Wokingham

Eight weeks into her new role as corporate head of Wokingham children’s services, Wendy Woodcock has been busy bringing together education and children’s social care under one roof to provide even more effective services for the district’s children and young people.

Wendy took up her position on August 1 and is providing leadership for Wokingham district council’s children’s services and will lead and deliver the ambitious children and young people’s plan, which was unveiled earlier this month.

Her key responsibilities will be:

* Working with the Wokingham chief executive, deputy chief executive, corporate management team (CMT) and councillors to ensure all the council’s services work together and meet the needs and aspirations of the community. She will also build and maintain effective partnerships with the council’s partners including the private, voluntary and community sectors.

* Maintaining Wokingham council’s already high standards in children’s services, particularly education, and identifying ways of improving them even further.

* Making the aspirations of the Wokingham children and young people’s plan a reality for the district’s children and young people.

Wendy previously held the position of deputy corporate head of children’s services at Wokingham district council, a position she had held since September 2004, and has over 16 years’ experience of working in local authorities including Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council and Avon City Council. Wendy began he career as a humanities teacher, later specialising in special educational needs and a range of service management posts in secondary schools. She later moved into local authority work on school improvement and the management of a range of specialist services.

During her time in Bristol, Wendy led and implemented a strategy for improvements in schools facing challenging circumstances, of which there were 10 in the city. And as a direct result of this strategy, more pupils achieved five or more A* to C grade GCSEs in summer 2003 – the first improvement since 1996.

Since moving to Wokingham District Council, Wendy led the development of the children and young people’s plan. This plan has been praised by staff, headteachers, partners and by the Department for Education and Skills for the clarity of its aims and priorities for improvement and for the new model for service delivery it introduces. She was also responsible for developing the children’s workforce within the district.

Speaking on her appointment, Wendy said: “I’m very pleased to have been appointed to this important role. I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead and promote the already positive work which is happening in the Wokingham district for children and young people. I am looking forward to contributing to developing the partnership work across the district to improve services even further. These improvements will lead to better outcomes for children and young people and will more effectively meet their needs ensuring they are properly safeguarded.

“My work is driven by my passionate belief that each and every child matters as much as my own two sons and I am committed to putting the child at the heart of all that we do here at Wokingham District Council.

“At an operational level, over the past month I have been reorganising the structure of children’s services to reflect the model of service delivery described within the children and young people’s plan. I expect the new look restructure to be complete by the end of the year.”

Doug Patterson, Wokingham chief executive, said: “I am pleased with Wendy’s appointment and she brings with her a wealth of experience. The council is committed to ensuring that all children and young people stay safe and healthy, enjoy and achieve to the best of their ability, make a positive contribution to their community and enjoy economic well-being.”

“Wendy was the driving force behind the new children and young people’s plan and under her leadership, I am confident we can improve services and the life chances of children and young people across the whole district.”

Wokingham District Council