Kingston Council has been awarded ‘outstanding’ for its children’s services after it was given an “inadequate” rating six years prior.
The inspection which took four day saw the inspectors visit various sites in Kingston as part of Achieving for Children, a local interest group that concentrates on the wellbeing and education of young people.
Ian Dodds, managing director of Achieving for Children, said: “The determination, hard work and ambition to improve – from our skilled and thoughtful practitioners right through to our senior leaders and partners – has led to this result.”
The services were rated in four separate areas: overall effectiveness, the impact of leaders on social work, practice with children and families, and the experiences and progress of children in care which was awarded “outstanding”.
The final area – the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection – was awarded “good”.
It was noted the staff are highly skilled, motivated, and took great pride in their work and their managers are supportive.
The full report stated that children and young people are given every opportunity to flourish and inform service development.
Ofsted gave the council some areas to improve on; the need to look at children in need plans regularly with professionals and to offer services for post-16 pathways into employment.
Kingston Council’s portfolio holder for children’s services Cllr Diane White, said: “The hard work does not stop here.
“We need to continue to build on what we have achieved and continue to strive to improve what we do for our children and young people.”
