Setting

SERVICES 2005

This letter summarises the findings of the meeting held on 25 July 2005 to assess the performance of the education and social care services within your authority. We are grateful for the information which you provided to support this process and for the time made available by yourself and your colleagues to discuss relevant issues. This letter takes account of matters decided at the moderation process after our meeting and of later discussion with the chief executive.

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Being healthy

The outcomes in this area are very good.

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Being healthy

A good number of schools have achieved the Healthy Schools Standard. The Healthy Schools Strategic Partnership forms an effective basis for joint strategic planning and leadership of this work and health bodies have supported the initiative by contributing funding to the operational team.

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Being healthy

Inspection evidence shows that schools comply with the requirements on sex and relationship education. Good strategies are in place for preventative services including youth clubs offering condom distribution services. Teenage pregnancy rates are following a positive downward trend with targets for 2004 expected to be met.

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Being healthy

Good communication and consultation is taking place with children and young people regarding health developments. A very high percentage of children and families responded positively to the action taken to improve emotional well being. There is a good focus on improving looked after children’s health, including the involvement of a health advisor in the fostering panel. Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 email: edhelpline@ofsted.gov.uk

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Being healthy

Gavin Tonkin Director of Lifelong Learning Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council Oldgate House 2 Oldgate Huddersfield HD1 6QF Philip Cotterill OBE Director of Social Affairs and Health Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council Oldgate House 2 Oldgate Huddersfield HD1 6QF

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Staying safe

Outcomes in this area are good overall with a few areas for development.

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Staying safe

Safeguarding is strong. Child protection processes work well and children are safe. Good support is in place to aid young runaways and their families involving protocols with the police. Good use is made of in-house respite care, with all establishments meeting the national minimum standards.

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Staying safe

The low proportion of looked after children indicates the success of the council’s long- standing investment in family support. There are a number of children placed out of the council area but this is undertaken in the best interest of the children, either for their safety and protection or to be nearer to their family. Placements and reviews of children on the Child Protection Register (CPR) are very good. The short-term stability of looked after children continues to be good.

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Staying safe

Strong partnerships and joint working are in place for the transition of young people with disabilities to adult services. Complex work, including child protection investigations, is supported by transition workers within the children-with-a-disability team. The Parent Partnership Service communicates well with parents of children with special educational needs and provides helpful information.

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Staying safe

The level of referrals leading to assessment is much higher than comparators. The council needs to ensure that all agencies are operating jointly on the referral and assessment process.

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Enjoying and achieving

The number of childcare places has increased well. However, more settings are required to improve their provision on inspection than is the case nationally. The quality of nursery education is better than the national picture. Standards of attainment in Key Stage 1 are above those in similar areas. Reading standards have risen steadily but attainment in writing has declined recently.

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Enjoying and achieving

Standards at Key Stages 2 and 3 are in line with similar areas but improvement in English at Key Stage 2 was slower than the national rate last year. Attainment at the higher grades of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is in line with similar areas but improvement has been slower than the national rate for the last two years and pupils make less progress from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 than they do nationally. The proportion of pupils achieving at least one GCSE is consistently better than in similar areas. This may well be linked to pupils’ school attendance, which has improved consistently in both primary and secondary schools. Authorised absence from secondary schools is below the national figure. The attainment of black and minority ethnic groups is improving but in some cases the gap between their performance and that of the overall population has not yet been closed.

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Enjoying and achieving

Opportunities for young people to take part in study support, use museums and participate in youth service activities are taken up well. In many respects schools provide good opportunities for enrichment and learning outside the school day. However, there are relatively few primary schools where teaching or learning are of the highest quality; in too many these are only satisfactory. Similarly, there are a few secondary schools where pupils’ attitudes are only satisfactory. Most seriously, the proportion of schools in an Ofsted category of concern is greater than is seen either nationally or in similar areas. The proportion requiring special measures is particularly high. Seven schools required special measures in July 2005.

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Enjoying and achieving

The support given to vulnerable pupils is often effective. There is a good strategy for the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and the council works well with partners such as the health trusts. The proportion of care leavers achieving at least one GCSE is good and the proportion with five higher grades is improving. A recent improvement in looked after children’s school attendance must be continued as their absence is still above the national figure. Fewer pupils are excluded from school than nationally, and they are re-integrated well into mainstream schools. However, some excluded pupils did not receive their statutory entitlement of full-time education, a situation that the council had plans to remedy.

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Enjoying and achieving

Some aspects of the council’s support to schools are particularly effective, such as its guidance on the use of attainment data, and its support for a broad primary curriculum.

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Enjoying and achieving

There are too many surplus places in secondary schools but the council has this matter under consideration.

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Making a positive contribution

The council has a good framework for consulting young people. Many people are trained in representing others, and a large number take positions of responsibility. Some of the strategies of the council and its partners have been affected by suggestions made by young representatives. Nursery and school pupils’ personal and social development is broadly positive, although it is less good than it should be in a few secondary schools. Partnership between the council and the health trusts gives effective support to vulnerable young people, especially those with special educational needs. The machinery for giving vulnerable young people a say in planning their own future is often effective. However, fewer looked after children contribute to their statutory review than is the case nationally. The performance of the young offending team has mainly met its targets. The number of looked after children who offend has reduced

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Making a positive contribution

but is still too high. The council is aiming to focus on offending and absences from school through its local public service agreement strategy.

