A report providing the Committee with the context and information about the Annual Engagement Meeting with Ofsted which took place in March 2021.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services – Education, Early Help and Social Care, Brighter Futures for Children, submitted a report providing the Committee with the context and information about the Annual Meeting with Ofsted which had taken place in March 2021.  A copy of the Self-Evaluation of Education (including SEND), Early Help and Children’s Social Care was attached to the report at Appendix 1, the Annual Engagement Meeting – Covid-19 response was attached at Appendix 2 and the Letter from Ofsted was attached to the report at Appendix 3.

The report explained that each year the Executive Director of Children’s Services, the Director for Children Social Care, Director of Early Help and Prevention and Director of Education within BFfC met with Social Care and Education Ofsted Inspectors to discuss what was working well and what needed further work and development.  These annual meetings had been established by Ofsted with the purpose of ‘catching local authorities before they fall’ referring to the identification and support Ofsted could provide to prevent local authorities being judged ‘Inadequate’.  Previously, there had been only a three yearly inspection with no opportunity to quality check performance and outcomes.

The Annual Engagement Meetings did not result in any grading and were not directly linked to a full inspection.  However, if there were any significant concerns identified it was likely that a full inspection could be triggered, this had not been the case for BFfC.

The first Annual Engagement Meeting had taken place in March 2020 and the second had been on 3 March 2021.  In preparation for the meeting two key documents had been written, the first a comprehensive self-evaluation of all key services within Early Help and Prevention, Children’s Social Care and Education including SEND, highlighting what was going well and areas for further development and the second was a Covid-19 report which had been written in response to questions that had been posed by Ofsted prior to the meeting which had focused on challenges and opportunities with a particular focus on vulnerable learners post 16.  The letter from Ofsted following the Annual Engagement Meeting provided a summary of the key elements noted by the Inspectors as a result of the discussions, these key elements were set out in the report.

The report stated that there were Continuous Improvement Plans and Service Plans that captured the actions required to address areas for development and improvement which were regularly reviewed and up-dated. 

Resolved –    That the contents of the evidence provided to Ofsted and the letter from Ofsted be noted.