Southwark local authority children’s services

Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services

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Lead inspector: Jenny-ellen Scotland, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Judgement Grade

The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families Good

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection Good

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Good

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Good

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Judgement Grade

Services for children and care leavers in Southwark remain good, providing positive experiences for them and supporting their progress. Strong political and corporate commitment keeps children central to strategic priorities, supported by a stable and skilled workforce.

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Judgement Grade

Practice is underpinned by relational, systemic and trauma-informed approaches that help children feel understood, supported and safer. Children and families can access a good range of early help support, statutory social work is timely and proportionate, and children in care benefit from nurturing care, good health and education support and ambitious corporate parenting. Care leavers receive purposeful, sensitive help that strengthens their independence and wellbeing. Leaders understand the service well. They have developed a robust learning culture. They work proactively to develop services and respond constructively when weaknesses are identified.

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Judgement Grade

While further work is needed in some specific areas to ensure consistently effective practice for all children, the overall picture is one of sustained progress, active engagement with children and families, and a clear commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The response to, and management oversight for, children who are made subject to police protection (outcome 3, national framework).

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The response to children in care who go missing (outcome 3, national framework).

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The quality of management oversight and supervision of frontline practitioners to improve the quality and consistency of support for children and their families (enabler: the workforce is equipped and effective, national framework).

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protection: good

1. Children and families are benefiting from a continuously improving approach to prevention and early help, alongside an integrated family hub model that is supporting earlier identification of need and more timely support, preventing needs from escalating. Although the local authority’s embedded kinship family model and its commitment to earlier intervention align with national reforms, the structural arrangements required to support this approach are still at an early stage.

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protection: good

2. Children and families mostly receive timely relational support from skilled early help practitioners, resulting in meaningful and sustained engagement. Child- focused assessments lead to coordinated multi-agency plans that deliver clear improvements in children’s lives. Leaders are aware of the need to simplify the overly complex processes that are leading to a small number of children experiencing delays in accessing early help.

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protection: good

3. The interface between early help and statutory social work is managed well, so that children move appropriately between services as their needs change.

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protection: good

4. Referrals to the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) are timely and appropriate, strengthened by the consultation line which supports professionals to make more informed and higher-quality referrals. Experienced managers complete initial reviewing promptly and provide clear guidance, leading to well- reasoned threshold decisions that ensure that children receive the right help without delay.

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protection: good

5. Screening of contacts and referrals is thorough and supported by a range of identification and assessment tools, including domestic abuse, neglect and harmful sexual behaviour toolkits, alongside a strengths-based, solution-

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protection: good

1 The areas for improvement have been cross-referenced with the outcomes, enablers or principles in the Children’s Social Care: National Framework . This statutory guidance sets out the purpose, principles for practice and expected outcomes of children’s social care. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 focused and relational practice approach. Screening consistently draws on family history and multi-agency information, leading to balanced and accurate threshold decisions. Safety planning is routinely considered, resulting in plans that appropriately address identified risks.

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protection: good

6. MASH managers provide effective oversight at key decision-making points, supporting analysis, maintaining timeliness and ensuring effective decisions.

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protection: good

7. When children need statutory help or protection, they are transferred promptly to assessment and intervention teams. Social workers respond effectively to escalating risk, holding timely multi-agency child protection strategy discussions and taking immediate protective action. Child protection enquiries involve clear analysis and meaningful engagement with children and families, supporting well-reasoned decisions. However, there is some variability in the quality of recording of safety and contingency plans.

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protection: good

8. Practitioners in the assessment and intervention teams and the safeguarding and family support teams complete detailed and analytical assessments of children’s needs, drawing well on multi-agency information, producing a clear rationale for plans to support children and families. Children’s views are captured consistently through direct work. Workers engage sensitively with families, including proactive engagement with fathers and wider family networks.