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Achieving economic well-being

The proportion of young people participating in post-16 education or training or entering employment is the highest in West Yorkshire. Vulnerable young people contribute to this: care leavers have a very good participation rate, and many teenage parents enter education, training or employment.

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Achieving economic well-being

Many secondary schools have collaborated to improve the curriculum for 14 to 19 year- olds by working in collegiates. This development has considerable potential. Provision for those with special educational needs post-16 is less good and may require a regional solution.

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Achieving economic well-being

Support for care leavers is generally good, but too few have a Pathway Plan.

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Strengths Areas for improvement

Being healthy: • school engagement • partnership between agencies • CAMHS services for acute mental health needs for YOT clients are made effectively and within time • health assessments of children looked after • reduction in teenage pregnancy. Being healthy: • one PRU is unsatisfactory in participation in sport. Staying safe: • child protection processes • transition support for young people with disabilities • short-term stability of looked after children (with three or more placements in a year) continues to be very good • all child protection cases are reviewed and all cases allocated There are no ongoing serious case reviews • protocols with police, which provides support to young runaways and their families • initial assessments within time have increased to 65%. Staying safe: • there are higher levels of referrals than comparators • referrals result in lower levels of initial assessments (21% of referrals result in initial

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Strengths Areas for improvement

assessments) than comparators • timescales for core assessments have dropped.

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Strengths Areas for improvement

Enjoying and achieving: • increases in childcare provision • school attendance • permanent exclusion and re- integration of pupils • SEN strategy • improvements in attainment by looked after children. Enjoying and achieving: • support for childcare providers • rates of improvement in attainment at Key Stages 2 and 4 • the number of schools causing concern • surplus places in secondary schools • school attendance of looked after children. Making a positive contribution: • the council’s framework for consulting children and young people • multi-agency support for vulnerable young people. Making a positive contribution: • involvement of some vulnerable children in planning their own progress • proportion of looked after children who offend. Achieving economic well-being: • the proportion of young people progressing to education, training or employment • 14 to 19 collegiate developments. Achieving economic well-being: • the use of Pathway Plans for care

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Service management

The council is ambitious for social care and for education, and is well placed to take an integrated approach to children’s services. It has undertaken some innovative work, such as its strategy for family support and the development of school collaboration at 14 to 19. Considerable progress has been made on some difficult issues, such as the reintegration of some excluded pupils. In general it invests well to support its strategies. It collaborates well with partners such as the health trusts, and has built an effective partnership with schools. Central commissioning with partners is progressing well. Consultation with young people has considerable strengths.

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Service management

The council has recognised some key weaknesses, such as the recent slowing down of improvement in educational attainment, and the lack of appropriate provision for some pupils out of school, and has made significant new investments of funds in an attempt to solve them. It has also made a further investment to accelerate progress in schools with significant weaknesses. It has listened to external criticism and responded well. Progress has been made on some areas in which the council has been weak: its speed of completing special educational need statements has improved greatly and the school attendance of its looked after children has improved slightly. The council now has a plan to address the large number of surplus school places. Overall, the council has given good leadership on difficult issues.

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Service management

The council’s capacity for further improvement is excellent.

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Staying safe

Agencies collaborate to safeguard children according to the requirements of current government guidance:

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Staying safe

• the use of threshold agreements for referrals.

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Enjoying and achieving

Action is taken to ensure that educational provision 5-16 is of good quality:

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Enjoying and achieving

• challenge to under-performing schools • support for improving pupils’ attainment at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4.

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Enjoying and achieving

Children and young people who are looked after are helped to enjoy and achieve:

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Enjoying and achieving

• support for school attendance of looked after children.

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Making a positive contribution

Children and young people, particularly those from vulnerable groups, are supported in managing changes and responding to challenges in their lives:

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Making a positive contribution

• the involvement of young people in planning their own futures.

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Final judgements

Please see your final annual performance assessment judgements attached at the end of this letter.

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Flo Hadley

Divisional Manager Office for Standards in Education

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Jonathan Phillips

Director – Quality, Performance and Methods Commission for Social Care Inspection

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APA final judgements 2005: Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

The contribution of the local authority’s social care services in maintaining and improving outcomes for children and young people The contribution of local authority’s education services in maintaining and improving outcomes for children and young people. The contribution of the local authority’s children’s services in maintaining and improving outcomes for children and young people. The council’s overall capacity to improve its services for children and young people 4

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APA final judgements 2005: Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

Grade Service descriptors Capacity to improve descriptors A service that delivers well above minimum requirements for users Very good

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APA final judgements 2005: Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

A service that consistently delivers above minimum requirements for users Good/promising

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APA final judgements 2005: Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

A service that delivers only minimum requirements for users Adequate

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APA final judgements 2005: Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

A service that does not deliver minimum requirements for users Inadequate

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