Greenwich Council has been rated ‘outstanding’ in its children’s services department by Ofsted after investing £1.3million in kids’ mental health support and working hard to make staff want to work there. The education watchdog praised the authority for its treatment of staff as well as its ability to work with partners.
The result has seen the authority receive an ‘outstanding’ rating for the first time since the new framework for inspections was introduced. The council and its partners were praised in a variety of areas, receiving outstanding grades in the following areas:
- Leaders having a positive impact on social work practice
- Children in care progressing and having positive experiences
- The progress and experiences of care leavers
- The overall effectiveness of the provision
Greenwich Council had received a ‘good’ rating in its previous two inspections. Labour Councillor Anthony Okereke, leader of the council, said an emphasis had been placed on recruiting more foster parents, ultimately leading to an improvement in the service. He added that the council had recently invested in providing new emotional wellbeing hubs in schools to support children’s wellbeing, due to open in September.
Cllr Okereke told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We’ve done work to invest £1.3 million in setting up eight wellbeing hubs. Obviously we know that there is a national mental health issue. We’ve devised a local solution to help tackle this national issue, to make sure kids in Greenwich get the mental health support that they need.”
The service was also praised for its treatment of staff, as workforce retention rates were noted to be ‘impressive’. Leaders were said to promote the wellbeing of staff seriously, with workers expressing a strong sense of loyalty in exchange. The council leader said the authority and its partners had pursued a collective effort to consistently improve services.
Cllr Okereke said: “The leadership from the front is really there and we make sure that we challenge our staff even more. But not just our staff, we also challenge our partners.”
The council leader said the positive result stood as a credit to the council, showing that children and young people were safe in the authority’s hands. He said his experience of education while growing up was affected while he was receiving treatment for his sickle cell disease.
Cllr Okereke said: “I have come into this knowing that we can’t afford to fail children who have challenges in their lives and the way we overcome that is making sure that we understand how we support them so they can achieve the right outcomes. It’s not just a priority for me, it’s an ambition to make sure people don’t have the lived experience that I had.”
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Pictures: Greenwich Council staff and partners shown celebrating the latest Ofsted result. Credit: Greenwich Council
