New ways of working with young people in Barnsley

Collaborate worked alongside Barnsley Council to design and test new ways of working to improve outcomes, focusing on young people aged 11+ and their families.

The Backdrop

At the heart of Barnsley’s future lies a bold and inspiring ambition: Great Childhoods, Made Possible, through a whole-system vision to make sure all children and young people have the support they need to thrive. Building on a strong foundation of existing programmes and new initiatives, Barnsley Council is committed to a joined-up, preventative approach that focuses resources on those who need them most.

Our work alongside Barnsley Council focused on designing and testing new ways of working in two key areas, Central Barnsley and the Dearne, focusing on young people aged 11+ and their families. The initial aim was to improve attendance and attainment, in support of Youth Work in Schools pilots being developed with Horizon College and Astrea Dearne Academy.

What we did

As we engaged with young people, families, school staff, and local partners, it became clear that a broader focus was needed. While attendance and attainment remained important, people highlighted other factors that shape young people’s ability to thrive, such as access to volunteering and work experience, the presence of trusted role models, and wider opportunities for growth.

This led to a shift: rather than only targeting educational outcomes, the work evolved into developing a more holistic understanding of what success means for young people in Barnsley today. Our shared ambition became to help create the conditions for great childhoods and ultimately, great futures by supporting a more joined-up, inclusive approach across the system.

Our task was to support the beginning of a system-wide experimental approach, surfacing the perspectives of  young people, families, school staff, and VCSE partners, to understand their priorities, and create the conditions for open, creative, and sustainable collaboration. 

At the heart of the Great Childhoods Ambition is a recognition that the challenges facing young people in Barnsley aren’t simple or linear, they’re complex and contextual. That means there’s no single solution or checklist to follow that would reliably lead to better attainment or more broadly to more fulfilling childhoods and futures. Instead, what’s needed is ongoing experimentation and learning including gathering data, sense-making, reflective practice and continuous improvement.

We grounded our approach in the Human Learning Systems (HLS) framework, an alternative approach to public management. HLS helps to navigate complexity by focusing on three core elements:

• Human: valuing relationships and enabling decision making closer to communities
• Learning: focusing on learning and adaptation as a continuous driver of improvement 
• Systems: recognising that systems are connected and interdependent, system stewards nurture healthy systems

Our data gathering started broad. Building on the wealth of data that already existed in Barnsley from previous youth consultations, we engaged with a wide range of people, from schools and local services, to youth groups, parents, carers and young people themselves. We held workshops with people in the Dearne and Central areas to explore the current system and collectively imagine a better future. We based ourselves in the local community, having conversations with people in foodbanks and youth centres. We went into schools and asked young people directly about their hopes for the future, what ‘a good life’ looked like to them, and what support they felt was missing.

While a wide range of valuable insights were shared, such as the need for more role models, local job opportunities, life skills, volunteering, and support without stigma, a few themes consistently stood out as useful starting points for deeper exploration and testing ideas. These included mental health, aspirations, belonging, and elective home education.

We supported the groups to design pilot test-and-learn projects, such as a young people’s podcast, a volunteering app, and a graduated mental health response. This co-design process sparked a powerful shift from siloed efforts in individual organisations or services, to more connected, collective action, fostering a shared sense of purpose and local ownership in the areas. People on the ground are now seeing how their work connects to the bigger picture, with greater clarity on how local efforts support the broader strategy and how the strategy, in turn, supports what’s happening locally. It’s helping to create stronger alignment across neighbourhoods and services, so efforts feel more joined up, more purposeful, and more rooted in what communities really need. Building on this work, Barnsley Council are now working with Barnsley CVS and have launched a Great Childhoods Ambition Fund to support VCSE Organisations to deliver support to children and young people in Barnsley. 

What stood out throughout was a growing shared understanding and a real appetite to learn and act together. This laid the foundations for more connected, place-based support, and a system that sees people not as problems to fix, but as partners in change.

Over the course of this work, we helped develop new ways of working that support the ambitions of the Great Childhoods Ambition Strategy, both within local areas and across Barnsley as a whole.

Impact and Learning

It was a real privilege to work in Barnsley, to be welcomed so warmly by the community, to see familiar faces across different sessions, and to listen to people speak about their hopes for the young people they support and from young people and families themselves.

We were continually struck by the passion, care and dedication already driving so much meaningful work across the areas. Being invited in from outside Barnsley came with a deep sense of responsibility and made it all the more important that our approach centred on sustainability and capacity-building, so that momentum could continue long after our involvement ended. We are grateful to have been part of such a committed, caring, and place-rooted ecosystem.

In Central and the Dearne, the process created space for a wide range of stakeholders, from young people and families to local council members and VCSE partners, to explore the system as it currently operates and to shape ideas for change. Listening to these different perspectives deepened understanding of what matters most, including the value of personal relationships, community identity, and the need to challenge persistent structural inequalities. It also highlighted where there are gaps in current provision, where existing strengths can be built on, and where there is energy for doing things differently.

One key learning was the importance of investing in the enabling conditions that make collaborative change possible –  collaborative mindset; healthy, trusting relationships; clarity around shared vision and purpose; collaborative behaviours; continuous shared learning; and supportive collaborative infrastructure. Drawing on our work as part of The Guide to Collaboration, we were able to track the development of these conditions across Central and the Dearne, from increased alignment around shared goals, to new spaces for reflection and experimentation. While some are already embedded in particular places or practices, they also offer a clear foundation for where to go next in order to shape the wider rollout of the Great Childhoods Ambition and help build a system that supports learning, collaboration and long-term change across Barnsley.

Overall, the work in Central and the Dearne has begun to demonstrate what it means to implement a systems change approach. It’s surfaced challenges, like the need for alignment and sustained support but has ultimately shown the value of co-production, grounding strategies in lived experience, and enabling people to experiment, learn and adapt together. With continued investment and commitment, this work offers insight for how change can be sustained and scaled across Barnsley.

As a team you hosted a series of collaborative sessions with integrity and sensitivity, enabling meaningful dialogue. Together, you guided us to connect and collaborate, and identifying the most relevant opportunities for test and learn projects, all based on the voice, needs, and energy of stakeholders.

Throughout the process, you have supported and developed our thinking and approach to system change, which has been invaluable. The insights and resources you provided, such as the guide to collaboration and the comprehensive learning report, have significantly enriched our strategic approach and understanding. As a team, we have learned a great deal from partnering with Collaborate, and this will guide us in our next steps on our journey. Thank you once again for your unwavering support and partnership—you have truly made a difference.