access early years information and support online, helping to bridge the gap between families and services. In total 10 parent volunteers trained up as LEAP Digi Champs. Between them, they contributed to over 44 hours of volunteering time and provided 159 separate counts of digital support to parents across 17 sessions.

With the support of Digi Champs, parents have:

Key learning points

1. Make support more visible – don’t section it off

At the start of the programme, Digi Champs were in a quiet corner of children’s centre sessions to ensure parents had privacy. Over time they recognised that parents could be reluctant to ask for support, and so the support became more visible within child centre settings.

2. Signpost to specialist digital support when needed

LEAP Digi Champs offered the most value through friendly parent-to-parent signposting. Where parents required more enhanced support around ICT and basic digital skills, Digital Champions signposted to local specialist digital support organisations.

3. QR codes were a hit over individual flyers

Over the course of this project, we observed that fewer parents wanted to pick up individual printed flyers and instead used their phone to interact with, log and record information. The Digital Champions agreed that a sheet with a list of QR codes to relevant websites would be ideal for parents to take away and scan when needed.

4. Get feedback during the session instead of at the end

A short monitoring form that volunteers can complete while offering support (rather than asking parents to complete it at the end), is likely to be most effective.

5. Consider allocating a member of staff to coordinate the programme

The parent-to-parent model is a very effective delivery model, but the programme requires ongoing co-ordination to manage volunteers; liaise with children centres; keep on top of programme monitoring; as well as plan and restock session resources. It is therefore difficult for the programme to be entirely volunteer-led long term, and similar initiatives may require the lead input of a member of staff throughout the programme.

6. Few physical resources are needed for delivery

Tablets with quick internet speed, flyers, lanyards for volunteers and monitoring forms.

7. Volunteers do not need to be tech experts to volunteer

The most valuable skills needed are to be kind and encouraging, reliable, enthusiastic about the benefits of the internet and a willingness to learn.

Tanya Spence, People in the Lead Manager, explains how LEAP developed effective parent participation.

LEAP believes that parent participation in decisions and design of local offers is crucial for engagement. People in the Lead (PiL) offers participation spaces for parents of early years children (0-4). We support parents and carers to share their opinions, experiences, and ideas. These in turn support and inform decisions, processes, and design of services or activities for our partners and practitioners.

We started running PiL sessions because the Covid-19 pandemic presented new and distinct challenges in relation to parent and carer engagement. It had never been more important to maintain dialogue with parents and carers.

Bringing practitioners and parents together

LEAP already had a strong parent-volunteer programme, but we needed a light-touch participation space that facilitated short-term commitments from parents. PiL was born.  

LEAP typically runs two PiL sessions per quarter, with sessions taking place about one week apart. Several weeks before the sessions are due to take place, LEAP promotes the opportunity for practitioners to facilitate a session and invites parents and carers to participate in a session. Promotion is through our What’s on webpage with Eventbrite platform, and through our partners, networks, and parent volunteering team.

The LEAP team works in advance with practitioners to plan PiL sessions. We offer advice about developing practical time-bound sessions to work in the available space – ensuring that language is clear and checking that the practitioner is not overly ambitious about what the session can cover. 

Flexibility and accessibility

We contact interested parents in advance to identify their creche and food dietary requirements. We often overbook to allow for any last-minute non-attendances. We set up the PiL sessions to work within the likely family routines (baby nap times and school pick-ups) of the parents and carers attending. A typical PiL session runs from 10am to 3pm and covers two parent and carer cohorts, who either attend an AM (10:00 – 12:00) or PM (1:00 – 3:00) discussion. There are ideally no more than 12 parents and carers in attendance. 

When LEAP initially trialled PiL, our intention was limited to informing the internal working of LEAP decisions, processes, and design. As LEAP is a multi-agency partnership programme, there quickly became an appetite for a wider sphere of practitioners to engage with parents through this approach.

Well-constructed People in the Lead sessions offer many benefits and opportunities.

How the PiL model could benefit practitioners

It informs decision-making, development, and delivery by: 

Consider all costings

When we plan participation work, which involves parents and carers with young children, we factor in costings for creche/childcare provision to enable parents to fully participate.

The number, ages, and needs (including special educational needs and disabilities) of children will directly coincide with an increase in expenses. We also consider additional costings for incentivising session attendance. This includes costings for use of space, food, and other resources.  

