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Children services Ofsted inspection report

Our children’s services have been rated “outstanding” by Ofsted following an inspection in May, making Kent one of the best-performing councils in the country.

The Ofsted report, published on 5 July 2022, records the top score in 3 of the 4 categories and “good” in the fourth, with the overall effectiveness in providing children’s services as “outstanding”.

Findings from the inspection

Ofsted found that children are at the centre of our culture and practice, where they are supported and cared for by an experienced and skilled workforce who listen and respond to their views and feelings.

Inspectors found that when families need help with the care of their children, or if there are concerns about the safety of a child, they get a swift response and good help and support from children’s social care services. They also commended staff on the way they worked with family members and friends to help them support children and young people to stay with their own families.

Workers from the early help and social work teams were praised for the time they spend in getting to know the children and young people they work with and for trying to understand the difficulties they and their parents are facing to come up with a good plan to support them.

Ofsted praised the “outstanding practice” for children in care and young people leaving care, who “clearly benefit from the support they receive and make good progress.”

It recognised that Kent children’s services have faced considerable additional pressures brought by the pandemic, rising caseloads and needing to care for and protect the “unparalleled numbers” of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in the county. The report states that “senior leaders and frontline staff have responded well to these exceptional circumstances” and praised us for continuing to improve children’s services during the pandemic.

Ofsted also reported that all staff they spoke to were “rightly proud of the work they do and proud of the progress they make with children and families to improve their situations,” and “love working for Kent”.

Ofsted praised our political leadership for their commitment to championing and protecting children, which is backed by “sound financial investment”. They commented that “the director of children’s services and his senior management team, the lead member for children’s services and the head of paid services keep themselves well appraised of key challenges and service issues, exercising appropriate oversight and scrutiny.”

They went on to say that the council “promotes corporate problem-solving and shared responsibility for its services.”

Results of the inspection

Ofsted inspectors visited Kent’s children’s services in May this year. They scored our children’s services against 4 judgements:

• The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families – Outstanding
• The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection – Good
• The experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers – Outstanding
• Overall effectiveness - Outstanding

The Ofsted report also found that senior leaders took effective action in the areas identified at the last inspection in 2017, with progress “evident in all the areas identified for improvement”. The report also stated that senior leaders “have also taken the required steps to make improvements in the areas identified at the focused visit in 2019, strengthening the responses to children at the ‘front door’ of their services and ensuring children are quickly directed to the most appropriate services.”

Read the full Ofsted report

Our children's services

Find our more about our children's services:

• children in care
• early help service
• protecting children
• help for children with a disability.

If you are interested in joining our team take a look a careers in children's social care .

• About the council
• Plans, policies and strategies
• Children, families and schools

Ofsted reports

Find out more about our rating from Ofsted inspectors.

Ofsted inspectors have rated Torbay’s Children’s Services as ‘Good’ and have described our significant improvement as an “impressive achievement”

Between March 21 and April 1 2022, Ofsted did a full inspection of our Children’s Services. 

Ofsted published their report on 18 May 2022. They said that the service is now delivering good outcomes for children, families, and young people in Torbay.

Read the full report

Read the full news story

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Children services improvement plan and Ofsted report

Details of our plan to improve Croydon's children services and our latest Ofsted report from February 2020.

Guide Navigation

Ofsted report – february 2020.

In the latest round of inspections, Ofsted rated Croydon's children's social care services as 'good'. 

Inspectors found that our 'services for children in need of help and protection are good, and services for children in care and care leavers are improving well.'

Ofsted added that the council 'demonstrates a relentless determination to deliver high-quality services to all children in Croydon’ and our social workers ‘feel valued’ and 'enjoy working in the borough.'

Ofsted report 2020

Download the full Ofsted report 2020  (PDF, 369KB)

Video of Croydon's Children's services

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Guidance: Reporting serious incidents in a children’s social care service to Ofsted

Report a serious incident in your service.

Childrens social care providers must report serious incidents (sometimes called notifiable events) to Ofsted.

Choose to report an incident in a:

• childrens home or secure childrens home
• independent fostering agency
• residential family centre
• residential holiday scheme for disabled children
• voluntary adoption agency
• adoption support agency
• supported accommodation service

Serious incident reports

What you need to report depends on what service you work in and how serious the incident is.

Ofsted inspectors will use the information provided by serious incident reports as part of their inspections under the Social Care Common Inspection Framework .

Ofsted may also take enforcement action if necessary under their Social care enforcement policy .

