Youth Service praised by Ofsted

Good activities being accessed by young people in the borough

Services provided to young people with disabilities around the borough have been praised by Ofsted inspectors in a recent report.

Activities and events include a Saturday morning youth club where young people with and without disabilities take part in leisure activities and also help run the club.

The council’s youth service currently runs a number of forums that give young people, with and without disabilities, the chance to have their say on issues affecting them, while a new forum specifically for young people with disabilities is also set to be launched.

In addition, Link4Life, the council’s leisure and cultural trust, organises Sunsport which provides activities for young people with disabilities together with activity holidays.

During their visit in June, the Ofsted inspectors spoke with young people and staff, studied documents and watched youth workers in action.

Among the things which impressed the inspectors were:

• Young disabled people engaging with the council’s services enjoy access to a good and expanding programme of activities.
• Those using the services achieve well. In some cases achievement is outstanding. 
• The additional-needs Saturday club at Springvale youth centre provides a first-class example of the impact and relevance of well-planned youth work.
• Young inspectors, and similar projects aimed at empowering young people to play an active part in their community, engage those with disabilities well.
• An obvious and shared commitment exists across a range of organisations to supporting mainstream access to services by disabled young people.
• Disability work appears as both a discrete and an integrated aspect of the youth service’s work.

Inspectors recommended that the council should ensure that young people are able to continue enjoying a range of opportunities when they become adults and also advised it and other local authorities to share best practice in order to further raise standards.

Councillor Donna Martin, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Providing young people with disabilities with the opportunity to be fully engaged with their local community and to benefit from taking part in as many activities as possible is a major priority for the council.

“This Ofsted report recognises the hard work and dedication of our team and also provides a valuable insight into how we can make the service we provide even better.”