The
Board considered a report providing and overview of developments
within the Children’s Residential Estate presented by Kieran
Lord, Interim Service Director- Resources, Improvements &
Partnerships. It was highlighted that:
- There were
currently four internal children’s homes within Kirklees,
shortly the offer would be expanded to provide an additional home
due to be reopened after a full refurbishment.
- Alongside
reopening an existing home, a new home was being registered to
provide additional capacity for up to four young people in need of
small group living.
- Work continued
with Ofsted to improve the four homes with the ambition to have all
homes rated as Good or outstanding within the next inspection
cycle.
- Work with
facilities management and the revision of our staffing structures
and staff training were central to achieving that aim.
- Of the registered
homes; 1 home was judged to be
Outstanding, 1 Home was judged to be Good, 1 home Required
Improvement, 1 home was Inadequate and was due to be re-inspected
in the next 6 weeks and 1 home awaited a judgement after
reopening.
- A core principle
of the homes arrangements for bringing children together in group
living will be ensuring that the homes’ statement of purpose
and functions were delivered through careful matching of the needs
of the children living in homes to the skills of the team and with
consideration of the relationships between those who will live
together.
- Work was ongoing
with existing staff and the psychologist for the Emotional
Wellbeing Service to develop and train the workforce on the model
of care as well as sourcing specialist DBT (dialectical behavioural
therapy) training for the workforce.
- The national
sufficiency challenge was noted and addressing this locally was a
key priority of the service.
- Work had been
undertaken to engage with local providers and support the
development of strong relationships.
- In investing in
the residential services infrastructure, the aim was to ensure that
there were adequate business and administrative support resources
across Kirklees homes.
The
Board noted the update and welcomed the recent certification and
the re-opening of the residential home in providing opportunities
to improve sufficiency. The Ex-Officio also highlighted the
information presented as reassuring. In response, to a question
around Ofsted inspections and judgements of homes, Kieran Lord
highlighted the importance of working with Ofsted as a partner to
understand what the key elements were
they were looking for at inspections.
RESOLVED: The Board noted the report
Overview of Childrens
Residential Services.
Virtual School
Governing Body Update
Janet Tolley, Executive School Head
Teacher provided a verbal update in relation
to the work of the Virtual School Governing Body. It was reported
that updates had been provided on:
- The
Validated Headteachers report and Data Review: including
PEP’s, Young people not in full time education and the
reasons why, consultation for ECHP and a detailed analysis of
suspensions by year group. The in-depth data outlined trends and
the detail behind the information.
- Questions had been raised, around support for young people
struggling with education and a detailed discussion was
held.
- It
was noted that an ILYACs inspection was upcoming, which could
involve up to 3 days of scrutiny.
- Children with a social worker: the additional duty included
working with all professionals to look at how practice can be
influenced at a strategic level to achieve better outcomes and
remove barriers to children and young people’s
education.
- A
key area of focus was understanding what children and young people
were doing when they were not in school and identifying how to
increase engagement with education.
- Work around Child Protection Plans and building on best
practice.
The
Board noted the update and welcomed that the Governing Body
provided strong support and challenge.
RESOLVED: The
Board noted the Virtual School Governing Body Update.