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protection: good

9. Children’s plans are well informed and co-produced with parents and partner agencies. They are reviewed regularly through well-attended core groups and child in need meetings. While they are generally clear and proportionate, some plans contain too many actions or lack measurable time frames.

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protection: good

10. Practitioners speak about children with warmth and they have a good understanding of their developmental needs and risks. Records are clearly written. Frequent and creative direct work with children helps to build supportive relationships, although it is not always used to deepen understanding of children’s lived experiences or help them to understand significant changes or the reasons for social work involvement.

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protection: good

11. Disabled children are supported well, with an effective response to their needs and safeguarding concerns. The 0–25 all-age service provides consistent support and helps sustain stable, trusting relationships with social workers. Practitioners know children well, advocate effectively with partner agencies and complete carer and mental capacity assessments in a timely way to inform decisions. Support to step down from child protection or child in need plans promotes independence and enables families to engage confidently with universal services.

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protection: good

12. Pre-proceedings processes, as part of the Public Law Outline, are well structured and monitored closely, with effective tracking that prevents drift. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 Decisions to enter pre-proceedings are timely, and most letters before proceedings are completed promptly, although the quality is variable. Intensive support from the therapeutic and practical support project for children, young people and their families (SWift) enables many families to make positive changes, with a significant number successfully diverted from court. When children’s circumstances do not improve, there is prompt review and then escalation to proceedings, with positive feedback from Cafcass and the district family judge on appropriate timing of court applications and high quality of social work evidence.

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protection: good

13. The innovative parent-peer advocate programme provides highly effective support, enabling more children’s needs to be met under child in need rather than child protection plans. Through parent-to-parent peer advocacy, parents with lived experience of children’s services use their knowledge to support other parents and carers receiving a service. Their emotional support, guidance in understanding processes and reports, and practical assistance at meetings are contributing to very positive outcomes, including successful de-escalation and reduced repeat child protection episodes.

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protection: good

14. Family group conferences are used effectively to identify strengths and support within wider family networks and to develop contingency plans when children cannot be safely cared for by their parents.

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protection: good

15. Work to safeguard children who experience extra-familial harm is strengthened by a specialist team that works alongside children’s social workers, using mapping tools, multi-agency information and structured frameworks to understand context, peer influence and patterns of harm. This team’s persistent, analytical approach strengthens safety planning and enables more children to remain at home. Social workers meet with children regularly, but they do not always use direct-work tools effectively when children find it difficult to talk about their experiences. Return home interviews are not being used consistently to understand the circumstances when children go missing, limiting the information available to inform planning.

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protection: good

16. When children are affected by domestic abuse, social workers recognise indicators of harm and use appropriate tools to explore impact, parental conflict and family dynamics.

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protection: good

17. When children are experiencing neglect, social workers differentiate well between poverty and situations of neglect. The local authority has recently updated its neglect toolkit and its impact is evident in the family early help service and the MASH, although not yet fully embedded across the wider service.

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protection: good

18. Practice with children living in private fostering arrangements has significantly improved since this was identified as a concern at the last inspection. Increased awareness-raising has led to earlier identification. Children receive timely visits, Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 thorough assessments, well-coordinated plans and effective oversight. Clinical input and panel scrutiny help to ensure tailored support and high-quality life- story work that helps children to understand their experiences.

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protection: good

19. Management oversight, assessment and risk analysis are not sufficiently robust when children are made subject to police powers of protection. A small number of children return to their families in the absence of timely, well-informed decisions, that lack the commensurate level of senior oversight before these arrangements end. When police protection is not deemed appropriate, escalation and strategic challenge are limited. In the light of the inspection findings, senior leaders are implementing actions to address these issues.

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protection: good

20. Effective relational and systemic interventions help children to remain safely with their families, reducing the need for them to come into care.

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protection: good

21. Children aged 16 or 17 who are at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness receive timely support, with thorough assessment and planning in response to their needs and vulnerabilities. When needed, children are accommodated under section 20. Advocacy is available, but it is not yet embedded as routine practice for all children.

