I attended a special meeting of Cabinet and Corporate Leadership Team this morning...

The meeting had been arranged to look at the progress we have been making with the new arrangements for Children's Services here in Leeds. The real success has been the acceptance that the new arrangements should build a framework of support connected to the team around the school. The elected members were very supportive of the further development of the role of schools understanding that they are the front line of Children's Services and critically important if we are to better manage the referrals and the pressure colleagues in social care are facing. The further development of the team around the family through the extended services clusters to create well-being teams to sit alongside child protection teams was also welcomed by members. The final piece of the jigsaw was the development of holistic multi-agency looked after children teams and teams working with children with special educational needs, disabilities and complex needs.

This work has come together powerfully since the Summer through some incredible work involving colleagues across Education Leeds, Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Police, NHS Leeds and headteachers. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues and the colleagues from schools whose passion, commitment and determination is beginning to provide us all with a framework to build on the best of the existing practice in early years, youth, social care and Education Leeds.
Chris