5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE PDF 116 KB
Purpose of the report:
To apprise the Committee of the
Executive Director’s initial observations of the Directorate,
following their first month in post.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Rachael
Wardell, Executive Director
Key
points raised during the discussion:
- The Chairman welcomed
the new Executive Director to the Select Committee meeting and
invited her to provide a summary of her findings after one month in
post.
- The Executive
Director had a high level of confidence that the council’s
children’s services had made significant improvement and were
no longer ‘inadequate’, having completed the steps of
the improvement plan from the previous Ofsted inspection (2018),
and now implementing a “Getting to Good plan”. Feedback
from the Service’s January 2021 mock inspection of the
Children’s Single Point of Access (C-SPA) and the Early Help
Hub assured the Executive Director of the rigour of the
Service’s self-evaluation
practices. The upcoming three-way peer review undertaken under the
South East Sector Led Improvement Programme would provide a further
opportunity for the Service to test its self-evaluation. The
Executive Director acknowledged that there was still more work to
be done to achieve a ‘good’ Ofsted rating, and
was meeting with Ofsted and a senior inspections officer the
following week to discuss Service readiness for the next
unannounced Ofsted visit.
- The Executive
Director informed the Select Committee that a review undertaken
jointly by the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England
confirmed that the Service had made good progress with its
provision for children with Special Educational Needs and
Disabilities (SEND) and, as a result could demonstrate clear and
sustained progress and no longer needed to be subject to DfE
scrutiny with six monthly meetings. The Executive Director and SEND
Systems Partnership had reviewed progress at the last meeting in
order to identify areas for continued focus.
- The Directorate was
operating well during the third Covid-19 lockdown despite
continuing its improvement programme and receiving frequently
changing expectations and guidance from DfE. The Executive Director was pleased to report
that a reduced workforce (due to shielding, illness and
self-isolation) was not preventing the Directorate from undertaking
essential work, and face-to-face contacts were still being carried
wherever possible. Covid-19 had delayed
some of the Service’s improvement work, but progress had not
stopped or been lost.
- During
their first month in post, the Executive Director had identified
several priority areas for the Directorate: children’s social
care improvement; children with additional needs and their families
(SEND capital programme investment in specialist placements in the
county); cultures and behaviours and inclusion practice in schools;
and supporting children and young people with mental health and
emotional wellbeing issues. At the end of 2020, the council agreed
a new contract for emotional wellbeing and mental health services,
which was now in the mobilisation phase – the Executive
Director was the chair of the Assurance Board for the programme.
The first meeting confirmed the scale of the task; however, the
workstreams were well established and met weekly, recruitment was
underway, and progress was being closely monitored. Closing the
attainment gap, which was widening due to Covid-19 restrictions,
was another Directorate priority. It was also important for the
Directorate to focus on the council’s ...
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