Children and Young People's Partnership Strategy for Gateshead (2025-2030)

Children and Young People's Partnership Strategy Action Plan

- Our vision
- Strategic context
- O ur children and young people
- Ou r strategic partnership approach
- What we have heard from our engagement work
- O ur intended outcomes
- Responsibility for implementation

Foreword

Partners across Gateshead have a shared vision for our children and young people. We want every baby, child and young person in Gateshead to have the building blocks they need in life so that they can thrive and are supported to live fulfilled, safe, happy and healthy lives with the skills to enable them to realise their potential. Many children and young people across the Borough have been involved in the work to develop this shared vision and to help to agree a clear set of priorities that matter most to them.

Our ambition as agencies and professionals in Gateshead is to work together alongside families, children and young people to ensure that we collectively deliver on this shared vision and strive to ensure that our children and young people:

• have influence and are heard

• are happy and healthy

• feel safe in their families and communities

• can achieve their potential and feel ready for their next steps

We know that the experiences of children and young people across the Borough are different. There can be as much as 13 years difference in life expectancy for people in our Borough depending on the circumstances in which they are born. Our vision and this plan is focused on ALL children with a strong commitment to reduce these experiences of inequality - whether that is experienced as a result of child poverty; care experience; special educational needs and disabilities; having English as a second language; having caring responsibilities; or for those who experience greater challenges accessing our services.

It has never been more important to work together to support children, young people and their families. Partnership working is a real strength in Gateshead and an ambitious multi-agency plan sits behind this vision which lays out the commitments from a wide range of agencies to continue to improve services in order to support our children and young people to live thriving lives.

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People
Cllr Catherine Donovan

Our Children and Young People's Partnership Strategy sets out our commitment to achieve better outcomes for all Children and Young People in Gateshead.

Our vision

Make Gateshead a place where every child and young person has the building blocks to thrive and are supported to live fulfilled, safe, happy and healthy lives, with the education and skills to enable them to realise their potential.

Strategic context

Our strategic approach, Thrive, has the ambition of making Gateshead a place where everyone can thrive. Our Thrive pledges include; to tackle inequality so people have a fair chance and to put people and families at the heart of everything we do.

Our joint Health and Wellbeing strategy for Gateshead is how we will work together to tackle the health inequalities which exist in Gateshead and how we will deliver 'Good jobs, homes, health and friends', to improve health outcomes for our residents. This includes policy objectives to give every child the best start in life, and enable all children and young people to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives.

Our children and young people

When we use the term children and young people in this strategy we mean everyone who lives in Gateshead between the ages of 0-17, and all young people up to age 25 who have special educational needs and disabilities or who have experience of being in care.

Our data on all Children and Young people in Gateshead (ages 0-17) comes from the population level data (Census - 2021) and our latest self evaluation for Children's services which we share with Ofsted annually (Mar 2025)

The issues faced by children in Gateshead are taken from the Gateshead Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Priorities: Best start in life.

We know that the Income Deprivation Affecting Children (IDACI) index ranks Gateshead as 68th out of 317 councils, with 31% of our under 16s living within one of the 20% most deprived areas in England. These areas of deprivation tend to be within Central Gateshead.

740 of our school-age children attend special schools (2023).

How we will work with partners

To achieve our vision we know the importance of working together, across Gateshead, for the benefit of all our children. This partnership approach; the council and its partners will be responsible to improve outcomes.

Our Strategy has been developed and agreed by our strategic partners. It will be delivered with the different organisations in the Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Board.

What we have heard from our engagement work

Key themes heard from our engagement work with children of all ages included:

emotional wellbeing and mental health support
accessible and improved public transport
more safe, social and green spaces and access to inclusive community and leisure activities
more job opportunities
knife crime and safety concerns
life skills and finance and budgeting education
climate change concerns and protecting our environment
no discrimination and equality issues

Our intended outcomes

Our intention is for all children and young people in Gateshead:

To be heard and have influence
To be happy and healthy
To feel safe in their families and communities
To achieve their potential and feel ready for their next steps

We will work together:

For all children to be heard and have influence:

take action to protect the environment from climate change
tackle stigma and discrimination for all, particularly those most vulnerable
to be responsive to the issues that matter to children through regular listening, action and feedback

We will use these measures to know when we have made a difference

Health Behaviours questionnaire results and feedback, every 2 years
Annual consultation linked to strategy and action plan

For all children to be happy and healthy:

support communities and families to give every child the best start in life
improve social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of children and young people
ensure affordable, sufficient, safe, stable and secure housing for families and children, and for young people living independently
increase access to affordable and safe places to go and to play and have fun for children of all ages
enable good levels of physical activity, healthy eating and reduce food insecurity

We will use these measures to know when we have made a difference

Readiness for school and good levels of development
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of children's experience of waiting times and waiting well for mental health and therapy services
Uptake of free school meals
Best start in life measures
Health related behaviour questionnaire results

For all children to feel safe in their families and communities:

support children and parents to live in safe, supportive families
ensure that the most vulnerable children are supported and protected from harm
address negative influences that affect how young people decisions, so we can help them to avoid risky behaviour
develop and enhance the physical and digital environments and public spaces where children live, play and socialise to promote better health and sense of safety

We will use these measures to know when we have made a difference

number of children in receipt of early help with outcome met
rate of re referrals into safeguarding services
number and rate of children on a child protection plan
number and rate of children in care
number of first time entrants to the Youth Justice system and re offending rates

For all children to achieve their potential and be ready to take the next steps:

increase the number of children and young people participating and engaging in learning through removing barriers to education
improve achievement and attainment for all pupils through inclusive education
improve educational progress for pupils vulnerable to poorer learning outcomes
help young people into adulthood, to develop life skills and be ready for training and work
improve access to safe and affordable transport for young people to access education, skills, work and social opportunities

We will use these measures to know when we have made a difference

rates of school attendance (all and specific groups)
rates of school exclusion (all and specific groups)
young people in education, training and employment (all and specific groups)
destinations of young people with SEND and/or a disability when they leave school
5 GCSEs grades 9-4 (all and specific groups) or progress 8 score at end of Key Stage 4