Ofsted says our Children's Services are 'Good'
Ofsted’s report is published today (Wednesday 31 January 2024) following a full inspection of Lewisham Council's children's services that took place over three weeks in December last year. You can download the full report from Ofsted's website by clicking here.
In their report, inspectors highlight areas of significant improvement in leadership and the quality of support provided to families, children and young people since the previous full inspection four years ago rated the service as ‘requires improvement’.
Ofsted inspectors judged the service as good across all five inspection criteria:
- Overall effectiveness
- The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families
- The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection
- The experiences and progress of children in care
- The experiences and progress of care leavers
Ofsted commented that “a determined focus by the experienced Executive Director for Children and Young People and his highly effective leadership team has driven widespread improvements in services since the last inspection in 2019. Children and young people now benefit from good, high-quality help and support.”
They recognised that, since the last inspection, "The pace of change has been purposeful, and the areas identified for improvement at previous inspections have been prioritised, leading to better outcomes for children. Staff describe leaders as approachable, visible and supportive.”
Ofsted commented that, “additional investment has been provided to strengthen services and stabilise the workforce.” With inspectors highlighting “a targeted early help service which has been fully developed and embedded since the last inspection, so that children and families receive timely and appropriate support. Partnerships with key stakeholders are well developed, supporting continued improvements for vulnerable children.”
The service’s child-focused strategy has meant that, “children benefit from creative life-story work and direct work undertaken by skilled social workers”. The experience of young people is captured by one young person’s comment, “Being a child in care in Lewisham is good and the benefits are good.”
Ofsted also recognised that, “social workers carefully consider children’s needs, including their cultural and identity needs, when seeking an appropriate foster home.” This consideration is especially important in Lewisham, an ethnically diverse borough of London, that welcomes people, wherever they are from. It was highlighted that “unaccompanied asylum-seeking children receive high quality care.” People who live here are from all cultural and religious backgrounds, some which have complex needs. This consideration is at the forefront of social workers minds when they are working with children and young people from the borough.
Ofsted praised the Council for, ‘the exemplary anti-racist practice network and safe space platform has positively supported staff from black and global majority backgrounds.”
Councillor Chris Barnham, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at Lewisham Council said: "This result is a great achievement for our children, young people, parents and carers in Lewisham and a huge credit to our staff and the senior leadership team who have worked incredibly hard since the last inspection to improve the services for our children and young people.”
“Obviously we’re pleased to get the Ofsted seal of approval. But the most important thing is that independent external scrutiny confirms what we knew about ourselves: our children’s services are providing increasingly strong support and protection to some of the most vulnerable children and families in the borough. Few things the Council does are more important.
"The inspection outcome in 2019, gave the senior leadership team and the staff in children’s services the determination to do better for our children and young people. We’re now delivering a good service for them and will continue to work on the areas where progress is needed to improve standards. Our aim is to be an outstanding service.”