Ofsted had made visits to a small number of high-performing organisations in a bid to capture some essential attributes and strong examples of excellent leadership practice in children's services across the country.
Forging good relationships with local politicians can be challenging for children's services leaders, but if managed well, they can be mutually beneficial and help local authorities be more successful.
Children's professionals struggle to keep pace with child abusers' tactics; 23 campaign groups highlight need for child-friendly policies; and Bracknell Forest youth hub set to open by 2016, all in the news today.
Poorer parents struggle to feed their children during the summer holidays; Department for Education publishes child-friendly guide to the special educational needs reforms; and judge warns of "paedophile panic", all in the news today.
Last week, Milton Keynes played host to a delegation from the Jinjiang Municipal People's Government. They made the very long trip from South East China to take a look at our new driverless cars, which are soon to be trialled in the city centre.
With the number of children on child protection plans due to neglect on the rise, research by the NSPCC suggests a lack of understanding is resulting in universal services referring some cases that could be managed with early help.
A report by MPs published this month called for the government to take an extra 3,000 child refugees from Syria currently stranded in makeshift camps in mainland Europe.
On 17 September 2015, the Scottish Parliament passed the British Sign Language (BSL) Bill. The public gallery was packed with Deaf BSL users, many of whom had been banned from signing as children and forced to lip read. It had been a long, hard battle and it was difficult for many to hold back the tears and keep their emotions at bay.
Pupils with SEN have higher school absentee rates, troubled Doncaster Council appoints a new director of children's services, and NSPCC issues warning over number of young child abusers, in the news today.
The public believes the government must do more to tackle child poverty, the UK system for identifying trafficked children is flawed, and the improvement notice on Peterborough's children's services is lifted, all in the news today