Cllr Alex Sanderson (Cabinet Member for Children and Education): Hammersmith & Fulham is a borough for everyone. At our heart is a mission to improve and change the lives of our youngest residents, giving them the very best start in life so that they can thrive, enjoy life and help us build a better future.
Ofsted has confirmed that we are doing just that. Our Children's Services team has been rated 'Outstanding' at our recent Ofsted inspection.
They're the team who support our cared for children and unaccompanied miners, care experienced young people and children in need and their families those who need an extra helping hand 365 days a year.
This 'Outstanding' rating means that children living in our borough receive excellent care, personalised and effective support and protection and guidance whenever they need it, making sure they get the right support at the right level at the right time.
Jacqui McShannon (Strategic Director of Children's Services): We are absolutely thrilled and delighted with the outcome of this inspection, which is a great tribute and testament to the hard work and the collective endeavours of all our staff throughout Children's Services and indeed the council.
Tim (Social worker): For an external agency to come in and inspect us and agree that we're delivering an 'Outstanding' service, I guess is testament to the work that we do on an ongoing basis.
Lucie (Social worker): It's nice to know that we now have that 'Outstanding' quality as well to back up that you know, we have good management, we have good supervision, staff here are really well supported and we are doing our best for families in the borough.
Young carer: Sometimes we go on like trips and we normally... it's just to get away from like always doing stuff for your family. It's just to have fun and enjoy your childhood basically.
Interviewer: So would you say that the grown-ups who run Young Carers Club are really friendly?
Young carers: [In unison] Yeah!
Delme (Placement worker): It's all the hard work that went into it and being rated 'Outstanding' is just demonstrating that we, as a local authority, are putting residents first, young people first.
Simon (Senior practitioner - Virtual School): It's a recognition of the quality work that we provide and give to our young people and how young people focused we are.
We need to make sure we don't lose sight of the fact of the work that we do and we don't rest on our Laurels and say "actually we've got 'Outstanding' Ofsted so that's okay."
Nabeel (Care leaver): My social worker told me about the hub, so I came here every time. I like it, I like the hub. The social worker helped me, he visited me on time and asked me about the study and what I'm doing, what I'm doing about a daily routine and about the health, my health.
They teach me a lot about independent skill.
Nat (Social worker): Excited to be part of an 'Outstanding' council and to be working to... I guess it's that like validation of, actually what we're doing is seen as good, is seen as like we're effectively working with children, we're working alongside them in a way that actually we would want to be seen doing that.
Loushae (Social worker): Being a social worker is hard enough, and when you kind of add really good management and really good like structures in place, that makes the job so much easier to do.
And I think it was really nice to kind of be talking to Ofsted and be like "oh, this is a really good structure we've got here that works."
Having Ofsted see that is great.
Glenna (Foster carer): Having an 'Outstanding' rating I think sort of validates the the work that's been done and the work that will carry on being done.
Cllr Sanderson: No matter whether a family or young person needs quick guidance or longer term support, one of our many brilliant teams is on hand to deliver it.
Their impact wouldn't be as successful without the help of our partners who are working with us including our three new family hubs and across all our children's services to make a difference.
Thank you to everyone, our young people and their families, partners and colleagues who are helping us make Hammersmith & Fulham a stronger, kinder, safer place for every single young resident every day.
End card
"Children living in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham receive excellent services. Since the last inspection, highly effective and committed leaders have continued to make improvements."
Ofsted inspection report, May 2024