We make a conscious effort to value the time given by parents and carers. We make parents aware of their responsibilities in declaring any monetary incentives.  Our incentives may be minimal (vouchers, lunches, etc) but they still result in additional participation costs.

Organisations and groups interested in delivering participation work are encouraged to think about how and when they reward attendees for their time (including digital versus physical). 

Suitable session spaces must accommodate a creche. We therefore usually require two large spaces. A children’s centre or community space is often an ideal venue to deliver a PiL session. The Resource Centre provides a useful outline of the necessary requirements and considerations for a creche facilitation.

You also need to consider organisation and time requirements.

Practitioners complete a brief session planning template in advance. It ensures that there is a clear delivery aim; supports sessions being pitched at the right level; and helps practitioners to meet their delivery aim within the allotted time. See appendices for planning template.

As standard, a member of the LEAP team will oversee the wider hosting of a PiL session and will be responsible for introducing practitioners who are facilitating specific segments during the AM or PM half of the session. We provide information on the session aim and introduce the facilitator in an agenda that we share with parents and carers in advance.

We require practitioners to complete a learning template following the delivery of their session. The template (see appendices) supports reflective thinking and enables practitioners to fully consider delivery outputs and next steps. 

The feedback loop

We encourage practitioners to take time and reflect before completing their learning template. Once collected, we format feedback within a You Said and We Listened template. It helps parents and carers understand the impact they have made by participating in the PiL sessions.  

An effective blueprint for working with families

PiL sessions have accommodated a wide range of professionals looking to further inform, validate or steer their work. From internal LEAP programme staff and University researchers to Local Authority leads.

But more importantly, this participation model has shown itself to be an effective blueprint for working with local families and embedding their voice in decision-making. 

If your organisation is thinking of running similar People in the Lead sessions, there is further advice and practical suggestions in the appendices.

Introducing the Community Connector

Workers often struggled to keep up to date with new developments in LEAP’s broad range of over 20 services or with changes in wider local provision. This left little time to form the all-important connections with families that play a key role in building trust.

We introduced the Community Connector role to bridge this gap. Based in LEAP’s Community Engagement team, the connector role worked closely with staff delivering LEAP’s broad portfolio of services. This role was a central point for LEAP, building trusted relationships with families and community partners; providing families with up-to-date information and easy access support based on individual need.

Key objectives for the connector role

The key objectives were to engage new families with the broad LEAP offer and to have a visible presence in the community. There were regular visits to LEAP engagement activities, service sessions, local children’s centres and other externally run activities. The connector also worked with a range of colleagues to identify opportunities for families to participate in LEAP services and activity sessions. We centred these opportunities around critical timepoints such as becoming a new parent, or by age/development stage of children.

The connector shared information on community engagement activities and services, as well as local-level events, through a regular e-newsletter. By June 2023 this newsletter was reaching over 750 families. Combining personalised communication, with an on-the-ground presence, helped the connector to establish trust with families. The newsletter has an average open rate of 50% and click through rate of 11%. It performs well compared to similar charity newsletters.

What if you can’t have a full-time connector?

Not every organisation can have a full-time connector or prescriber post, but…

How many of your community posts embed this key aspect of engagement work? And to what degree are you providing the resources to support this work?

Key learning points

Georgia May Campbell, Community Activities Facilitator, explains how LEAP delivers successful activities and events for families.

The Community Activities Facilitator for LEAP leads the development of high-quality engagement offers. These events and activities aim to connect parents and carers with the broader portfolio of LEAP services, as well as with each other.

Our free activities are primarily for families with children aged 3 and under, including children with additional needs. However, during school holidays, families can also bring older siblings.

Embedded in the community

LEAP’s Community Activities Facilitator role is fully immersed in the community, coordinating our efforts, and ensuring we meet the needs of our community – liaising with session facilitators, parents and carers, delivery partners and children’s centres.

They review registration, attendance, and feedback data. From early 2017 to November 2023, the Community Engagement team, with community partners and other LEAP services, delivered a total of 299 one-off events, resulting in 9,171 attendances.

Theming events to increase relevance and participation

LEAP uses a festival model to develop, market, and deliver all our sessions and events under one unifying theme. We organise three festivals a year. Each festival includes four large flagship events. We develop a fresh look and feel for each festival, applying it across our integrated marketing activities.

