Setting

Mr Peter Lewis Director of the Children and Young People's Service London Borough of Haringey 3rd Floor, 48 Station Road Wood Green London, N22 7TY

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Annual children’s services assessment

Ofsted guidance published in July 2010 explains that the annual assessment of children’s services is derived from the performance profile of the quality of services and outcomes for children and young people in each local area. This performance profile, published in August 2010, includes findings from across Ofsted’s inspection and regulation of services and settings for which the local authority has strategic or operational responsibilities, either alone or in partnership with others, together with data from the relevant indicators in the National Indicator Set (NIS).

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Annual children’s services assessment

In reaching the assessment of children’s services, Ofsted has taken account of all inspected and regulated services for children and young people, arrangements for making sure children are safe and stay safe and performance against national measures. More weight has been given to the outcomes of Ofsted’s inspections and regulatory visits (Blocks A and B in the performance profile).

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Annual children’s services assessment

The annual assessment derives from a four point scale:

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Annual children’s services assessment

4 Performs excellently An organisation that significantly exceeds minimum requirements 3 Performs well An organisation that exceeds minimum requirements 2 Performs adequately An organisation that meets only minimum requirements 1 Performs poorly An organisation that does not meet minimum requirements

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Annual children’s services assessment

Within each level there will be differing standards of provision. For example, an assessment of ‘performs excellently’ does not mean all aspects of provision are perfect. Similarly, an assessment of ‘performs poorly’ does not mean there are no adequate or even good aspects. As in 2009, while the performance profile remains central to Ofsted’s assessment, meeting or not meeting the minimum requirements alone does not define the grade. The assessment has involved the application of inspector judgement. Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1231 Textphone 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 020 7421 6666 Direct F 020 7421 5633 Juliet.Winstanley@ofsted.gov.uk

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2010

In November 2008 and June 2009, inspections of safeguarding in Haringey identified serious weaknesses and judged safeguarding to be inadequate. A full inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services was carried out in January 2011 to assess the progress made in addressing these weaknesses and judge the impact of this on the outcomes for children and young people. The publication of the 2010 children’s services assessment letter for Haringey was therefore deferred to March 2011 so that the outcome of the more recent inspection could be taken into consideration. This assessment letter is based on the August 2010 performance profile and the January 2011 inspection of safeguarding and looked after children’s services.

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

Children’s services in the London Borough of Haringey perform adequately.

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

In 2009 children’s services were assessed to be performing poorly due to significant weaknesses in areas of social care provision. The special joint area review commissioned in November 2008 by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families judged safeguarding services to be inadequate. However, the February 2010 inspection of the progress made in the provision of safeguarding services and the subsequent unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements in August 2010 both demonstrated good progress. In January 2011 an inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services judged the overall effectiveness of both services in Haringey as adequate. The improvement in services to safeguard children and young people confirmed by the very recent inspection is pivotal to the assessment of performing adequately for children’s services overall.

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

Overall, the majority of Haringey’s services, settings and institutions inspected by Ofsted are good or better. Taken together just under half of early years and childcare provision is good or better, which is a lower proportion than found elsewhere; there is also more inadequate provision than found nationally. The quality of nursery and early years provision in primary schools is more positive, as the large majority is good or outstanding. The majority of primary schools are good or better and only one primary school is currently inadequate, but over a third are only satisfactory. Less than half of local secondary schools are good or better, as five of the 11 are only satisfactory and one secondary school is currently inadequate. There are proportionately fewer good or better secondary schools in Haringey than found elsewhere. The large majority of school sixth forms are good or better and the local

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

general further education college is good.

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

All of the four special schools are at least good, but the two pupil referral units are only satisfactory. The local authority fostering agency is good and the local authority adoption agency is satisfactory. Private fostering arrangements are good. There are three local authority children’s homes; of these, one is good, one satisfactory and one is currently inadequate. Four of the five private and voluntary children’s homes in the borough are adequate or better.

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

National performance measures show most outcomes for children and young people, including those for educational attainment, are in line with or above the appropriate comparator. However, the number of five-year-olds that achieve a good level of development, although broadly in line with similar areas, is not improving at the same pace and performance is in the bottom 25% nationally. Strategies to help children from low-income families do as well as others of the same age narrowed the achievement gap in 2009 at both the age of 11 and 16.

