Ofsted judges children's services in Oxfordshire as “Good”
Ofsted has judged Oxfordshire County Council’s children’s services as good as part of an inspection that took place in February 2024
After many recent complaints over the way Ofsted grades schools Oxfordshire residents will be happy to know that their children's services have been judged as "Good".
Inspectors praised the county council for a number of improvements across its services since its last inspection in 2018, which were also judged overall as good, leading to even better outcomes for children and young people.
The assessment took place as part of the government’s inspecting local authority children’s services system.
Ofsted judged the council’s children’s services as good across all five areas of inspection criteria:
- Overall effectiveness
- Impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families
- Experiences and progress of children who need help and protection
- Experiences and progress of children in care
- Experiences and progress of care leavers
Ofsted commented that: “The chief executive officer is ambitious for children and has a good understanding of the priorities for improving the lives of the most vulnerable children.
“The newly appointed permanent director of children’s services, together with political and corporate leaders, are committed to and ambitious for children and young people.
"They have a good understanding of what is working well, and the areas for ongoing improvement.
“Additional investment has also enabled services to be developed and strengthened.”