Committed to Quality

Our commitment to quality is fundamental to what we do. It lies at the heart of every service we deliver. We appreciate the passion and dedication of our local authority colleagues, and we make sure our own services live up to the highest standards.

Our Practice and Standards teams play an active role in driving quality throughout the Outcomes First Group family, monitoring performance and implementing change. Our schools are inspected by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, Care Inspectorate Wales, Care Inspectorate Scotland and ESTYN, and our high number of ‘Outstanding’ ratings reflects our relentless quality commitment.

Of course, our high ratings are only part of the story. The bigger picture is revealed by the outcomes for the pupils, young people and adults themselves. In terms of inspection outcomes we’re proud to achieve some of the best in our sector, with 98% of schools judged to be good or outstanding (or equivalent). Through our pledge to children and young people, and the promise we make to our own teams, we place our quality commitment front and centre, and we live up to the promises we make.

Our Safeguarding and Quality Committee 

Our Safeguarding and Quality Committee is made up of:

• Dame Christine Lenehan (Chair)
• Professor Barry Carpenter
• Ritu Kumar
• Mike Blakey (Outcomes First Group)

You can find out more about the Committee members on our Meet the Team page.

The Safeguarding and Quality Committee meets quarterly to oversee, monitor, review and report on the quality of services we provide. It also provides assurance to our Board of Directors that robust and effective systems are in place.

The Committee takes a lead in monitoring performance and implementing change by:

• Highlighting risks and opportunities to improve practice across Outcomes First Group
• Providing oversight and scrutiny of quality assurance activities, processes and outcomes across all our divisions
• Supporting the Executive Team in shaping or troubleshooting quality or outcome areas
• Drawing on the experience of individuals from outside Outcomes First Group with relevant expertise if necessary

Our practice and standards team includes colleagues with social work, local authority, residential and teaching experience.

Home and school visits

We are responsible providers of education, and our Quality and Compliance team oversees monthly visits to all our residential care homes for children and young people. This is in line with the law, which states that providers must arrange independent visits.

The team also leads on large-scale outcomes improvement projects such as Ask, Accept and Develop or the Trauma Informed Practice Strategies which are underpinned by clinical research and theory and supported by our clinical offer.

Working in partnership with our services, the inspectorates and local authorities, our Group Practice and Standards teams make sure our education and care consistently exceed the requirements set out in legislation, national minimum standards and statutory guidance in relation to safeguarding children and adults.

Clinical governance

The Chief Clinical Officer chairs the clinical governance board and works closely with the external advisory board and the clinical directorate:

• Heads of Clinical Operations (North and South)
• Head of Trauma informed Practice

In collaboration with the Clinical Practice and Standards Teams:

• Head of Psychological Practice
• Head of Occupational Therapy
• Head of Speech and Language Therapy

Research and development

We’re proud to work with several universities across the country in providing placements for doctoral and professional students including teaching, speech and language therapy occupational therapy and psychology.

Ongoing research and development work is being carried out across the Group; we are leading the way and contributing to the evidence-base both by supporting existing research projects, involving lived experience experts and conducting our own research trials and pilots. All our research projects are overseen by the Group’s advisory board which is Chaired by Professor Barry Carpenter.