TRIBUTES have been paid to Barnsley Council’s children’s services staff who helped secure a glowing rating from Ofsted despite financial cuts.
The education watchdog ranked the service as ‘good’ across the board, giving just four recommendations for improvement following an inspection which took place in October last year.
It comes just four years after Ofsted rated the service as ‘requiring improvement’ - its second lowest category for under-performing services.
Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said: “It’s a terrific result and comes at a time when the council is massively under pressure with its finances, so to still provide a good service is a remarkable achievement.”
Chief executive Diana Terris said the achievement showed a ‘huge amount of resilience’.
“It shows we strive to keep on going and it’s involved a huge amount of work,” she added. “I’m delighted with Ofsted’s findings and I’m very proud of it.”
