Play and Learn Scheme (PALS)

 

 

Based at Newington Children's Centre, Princess Margaret Avenue, Ramsgate

 

 

 

  

9th November 2010

 

We are delighted to announce that The Big Lottery Fund has awarded a grant to Thanet Early Years Project to help the PALS (Play and Learn Scheme) project to continue and expland its play based home visiting services in Ramsgate over the next three years.

 

For further details, please follow this link to the Big Lottery Fund website

 

 

   http://www2.biglotteryfund.org.uk/pr_091110_se_rc_helpful_play_in_ramsgate?regioncode=-uk

 

 

 

 PALS Play Workers:

 

  • are suitably qualified and experienced
  • visit families weekly for a minimum of 1 hour
  • support parents to acquire the knowledge and  skills to meet children's developmental needs.
  • support parents to promote positive attachments
  • offer positive role models,
  • help break down barriers to play,
  • help parents to recognise their own value in promoting their child's development. 
  • ensure the service is guided by individual children and family needs
  • offer further input at significant times, particularly through transition periods (eg new baby, new home, nursery, etc)
  • have monthly supervision and weekly team meetings to ensure staff development and training needs are met, and that good practice and experience is shared. 
  • are supported by a robust management structure.  

 

The support available to staff ensures a low staff turnover, meaning that PALS is able to offer continuity to families and other agencies, establishing the conditions for trusting and productive working relationships. PALS' success in engaging families who are deemed to be 'hard to reach' is an acknowledged strength.

 

PALS Partnerships

  

Funding and Management:

 

Play and Learn Scheme (PALS) services are provided through partnership arrangements involving:

 

  • Thanet Early Years Project
  • Kent County Council
  • Children's Centres

 

 Partnership with parents is central to PALS services:

  

  • Visit records are completed with, and retained by, parents, as a record of their child's achievements.
  • Reviews after four visits, then every three months, ensure services meet families' needs
  • PALS Play Wheel assists in monitoring a child's development and provides a valuable focus for discussion with parents. 
  • Focus Groups offer a forum for parents to have real influence on the scheme
  • Parents are encouraged and supported to
    volunteer with PALS.   Volunteers have
    progressed to study child care and achieve paid employment in the child care sector.

 

Partnerships with other agencies

 

 

PALS has developed trusting and productive partnerships with many agencies including, but not exclusively:

  • Social Services (Children and Families);
  • Health Visitors;
  • Nurseries;
  • Kent Libraries;
  • local businesses;
  • local voluntary organisations

 


 

PALS service:

  

  • is primarily for families with children under the age of three years
  • provides a home visiting play service
  • promotes community links through good quality family group work
  • encourages and supports families to access other services
  • offers outings and Fun Days to help engage with families in an informal way.


 

 

This combination of services has been shown to lead to improved outcomes for children, in terms of their cognitive ability, mental health, language development and improved relationships with their prime carers. Positive adult / child interactions stimulate all aspects of children's development, helping prepare them for future educational opportunities

 

 PALS Aims and Objectives

  

Aims

  

  1. To provide a play service, to complement and enhance family strengths in order to help meet the developmental needs of babies and young children

 

  1. To promote community links and contribute towards the development of safe, responsive, high quality services for children and their families

 

 Objectives

 

 

  1. Support families by focusing on positive interaction, primarily through shared play activities 

 

  1. Stimulate all aspects of children's development through carefully planned play activities

 

  1. Enable children to be better prepared to take advantage of future educational opportunities

 

  1. Encourage parents/ carers to recognise, value and develop their own role in helping children achieve their potential

 

  1. Facilitate links with other parents

 

  1. Encourage and support parent / carers to access local services for themselves and for their children

  

 
Pals Manager:             Sandra Jones

 

To find out more about the Play and Learn Scheme, please contact Sandra  at the PALS office on 01843 855583 or email   pals@thanetearlyyears.org

Play and Learn Scheme
Newington Children's Centre
Princess Margaret Avenue
Ramsgate
Kent   CT12  6HX