Achieving Great Futures team

Five of our children's services colleagues have been seconded to new roles - called design leads - to head up each area of Achieving Great Futures work.

They're working alongside our partners Newton Europe and together bring many years of experience at Derbyshire County Council to focus on making practical and lasting improvements for children, young people, and families.

Home to school transport for disabled children

David Rosselli, email david.rosselli@derbyshire.gov.uk

Before joining the Achieving Great Futures transformation programme as a design lead for 'home to school transport for disabled children', David worked as programme manager in the programmes team.

Among other tasks he has been involved in team building, skills training, preparation and familiarizing himself with the Newton methods and ways of working.

What David is most looking forward to is:

"Making a difference in practical ways that boost quality services for children and reduce costs."

Transitioning to adulthood

Jennie Evans, email jennie.evans@derbyshire.gov.uk

Jennie Evans is the design lead for the 'transitioning to adulthood' workstream of the Achieving Great Futures programme, starting fully on 26 July 2021.

Previously, she was a practice supervisor in the disabled children's team, covering the North East and Bolsover Team for the past 2 and a half years.

Currently, she is carrying out training with Newton Europe and is collaborating with the Newton colleagues around the look and feel of the program, focussing on the improvements we would like to introduce.

Jennie is most looking forward to:

"Having this opportunity to work with different colleagues and teams within Derbyshire County Council and our Newton Europe colleagues is exciting, and I am looking forward to being part of this programme to bring positive and effective change across children's services. Working within disabled children's team I am particularly passionate to bring about change for those young people and families who are going through the transition to adulthood and making that a positive experience for them."

Reducing demand and early intervention

Niamh Buckley, email niamh.buckley@derbyshire.gov.uk

Niamh Buckley is the design lead for the 'reducing demand and early intervention' workstream of the Achieving Great Futures programme.

Previously, Niamh worked as a practice supervisor in the Bolsover and Shirebrook team in North East Derbyshire.

For Niamh, what she is most looking forward to is:

"I really hope that through the engagement of everybody across services, we can best establish where any changes can potentially be made that will have a positive impact for families as early as possible, hopefully serving to better prevent crisis intervention."

Placement sufficiency

Marie Humphreys, email marie.humphreys@derbyshire.gov.uk

Marie Humphreys is the design lead for the 'placement sufficiency' workstream of the Achieving Great Futures programme.

Prior to joining the programme Marie has worked across varying roles across early help and social vare services. Most recently, she worked as a social worker within the Erewash children in care team and the safeguarding team before that.

Marie is most looking forward to:

"I feel very fortunate to be part of this programme, which aims to bring about real transformational change to how Derbyshire makes lasting improvement for children, young people and families. It's a dynamic programme, with challenges and opportunities probably in equal measure along the way - this is what I'm looking forward to."

Planning for permanence outside of care

Rachel Harrisson, email rachel.harrisson@derbyshire.gov.uk

Rachel Harrisson is the design lead for the 'planning for permanence outside of care' workstream of the Achieving Great Futures programme.

Prior to joining the programme Rachel has worked for Derbyshire in various roles since being a student social worker, and has moved around the county during her career, most recently she was the head of service at Starting Point in Ripley. Prior to that she was a team manager in a children and family team in Chesterfield.

Rachel is most looking forward to:

"I am really excited to be a part of this initiative, we are incredibly lucky to work within an authority who are so passionate about continuing to improve practices and outcomes for children, young people and families. This program aims to deliver on some actual transformational changes within our day-to-day service delivery, which should have a really positive impact for all. I am really looking forward to trial stages, when I can really get involved with operational practice and hopefully support to make the biggest change and impact on our practice."