Bromley Ofsted Report Published

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you all had a happy Christmas break and wish each of you a healthy and prosperous New Year.

In fact, I can think of no better way to start this new year than by drawing your attention to the outcome of the recent ILACS inspection of Bromley children’s social care by Ofsted. Their report can be accessed here. Bromley has been judged as good in all practice areas and the impact of leadership on social work practice has been judged as outstanding.

I am not aware of any Local Authority managing this type of transition in the timescales within which Bromley have achieved this outcome. All of those involved, from the Interim Chief Executive, Director of Children’s Services and Chair of the Improvement Board deserve our thanks. Above all, however, our appreciation must go to all those frontline practitioners who during what was a difficult time, did everything they could to make things better for the children and young people they serve so well. They are a credit to Bromley, to themselves and their families. I am genuinely proud to be associated with them.

That said, I am absolutely sure that this could not have been achieved without the hard work and critical partnership support provided by the BSCB and this is reflected in the leadership narrative.

Finally, it is not often that we get the chance to celebrate such success so please take a moment to reflect upon what has been achieved, contact and congratulate anyone you know in Bromley Children’s Social Care and make sure they enjoy the moment. Tomorrow it is back to business and I know we will all want to grasp the opportunity to build on this new foundation.

Jim Gamble QPM

Independent Chair, Bromley Safeguarding Children Board