Key management messages
Dear colleague,
Following the Ofsted
inspection earlier this year, and the increased focus on partnership working in
both the inspection framework and as a result of the recommendations from
Ofsted it is appropriate that our focus is more outward looking on working
together with our partners to improve outcomes for the children and young
people of Devon through the Children, Young People and Families Alliance.
Therefore, arrangements for the monitoring of the Children’s Improvement
Plan have changed and the remaining scheduled meetings of the DCC Devon
Improvement Group (DIG) have been cancelled.
However, that does not mean that our focus on continuing our
improvement journey will stop. A monthly progress report against the plan and
our Quality Assurance framework is provided to
Leadership Team People (LTP) with regular updates also going to the Corporate
Leadership Team (CLT), Children’s Overview Group of the People’s Scrutiny
Committee and the Children, Young People and Families Alliance Executive. We
also publish regular updates of progress in this Keeping Devon Children’s Safe
newsletter and on The Source so you will be able to continue to monitor how we
are progressing against our objectives. In addition, we will continue to work
together across all aspects of the Council following on from the good work of
this group in demonstrating the benefits of a one council approach in helping
to deliver improved outcomes for children in Devon.
We would like to thank you
all for your valued contributions to the improvement programme for the children
of Devon - helping us to move from our ‘Inadequate’ Ofsted rating of 2013 to
‘Requires Improvement’ in 2015. We have made significant progress together and
we have every confidence that we will continue to push forward with the actions
detailed in our DCC Children’s Improvement Plan to ensure we further
improve the outcomes for children in Devon which remains a top priority for us
all.
Best wishes, Jennie and James
Social Work Workforce Survey
This survey provides the opportunity to give your views
about your job, the support you receive, and other work related matters. It
should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete.
To ensure the feedback we receive reflects the views of
the social work population, and not just a few members of staff, we would like all social work staff and SWTROs to complete this survey by Wednesday 16 December.
Complete the survey online now:
https://services.devon.gov.uk/web/dcc-surveys/swws2015csw
Keeping children and families together
The Family Drug and Alcohol Court pilot will help us keep families together in a number of ways
Devon’s children’s social care service, in conjunction with Plymouth
and Torbay and the Family Courts in Plymouth, Torquay and Exeter is
piloting an alternative approach to care proceedings when the main
issues is alcohol and substance misuse.
Find out more.
Good news for Atkinson Secure
Children’s Home
Young people say they feel safe and that they see the home as a safe
haven
Following on from Ofsted's recent visit to the
Atkinson Secure Children’s Home, Exeter, where they praised the progress made by the staff team in developing both
the care and education aspects of the home, the inspection report can be read in full.
Councillor James McInnes, Devon County Council's Cabinet Member with responsibility for children's services, said:
"Once again, the home has achieved a good inspection from Ofsted. We're
not complacent however and we know that we've got some improvements to
make to the way the service works.
"I'm pleased that these improvements are not preventing the young people
from receiving the care and support they need, and that the service is
doing well in helping young people return to the community as soon and
as safely as possible."
Child Sexual Exploitation - launch
of new MACSEs and M7 Child Sexual Exploitation risk assessment
The Devon Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) has launched a new set of tools and guidance to help professionals identify and tackle child sexual exploitation
Missing And Child Sexual
Exploitation forums (MACSEs) have been remodelled so that sexual
exploitation concerns relating to any child, potential perpetrator or location
can be submitted for information sharing. There are three MACSE’s in Devon
covering the North, the South and Exeter & East. Find out about the risk assessment and your named REACH social worker.
Devon
Children’s Social Care Academy website launched
We are pleased to confirm
that the website
for Devon Children’s Social Care Academy is now up and running!
The Academy is structured
into faculties that reflect stages in professional development for both social
work qualified staff and other professionals who work in the service. Find out more.
Introducing Devon’s Children, Young People and Families
Plan
Based on a series of listening events, Devon’s first Children, Young People
and Families Plan sets out a clear ambition. Find out more (PDF version)
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Email distribution groups –
helping you find the right one
The easiest way to view the one hundred and fifty plus
current childrens social care email groups on their own is as follows:
- In OUTLOOK go to NEW EMAIL
- Select TO
- In the Address Book select ALL GROUPS
- Highlight the MORE COLUMNS radar button
- Type in childrenssocialcare
- Do not include spaces
- Click GO
This will help you to choose the right one and avoid using
the wrong one. It is also good practice to check these before requesting a new
one to avoid duplication.
Email distribution groups – Which are
you on ?
To get a full list of all the groups you are a member of you
can do the following:
1.
In Outlook, select NEW EMAIL
2.
Click TO
3.
Search for your OWN NAME
4.
Right click on it
5.
Select PROPERTIES
6.
Open the MEMBER OF tab
7.
You will then see a list of all the email
distribution groups you are a member of.
This will help you to identify if there are any you should
no longer be in, or any missing that you need to be included in.
You can do this for anybody else as well, useful for
supervisors, line managers and team leaders.
Non-school attendance
School
attendance in Devon is good and above national average. This article shows how Devon currently
addresses non-attendence.
Infant free school meals
With around one in three children in England
leaving primary school overweight or obese, there is an urgent need to address
the issue of obesity in children
Read the article in full here
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