Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456-404045 Email : edhelpline@ofsted.gov.uk

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Mr Andrew Christie - Director of Children’s Trust Mr Sandy Adamson - Director of Education London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham 145 King Street, London W6 9XY

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SOCIAL CARE SERVICES 2005

This letter summarises the findings of the meeting held on 27 June 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.

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Being healthy

Outcomes in this area are good, with some particularly effective features. Strong partnerships with the Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital Trust have contributed to significant improvements in the health of looked after children. Another important contributory factor has been the training initiative on the health agenda put in place for foster carers. Improvements in the arrangements for the health of looked after children have also resulted from their representation on relevant boards and committees, and from their regular meetings with the Cabinet Member for social care services. The specialist support around sexual health and midwifery services, provided by the PCT in partnership with other agencies, schools and the authority, has led to a decline in the incidence of teenage pregnancies .

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Being healthy

Schools and the education service make an important contribution to the health of children and young people. The proportion of schools participating in the National Healthy School Scheme is very high. Healthy eating is encouraged through the school meals service and a variety of other initiatives.

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Being healthy

The authority has developed effective strategies with the Children and Adolescence Mental Health Service (CAMHS) to emphasise health promotion and intervention at a low level. Amongst other inter-disciplinary teams, CAMHS works within the Youth Offending Team to identify mental health problems and address behavioural issues. The number of social workers employed or working closely with multidisciplinary CAHMS is now 30, which is by far the highest in London.

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Staying safe

Outcomes in this area are good, and there have been improvements in performance in a number of areas. All children and young people on the Child Protection Register (CPR) are allocated to a social worker, and the number of core and initial assessments completed within the required timeframes has increased. The number of children re- registered on the CPR has decreased, indicating that assessments are now more appropriate to need and risk. Child protection training has increased across all partner groups. However, the proportion of looked after children who are in foster placements or placed for adoption has fallen slightly, due in part at least to the ‘Hillingdon judgement’, and this trend needs to be monitored.

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Staying safe

Children and young people are involved in the review process and are able to meet with their allocated social worker in private. The authority has suitable policies in place to ensure the safety of both young carers and children and young people with disabilities . Effective protocols have been established between education, social services and health to support looked after children and those with disabilities and special educational needs.

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Staying safe

Children and young people are able to express their views and register any concerns through a number of different forums, such as child protection conferences, children’s and young people complaints procedure, children’s rights service, school councils and the Youth Parliament.

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Enjoying and achieving

Outcomes in this area present a mix of strengths and areas for improvement. Educational results for the borough as a whole, and the wide variations within it, need to be set in the context of high levels of economic deprivation in many, though not all, schools, the large proportion of pupils for whom English is an additional language, and high levels of pupil mobility.

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Enjoying and achieving

Early years provision is generally satisfactory, but with some variation in quality and outcomes for children between different types of provider. The authority has put in place support for those providers which have received unsatisfactory inspection judgements. There has been a recent significant increase in the number of childcare places in the borough, and nursery places are now available for all 3 and 4 year-olds whose parents require them.

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Enjoying and achieving

Results at the end of Key Stage 1, whilst in line with similar authorities, are well below national averages. However, there is a marked improvement in Key Stage 2, and by the age of eleven performance is in line with national averages and well above that in similar authorities, representing significant progress in this Key Stage. A similar pattern emerges in the secondary phase. Results at the end of Key Stage 3 are well below national averages, though in line with similar authorities. By the end of Key Stage 4, the proportion of students achieving five or more higher grade GCSE passes, across the borough as a whole, is in line with the national average, and the proportion with one or more passes at any grade is well above the national average.

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Enjoying and achieving

At all stages of compulsory education there are marked differences in performance between schools, which largely reflect socio-economic variations in the borough. In the secondary phase, the differences also arise partly from the substantial transfer of pupils across authority boundaries. There are also large variations in performance between different groups of pupils. For example, the under-achievement of black boys is a recognised area of concern. In contrast, pupils with English as an additional language make good progress, and by the age of 16 their results match those of the cohort as a whole. GCSE results of looked after children are better than the national average for this group.

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Enjoying and achieving

Good progress has been made in improving school attendance in the last year. Attendance of looked after children is particularly good. There were no permanent exclusions from primary schools during the last year; secondary exclusions were high, but have recently reduced considerably.

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Enjoying and achieving

Two out of the eight secondary schools in the authority are currently in special measures. This is a significantly high proportion and indicates the amount of work that the authority recognises needs to be undertaken to bring all up to a good standard. With effective support from the authority, the only primary school in special measures was recently taken out of this category.

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Making a positive contribution

Outcomes in this area are consistently good. Children and young people contribute well to a range of local and national initiatives. For example, a good proportion of young people participated in recent elections for representatives to the UK Youth Parliament. All youth service projects have youth forums, which enable young people to be involved in making decisions about them. There is a children’s council for each of the local Play Service Centres. Consultative and participative events enable disabled children to review access to play facilities.

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Making a positive contribution

Looked after children make important contributions to decisions about the services provided for them. Their representatives assisted in the appointment of a new Assistant Director Operations for children’s social services and contributed to the best value review of the looked after children service. They meet regularly with councillors in the Corporate Parenting Group and help to define priorities for their care. In the year up to September 2004 there was a 17% reduction in the number of young people in the youth justice system for the first time. Rates of re-offending after two years have been below national rates. Similarly, the proportion of looked after children with final warnings or convictions has been well below national rates.

