Children's services 'performing well'

Children's services in the Royal Borough are performing well and maintaining the standards set over the last few years, according to the latest Ofsted report.

The annual assessment - which covers the whole range of children's services including schools, fostering and adoption, social care, early years and childcare, community and youth, safeguarding and special needs for 2009 - sees the borough earn a rating of three on the four-point scale.

The report, released today (Thursday 9 December) highlights:
• the large majority of the services inspected by Ofsted are good or better
• performance against most national indicators is above or in line with the average for similar areas and the national figures, and
• most children and young people enjoy good health and do well in their education.

The borough's fostering service again receives particular praise, being rated as outstanding and the adoption service good. Private fostering arrangements are rated good along with most childcare.

The youth offending service is also singled out as working very well. Strategies to reduce offending by young people are reported as having a positive impact, with young offenders much more likely to be in education, training or work and much less likely to re-offend than in other, similar areas.

In schools, the number of young people aged 19 who gain qualifications equivalent to five or more good GCSEs or two A-levels is consistently well above average, while the number of young people with poor school attendance is well below average and has reduced at a faster rate than in similar areas.

Outcomes for care leavers are much better than those seen nationally. All of those leaving in 2009 have a place to live that meets their needs and the very large majority are in work, education or training.
Cllr Eileen Quick, lead member for children's services, said: "The care and support of our young people is so important and we continue to strive to provide the best possible service to them in school, care and the community.

"I am pleased to see these efforts reflected in this report - but we will definitely not rest on our laurels and will continue to put every effort into maintaining and improving our services."

While the report does not highlight any specific areas of concern, it says there is room for improvement in special education.

The borough's special school, Manor Green (previously Holyport Manor), improved from adequate to good at its most recent inspection. However the report says there is scope to increase the number of 17-year-olds in education or training and to close the gap in attainment between those with special educational needs and the majority of children and young people.

How do you rate this information/service?