By Councillor Jenny Bullen, cabinet portfolio holder for children and families
A new community-driven support scheme for young people – which has had remarkable results in London – has arrived in Wigan Borough and we’re very excited to see its impact.
Earlier this month, we gathered at Leigh Sports Village with our partners to celebrate the launch of the AllChild project.
It was fantastic to join with colleagues from our schools and community sectors to learn more about what we can expect from this new partnership.
So, what is it all about?
AllChild, a charity organisation, led what was known as the West London Zone project when it was first launched in 2016.
It has helped thousands of children in neighbourhoods with high levels of socio-economic inequality, primarily through dedicated one-to-one support.
As the organisation itself explains; AllChild supports the social, emotional, and academic needs of children and young people in underserved neighbourhoods to help them build the skills they need to flourish in their school and community.
At the heart of the project is a dedicated link worker for each child, who works with families, teachers and local organisations to plan tailored opportunities, helping them to build their confidence and skills.
Why is it so exciting for our borough?
We are the first programme outside of London, with our rollout of AllChild focused on young people in schools in the Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley areas.
The plans have been co-designed with our community and voluntary sector partners.
Our local focus-points include reducing child mental health referrals, persistent absenteeism and school suspensions and exclusions.
As you would imagine due to the success of the West London Zone project, there were other areas interested in partnering with AllChild for their first out-of-London scheme.
Our team at Wigan Council and our partners have therefore done a great job bringing our new partners to the borough and we’re grateful that AllChild’s leadership found our vision for children people – through our Progress With Unity missions – inspiring.
As their chief executive, Louise Mitchell MBE, said: “We have been struck by the enthusiasm of local community organisations, schools, and wider systems of support in Wigan Borough to design a new system of support that coordinates and amplifies the fantastic local resources already in place. We’re so excited to have started.”
What will happen next?
The AllChild project will support 250 children across seven schools and is already underway.
It was great to meet some of the link workers who will play such an important part in the scheme at our launch event.
The council and its partners will be doing everything it can to support this exciting project and we can’t wait to start seeing the impact it will have on the lives of this group of young people.
Understanding what is happening in the lives of our young people – in their families, schools and communities – is central to our early help and prevention work.
So, we’re delighted to be working with AllChild as we know this project is going to make a real difference.
For more information visit AllChild (external link).
