The Work of the Children First Team
The role of the education component of the Children First Team is to improve the
educational outcomes of Looked After Children. Statistically their outcomes have
been well below that being achieved by others of the same age. Their lives are
characterised by emotional stress caused by separation from their families and this
leads to instability. Their continuum of learning is often interrupted by foster
placement changes, time out of school and the children’s self esteem and confidence
are affected. The team strives at all times to promote the need to raise the standards
of attainment for this vulnerable group of children and this is now a priority in
‘Education 2015’: the vision of the Learning and Development Division of the Vale of
Glamorgan Council.
The team comprises a part time Specialist Teacher acting as Education Co-ordinator
for Looked After Children (a statutory post since 2007), a part time teacher 0.5 for
LAC (0.5 for Primary Behaviour Improvement Team), 0.5 part time Educational
Psychologist, and a 0.6 part time Administrator. There are currently 218 children in
the care system in the Vale of Glamorgan: 109 boys and 109 girls. Approximately
one third of children of school age live out of county. All except 11 live in foster
homes.
Legislation & Welsh Assembly Government Policies
The Children Act 2004 strengthened the role of the Local Authority as Corporate
Parent with a particular duty to promote the educational achievement of Looked After
Children.
The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to the principles of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child as the basis for its dealings with children and
young people and has adopted Seven Core Aims through which it will work to ensure
that all children and young people:
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Have a flying start in life;
Have a comprehensive range of education and learning opportunities;
Enjoy the best possible health and are free from abuse, victimisation and
exploitation;
Have access to play, leisure, sporting and cultural activities;
Are listened to, treated with respect, and have their race and cultural identity
recognised;
Have a safe home and a community which supports physical and emotional
wellbeing; and
Are not disadvantaged by poverty.
Towards A Stable Life and a Brighter Future 2007 sets out the arrangements and
functions that statutory partners must undertake in discharging their duties of cooperation with other statutory partners in respect of arrangements for the placement,
health and education of LAC. It set out new legal requirements on local authorities to
ensure education provision for looked after children: to designate a specialist
practitioner to co-ordinate the child’s education plan and address the educational
needs of LAC and Care Leavers. The local authority must ensure that every LAC has
an effective and high quality PEP.
Section 20 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 requires the governing
body of a maintained school in Wales to designate a member of staff as having
responsibility for promoting the educational achievement of looked after children in
the school.
The Education (Admission of Looked After Children) (Wales) Regulations 2009
requires that a looked after child’s admission into a school is prioritised. Any
education elements of a looked after child’s plan such as transport to school, must be
implemented quickly.
The new statutory guidance: ‘In Our Hands’ is currently in draft form, but will be
published early in 2012 and will replace Circular 2/2001: Guidance on the
Education of Looked After Children.
Corporate Parenting
Local Authorities have a “Corporate Parent” responsibility towards the children and
young people they look after, which means doing what any good parent should do to
ensure that the children and young people get the best possible educational
opportunities. Valuing and supporting the education of the children in public care is
one of the most important contributions a corporate parent can make to their lives,
because it is about investing in and caring about their future, and recognising that
education may be their passport to better life chances. The team has strived to raise
the profile of the corporate parenting role and there is much greater understanding
thanks to the efforts and support of the Corporate Parenting Panel.
Objectives
The objective of the team has been to provide clear information and practical
guidance to social workers, designated teachers for looked after children and foster
carers to support them to meet their responsibilities towards looked after children and
young people.
Ongoing training is provided to fulfil this objective which is supplemented with
written guides to all professions.
Current Practice
The Children First Team provides continuous daily advice and support to schools,
social workers and foster carers by ‘phone or email. It prides itself on its ability to
respond directly, with no lengthy referral procedures to follow. It also works
collaboratively and closely with health colleagues in the Children First Team,
CAMHS, CITT, Youth Offending Service, Careers Wales, Independent Reviewing
Officers, YPAs, EWOs and education staff of both Pupil Support Services and School
Improvement of the Learning and Development Division.
It prioritises education, has high expectations, promoting inclusion at all times. It
works hard with schools to avoid exclusions and has been able to offer extra support
when children are on the brink of exclusion, through RAISE. The team provides
challenge, as Corporate Parent, in cases of exclusion.
Personal Education Plans (PEPs)
Under the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and set out in Towards a Stable Life and
Brighter Future, 2007, local authorities are required to ensure that every child
looked after by them has a high quality Personal Education Plan (PEP) within 20 days
of entering care or joining a new school. Under the Children Leaving Care Act
2000, care leavers being supported in further/higher education must also have a PEP
as part of their Pathway Plan. Care Plans have not proved sufficient in promoting and
prioritising looked after children’s education, so the key mechanism for addressing
their educational needs and improving attainment, is the PEP.
The team tries to ensure Personal Education Plans (PEPs) are in place and provides
guidance notes to schools and social workers in order to complete them. The team
stresses the importance of the dialogue that surrounds the planning process which is
the key to its success. Only then are high quality PEPs likely to be achieved. The
team’s administrator advises school and social worker when a PEP is needed, inputs
all information for the Performance Indicator onto ICS and provides the Performance
Management Team of Children’s Services with the quarterly statutory data. The
percentage of PEPs completed within 20 days of becoming looked after or joining a
new school has improved significantly over recent years, from 29.8% in 2006/07 to
72% in 2009/10. PEPs are now an item on the agenda of the weekly Multi Agency
Placement Panel to ensure that Operational Managers are kept updated.
