Strategy, Vision, Mission and Values

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This chapter provides the context for all procedures.

It describes the overarching strategy, which includes our vision, mission, delivery priorities, and values, for the provision of services to children and families in Wokingham for 2021-2024.

AMENDMENT

This chapter was updated October 2021.

1. Introduction

The Children's Services Strategy 2021-2024 sets out our plans for delivery and improvement of our work with children, young people and their families. It is underpinned by a range of legislation including, but not limited to:

  • Children Acts 1989 and 2004;
  • Children and Social Work Act 2017;
  • Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000;
  • Children and Young Persons Act 2008;
  • Care Standards Act 2000;
  • United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child;
  • Human Rights Act 1998;
  • Adoption and Children Act 2002;
  • Children and Families Act 2014;
  • Equality Act 2016.

The strategy also has regard to and is consistent with a range of government guidance, particularly the Department for Education agenda and the principles set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children.

2. Our Vision and Mission

Our Vision is that Wokingham is a Borough in which all children and young people are safe and cared for, enjoy and achieve, are healthy and resilient, grow up ready for adulthood, and feel happy, hopeful and loved.

To work towards our vision, each of the four divisions of the Children's Services Directorate have articulated their individual mission:
  1. Social Care and Early Help Mission
    • Providing the right type and amount of help at the right time, to support the most vulnerable children, young people and families;
    • Driving an early intervention and prevention approach to anticipating and addressing needs;
    • Strengthening resilience and well-being;
    • Strengthening our support for vulnerable adolescents in the community;
    • Strengthen our partnership arrangements to ensure children are safeguarded in their homes and in the wider community.
  2. Learning, Achievements and Partnerships Mission
    • Supporting children and young people to enjoy life and achieve their potential;
    • Supporting the most vulnerable to achieve;
    • Narrowing the gap in attainment outcomes;
    • Supporting schools and building partnerships to drive attainment and independence;
    • Driving inclusion and an inclusive approach to delivering better outcomes for all children and young people.
  3. Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Mission
    • To develop organisational self-knowledge through qualitative and quantitative analysis;
    • To put in place standards, systems and processes which provide a strong framework for challenge and continuous improvement;
    • To produce accurate targeted data, effective analysis and evaluation of performance which supports management and practice across services for children and young people;
    • To embed a culture of challenge and improvement, where quality assurance is everyone's business;
    • To provide opportunities for learning and development to enable staff to make the most of their aptitude and abilities (ASYE – Managers);
    • To advance and enhance practice through the development of the Practice Model;
    • To promote excellence of practice which results in the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
  4. Strategic and Operational Delivery Mission
    • Driving cross-council working to put children and young people at the heart of everything Wokingham does;
    • Developing strategies and programmes to drive excellence and continuous improvement;
    • Driving commercial excellence, effective financial management and Value for Money;
    • Engaging strategically and proactively with peers, networks and regulators.

3. Our Values

Our values describe and drive the way we work and what we do in pursuit of our Vision. These are set out in the table below:

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Our Values What this means for how we work
We focus on making a difference. We support children, young people and families on their journey, and measure our success in terms of impact on outcomes.
We aim high. We have high aspirations for every child and young person. We are ambitious for our services, and strive for excellence in everything we do.
We are strategic, efficient and effective. We manage all our resources efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of our children, young people and families.
We value our people. We highly value and support our children's workforce. We support our people to excel, grow and love their work.
We drive partnership, collaboration and coproduction. We work in strategic partnership with professionals, children, young people and families to achieve our shared goal to improve outcomes.