Epping Forest School Closures

Epping Forest seems to have been hit particularly hard by school closures if the list just read out by BBC Essex is any guide.

Pupils at Davenant, Debden Park, King Harold in Waltham Abbey and St John’s School in Epping all look set to have the day off.

So do pupils at Oakview Special School and primary school pupils at High Beach, Lambourne, Moreton, Nazeing, Shelley, St Andrew’s in North Weald and Thomas Willingale in Loughton.

Essex County Council delivers some of the poorest children’s services in England

I woke this morning to the news that Essex County Council has, for the second year running, been rated as delivering some of the worst children’s services in England. Nine councils are rated as poor, including Essex [PDF report here] and the London Borough of Haringey, which faced massive criticism because of the way it handled the awful Baby P case.

It seems extraordinary that the Conservative councillors who run Essex County Council allowed children’s services to deteriorate so much, especially given the number of high profile child abuse cases that have featured in the national news in recent years. Effective work to protect children is difficult, expensive and unglamorous. Nevertheless it is one of the most important functions that the county council is responsible for.

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