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Children’s Services retains ‘Good’ rating

We’re delighted that our Children’s Services has retained its 'Good’ status following the latest inspection from OFSTED. It follows a visit from Inspectors, who spent a week with our Children and Family Service in March.

Young people take part in a workshop with our Children's Services team

Building on the progress made during the last inspection, we achieved ‘Good’ across all four inspection areas:

• The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families
• The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection
• The experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers
• Overall effectiveness

The report praised the effectiveness of our “strong, stable and child-focused leadership team” and recognises the experience that West Berkshire has in supporting asylum-seeking children, noting that unaccompanied children are met with kindness when they arrive here.

In particular, the report noted the introduction of an early response hub through which highly effective working relationships have been developed with universal, voluntary and community services. It means that children and families benefit from help and support at the earliest opportunity, provided by a range of skilled services and valued partners who serve the children and families of West Berkshire. 

Cllr Dominic Boeck, our Executive Member for Education, Children and Young people says,

“It’s important to us that our children and young people are protected, cared for and supported to reach their full potential. Our Children’s Services teams are pivotal to this and work hard every day to ensure young people across the district flourish. I’m delighted that this commitment has been recognised in the latest inspection.”

An activity put on for young carers

£150 Government Tax Rebate

Households across West Berkshire have started receiving their £150 council tax rebate. The payments, for homes in Council Tax bands A-D, were recently announced to help families manage costs of living.

So far we've made 19,400 payments, totalling £2.9m, to residents who paid council tax by direct debit on 1 April. Another 7,000 payments will be made this week to residents who paid by direct debit on 15 and 21 April. 

Customers who don’t pay by direct debit will be contacted separately about how they can apply during the week commencing 9 May.

You can find more information about this here.

Easter travel initiative a success

An Easter travel promotion offering free travel across the district has been a real success and will be returning for the Jubilee weekend. 

Free bus travel was offered over the Easter weekend in conjunction with operator Reading Buses. As well as running usual routes, an additional service was also provided for routes a/1c, 2, 8 and 9 in the Newbury area on Good Friday and Easter Monday.

More than 6,000 tickets were taken up across West Berkshire with 2,440 passengers travelling on Newbury & District routes that have previously not operated on bank holidays.

The free bus travel helped promote local businesses and encouraged more sustainable transport as West Berkshire Council encouraged people to take part in Newbury Easterfest as well as get out and about in Reading.

Together with Reading Buses and Thames Travel we're pleased to announce that a similar travel offer will be available over the four day Jubilee bank holiday. Look out for more details about this soon.

Can you foster with us?

Foster Care Fortnight - which starts next week - is a time to celebrate foster carers across the country. 

Could you become a foster carer and make a difference to a child or young person in West Berkshire? Our Family Placement Team are always looking to connect with new foster carers in our area and you can ask about fostering and request an information pack through our website. 

This year, the Foster Care Fortnight theme is ‘fostering communities’. Julie and Andy are local carers and an integral part of the West Berkshire fostering community. They say:

“We have great support from our fostering network. We’ve made some lovely friends, all passionate about helping children and making them feel safe, loved and valued.”

If you’re interested in joining our fostering community, please contact the Family Placement Team on 01633 503155 or email fostering@westberks.gov.uk to speak to our dedicated recruitment social worker.  Your call could help us to write the next chapter for children in care in West Berkshire. 

New 'The Age of Dinosaurs' Exhibition

Don’t miss the new exhibition 'The Age of Dinosaurs' at West Berkshire Museum, which explores the shallow waters and lowlands of the Mesozoic era and the creatures that lived there.

With loans from Reading Museum, Eton College, the Natural History Museum, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and Oxford University Museum of Natural History, you can discover some of the reptiles and aquatic animals that inhabited the South East of England long before the existence of human life.

The exhibition is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am – 4pm until April 2023. Entry is free but donations are welcomed!

Women in Politics Webinar

Women in Politics is currently a hot topic, but West Berkshire is ahead of the curve and the news. At 7pm on 1 June, we'll be running a webinar on why we need more women in local politics representing their communities and helping shape West Berkshire's future.

The event will feature women who represent their communities, from parish councils to the current Leader of West Berkshire Council.

We will discuss their journeys, why they made those choices, and what they would suggest to women thinking about taking this step.

The event is non-political and will be informative and, we hope, exciting and inspiring. If you'd like to find out more and register for the event, please visit https://www.westberks.gov.uk/womeninpolitics

We hope this will be the first in a series helping to provide more equality in our Council and the work we do.

Hang out in the Nature Discovery Centre's new community garden

Every Friday, 1pm - 3pm, the Berkshire, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) are inviting people to join them in their new Community Garden at the Nature Discovery Centre in Thatcham.

Come along and you could plant some seeds, create wildlife habitats, or just have a cup of tea and relax in a soothing green space.

No experience is necessary with everyone welcome to take part. If you'd like to attend please email Clare Hegarty, BBOWT's Engaging with Nature Project Assistant so she can make sure there are plenty of tea and biscuits for you!

This is part of Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trusts Engaging with Nature Project. Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, Engaging with Nature harnesses the healing power of nature to improve mental health. You can find out more about this on the BBOWT website.