Congratulations for the council

FIFTEEN months after a shock report labelled Warrington’s services for vulnerable children as “inadequate” the Department for Education has lifted an improvement notice imposed at that time.
In a letter to the borough council, minister of children and families Tim Laughton says: “It is clear from the recent Ofsted inspection and the review of the improvement notice carried out by my officials that Warrington has made significant progress in addressing issues raised in Ofsted’s 2009 inspection.
“I congratulate you on the progress made to date and look forward to hearing of continued improvement in the future.”
Last week, Warrington-Worldwide reported a new inspection had shown the borough council and its partner organisations were now meeting all their statutory requirements.
As a result of the new Ofsted findings, executive director of children and young people’s services in Warrington, Kath O’Dwyer contacted the Department for Education to discuss lifting the improvement notice put in place in December 2009.
The notice has now been officially lifted.
Ms O’Dwyer (pictured) said: “I think it was important for our staff to push for the notice to be lifted ahead of schedule in recognition of all of the hard work that has been done to improve the services we provide in Warrington.
“I can’t thank the staff and managers here enough for all they have done to date but we all know we can’t be complacent – there is still much to do if we are to ensure the best possible service to our most vulnerable children and young people.”
The council is continuing to work with Ofsted to agree Warrington’s wider annual assessment judgement which is due to be published in the coming weeks.