Your Ofsted record will automatically update when you report an incident to us.

Who can report a serious incident

Any member of staff can use the serious incident reporting form to tell Ofsted about an incident.

However, registered managers and providers are responsible for:

• making sure incidents are reported to Ofsted
• the quality of reports completed by their staff

What to include in your report

Your report needs to be more than a list of times and events. An inspector needs to know:

• the type of incident and a summary of what happened
• when and where the incident happened
• your contact details and the details for your service and members of staff
• what other organisations have been told
• details of any children involved
• initials and job titlesof any staff and people involved
• actions taken by staff and managers at the time and planned prevention measures

Updating a serious incident report

The only time you should use the form to send an update is to tell us about the conclusion of a child protection enquiry. All other incidents only need one report. Do not use the form to update Ofsted about any other incident, including any updates to child protection enquiries that have not been concluded.

If you have already reported an incident to us and you want to provide a further update, send an email to your inspector.

Sending updates about a child protection enquiry

You must use the form to tell us:

• if a child protection enquiry has started or concluded
• the outcome of the child protection enquiry.

When you report the conclusion of an enquiry, you need to include the incident reference number that Ofsted gave you when you reported the start of the enquiry. Provide this number when the form prompts you to.

You will need to provide some of the same information again, as well as information about the conclusion of the enquiry.

What Ofsted will do with your report

Ofsted may talk to you about reports you have made at your next inspection and could also:

• look for records of previous serious incidents and how you assessed risk
• contact you to discuss the incident, request additional information or ask you to send updates to your inspector
• write to you asking for a comprehensive report on the steps you have taken (which may be in the form of an action plan) in response to the incident
• carry out an inspection or monitoring visit
• gather further information and evidence before making a decision about taking enforcement action

You can read more about what action we may take in our Social care enforcement policy: How we act on information .

Ofsteds inspector may discuss serious incidents with you during your inspection to gain an understanding of incidents and what actions staff have taken to address them.

This conversation is likely to be wider than the process of reporting (or not reporting) a serious incident. It will focus on safeguarding practices and outcomes for children. This is intended to reassure Ofsted that the matter is being appropriately managed.

Regulations governing what services must report to Ofsted

Independent fostering agencies.

Under the Fostering Regulations 2011 , independent fostering homes must tell Ofsted about certain incidents.

Residential holiday schemes for disabled children

Under the Residential Holiday Schemes for Disabled Children (England) Regulations 2013 , residential holiday schemes must tell Ofsted about certain incidents.

Residential family centres

Under the Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 , residential family centres must tell Ofsted about certain incidents.

Adoption agencies and adoption support agencies

Adoption agencies and adoption support agencies need to report some incidents to Ofsted under the:

• Adoption Support Agencies (England) and Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2005
• Voluntary Adoption Agencies and the Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) regulations 2003

Childrens homes and secure childrens homes

Under Childrens Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 childrens homes and secure childrens homes must tell Ofsted about certain incidents.

Supported accommodation

Supported accommodation services need to report some incidents to Ofsted under the The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 .

Updated to make it easier for people to choose specific guidance for their childrens social care services.

View the original news story

Related Articles

• Guidance: Tell Ofsted about a serious incident in a children’s home or secure children’s home Thursday, 26 Oct
• Press release: Children in foster care feel safe where they live – Ofsted survey Thursday, 19 Oct
• Ofsted publishes data for children's social care in England 2015 Thursday, 13 Aug
• Research: Children’s social care questionnaires 2022: what children and young people told Ofsted Thursday, 22 Dec
• Press release: Ofsted Annual Report: Pandemic recovery slowed by workforce crisis in children’s education and care Tuesday, 13 Dec

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Produced by the Jersey Care Commission (Other organisations) Authored by Jersey Care Commission and published on 06 Sep 2018 Prepared internally, no external cost

​The report summarises findings from The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspection of children's social work services. It also sets out recommendations drawn up by the Care Commission.

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bristol.gov.uk

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• Social care and health
• Children and families
• 10 March 2023: Ofsted inspection report of Children’s Services

Ofsted carried out an inspection of Bristol City Council Children's Services from 16 to 27 January 2023.

• full report detailing the findings of the inspection
• pdf summary letter of the findings ( 198 KB )

We fully accept and welcome the findings of the report, which recognises Children's Services have made significant improvements since the previous inspection in 2018.

