Anchor Early Action

What has the Project done to date?

The Project started with a ‘test of change’ in Year 1. Working directly with a small number of families identified as needing help.

Year 1

There were two main activities undertaken in that first year:

Family Activity

Anchor Project Officers worked with families to understand the challenges that were being faced, and what support was needed for positive change. Support was offered to any member of a family struggling for whatever reason.

One of the challenges is reaching the families that would benefit from support. To overcome this the Project worked with Sound Primary School, one of Lerwick’s Primary Schools. A hub was set up to create a physical presence, making support more accessible for families within the community. Project Officers attended events and ran drop in sessions at the hub. Other activities included the production of a leaflet explaining Anchor to families and using social media to promote and share information about the support available.

An example of the work done by the Anchor team was working closely with school staff, providing a source of advice and information to help them better support families. Staff confidence in providing support increased thanks to training and the sharing of knowledge with them. The Anchor team became part of the school community and a visible source of support.

A depiction of a family group, with parents, grandparents and children represented

System Change

From April 2019 to March 2020 the shift to early intervention saw a positive impact on families and individuals who needed support. The number of families supported was relatively small, however the engagement gave a large amount of information and learning. This supported the wider Project aim of system change.

Project Officers produced reports for the Project Board showing what they had learned from testing a wider system of support for families. This formed an evidence base that could be used to influence decision makers to act. They also met with service providers and ran workshops presenting what they had found.

Year 2

In Year 2, the Covid-19 pandemic created new needs within the community. Although this limited the Project’s expected growth, the level of response and support demonstrated its value—particularly the benefits of the strong relationships established during the Project’s early stages.

The Project adapted its support through lockdowns and restrictions, supporting more families in both direct and indirect ways. This included working with the Covid Response Centre to call households on the shielding list, and preparing and delivering food parcels. Food parcels helped 62 families, whilst Project Officers also helped encourage families to obtain clothing vouchers. Regular contact with schools was maintained and support was provided as required to reach out to families under pressure. The Project was able to expand the provision of early action support to more families, whilst also finding opportunities to promote early action service responses.

A large piece of work undertaken in Year 2 was work with Partners to develop a wider vision for change for support to all of Shetland’s residents. This led to the establishment of the wider Early Action Programme, with broader stands of activity and responsibility for other test of change Projects (Emotional Wellbeing & Resilience and Community Led Support). This was done in response to the learning from the Anchor Project, with the hope of accelerating system change.

Year 3

With some degree of easing of Covid-19 restrictions, the Project was able to return to delivery in schools. Alongside this, Shetland was successful in obtaining funding through The Promise (pdf), to support the Universal Family Support and Workforce aspects of The Promise. This enabled us to build the team through secondments from NHS Shetland Child Health, Voluntary Action Shetland and Education.

The purpose of Year 3 was to determine whether Anchor is a methodology, requiring the whole system to change, or a new service. To answer this, the team worked in three different settings: Sound Primary School in Lewick, the Anderson High School in Lerwick, and Aith Junior High School and Primary Cluster (as a more rural setting).

The new role of Anchor Support Worker was tested in the North Mainland, funded by the school’s Pupil Equity Funding allocation and the Anchor Project.

To learn more about The Promise read the Plan 21-24.