The themed approach helps us reach specific segments or groups of families in the community. We invite parents and carers to co-produce festival events and to volunteer. This strengthens trust between LEAP and our families.

Ensuring quality sessions in safe spaces

We further ensure high-quality provision by setting consistently high standards and expectations of LEAP facilitators and being present to understand how well sessions are working. See appendix 9.6.

Our sessions are delivered in appropriate spaces which are safe and free from risk, and where delivery is shown to meet the expectations of the families 80% of the time. Our work is driven by LEAP values, data findings, observations, parent voice, and partner feedback. It is informed by local-national insights in relation to need. The Facilitator’s presence helps ensure that sessions are always high quality.

For example, our summer festival events got whole families involved in outdoor sports based on the learning and success of our popular Mini Athletics sessions, which had attracted 970 attendances from October 2022 to October 2023. During the 2023 summer festival we engaged new families who now continue to attend other weekly LEAP activity sessions. The quality of provision builds trust and a positive experience for families, which creates better engagement.

Bonding with familiar faces

We aim to create a feeling of belonging and trust by having a familiar face at LEAP community events. Once we establish this trust, local families are more open to participating in other LEAP services and activities, and parents feel more confident to give honest feedback about events attended.

Key learning points 

Having a consistent staff presence at all engagement events helps us develop an understanding of families and partner organisations and helps build trust.

Taking on board ideas and reflections from families within the community demonstrates how we value those who use our services. Being physically present on the ground improves our ability to reach families and deliver what they need. Building relationships with families, builds trust which results in effective feedback which then positively shapes our delivery.

The LEAP model of delivery through themed festivals of fun family-friendly events is reflective of community need, enables an integrated approach to marketing, and keeps our service offers and activities fresh.

Our marketing – particularly our online presence – ensures familiarity with the LEAP brand, offers clear information about what is available for families, and enables easy online booking so that families can access LEAP activities and services.

Consistency and familiarity

We theme marketing activities for community engagement festivals, timing them to work together to raise awareness and encourage attendance. 

We maintain a constant presence online, regularly updating our website and social media. Many families use social media, but some families may not be able to easily access information online. So, for each themed festival, we also post leaflets through doors on social housing estates in targeted postcodes, and display posters in local shops.

These combined activities help signpost families to LEAP’s What’s on webpage where people can book activities easily through our embedded Eventbrite form.

Online activity

Our What’s on web page attracts on average 400 visitors and 1,100 page views each month. Of these views, the highest proportion come from direct referrals and organic search. This will include people who have bookmarked our What’s on web page to regularly return to see it, and people who have seen our promotional materials and social posts and then searched for LEAP online.

LEAP started using QR codes on our leaflets and posters in 2022 and they contribute the second largest number of visitors to our What’s on page.

Of visits to our What’s on page coming via social media, Facebook and Instagram play an equal role. A smaller proportion of visits come via third parties such as Lambeth council’s website.

A personalised e-newsletter sent fortnightly to over 750 families has an open rate of 50% and click through rate of 11%. This also encourages families to book online for free activities.  

Activity on Instagram and Facebook enables LEAP to connect with parents, share pictures from sessions, promote upcoming events, and promote partner services. We track which posts are most effective. Those with families and babies featured create the best engagement.

On Instagram we signpost families back to our website through Linktree (a signposting shortcut site) which streamlines and simplifies navigation. We know that parents use our social media channels to keep up to date with upcoming LEAP activities and events.

Online and in person

We know that informal photographs and short video clips, ’stories’ and animations are particularly effective on Instagram and Facebook. However, this does require staff time in creating and curating content, and in following robust procedures to secure the necessary consent and permissions from families for use on social media.

Being present both in person and online for parents provides a range of opportunities for families to find out about and access our activities, events, and services.  Engagement with parents and carers positively influences the design of our activities and services.

Yolanda Ferguson, Project Assistant, explains how LEAP has embraced digital developments to improve engagement with families.

Using the online booking platform (Eventbrite) has revolutionised the way that families can find out about and book their free places at LEAP community engagement events and activity sessions.

LEAP initially began to use Eventbrite as an online booking tool to engage families during the lifting of lockdown in May 2021. LEAP ran a four-day online festival called Bump, Baby and Me (BBM) which helped new and expectant parents to connect with wider LEAP services and practitioners via a series of hybrid events.

