Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education, visited Newham yesterday to explore how services have been transformed over the last three years. The most senior civil servant at the Department for Education, Susan Acland-Hood, visited the borough to find out first-hand how Children and Young People’s Services turned around an inadequate OFSTED rating to a good one, in just three years.
OFSTED (the regulatory body for standards in education, children’s services and skills) upgraded Newham’s rating last September, highlighting “Outstanding leadership and management and ambition in delivering effective help, care and protection for children.”
The Permanent Secretary met with Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, Cabinet member for Children’s Services Councillor Sarah Ruiz, and the Director of Children and Young People Services, Tim Aldridge under whose leadership the transformation has taken place.
Ms Acland-Hood also met with young Newham people who are benefiting from the improvement in services, including care leavers who make use of the Cove in East Ham.
Cllr Ruiz: “It is a true honour for Newham to have come to the attention of the Department for Education, to have its great work recognised in such a public way. We are incredibly proud of our Children’s Services team who have worked so hard to achieve the turnaround in our offer to young people. It is a shining example of our investment across all services for young people, representing a 50 per cent increase compared to the 18/19 budget, which totals £47m over the last three financial years for young people in this borough.
