Nick Bye: Ofsted ‘good’ judgement shows real progress for Torbay’s children

You should have heard me cheer when it was announced Torbay Council had been judged ‘good’ in all categories by Ofsted in our recent inspection. 

This is a major achievement for all sorts of reasons but of course all of us who work hard for children and young people in the Bay do so because we want to make sure they are safe and have the best possible start in life rather than to get a particular score on the Town Hall door.

So I would like to start by saying a big thank-you to our children’s services team, professional and political leaders at Torbay Council, our amazing foster carers, voluntary and community organisations as well as schools and partner organisations for their great work. The lead inspector in his feedback said Torbay Council was “unrecognisable” compared with a few years ago when we were judged as “inadequate” and subject to endless monitoring visits and damning reports.

Although there is always room for improvement and this latest report certainly highlighted some areas of weakness, my personal view is we can be proud of the overall ‘good’ judgement in the context we have been effectively managing change implementing the government’s Family First reforms at the same time as getting on with the day job; there have been senior colleagues absent for lengthy periods so others have had to step up to the mark; also for the first time we have been given a standalone judgement for how we support young people who are care experienced. 

There were some concerns ahead of the inspection, which took place in January, that we might struggle in this area as fewer of these youngsters are in education, employment or training than we would aspire to (although little different to other places). However, we have clear plans to improve this situation with a dedicated careers hub and the inspectors were hugely impressed with our new dedicated housing.

The introduction to the report is worth quoting: “Senior leaders and politicians have a clear strategic intent to achieve what is best for the children of Torbay, addressing the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection. They have also delivered the first stages of transformation aligned with the social care reforms with clarity, drive and purpose, taking their staff with them and not losing sight of the potential impact of wholesale reform on children and families. Morale is high. Staff are motivated by the potential of this new way of working.”

Further on you will read: “Senior leaders invariably know the circumstances of individual children in detail. They know children incredibly well, led by a director of children’s services who brings passion, commitment and high expectations of what is right for children.”

Nancy Meehan, our director of children’s services, wasn’t just smiling when she read this part of the report to me when we were going through the factual accuracy stage of the process, she was positively beaming. And rightly so. As lead member for children’s services, people come to me with concerns for individual children and families. Without fail Nancy has always been able to reassure me appropriate support is in place and children are known to colleagues.

There was also praise from the lead inspector for our chief executive: “In most councils the chief executive knows the numbers (of children) but here in Torbay she knows the names!”

So further praise indeed.

Of course some of this might be down to being a relatively small unitary council so we must not lose this knowledge and understanding of individual children if we become a part of a larger council in a couple of years’ time.

With regard to working effectively with health and schools to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) we are sadly still in “must do better” territory. Last year’s Ofsted area SEND inspection of Torbay Local Area Partnership, to give the full title, identified “widespread and/or systematic failings” although beneath this harsh judgement there was a balance between what appears to be effective and what we need to do better.

I attend the regular SEND Local Area Improvement Partnership Board meetings (what a mouthful) and see it as my role to ensure all the activity and ‘process’ results in improved outcomes for children and young people. After a three-hour meeting sitting on an uncomfortable Town Hall chair, I want to know what difference are we making?

We are beginning to see an improvement in school attendance, from a very low base, also a reduction in exclusions of pupils from some schools, but this progress appears to be slower for children with an education, health and care plan (EHCP).

The government has announced its intentions to reform the SEND system, as well as pick up the tab for the cost of this after 2028, which I welcome. If anywhere illustrates the need for change then it’s Torbay, where we have exceptionally high numbers of children with an EHCP, possibly the highest in the whole country, yet outcomes are still poor. 

So much energy goes into the process of getting an EHCP but in too many cases children are still excluded from school or simply give up.

We need effective support at an earlier stage to avoid problems escalating.

We are evaluating what has been achieved by our locality model ‘pilot’ in our primary schools which has focussed on speech language and communication, the basis of all learning. 

We have recently heard the Department for Education has agreed to the change in designation of Combe Pafford School so it will cater for children with autism from September this year. We simply haven’t had this provision until now.

Further investment is taking place in schools so they have better facilities for children with SEND. The new Mayfield College at Parkfield is simply brilliant and something we can be truly proud of.

The new provision for children who are educated other than at school (EOTAS) is achieving better attendance and attainment than before. I am advised we now have no youngsters in unregistered provision, so another step forward.

Torbay Schools are engaged with the Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) programme, which is a Department for Education initiative and is leading to greater collaboration between schools, which is also very welcome.

Having achieved the Ofsted accolade of ‘good’ for our children’s services, I am determined our Local Area Partnership for SEND can demonstrate progress when we have our first monitoring visit in the next few months.