Teething problems with our online booking form

Use of the online booking tool enabled us to collect basic information about families, and to then send out login details for online sessions. Importantly, use of this online platform also enabled us to communicate with parents should face-to-face sessions be cancelled at short notice; if facilitators fell ill, or there was a change in the social distancing rules.

When LEAP initially began using this online booking platform for the BBM festival, people couldn’t access the page via the LEAP website. Parents had to view the website for sessions and then call the children’s centre to book their place.

We decided to embed the Eventbrite platform into the What’s on page on the LEAP website. This allowed families to find out about available activities, and book sessions directly 24/7. This change in our way of working also meant that families could easily access sessions from other service providers.

Initially, parents were asked to fill in lots of fields when booking. They explained their frustrations about over how long it took to sign up for a free session.

Fine-tuning Eventbrite

We reviewed the user journey and reduced the amount of data required at the point of sign-up. We now gather additional data from parents/carers when they attend activity sessions.

The date we collect data for monitoring and evaluation purposes helps us understand whether we are reaching the right families. It feeds into the planning of future community engagement events.

Online bookings

Between May 2021 and November 2023 there were 7,261 online registrations for events and activities. LEAP observed a 128% increase in families registering for events and activities over a 12-month period between September 2021 and September 2022.

Enhanced familiarity in using this online platform, with the added convenience of having mobile access to book sessions may explain this increase. LEAP can also keep track of the numbers signed up for sessions, which informs health and safety plans for events.   

LEAP is aware that the plans for families with young children can easily change at the last minute. To encourage attendance (and reduce dropouts) we promote sessions near the date and send reminder emails 24 hours before the event.

Increased visibility

The growth in LEAP’s online and social media presence, combined with the ease of our online booking platform, has resulted in increased visibility of LEAP and improved engagement with families.

When we compare quarter 3, 2019, and the same period in 2022, there is a 31% (612: 807) increase in unique participants (one count per person) and an 86% increase in new participants (219: 408).

Partnerships in all shapes and sizes

Through these different partnerships there is a continuum that varies from one-off partnerships formed to deliver a specific event, to referral partnerships that provide a mechanism to signpost families between organisations (such as with the local authority wellbeing team); to formal relationships spanning a range of collaborative work underpinned by a written agreement.

As an example, our CoCreate Partnership model provides funding to local voluntary sector organisations to deliver early years programmes across Lambeth. Some of LEAP’s partnerships have moved up and down this continuum at different times, for different needs and situations.

Since 2017, the community engagement team have partnered with over 180 different community organisations, groups, and services to provide high quality and informed community sessions and events which support parents and carers to connect with each other and act as a gateway into the support, services, and activities on offer more widely.

Marta Sordyl, Family Support Worker, explains the value of partnership working in the Stockwell community.

LEAP and Stockwell Partnership worked together for 6 years in the highly diverse Stockwell community in South London. The two organisations worked to understand local needs and help families with young children to thrive.

In the 6-year partnership working period (from 2017 to 2023) an incredible 580 events were delivered, reaching a total of 2,694 participants with 11,000 attendances.

Bringing together the strengths and resources of both organisations enhanced the range and impact of support and services for the local community. After LEAP’s involvement ended in the summer of 2023, Stockwell Partnership has continued to deliver and grow support in the local community.

How Stockwell Partnership and LEAP worked together

Stockwell Partnership is a community organisation that supports a highly diverse community – including expectant parents and families with young children. A wide range of partnership projects, services, and events are delivered to improve the quality of life for local people.

Stockwell Partnership is managed by a board of residents, and has been operating since 1999.

Finding the gaps together

Stockwell Partnership and LEAP began working closely together in 2017 to further strengthen work with families with early years children. Together they mapped local needs, identified gaps in provision, and worked in partnership to deliver projects, services, and activities.

At the start of the project, a community consultation was held with residents, minority groups, service providers, and voluntary sector organisations to identify the needs and strengths in the Stockwell area, with a particular focus on Early Years.

Going where families go to

Families were reached and engaged with in the places they already knew and attended, such as local playgrounds, parks, informal playgroups, churches, and children’s centres.

Exploring community spaces that had existing activities gave us a better understanding of the existing Early Years offer, and the opportunities to deliver additional services and activities for families in familiar places.

