GIRFEC
An Overview for Schools
Learning Intentions
By the end of this session you will have:
• an understanding of the legislative context of GIRFEC
• an understanding of the revised Continuum of Support
• an operational understanding of how the new
processes fit within the CoS
• An understanding of the Child’s Planning Meeting
process
Why GIRFEC?
• 2006 Scottish Executive introduced the
GIRFEC approach
• Subsequent policies encompass GIRFEC
including:
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–
–
–
The Early Years Framework
Curriculum for Excellence
We Can and Must do Better
Equally Well
• Children and Young Person (Scotland) Bill
Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill
• Proposed GIRFEC duties:
• Local Authority Children Service Plans
• Agreed definition of wellbeing
(SHANARRI)
• Named Person Role
• Single Child’s Planning Process
• Statutory duties to share information
5 Key GIRFEC Questions
1. What is getting in the way of this child or young
person's well-being?
2. Do I have all the information I need to help this child
or young person?
3. What can I do now to help this child or young
person?
4. What can my agency do to help this child or young
person?
5. What additional help, if any, may be needed from
others?
The National Practice Model
Key Roles – Named Person
The legislation will ensure that all children and
young people from birth up to the age of 18
have access to a Named Person
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pre-birth to 10 days:
11 days to school entry
P1 to P7
S1 to S6
S4-S6 (not in school)
the midwife
the health visitor
the head teacher
the head teacher
to be decided
Key Roles – Named Person
•
•
•
•
•
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•
•
Main point of contact for a family
Involve families in decision making
Record concerns that are raised
Use the GIRFEC framework to assess the needs of the
child and plan for meeting needs
Be responsible for the implementation of a single agency
plan
Ensure information is shared with the right people at the
right time
Contribute to planning for children who need extra help at
key transition points.
The role of the Named Person should be no more than they
currently do in the course of their work.
Key Roles – Lead Professional
• Act as the main point of contact for the child and family and
relevant practitioners in relation to the Child’s Plan
• Ensure the Child’s Plan is accurate and up-to-date, implemented
and reviewed
• Support the child and family to understand what is happening,
ensure their views and wishes are heard and involve them in
decisions that affect them
• Make sure the child is supported through key transition points and
ensure a careful and planned transfer of responsibility especially
when another practitioner becomes the Lead Professional and/or
responsibility reverts to the role of the Named Person.
Single Child’s Plan
• One plan, to be used by a single agency or several
agencies working together to support the child.
• As Getting it Right for Every Child is being
implemented nationally, the Child’s Plan Meeting will
streamline the functions of existing forums, such as
Looked After Children Reviews, Child Protection Case
Conferences, reviews of children’s health and Coordinated Support Plan reviews.
• The format and attendees of the Child’s Plan Meeting
will reflect the complexity of the child’s needs and
circumstances.
• The Child’s Plan is co-ordinated by the/a Lead
Professional.
GIRFEC in West Lothian
Continuum of Support Level 4: SORG
• Presumption of Mainstream
• Remit of SORG (regular & transition)
• SORG referrals and feedback
Overview of Support
Educational Psychology Service
IT Support
Autism Outreach Service
Primary Behaviour Outreach
Secondary Behaviour Outreach
Dyslexia
ADHD Outreach
Hearing Impaired Service
Home and Hospital Outreach
Language Outreach
Access Services
Child Protection Officer
Looked After Children Outreach
Pre-School Home Teaching Service
Music Therapy
Attendance Group
Community Child Health
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Service
Occupational Therapy
Speech and Language Therapy
Physiotherapy
Social Policy
Children and Disabilities Team
Criminal Justice
Children and Young People’s Team
Reporter to the Children’s Panel
Community Policing
Level 1 CoS: Named Person Responsibilities
Wellbeing Concerns process
• Main point of contact for the family / public and other
professionals regarding the child
• Wellbeing Concerns Form to be used to record
concerns and to plan for further action
• Points to consider:
– How will this be used in our school/agency?
– How could it be used to record plans that already take place?
eg. IEP consideration, SfL discussions, decisions about within
school additional support
Wellbeing Concern Form
Level 2 CoS: Named Person responsibilities
Assessment of Wellbeing process
• The Assessment of Wellbeing form is the start of the Single Child’s
Planning process and is part of the Single Child’s Plan.
• Designed to support the Named Person in taking decisions about further
action
• Proforma is a place to record all information about an individual child
• Proforma aids decision making process for the Named Person
• Propose that process is implemented initially for all children for whom it is
appropriate in Nursery, Primary 7, current S1 and any children currently
at Level 3 of CoS. Ultimately, this requires to be in place for all pupils.
Points to consider:
How can we plan to implement this for the pupils as outlined above?
How can it support processes already in place in our school?
How could this be used in within my agency setting?
Single Child’s Plan (Assessment of Wellbeing)
Single Child’s Plan (Child’s Planning Meeting)
Core elements of a Chronology
• Key dates of birth, life events, moves etc
• Transitions, life changes
• Key professional interventions, reviews, hearings etc
• Facts
• Brief note of an event and reason for its significance
• Source of information
• The actions which were taken, including no action
Chronology Format
Date
of
Event
Detail of
Event
Action Taken
Outcome
Wellbeing
indicator
Code
Brief
description
of the
event,
including
the name
of reporter
A
description
of the
event and
any actions
taken
A description
of any
outcomes from
the action
taken
The most
relevant
SHANARRI
indicator
(Safe,
Healthy,
Active,
Nurtured,
Achieving,
Respected,
Responsible
, Included)
Each
recorded
chronology
item should
be
appropriately
graded for
significance.
