West Cumbria Opportunities & Challenges 2025 18 19 ALCOHOL SPECIFIC CONDITIONS IN UNDER 18’S In 2019, it was reported that in West Cumbria the rate of admission episodes for alcohol specific conditions in under 18’s was highlighted as being some of the worst in England and this has continued in recent years. Both Allerdale and Copeland continue to have significantly worse rates than the England average for admission episodes.31 Between 2021/22 and 2023/24, the rate of hospital admissions for under 18’s per 100,000 was 22.6 nationally; 44.7 in Cumberland. In a recent survey across Cumberland, 24% of pupils of secondary age indicated that they had taken an alcoholic drink in the last 14 days.32 HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS DUE TO SUBSTANCE MISUSE33 The rate of hospital admissions due to substance misuse for those aged 15 to 24 years are decreasing and are now below national and Northwest rates per 100,000. In Cumberland, the rate stands at 44.6; the Northwest 49.4 and England 47.4. MENTAL HEALTH Since 2019, there has been a significant increase in the number of referrals for children and young people’s mental health services. Between 2019 and 2022 there was an almost 100% increase in referrals to Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust with children and young people facing long waiting times, limited choice of service and difficulties accessing specialist support.34 In addition there are reports that children and young people are experiencing loneliness, a trend that has continued an upward trajectory post pandemic.35 On the ground, the VCSE sector is facing increasing pressures in dealing with the volume of young people coming forward for support. According to Always Another Way, the total number of young people aged under 25 accessing its service in 2020/2021 was 16. By July 2023/2024 this figure had risen to 197. The reasons cited were friendships and the navigation around recognising healthy relationships, blended family issues and a feeling that no-one is listening. There were more hospital admissions per 100,000 population because of self-harm for young people aged between 10-24 years in Cumberland (348) than for the Northwest (282) and for England (266).36 There were also more hospital admissions in Cumberland (115.9) for mental health conditions for young people aged under 18 years than for the Northwest (88.7) and for England (80.2)37 25 Obesity Profile: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, 2022/23 data, https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/obesity-physical-activity-nutrition/data 26 Family Wellbeing Data Analysis Summary: Cumberland Council, 2024. 27 Children and Young People Activity Data (Active Lives Survey): Sport England, 2023, https://activelives.sportengland.org/Home/ActivityData and Active Lives Children and Young People survey (2022-2023 academic year): Sport England, 2023 https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/childrens-activity-levels-hold-firm-significant-challenges-remain 28 www.sportengland.org 29 Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain: ASH, 2023 https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain 30 Vaping Factsheet for Professionals Working with Young People: Cumbria Youth Substance Misuse: Cumberland Council, 2023 https://cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/537/38232/38404/45117145956.pdf 31 Cumbria Intelligence Observatory, 2023. 32 Family Wellbeing Data Analysis Summary: Cumberland Council, 2024. 33 https://fingertips.phe.org.uk 34 Being a Child in Cumberland – What we should focus on and what should we change: Cumberland Council, 2023). 35 https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/press-release/younger-brits-report-higher-levels-of-loneliness/ 36 Hospital admissions as a result of self-harm - 10-24 years 2023/24: Public Health England, 2022, https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/ 37 Hospital admissions for mental health conditions <18 years 2023/24: Public Health England, 2022, https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/ WELL Project – Making a difference The WELL (Western Excellence in Learning and Leadership) project is an innovative education improvement programme in West Cumbria. It aims to sustainably improve educational outcomes for all young people in the area and particularly those facing disadvantage. All primary and secondary schools in the former districts of Copeland and Allerdale are engaging in, and benefiting from, WELL which offers schools a range of support addressing three areas – raising standards, closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, and wellbeing. Co-created with Cumberland Council and school leaders, the WELL Project is funded by Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) as part of the Sellafield Ltd Social Impact Multiplied (SiX) programme. Over £2.5m of grants have been awarded to schools through the WELL project over the last three years. Teachers at Thursby Primary School say that the pioneering scheme has transformed the way they work. Thursby Assistant Headteacher, Dave Colombi, said: “We’ve been on the WELL project for three years now and the impact and the difference it has made has been fantastic.” One of the main priority areas for the school has been addressing gaps in speech, language and communication, particularly in nursery and reception. All children are assessed at the end of reception, and the numbers reaching the required standard for both speech, language and communication (56%) and writing (59%) in July 2021 were the lowest for several years, largely as a consequence of the COVID pandemic. This has significantly increased to 100% in speech, language and communication and 90% in writing for 2023. The WELL project meant Thursby Primary School was able to implement Talk Boost – a catch-up programme for children who are struggling with talking and understanding words. Early years teacher, Surelle Butler, said: “Talk Boost has had a huge effect on the children’s vocabulary. We had a lot of children who were not as confident speaking as we would expect. This project has given us the opportunity to work in smaller groups, modelling turn taking and conversation.” The school has also introduced the Great Teaching Toolkit to improve and expand pupils’ vocabulary, in every year group and every area of the curriculum. “We focus on pupils’ articulation of vocabulary,” Assistant Headteacher, Mr Colombi, said. “It helps all the kids, including those of higher ability and in particular, disadvantaged children. It ensures they are using a word in the correct context, understanding it and applying it. “The impact in the short term is children have a greater understanding of the vocab that they’re learning. “In the medium term, they’ve got those foundations of vocabulary for moving on to the next year group. And long term, for staff it’s having that knowledge to be able to apply that for future year groups coming through the school.” The school received a glowing report from Ofsted inspectors during their latest visit. Watch the video case study here - https://youtu.be/a9TM01P8o20 CASE STUDY
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