From the Southend Radio news page today:
Childrens Services in Essex have AGAIN been rated as among the worst in the country. The County Council’s being placed on a par with Haringey – where Baby Peter died – in the latest performance ratings from Ofsted. Last week, the government announced it was going to take tougher measures to force improvements in Children’s Services – which are rated as ‘Poor’ in this latest report.
Inspectors say services for vulnerable young people and children at risk are inadequate and too variable in quality. They also say too many become the subject of a child protection plan more than once and standards in too many childrens’ homes aren’t good enough. The number of schools now meeting minimum government standards for exam results has risen – but so too has the number of students who leave full-time education by the age of 17.
(the page is changed from day to day, so this item won’t be there for long)