The aim was to connect as many local partners as possible to co-deliver meaningful and sustainable engagement with expectant parents and families with children aged 0-3.

At the core of all activities was our understanding of the local social infrastructure and the value of building relationships with Early Years voluntary and statutory services, as well as local groups.

Offers for families in Stockwell

LEAP and Stockwell Partnership worked together to deliver a wide variety of regular activities for families, as well as special events to mark important cultural celebrations. Many activities were inclusive of the diverse communities within the Stockwell area, and considerate to different faiths and home languages.

Annual events to celebrate EID, Diwali, Christmas, International Women’s Day, Refugee week, the LGBTQ+ community and Black History Month are popular.

There are regular opportunities for people from Italian, Portuguese, Latin American, Japanese, and Polish communities to come together. Community picnics and family fun days are organised, as well as regular storytelling events for very young children. 

Encouraged to talk about their lives

Residents in the Stockwell communities are actively listened to. They are encouraged to talk about their lives, the issues they face, and the support that would be most helpful and important to them. This information has guided the development of flexible, personalised services that assist families to develop the resilience they need to support themselves, and each other.

A regular parents forum supported by parent volunteers was established to advocate for the needs of local families. One off and regular events were designed for families by families, working with local partners. 

With families involved from the start in decisions about planning and developing events and services, the support offer for families has been effective, and has helped reach more people for a longer time.

Involving the local community

Stockwell Partnership has focused on delivering projects from local community venues. This is partly because the organisation does not have its own space to run family activities, and partly because over the years sharing local spaces and assets has proved more creative, productive, and sustainable for the whole community.

Gaining the trust of the community and partners has helped Stockwell Partnership thrive and become the ‘go to’ organisation for the Stockwell community. 

A strong network and partnership with local Adult Learning centre (Morley College) was developed, which includes Early Years services, schools, Residents Associations, and other community groups.

Key learning points

Davina Belcher, CoCreate Partnerships Manager, explains how bringing small local community organisations together have made a big difference.

Since September 2021, LEAP’s Co-Create partnership initiative has supported the development and delivery of early years initiatives by 14 community-based organisations. Between October 2021 and September 2023 CoCreate partners delivered 214 sessions or initiatives, benefiting 556 children and 535 parents and caregivers.

LEAP’s CoCreate partnership fund enables LEAP to share early years expertise and provide funding and support to local voluntary and community sector organisations.

These organisations are small-scale and reach communities often isolated from or not reached by statutory early years services. With support and funding from the CoCreate partnership, they provide early years programmes and activities at community level, engaging parents with young children in their local area to promote healthy, happy childhoods.

LEAP is focussed on addressing inequalities in early childhood, and the LEAP CoCreate partnership is one approach to addressing this challenge. By working with a network of community-based organisations, we can ensure that some of the most isolated families are connected to early years services and support. 

There is value and an importance of local partnership working when supporting children. We recognise that local families within our community are not a homogenous group, therefore, working with a diverse range of partners ensures inclusivity and diversity of reach.

The additional benefit when adopting this approach is that the range of partnership expertise can be pooled to provide a stronger support network for Lambeth children and families. 

Quarterly learning networks have been a key component to fostering the trust in developing relationship with these partners; providing opportunity for the organisations to regularly engage, develop relationships with each other, share experiences, discuss challenges, and offer each other support.

New collaborations have grown organically from these connections which have further embedded the partnerships.

We’ve come up with a blueprint to help you form effective partnerships. Discover our top tips.

Key learning points

Two different partnership examples

1. Light touch partnerships – developing relationships that lead to referral pathways

We supported one of our community partners, Art4Space, to explore developing partnerships with other local groups. This helped generate referrals from different communities that they had not yet reached for their Creative Arts and Wellbeing course.

2. Casual partnership – regularly working together to bring mutual benefits for delivery

We worked closely with one of our community partners, Healthy Living Platform (HLP) to support them to develop and deliver a Healthy Home-cooking course. They worked in partnership with one of the local children’s centres.

Through this mutually beneficial partnership working relationship, HLP was able to facilitate a home-cooking course for the children’s centre’s families. HLP received referrals from the community they wanted to reach and £1,460 worth of ‘in kind’ resource from the children’s centre including free space, creche provision and volunteers.