The Local Authority’s children’s services has recently been inspected by Ofsted under the new rigorous Single Inspection Framework and graded as ‘Good’ meaning that services provided by our Council are among the top 25% highest performing in the country.
The inspection is predominantly about children’s social care and focuses on compliance, the quality of practice and the effectiveness of services in helping the most vulnerable children on the islands to achieve better outcomes. Over a period of 3 weeks, the 3-person inspection team scrutinised performance data, tracked and sampled casework, observed and talked to social workers and their managers, sought feedback from children, young people and parents, and met with the Council’s partners and other professionals. Inspectors choose the cases, where they go and who they see. They call this inspection method ‘triangulation’.
The Chief Inspector has stated that the bar has been raised under the current inspection regime. The new framework has 4 judgements: 'Inadequate'; 'Requires Improvement to get to Good'; 'Good' and 'Outstanding'. At the time of the inspection of children’s services on the Isles of Scilly over 73% of local authority children’s services inspected under this regime had been rated overall as Inadequate or Requires Improvement.
Inspectors found a number of significant strengths in practice on the islands and stated ‘Children who require the involvement of children’s services, from early help to specialist support, receive a consistently good service. Through a clear understanding of their community, leaders and managers have designed their early help, child in need and child protection processes and systems to effectively meet the needs of local families, while complying with statutory and legal requirements.’
The Chairman of the Council of the Isles of Scilly, Cllr Amanda Martin, commented: ‘Achieving an Ofsted rating of Good is a significant achievement for any Local Authority especially given that the bar has been raised. It is a testament to the dedication of our staff, elected members and partners that we are able to provide such high quality services in a geographically isolated setting. Most importantly this is good for the children of the Isles of Scilly.’
The current Lead Member for Children, Cllr Fran Grottick, added: ‘I am sure the previous Lead Member for Children, Cllr Avril Mumford who was in post during the inspection period, joins me in congratulating the whole team in achieving this very good report and grading. It is very exciting and rewarding to work together to keep children safe and to aim to help them achieve their full potential. We look to the whole community to help us in this vital work’.
The full report is available at http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/local-authorities/isles-of-scilly