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protection: good

22. Children who are identified as young carers receive a comprehensive and tailored offer of support that reflects their individual needs and improves their wellbeing. Young carers’ voices increasingly shape service development.

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protection: good

23. The out-of-hours service works swiftly and effectively across the range of work to protect children and care leavers. The service’s approach to custody decisions, de-escalation and information-sharing underpins positive safeguarding outcomes and continuity of planning for children.

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protection: good

24. The local authority designated officer service responds promptly to referrals of concerns about adults working with children, ensuring individual cases progress appropriately, and supporting partners and employers to address risk within the children’s workforce. The service also provides effective support for employers by sharing information on safer recruitment and providing consultation and multi-agency training.

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protection: good

25. The in-house clinical service, led by a consultant psychologist, is well embedded across teams and provides consultations, direct clinical work, court-directed assessments and supports group supervision, all of which are contributing to the quality of practice and interventions for children and their families.

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protection: good

26. Management oversight is evident on most children’s records, although it can be formulaic and lacking in depth. Although supervision is regular, limited reflection and practice direction reduce scope to strengthen practitioners’ analysis and professional curiosity. Gaps are more apparent where workers and managers in the assessment and intervention teams have higher caseloads. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 Clinical practitioners provide some compensatory reflective input, but this does not replace the need for greater managerial oversight.

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protection: good

27. Effective arrangements are in place to identify children who are missing full- time education. The local authority works positively with families and schools to address barriers to education, and partnership working ensures that risks are promptly identified and responded to. Children who are electively home educated receive a service that is supportive of both the children and parental decision-making, with provision reviewed in line with statutory guidance. Clear multi-agency systems further support the timely identification and management of risk.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

28. Children’s participation is meaningful and influential, ensuring their voices shape services and decision-making. Corporate parenting is a key priority for political and corporate leaders. Along with established relationships with social workers and committed carers, this has helped to ensure effective care for children, with timely planning, good health and education support and sensitive practice.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

29. Most children enter care in a planned way when they cannot remain safely at home. The edge of care service helps children remain safely with their families, using family group conferences to identify carers early and sustain important relationships.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

30. Most children in care live in stable and nurturing homes where they feel safe and happy and make good progress.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

31. Brothers and sisters live together whenever possible. Family time with parents, siblings and wider family members is purposeful, well planned and focused on maintaining positive relationships.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

32. Through coordinated support from social workers, clinicians and carers, alongside robust commissioning, an increasing number of children are experiencing greater placement stability and are living in or near Southwark, helping them maintain connections with their communities, schools and support networks. Children in care enjoy positive relationships with their social workers, who visit them regularly. Direct work is impactful for many children, helping them understand their identity and experiences. There are examples of strong life-story work, showing positive improvements from the previous inspection. However, life-story work is not consistently embedded, meaning early information is not always captured and some children do not receive the support required to better understand their histories. Permanence and stability for children in care are well established, supported by clear systems that track

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

progress from entry into care. Independent reviewing officers (IROs) contribute to monitoring children’s experiences beyond formal reviews. However, current arrangements mean that IROs do not review children’s progress between Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 review meetings, which can delay the identification and resolution of emerging issues. IROs produce high-quality records that help children understand decisions both now and in the future.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

33. Some young children who are in care from birth have not benefited from early permanence being considered during pre-birth assessments or before they entered care. As a result, they experience unnecessary delay in securing permanence.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

34. Reunification with parents or wider family is consistently promoted, considered and reviewed throughout the child’s journey, both before and during their time in care. When children return to the care of their parents or wider family after a period in care, decision-making is effective. Reunification is carefully planned and supported, with attention to practical and emotional needs, including timely parenting work, specialist input and clinical oversight. Successful reunifications following long periods in care show the impact of sustained, well-coordinated support from social workers, clinicians and providers.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

