Torbay Children’s Services are proud to share the success of the Learning Academy in supporting a more Child Friendly Torbay. The goal of the in-house Learning Academy is to help all social care staff build their professional skills and futures with the service, supporting brighter futures for some of the most vulnerable children in Torbay.

Ensuring there are proficient skills is essential to the future of a successful service and is why succession planning is key as the service continues to provide well-led, consistent, and quality services to help Torbay children and their families to flourish.

This approach of investing and developing from within the existing workforce also benefits existing managers, who will have more skilled and confident senior managers to support and provide opportunities to reflect on their learning, observations and experiences and identify specific areas for development.

Through the success of the Learning Academy, Torbay Children’s Services have recently appointed Becky Thompson as Children’s Services Divisional Director, of Safeguarding. 

Cllr Cordelia Law, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Torbay Council, said; “Becky Thompson brings with her a wealth of experience in safeguarding, leadership, and a commendable commitment to improving outcomes for children. Safeguarding remains a top priority in the improvement journey of Torbay Children’s Services and we warmly welcome Becky’s expertise.

“It is important that we recognise and give credit to the Learning Academy and the succession planning that underpins our future vision for Torbay Children’s Services and the positive development of our workforce. As an organisation, we will continue to actively champion individuals to feel empowered, engaged and valued in addition to strengthening our recruitment and retention of talented staff.”