SEGLAC
The team can provide a range of needs-led packages including additional tuition after
school, extra support for learning during lessons from LSAs, additional behavioural
support in lessons to avoid exclusions, mentoring support, after school help with
homework and coursework, alternatives to Key Stage 4 curriculum for those at risk of
becoming NEET and activities to build self esteem. The majority of the grant will be
used to support pupils in Key Stage 4 but a proportion supports pupils in Key Stages 2
and 3. In Key Stage 2 pupils who are underachieving have benefitted from extra help
in both literacy and numeracy to enable them to more easily access the secondary
curriculum. In conjunction with the Primary Behaviour Improvement Team pupils
will be supported in school to avoid permanent exclusion. For some who have
difficulties integrating with their peers or who have a particular interest in drama or
music, Stagecoach Drama School membership has been provided. Revision Guides
and educational software such as Wordshark, Numbershark and GCSE CD-ROMs are
provided on request. SAM Learning, an online revision and exam practice tool for all
Key Stages has been issued to all pupils. It is accessible to them in and out of school
hours so encourages student-driven learning, increasing confidence and consolidating
learning.
The SEGLAC will run for the next three academic years 2011-2013.
The Education Co-ordinators and Educational Psychologist have strong links with
various departments of the School Improvement Service: for example, the ICT and
Data Support Team, the EMAS team, the Basic Skills Team, and the Literacy &
Numeracy Team. They monitor attainment using the very detailed data from the Data
Support Team and from Personal Education Plans.
The team listens to children and young people, acts when appropriate as champion
and advocates on their behalf. A LAC School Council is now established which
enables the children’s voices to be heard. The Children’s Commissioner’s Office has
enlisted the help of this group for their next publication: information for 14-18 year
olds. The Chair Person attends the Vale of Glamorgan’s Corporate Parenting Panel
and acts as the voice of LAC and Care Leavers and is a conduit between Elected
Members and young people.
The team celebrates the successes of the children and young people in an annual
Awards Evening. Those who have been nominated for an award receive certificates,
gift vouchers and trophies. Elected Members of the Corporate Parenting Panel help
distribute the awards. Although the time needed for planning this event is
considerable, feedback from all involved suggests that the joy and boost to self esteem
that this affords the children, makes it all worthwhile.
The Education Co-ordinators and Educational Psychologist attend statutory LAC
Review meetings when there are particular educational issues, when children are new
into the care system or when possible, on the request of the social worker or IRO.
Our administrator collects and collates all Performance Indicators with returns
provided quarterly, apart from attendance figures and external point scores. This
includes primary and secondary attendance, fixed and permanent exclusions, Key
Stage Teacher Assessed results, External Point Score for GCSEs , PEPs completed
within 20 school days of becoming looked after or joining a new school and changes
of placement as a result of non transitional moves.
Our administrator updates both EMS and ICS Data Management Systems and
provides a very important link between both Learning and Development and
Children’s Services. She has been instrumental in improving the number of PEPs
completed within target and initiates PEPs when a child becomes LAC or changes
school.
She monitors the movement of LAC in and out of county, including looked after
children from other counties. She assists with the organisation of training events, the
Awards Evening and the distribution of Welsh Assembly Government initiatives such
as Letterbox: a project which targets Year 3 and 5 children to stimulate reading and
educational activity in the home with foster carers.
The Education Co-ordinators attend the multi-agency Placement Panel on a weekly
basis and the Educational Psychologist attends Fostering Panel monthly. Fostering
Panel was set up as part of its assessment and approval process for foster carers.
The Educational Psychologist provides advice and support to schools, social workers
and foster carers and provides psychological assessments and therapeutic
interventions to schools, pupils and foster carers as and when required, to promote
greater understanding and good management of children’s needs.
The Education Co-ordinators and the Educational Psychologist provide training to
designated teachers, social workers, foster carers, the Fostering Team and governors.
The Education Co-ordinators also provide safeguarding training to designated senior
persons and governors and sits on the LSCB Training Sub Group, assisting with the
multi-agency training in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
The Education Co-ordinators set up a Forum for Post 16 and Care Leavers in 2003,
whose purpose was to ensure all parties were aware of what is available to young
people and to share information about current practice and new initiatives. The
intention is for the needs of all young people to be met appropriately through the
provision of further educational and or training opportunities. Members of the
Leaving Care Team, YPAs, Careers Wales, Post 16 NEET worker and Barry College
attend. This has now changed to include the new Post 15 Team of Children Services
and the Education Support Worker for Pre 16 NEET. Every effort is made to address
the needs of those young people who are likely to become NEET.
The Education Co-ordinators represent the Vale of Glamorgan on the All Wales
Education Co-ordinator Group and meets termly. The meetings are chaired by Hillary
Hills, a member of the Support for Learners Division of the Welsh Assembly
Government. It is a very useful forum which allows all members to keep abreast of
any new national initiatives and share information on good practice in regional areas.
It has also established cross county cooperation regarding out of county placements.
Jenny Smith
Education Co-ordinator for Looked After Children
October 2011