35. Children who are living in kinship arrangements benefit from child-centred assessments and sensitive planning that take account of their cultural and religious identity. Placement stability is kept under close review, and where children are thriving, careful consideration is given to how they can be cared for through special guardianship orders, giving children relational permanence.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

36. Disabled children in care benefit from stable, positive relationships with social workers who know them well and communicate in ways that meet their individual needs. Care planning reflects the complexity of their circumstances and clearly sets out the arrangements required to support them. They receive regular health reviews, and their day-to-day needs are well met through coordinated multi-agency support.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

37. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children receive sensitive, well-informed social work support. Children live in homes with carers who meet their cultural and religious needs. Social workers understand their complex experiences and traumatic histories and they visit children more frequently when needs and/or risks arise. Multi-agency work is well coordinated so that education, health and immigration needs are addressed promptly, and children are supported to reconnect with family members through the Red Cross.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

38. Children’s health needs are supported through regular health assessments and reviews. The dedicated child in care child and adolescent mental health service (Care Link) and clinical practitioners provide timely, trauma-informed therapeutic support for children and their carers, promoting greater stability and better outcomes for children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

39. Deprivation of liberty orders are used rarely, and when used are appropriate to keep children safe. There is strong oversight of their use through rigorous management monitoring and legal scrutiny that focus on children’s support Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 needs, visiting arrangements and clear exit planning. When needed, these arrangements are having a positive impact, reducing exploitation risks and missing episodes for some children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

40. For some children in care who go missing, interventions have limited impact and repeated episodes continue. Return home interviews are not always completed, and social workers do not consistently use their relationships with children to explore with them the reasons they go missing or to undertake robust safety planning. Supervision does not routinely support sufficient curiosity or adaptation of approaches, hampering efforts to reduce risks or missing incidents.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

41. Children in care are encouraged to engage in education, activities and personal development, and most achieve well. Personal education plans are of consistently high quality, capturing children’s views, tracking their progress and ensuring schools are fully involved when children enter care. The virtual school provides effective oversight, responding to dips in attendance or attainment and using pupil premium funding effectively.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

42. Children’s carers and social workers actively encourage and celebrate children’s achievements, including through twice-yearly celebration events. The council’s Corporate Parenting Committee is vibrant and influential, contributing to strategic decision-making through corporate parenting arrangements and supporting the organising of a range of enjoyable activities for children. While fostering capacity remains a challenge, compounded by an ageing carer population, the fostering service is effective and clear strategies are in place to increase recruitment, including a dedicated marketing team and an improvement lead. When placements become fragile or risk disruption, foster carers receive prompt support from their placement social workers and the children’s social workers, along with clinicians, through stability meetings and clear disruption planning.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

43. Adoption practice is thorough, with detailed assessments and early engagement with the regional adoption agency. However, limited availability of early permanence carers may lead to delays in achieving permanence for some children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

44. Leaders recognise the need for further work with the regional adoption agency to increase adopter recruitment.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

45. Care leavers receive high‑quality support from social workers and personal advisers (PAs), helping them to navigate independence at a pace that reflects their needs. They are a clear corporate and political priority, supported by an embedded corporate parenting ethos in which their voice is valued and actively shapes services. Care leaver status is recognised as a protected characteristic in Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 Southwark, with strong engagement across the council and sustained investment in service transformation.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

46. The care leavers’ hub has been significantly improved in line with young people’s wishes and is highly valued as a safe, welcoming space. It provides easy access to support with employment, therapeutic help, housing and independent living skills, helping care leavers feel connected and part of a community.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

47. Most care leavers benefit from supportive relationships with social workers and PAs who know them well and advocate effectively for them, although high PA caseloads can at times limit contact. While care leavers do not always have the opportunity to build a relationship with their PA before turning 18, flexible arrangements allow social workers to remain involved during transition for as long as needed to ensure continuity. Practitioners are proud of young people and they celebrate their achievements.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

