Children's Services Joint Area Review (JAR)

The JAR Findings

The Joint Area Review (JAR) Report was published on 16 October 2007. Its findings are as follows:

• Services for Looked After Children are GOOD
• Services for children with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities are GOOD
• Services for children that require safeguarding are GOOD
• The contribution of services to better mental health outcomes is GOOD
• The impact of the government's 14-19 strategy on those in the most deprived areas or the most deprived circumstances is GOOD
• Service management is GOOD
• Capacity to improve further is OUSTANDING

Please click the link below to download the full report:

East Sussex Joint Area Review Report

What is the JAR?
The Joint Area Review (JAR) is part of the new inspection framework for local authority children's services, introduced in 2005. It is an integrated inspection which focuses on children's services provided by all partners and agencies in a local area. The JAR for East Sussex took place during June, and investigated what life is like for children and young people growing up in East Sussex .

What was involved?
The investigations focussed on 5 key areas:

1. Looked After Children
2. Children with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities
3. Children that require safeguarding
4. The contribution of services to better mental health outcomes
5. The impact of the government's 14-19 strategy on those in the most deprived areas or the most deprived circumstances

In preparation for the inspection we provided a range of evidence (see 'Evidence Documentation' below), and 8 inspectors then spent a total of 3 weeks scrutinising this evidence and following up their key lines of enquiry. The inspectors' fieldwork investigations consisted of:

• 34 interviews
• 21 focus groups
• 91 visits to settings
• 6 case file meetings
• scrutiny of 100 Youth Offending Team cases
• detailed review of the Duty and Assessment Teams

Literally hundreds of children, young people, parents, carers and staff were spoken to.

The draft report detailing the inspectors' findings will be sent to East Sussex County Council on 1st August. Any comments about the report will need to be given to Ofsted by the 13th September and the report will be published by the 16th October 2007. The findings from the JAR will also feed into the Annual Performance Assessment which will be concluded during September. The final outcomes of the various inspections will be available on the website.

Evidence documentation
Submitted to inspectors on 14 May 2007, this documentation demonstrates our detailed understanding of where we are with improving outcomes for all our children, the impact of our actions and how information and data are being used to drive and secure continuous improvement.

The documentation is structured as follows:

• Evidence foreword
• Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) review 2006/07
• CYPP Appendix 1 (review table)
• CYPP Appendix 2 (action plan 2007/08)
• APA self-assessment 2007
• APA self-assessed grades 2007
• Glossary of terms

Vulnerable group briefings



• Safeguarded children and young people
• Looked after children and young people
• Children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities
• Contribution of all services to better mental health outcomes for children and young people
• Impact of the Government's 14-19 Strategy on those in the most deprived areas or the most deprived circumstances
  

JAR Newsletters
Please click the links below to download.

Newsletter 1
Newsletter 2
Newsletter 3

If you would like to know more about the Children's Services Joint Area Review or have any other questions, please contact csplanningandperformance@eastsussex.gov.uk