NAFIS Awards 2020

At the NAFIS Conference on Monday 16 November, we were delighted to host the first ever NAFIS Awards ceremony to celebrate the amazing work of local authorities all around the country.

We invited nominations from Family Information Services across England for the first set of NAFIS Awards back in October. The nominations were judged by a group of Parent Champions volunteers who looked at how well they thought each of the nominees met the criteria and parents’ needs. We were excited to be joined by Veronica and Angelina, Parent Champions from Brent, at the awards ceremony at the end of the virtual NAFIS conference.

First off, Trafford FIS won the award for the Best Promotion of the Two Year Old Offer. Trafford has improved engagement by working with multiple agencies to gather information about the local community. The FIS also devised a questionnaire to take information from families who weren’t interested in the offer so they could understand why.

Next up, Dorset FIS took home the award for the Directory of the Year. The Parent Champions judging panel said: “Within a week of lockdown, Dorset Council had worked with their directory supplier to create a filter so that parents of vulnerable children and keyworkers could search for childcare that remained open. During the COVID-19 outbreak, hundreds of free activities were offered to the county’s most vulnerable children (e.g SEND and in care). Dorset Council took the initiative of creating a special filter which was added to the directory to help families find these free activities.”

Suffolk won the NAFIS award for the Most Innovative FIS, owing to their brilliant work this year in response to COVID-19. The FIS adapted their website to allow providers to target people based on their need. The filtered list has grown to over 400 services providing specific support during the pandemic.

Derby FIS won for the Best Use of Social Media, owing to their enormous growth and creativity on digital channels. In the last 6 months, Derby FIS’ Facebook page has seen a 109% increase. A COVID School Guide for Parents was developed in the form of an infographic and this was posted not only in English but in the top 5 languages spoken across the city. Derby FIS worked closely with local children’s centres to produce video assets such as stories, song times and activities. This has proved very popular with video views reaching over 11,000.

Finally, Blackpool FIS was awarded the trophy for the Best Local Offer. Blackpool held a large-scale event with the local football team which was attended by over 60 parents and carers and an app was used to allow parents to live vote and provide feedback. Ongoing parent review meetings have taken place since lockdown and open meetings are arranged via Skype.

A huge congratulations to all nominees and award winners. Thank you for all of your incredible work and being involved in our first ever NAFIS Awards ceremony. We hope that this will be the first of many!