Ofsted outstanding for Kingston children’s services
Ofsted has rated our provision of children’s services in Kingston as outstanding, following an inspection in October 2019.
Inspectors commented on the significant improvements that we have made since the last inspection in 2015 when they received a ‘good’ rating.
The four day inspection took place between 21 and 25 October, when inspectors visited various services including Early Help, Referral and Assessment, Child Protection, Children Looked After and Youth Resilience.
Under the new framework, services are rated against four key areas: AfC scored outstanding for their overall effectiveness, impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families as well as the experiences and progress of children in care. A ‘good’ rating was given for the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection.
- Some of the highlights of Ofsted’s report published on 19 December are:
- Senior managers and elected members determination to provide the best possible services, based on a comprehensive understanding of the needs of children and families in the borough.
- Relationships with partner agencies are strong, with good engagement in improving services for children and young people locally.
- A strong performance management culture, with an equally strong focus on practice and learning.
- Staff are highly skilled, well-motivated and taking great pride in their work and are well supported by their managers.
- Children in need of help and protection receive timely and well-targeted support with multi-agency work well-established and contributing to reducing risks.
- Services for children in care and care leavers are impressive.
- Children and young people are given every opportunity to flourish and inform service development.
Ian Dodds, our Managing Director said: “I’m delighted we have achieved the highest possible rating from Ofsted for our children’s services in Kingston. The determination, hard work and ambition to improve – from our skilled and thoughtful practitioners right through to our senior leaders and partners – has led to this result. For Ofsted to recognise the progress we have made and the excellence of our services for the most vulnerable children and young people in our borough makes me extremely pleased and incredibly proud.”
A full copy of the Ofsted report can be found on the Ofsted website.
19 December 2019