48. Care leavers feel genuinely heard and valued through their involvement in the long-established SpeakerBox group. They describe significant gains in confidence, enjoyment and pride, as well as opportunities to influence services by presenting to the Corporate Parenting Committee and training as young inspectors. SpeakerBox also helps reduce stigma, giving care leavers positive peer connections and a supportive community of other care-experienced young people.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

49. The service is moving to an approach where care leavers are assumed to continue with a PA beyond the age of 21 unless they choose otherwise. This change is already improving engagement for those over 21. Care leavers know they can return for support at any time and understand how to access the service.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

50. Care leavers can access the local offer through a visually engaging website available in many different languages, helping them to understand their entitlements in their first or chosen language. However, not all care leavers are aware of the local offer and the full range of support available. The offer would benefit from greater clarity for specific groups, such as young parents.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

51. Pathway plans are comprehensive, co-produced with young people and written in clear language that reflects their voices, needs and aspirations. Practitioners review plans with young people regularly; however, they do not always update them after significant changes in circumstances. Managers provide consistent oversight and their comments to young people are personal and celebratory.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

52. Care leavers receive practical and emotional support to access physical and mental health services, including bespoke mental wellbeing provision. Their pathway plans clearly outline their health needs, and recent improvements now enable them to access their health histories, helping them understand their past, present and future health needs. Clinical practitioners contribute to Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 planning and group supervision, working alongside PAs and managers and strengthening the quality and impact of support available to care leavers.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

53. Most care leavers are provided with safe accommodation and supported to develop independence skills through semi-supported living and key-worker assistance. They receive priority status for local authority housing, with work underway to extend the types of accommodation available to them.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

54. Care leavers in custody receive regular visits from their PAs and appropriate financial support. PAs help them access mental health and other services while in prison. Joint planning with the probation service supports release arrangements, which include financial help and support with housing, to aid reintegration and reduce the risk of reoffending.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

55. Care leavers who are parents receive good-quality support from their PAs, helping them build their parenting confidence while also meeting their own needs. When their young person’s child is involved with children’s social care, PAs work closely with the child’s social worker to provide consistent, coordinated support.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

56. Care leavers who are former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children receive good support, including emotional and mental health help from practitioners who recognise the trauma associated with their journeys to the UK. They are supported with their asylum applications and enabled to integrate into the local community, benefiting from Southwark’s commitment to being a borough of sanctuary.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

57. When care leavers experience increasing risks to themselves or others, they are supported through a coordinated multi‑agency response involving, where appropriate, the specialist extra-familial harm team and clinical practitioners working alongside their PAs. Safety plans are co‑produced with the young person so that their insight into what will work for them strengthens the relevance and effectiveness of the plan.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

58. Care leavers are supported well to engage in education, employment or training. A wide range of schemes help them build functional and employability skills, including a co-designed employment pathway that has created many new opportunities across the borough with both council services and external employers, alongside ongoing work to secure ring-fenced apprenticeships. The local authority’s efforts to raise awareness of care leavers among local businesses have led to employer workshops, independent learning sessions and strengthened partnerships that build young people’s confidence and skills. Care leavers are encouraged in their ambitions. Those in higher education receive practical, emotional and financial support to succeed. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026

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good

59. Stable, effective leadership of children’s services and across the wider council has been a source of strength, underpinning successful frontline services. Demonstrating ambition and commitment to children and young people, senior leaders have worked persistently to create a skilled, motivated workforce and to foster a culture of collaboration, empathy and high aspiration. Determined corporate and political support, along with sustained investment, continues to strengthen services for children and families.

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good

60. Leaders understand when improvements are needed in specific areas and they take effective action to develop services and achieve better experiences and outcomes for children. The development of the parent-peer advocacy service has strengthened families’ engagement and confidence during child protection processes. The continued embedding of clinical services is improving the quality and consistency of practice, with clinically informed group supervision deepening reflection and professional curiosity. Clinical practitioners and social workers together provide purposeful support to parents and carers, helping to stabilise care arrangements and reduce the likelihood of disruption.

