Chair: The Bishop of Ely
Secretary: The Revd Canon Tim Elbourne, Director of Education and Training
We have been reminded lately that it is impact that counts. The whole public agenda of ‘Every Child Matters’ and new inspection frameworks for schools concentrate on effect and outcomes. So it must be for any diocesan council or board. It is at the local level - in mission communities of parishes and schools - that most of the work takes place. The task of the Board is to reflect and plan strategically and relate to other central bodies, to direct resources and to equip and support the staff and volunteers who carry forward the work. Over seventy people are directly involved.
In April the Board was inspected and publicly recognized once again as an ‘Investor in People’. To be recognized, an organisation has to demonstrate its sense of vision and purpose and that all its people, from full-time officers to the most part-time volunteer, know what they are about and how it fits in and know themselves to be trained, affirmed and supported in the task. It is no paper exercise; people are interviewed and asked. It’s the impact on the people that counts.
The impact of ‘Every Child Matters’ and the creation in every local authority of a single integrated service organisation for Children and Young People will be felt gradually. 2005 was just the beginning of a far reaching process. But it will affect the way we do things and influence mission and pastoral care in every locality. Other far-reaching changes are afoot and the Board has been developing its pattern of meeting and structures to be ‘fit for purpose’. The new website has been long in the planning but the new and attractive site is now a comprehensive and accessible resource to support and publish the whole range of what is happening and the work we do.
There are three Colleges of Further Education and two Sixth Form Colleges in the diocese and the Board established this year a working group to develop and support chaplaincy provision with them.
Canon Tim Elbourne
February 2006