Maidenhead & Windsor

Children and young people in the Maidenhead Royal Borough are consistently well supported by council services, with education scoring top marks.

Results of the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) published today (Thursday December 1) give the Maidenhead borough's education service four out of four for its contribution to maintaining and improving outcomes for children and young people. This demonstrates a service that delivers well above minimum requirements for users, is serving people well and with very good capacity for improvement.

Maidenhead Social care services scored two out of four and the report recognises on-going and strong improvements for vulnerable children in the borough, particularly highlighting good outcomes in the areas of child protection and looked after children.

The APA is carried out by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) and their report gives the borough an overall score of three out of four for Maidenhead children's services - a service that consistently delivers above minimum requirements, serving most people well with good/promising prospects for improvement.

With the advent of the Children Act 2004, local authorities (and their partner organisations) now work towards five key outcomes for all children and young people. The APA's judgement reflects the Maidenhead Royal Borough's performance under these headings:

* Enjoying and achieving – outcomes very good overall
* Being healthy – outcomes good
* Staying safe – outcomes adequate but with continued strengthening performance
* Making a positive contribution – outcomes good
* Achieving economic well-being – outcomes good.

Maidenhead Cllr Cynthia Pitteway, lead member for education, said she was delighted by the recognition that education provision in the Royal Borough is of the highest quality and paid tribute to the hard work and dedication of everyone in the education community.

Maidenhead Cllr Pitteway added: "The APA letter highlights the good progress and attainment in our schools and our commitment to keep on getting better. Our children and young people deserve the best possible educational opportunities and we are determined to ensure that the high standards we already have are maintained and enhanced in the future."

Maidenhead Cllr Pam Proctor, lead member for social services, said the APA gave strong recognition to the strengthening performance in children's social care services as well as the council's thorough quality assurance arrangements to ensure access to services by the children who need them.

She said: "We have made significant progress in the past two years, with social services overall achieving two stars in this week's CSCI results. The implementation of our improvement plan is helping us to make a real difference for the vulnerable children and young people in the borough.

"I would like to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication and also our partners. Close working relationships with other council services and with our partner organisations is a major part of the improvement programme and I am confident we will see even more progress and even better outcomes for children and young people in the year ahead."

There are around 35,500 children and young people up to the age of 19 in the Maidenhead Royal Borough. In line with the requirements of the Children Act, all of the council's services for them will be brought together in one children's services directorate from spring next year. The new directorate will include education, children's social services, youth services and the youth offending team.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead ~ 01-Dec-2005