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Children’s services assessment Performs adequately (2)

Key areas for further development ƒ Improve the overall quality of early years and childcare settings and secondary schools. ƒ Improve the quality of children’s homes and pupil referral units. ƒ Improve educational outcomes for the youngest children, including those from low-income families.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Arrangements to encourage children and young people to live healthy lives are good in the majority of services and settings, although childcare provision, pupil referral units and children’s homes are less effective in this respect. Most health performance measures show outcomes are at least in line with similar areas. The teenage pregnancy rate remains higher than average for inner London. However, targeted intervention is making a difference as the latest data show a significant reduction. Childhood obesity has reduced among 11-year-olds and levels are now lower than in similar areas. However, it has increased among five-year-old children, although it is in line with similar areas.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Highly visible and committed leadership, including that of the local safeguarding children board and the Haringey children’s trust, has strengthened safeguarding provision and systems over the past 18 months and services are now adequate. Front-line staff involved in the safeguarding of children are knowledgeable and hard working. Due to increased demand the pressure on safeguarding services remains high. Senior leaders and managers pay close attention to measures of individual service performance but joint evaluation of the impact of different services on improving safeguarding outcomes is an area for development. The very large majority of schools have good arrangements to help children stay safe. However, childcare provision and children’s homes are less effective in this respect.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The large majority of primary schools and the majority of secondary schools are good at helping children and young people to enjoy their learning and achieve well. Pupil referral units and private and voluntary children’s homes are, however, not as effective in this respect. Although the number of children achieving a good level of development by the end of their Reception Year at school is broadly in line with similar areas in 2009, performance is not improving as it is in similar areas and is significantly below the national average. Five-year-olds from low-income families are also not achieving as well as the average for similar areas and the gap between this group of children and their peers has widened. Since 2006 test and examination results for 11- and 16-year-olds have improved at twice the national rate. In 2009, test results for 11-year-olds were broadly in line with similar areas, but 12 primary

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Outcomes for children and young people

schools did not meet the required standards in these tests. However, 2010 data show a significant improvement in results, especially for boys, and the number of primaries not meeting the required standard has reduced well to three schools. At the age of 16, despite further improvement in GCSE results in both 2009 and 2010, performance is below that found nationally and in similar areas. Strategies to narrow the gap between both 11- and 16-year-olds from low-income families and others of the same age are beginning to have an impact. Educational outcomes for looked after children and young people are better than elsewhere.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Youth Council and UK Youth Parliament events offer opportunities for young people to be actively involved in issues that concern them. There has been a significant improvement in the number of young people taking part in organised activities outside of school and more young people are participating than elsewhere. The rate of re-offending by young people in Haringey has reduced and performance is better than in similar areas. By most performance measures the youth offending service works well.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are gaining more GCSE and A level or equivalent qualifications by the age of 19 than in previous years and performance is in line with the average for similar areas. A high proportion of young people from low-income backgrounds are also gaining better qualifications by this age. Following previous good reduction, the number of young people aged 16 to 18 that are not in work, education or training did not reduce in 2010, but remained the same. Performance is in line with the average for similar areas. There has been a good reduction in the number of young people whose current activity is not known, as maintaining contact with young people and tracking their destinations have improved.

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Prospects for improvement

The Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan 2009–2020 is appropriately ambitious. It is underpinned by a comprehensive assessment of needs which is updated annually and demonstrates a good understanding of issues. A clear three year implementation plan outlines how the priorities will be delivered up to 2012.

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Prospects for improvement

The very recent inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services judged capacity for improvement in both services to be good. There has been significant and sustained improvement in safeguarding in the borough since 2009. There is a good awareness of strengths and areas needing further improvement. Additional resources have been invested to strengthen safeguarding services which have seen an increase in demand. The local authority is aware of the pressures on safeguarding services and the need to ensure that staff resources are sufficient to meet current and projected demands. Senior leaders across the partnership demonstrate their commitment to continual improvement in safeguarding. Progress made in the recruitment and retention of staff has led to greater workforce stability in the past year.

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Prospects for improvement

Overall, outcomes for children and young people are largely in line with appropriate comparators, but there remain some challenging areas for improvement for the local authority, which include the overall quality of universal provision and educational outcomes for children and young people.

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Prospects for improvement

This children’s services assessment is provided in accordance with section 138 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

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Prospects for improvement

Juliet Winstanley Divisional Manager, Children’s Services Assessment

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