• Support for parents and carers
• Adoption, fostering and private fostering
• Caring for a family or friend's child
• Concerns about a child
• Help for families
• Children in employment
• Social work contact details: children and young people
• Complain or comment about children's social care services
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Middlesbrough headteacher 'immensely proud' as school that 'change lives' praised by Ofsted

Students and staff at a Teesside primary have been praised for creating a school held in 'high esteem' by its community.

Ofsted inspectors had high praise for River Tees Primary Academy, in Pallister Park , Middlesbrough , after a two day inspection of the alternate provision for children aged eight to 11.

The good grading comes at a time of increasing demand for services offered by the school, which helps children to re-engage with education against a backdrop of social, emotional and mental health issues and special educational needs.

• READ MORE: Wynyard Mum's fury at council delays over plans for beach school and nursery
• READ MORE: Primary that's 'like being part of a family' celebrates Ofsted success

Part of the River Tees Multi Academy Trust, the primary will be relocating from Sulby Avenue to Charlbury Road, in the next academic year, to a larger site allowing staff to expand their provision and offer more places to meet the growing demand for specialist support in Middlesbrough. The Ofsted report comes on the heels of the school securing the Leading Parent Partnership Award issued by the professional body Optimus Education.

This details how "parents appreciate how the staff go over and above to ensure that their children and families are given the best possible support". River Tees Primary Academy serves some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country. The school supports pupils who have been excluded, are at risk of exclusion or pupils with a varying level of SEND needs in order to access education.

It has just appointed a new role of transition and inclusion lead to provide an outreach and intervention package to support local schools. Headteacher Sophie Moss said: "I am immensely proud to lead a team of incredibly driven and dedicated staff, who go over and above to provide our pupils the opportunity to not only re-engage in education but to develop a love of learning. The report reflects the positive impact we have – we change lives.

"Our pupils are amazing and were so keen to show inspectors their work. They wouldn't stop reading because they were enjoying it so much." Inspectors highlighted that leaders and staff successfully focussed on 'getting the basics right'. They had established a calm school where pupils followed routines and behaved well.

The report stated: "Pupils are well placed to learn. The ambitious curriculum is designed to equip them with the core knowledge they need to succeed in mainstream schools. Pupils are quick to settle having struggled to access learning in their mainstream schools. They are happy and safe. Under the patient guidance of staff, pupils can better manage their feelings and behaviour. Pupils conduct themselves well in lessons and around the school. Their behaviour improves markedly over time.

"Staff and pupils enjoy respectful relationships. These help pupils to develop positive attitudes to their learning. They gain the resilience to stick at their work even when it gets tricky. Pupils, including the many with special educational needs and/or disabilities, learn an ambitious curriculum that helps them to close gaps in their literacy and numeracy knowledge. Many achieve well."

Inspectors also praised the fact that pupils benefitted from the school's 'impressive' personal development programme and they highlighted the school's carefully crafted curriculum which 'ignited' interest in reading. They said: "Pupils are confident to speak out if they feel anxious or unsafe. They know that staff listen to them and help to resolve any problems they have.

“Pupils' sense of self-worth grows through the optimistic, caring ethos that leaders and staff have instilled. Pupils, parents, staff and commissioning headteachers hold the school in high esteem."

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• Education, training and skills

Ofsted displays school sub-judgements on reports website

From today, Ofsted will display each of the sub-judgements awarded to an individual school – alongside its overall effectiveness grade – at the top of its inspection report web page.

• Ofsted inspection report website now showing all sub-judgements for schools, along with overall effectiveness grade.
• Parents able to see at-a-glance what schools have achieved in graded inspections since September 2019.

This change means parents are now able to see, at-a-glance, a more rounded picture of a school, including the quality of education on offer, the strength of leadership, its approach to behaviour and pupils’ attitudes to learning, and how it will support their child’s personal development.

Ofsted will now publish sub-judgements for all past and future graded school inspections carried out under the Education Inspection Framework , which launched in September 2019. 

The 4 sub-judgements are: 

• Quality of education
• Behaviour and attitudes
• Personal development
• Leadership and management

The inspection report website will also display the sub-judgement for any early years or sixth form provision at a school.

Ofsted Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said:

Parents are now able to see all a school’s sub-judgments without having to open its full report. This will help them see a more rounded, contextual picture of how well a school is doing and how it might work for their child. I hope this change shows that we have listened to parents and teachers, and that, while our Big Listen continues until the end of the month, we are acting where we can now. This change is a small but important step in helping parents get more from Ofsted’s inspection reports.

• School inspection reports can be found on the Ofsted inspection report website .
• The Big Listen runs until 31 May. Find out more at gov.uk/ofstedbiglisten

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