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good

61. Good progress has been made in many key areas since the last inspection, including the response to privately fostered children, contingency planning for children, fostering and placement sufficiency. The specialist extra-familial harm team responds swiftly and adaptably to emerging risks, strengthening children’s safety in the community. However, the effectiveness of this work is weakened by inconsistency in completing return home interviews for children who go missing from home and care. Children in care benefit from more stable placements, supported by meaningful social worker relationships and clinical input. Timely and high-quality intervention in pre-proceedings and care proceedings is improving outcomes for vulnerable children. However, further work is needed to strengthen responses for children who go missing, including the consistent use of return home interviews, and to embed good-quality life-

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story work across the service. Both these areas were identified as issues at the last inspection.

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good

62. Political and corporate leaders are highly visible and ambitious for children and care leavers. Political leaders demonstrate robust commitment, bringing energy, insight and purposeful engagement to their roles. The chief executive advocates authentically for children and families, ensuring the council’s corporate strategy places children at its centre and maintains a clear, sustained focus on positive outcomes. The DCS and senior leadership team provide confident, strategic leadership. They are clearly motivated to meet the needs of children, families and care leavers and maintain a determined focus on getting it right for them.

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good

63. Senior leaders have an accurate and realistic understanding of the service. Their self-assessment is thorough and candid, aligning well with the findings of Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 this inspection. Leaders responded promptly and transparently during the inspection when weaknesses in the response to children subject to police powers of protection were identified. This demonstrates a mature leadership approach that recognises shortfalls and takes timely action to strengthen practice and safeguard children.

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good

64. Leaders have a firm commitment to their role as corporate parents. There is a clear, shared sense of collective responsibility across the council and partner agencies for children in care and care leavers, with a consistent ethos that ‘these are our children’. The corporate parenting strategy is aspirational and ambitious, reflecting a clear understanding of the lived experiences of children in care and care-experienced young people. Children’s participation is a significant strength in Southwark, with children’s voices firmly at the heart of practice.

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good

65. The sufficiency strategy is supported by a clear and comprehensive action plan. Leaders prioritise care for children close to home, including proactive work to return children in care and care leavers to Southwark when they have been placed further afield. The council’s newly opened children’s home, graded outstanding at its first inspection, is being followed with plans for a second home later this year, increasing opportunities for children to remain within their local community and networks. Shared resources from the new home, including trauma-informed therapists working across both the home and the children in care service, further strengthen support for children. The local authority’s commitment to supporting children to remain with their birth parents or wider family networks results in more children living in kinship arrangements and not requiring foster or residential care.

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good

66. The performance framework is underpinned by intelligence-led use of performance data, alongside audits dip sampling and seeking feedback from children, care leavers and parents/carers. While the audit tool is well designed, its application is inconsistent, leading to an overly positive view and limiting leaders’ ability to identify gaps in aspects of practice that cannot be seen through performance data. Leaders have responded appropriately with a clear action plan to strengthen audit quality, consistency and oversight.

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good

67. Leaders are committed to continuous improvement and have established a robust learning culture. Practitioners have ready access to relevant training through the comprehensive LearningFest programme. This aligns well with the local authority’s practice model, ensuring children and care leavers benefit from informed practitioners who have the skills to help and support them.

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good

68. The quality of supervision is inconsistent. While group supervision is a significant strength, one-to-one supervision does not consistently support reflective thinking, promote professional curiosity or provide the practice guidance practitioners need to further enhance the quality and consistency of help and support for children and care leavers. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 69. Leaders create a supportive, caring and safe environment in which practitioners can flourish. Their sustained focus on strengthening and stabilising the workforce has resulted in there being no social worker vacancies. Practitioners report that they love working in Southwark and feel supported and empowered to do their best for children and care leavers. Inspection of Southwark local authority children’s services 9 to 13 March 2026 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young

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people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or

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email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk . This report is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ . Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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