Ofsted's report 'Unknown children – destined for disadvantage?' looks at how good councils and early years providers are in helping disadvantaged families. NCB is concerned that Ofsted found so many councils are not taking a joined-up approach to tackling the challenges faced by poor children.
Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of the National Children's Bureau said:
"It is of great concern that Ofsted found so many local authorities are not taking a joined-up strategic approach to dealing with the challenges faced by the poorest and most disadvantaged children in the first years of their lives"
"This report underlines the unacceptable fact that education and health teams are still not working effectively together, leading to a lack of information sharing to inform assessments. It is essential that this fragmented way of working is combatted, and professional trust built across different children's services, to ensure that children are not suffering as a direct consequence of this poor cross-team working"
"We know from our substantial work with specific disadvantaged and vulnerable groups; that those children and young people in care, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are missing out when it comes to receiving quality early years provision, and we are extremely disappointed that this report did not take a specific look at either of these two areas."
Ofsted's full report can be downloaded at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/helping-disadvantaged-young-children-ofsted-thematic-report