Chronologies
• responsibility of Named Person
• helps to keep track of children’s
situation
• allows for a historical perspective on
circumstances and may suggest needs
(FAQ document available)
Child’s Planning Meetings
Level 2/3 CoS: Named Person / Lead Professional
Child’s Planning Meetings
• Aim to streamline the process for schools and
children/families
• Importance of pre-meeting preparation
• Strengths based approach
• Clearer recording and action planning process
• Decision about whether a Lead Professional is
required should be considered at the meeting
Solution Oriented Principles
• A focus on future possibilities enhances change
• The problem is the problem, not the person
• Everyone has their own ways of solving problems. Co-operation
enhances change.
• In all situations, there are strengths and resources that can be
used to effect change
• Small changes can lead to bigger changes
• If something works, do more of it. If it doesn’t work, do something
different.
Why a Solution Oriented Approach for
Child’s Planning?
• It offers principles and a structure for identifying
creative solutions
• Helps us develop goals and solutions rather than
analysing current problems
• Focuses on the present and future, on goals and how
to achieve them
• Recognises the importance of involving the person in
the solution process
• Focuses on ‘what works’ and amplifying strengths
rather than analysing weaknesses
Problem Solving
Solution Building
9.30 am
Problem Talk
Problem Talk
9.45 am
10.15 am
Solution Talk
Solution Talk
10.30 am
Preparing for a Child’s Planning Meeting
• Only professionals already working with the
child/young person should be invited to a Child’s
Planning Meeting
• Relevant professionals will have already been involved
as a result of the Assessment of Wellbeing (AoW)
process.
• The AoW process will have identified areas of concern
that can be shared at the meeting.
Participation in the meeting
• Genuine engagement of the child and family in the
meeting is dependent upon effective preparation
• The views of the child / young person should be
gathered before the meeting in order to support their
engagement in the process. A variety of tools are
available for this purpose.
• Consider whether this approach would be helpful for
use with parents too
• Consider how this might be used with other agencies
My Views / What I think
My Views / What I think
Pre-Meeting preparation (professionals)
Activity: Participation of children and
young people in meetings
Discuss your thoughts on the participation of
children and young people in meetings.
What do you do currently to support this?
• What are the strengths of supporting children to
participate in meetings?
• What are the challenges?
• What are the solutions?
Roles in the meeting
Facilitator
Timekeeper
Child’s
Planning
Meeting
Scribe
SO Meeting Stages
6.Action Plan
Construct a Child’s
Plan. Agree what,
who, when and
review (10 mins)
5.Goals/Desired
Outcomes
Use well-being
indicators for desired
outcomes
(10 mins)
4.Current Strategies
What is currently
working well? How
could we do more of
this? (10 mins)
1.Explain
the
Meeting
format and
agree
purpose
(5 mins)
2. Strengths/
Protective
Factors
What’s going
ok?(10 mins)
3.Concerns/
Risk Factors
Listen to the
concerns
(immediate and
emerging)
(5 mins)
1. Explaining the meeting format
Facilitator:
Use 5 minutes at the start of the meeting to
outline the stages of the meeting and the
purpose of this approach to a Child’s
Planning Meeting
(see suggested script)
2. Strengths / Protective Factors
Facilitator: open a discussion about the child’s
strengths
– What strengths does the young person have?
– Explore areas of interest/activity
– Invite everyone to share something that they consider
to be a strength of the child/young person
– Invite the child/young person to contribute to this
discussion
3. Concerns / Risk Factors
Facilitator: open a discussion about the reasons why
the meeting has been convened.
What is not working just now?
– Discuss the current concerns
– Take everyone’s views into account
– Take time to agree on the top priorities
This discussion will be used to identify goals for the
meeting.
4. Current Strategies / Exceptions
Facilitator: explore what is currently working well. Explore times when the
issues are not as challenging.
Strategies
• What strategies are currently working?
• What should we keep doing?
• What could we try to do differently?
• What has worked or made a difference in the past?
Exceptions:
• When is the problem not so difficult, what is different about those
times?
• When was the last time things were even a little better? What was
different then?
Use Scaling to identify the most effective strategies
5. Goals / Desired Outcomes
Facilitator: open a discussion about what people at the meeting want
to be different / where do we want to be?
‘If things were a little better over the next week, what would John / his
teacher / his parents be doing differently?’
How would we know?
• Which exceptions can be developed/expanded?
• Which strategies can grow, be altered or re-tried?
• What can we try to do differently?
This information can also be used to identify possible goals for action
6. Constructing the Child’s Plan
• Agree the priority goals jointly
• Goals should be worded positively
Then agree:
• Who will do what?
• When will it be done?
• When will we review?
Providing a Constructive Summary
Facilitator provides a 5 minute summary
including:
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•
•
•
Key things that have been discussed
Review of the Plan
Thanks for attending and contributions
Take time to reflect on the usefulness
of the Child’s Planning Meeting process – use
Scaling?
• Transfer the notes to the formal paperwork
Child’s Planning Meeting Stages
6.Action Plan
Construct a Child’s
Plan. Agree what,
who, when and
review (10 mins)
5.Goals/Desired
Outcomes
Use well-being
indicators for desired
outcomes
(10 mins)
4.Current Strategies
What is currently
working well? How
could we do more of
this? (10 mins)
1.Explain
the
Meeting
format and
agree
purpose
(5 mins)
2. Strengths/
Protective
Factors
What’s going
ok?(10 mins)
3.Concerns/
Risk Factors
Listen to the
concerns
(immediate and
emerging)
(5 mins)
Activity: Child’s Planning Meeting
Prepare an Action Plan for Jamie
Accessing the Documents
Edweb: ASN section (coming soon)
http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/article/3083/
GIRFEC