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Achieving economic well-being

Outcomes in this area are generally good. Progression rates to full time education at age 16 have increased from 75% in 2002 to 86% in 2004. Participation rates of 16-18 year olds in education and training are higher than the average for West London. GCE A-Level results in school sixth forms overall are in line with national averages, and are better than those in similar authorities. Results in vocational A levels were above the national average in 2004. Progression rates to higher education of those with Level 3 qualifications rose to 83% in 2004.

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Achieving economic well-being

The proportion of care leavers in education, training or employment at age 19 was well above national averages in the three years to 2004, but has fallen in the current year, because of the high proportion with special educational needs. Suitable systems are in place to support young people with learning difficulties and disabilities in the transition to adult provision, and in the development of their ability to manage personal budgets. Young carers are supported well in school by homework and GCSE clubs, and the Connexions service gives priority to their needs in careers advice and development.

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Strengths Areas for improvement

Being healthy: • contribution of partnerships with the Primary Care Trust and the Local NHS Trust to improvements in the health of looked after children • specialist support through sexual health and midwifery services, leading to decline in teenage pregnancy • strategies with CAMHS and the Youth Offending Team to emphasis health promotion and intervention at a low level • training initiative for foster carers around the Health Agenda • healthy schools programme. Being healthy: Staying safe: • allocation of all children/young people on the Child Protection Register (CPR) to a social worker • increase in the number of core and initial assessments completed within the required timeframes • decrease in the number of children re-registered on the CPR • the increase in child protection training across all partner groups • involvement of children and young people in the review process • effective protocols for child safety established between health,

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Strengths Areas for improvement

education and social care services • opportunities for children and young people to express their views. Staying safe: • the proportion of looked after children who are in foster placements or are placed for adoption.

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Strengths Areas for improvement

Enjoying and achieving: • provision of child-care and nursery places • good progress made by pupils during Key Stages 2 and 4 • good progress made by pupils with English as an additional language • examination performance of looked-after children at age 16 • improvements in attendance and reduction in exclusions. Enjoying and achieving: • the proportion of secondary schools in special measures • results at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 3 • underperformance of some ethnic minority groups of pupils • large variations in performance between pupils in secondary schools.

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Strengths Areas for improvement

Making a positive contribution: • wide range of involvement in national and local community initiatives • involvement of looked after children in decisions over priorities for their care • rates of offending by young people below national averages. Making a positive contribution:

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Strengths Areas for improvement

Achieving economic well-being: • improvement in progression rates to education and training post-16 • good results in vocational A levels • good progression rates into higher education. Achieving economic well-being:

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Service management

The authority has strong collaborative working arrangements with relevant partners. This owes much to the authority being a Pathfinder Children's Trust and the developments that have been initiated through this status. This has also resulted in the authority separating its Adults and Children's Social services and the development of integrated Children's Services. A Director of Children’s Service will be appointed in November 2005 and this post will bring together education and social care, with the two department fully merged by September 2006. Clear, well-developed and forward- thinking strategies are in place for the delivery of integrated children’s services.

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Service management

Important senior vacancies have been filled and a stable management team is in place to implement new strategies. In particular, the education service has appointed a new Deputy Director for the key areas of school improvement and inclusion. There has been a restructuring of school improvement division, including appointment of two principal advisers for secondary and one for workforce development. The authority has moved quickly to appoint new headteachers in three of its secondary schools, including the two schools in special measures, where other senior staff have also been appointed.

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Service management

A number of joint appointments have been made with partners in health and there are a number of section 31 pooled budget and joint commissioning arrangements in place. The authority is currently undertaking a shadow year of 'pooled budgets', with the PCT and NHS Trust, to improve service capacity for children with disabilities.

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Service management

Cabinet members have a strong commitment to the existing strategy for children's services and scrutiny, and they take a very active personal role in ensuring the quality of provision. The elected members are preparing to move forward the Change for Children agenda and there are already in place a Children’s Trust development plan and a young people’s service plan.

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Service management

The authority is participating in a national pilot scheme for first round of Local Area Agreements (LAA) with a focus on improving outcomes for children and young people, in particular through reducing child poverty, improving housing and encouraging healthier communities. The authority’s Local Public Service Agreement 2, which links appropriately to the LAA, includes a range of targets focused on reducing child poverty, improving attainment in under-performing groups, increasing the number of permanent, local placements for looked after children, and reducing youth crime.

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Service management

The authority has strong processes and forums to ensure that the views of parents, carers and children and young people are taken into account in establishing priorities for development. Children and young people are involved in the recruitment of senior posts, the corporate parent group and governance through representation at both forum and board level.

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Staying safe

Looked after children live in safe environments and are protected from abuse and exploitation:

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Staying safe

• the proportion of looked after children who are in foster placements or are placed for adoption.

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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

• procedures to monitor schools at risk of going into special measures • measures to address differences in performance between schools and between groups of young people.

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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: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

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: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

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: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

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

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APA final judgements 2005: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

A service that delivers only minimum requirements for users Adequate

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APA final judgements 2005: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

A service that does not deliver minimum requirements for users Inadequate

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