Transcript Children in Care

Children in Care and school governors
Cathryn Adams, Head of Achievement for
Children in Care
Matthew Lewis, Attendance and
Achievement Officer for Children in Care
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‘A high quality education provides the foundation for
transforming the lives of children in care. Children and
young people have told us how important education is to
their lives. Children who leave care with no qualifications
are less likely to be in education, employment or
training, are five times more likely than those with
qualifications to be in custody at age 19 and are nearly
twice as likely to have lost touch with the local authority
that supported them’
Source: Care Matters: Time to Deliver for Children in
Care, Department for Schools, Children and
Families, 2007
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Who are Children in Care?
•
Under the Children Act 1989, a child is looked after by a local authority if
he or she is in their care or is provided with accommodation for more
than 24 hours by the authority.
•
Accommodation: usually with the full agreement of those who have
parental responsibility for them, often because family circumstances
mean they cannot be cared for in their normal environment.
Parents/guardians retain full parental responsibility.
•
Care Order: if the local authority believes that a child has suffered or is
likely to suffer ‘significant harm’ if s/he remains with their birth family,
they can apply to the courts for a care order. Most children in these
circumstances live with foster carers.
•
All local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational
attainment of Children in Care (The Children Act 2004).
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Our Children in Care in Essex
 1382 children are looked after by Essex (September 2012) – 2011
national figure: 65500
 833 are of statutory school age
 224 are in schools outside Essex
 183 are looked after by other local authorities but educated in Essex
schools
 20% have a Statement of Special Educational Needs
 40% are School Action or School Action Plus
 32 are registered as Gifted and Talented
 36 are Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
 No permanent exclusions for three years
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Achievement Service for Children in Care
• Achievement Service for CiC launched in
August 2011 (formerly the Virtual School) – a
commissioning and delivery service
• Casework on core issues of attainment,
progress and attendance
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Achievement Service for Children in Care
(continued)
• Provides designated teacher/foster carer training
• Has close links with the Children in Care Council
• Monitors Personal Education Plan (PEP) compliance
but more crucially works to improve the quality of
PEPs
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Attainment: 2012
• Full data for 2012 still being produced, but headline
(unconfirmed) figures for CiC in Key Stage 2 are available:
•
•
•
•
Level 4 outcomes, 2012:
English 55%
Maths 69%
English and Maths combined 53%
• We have the 2011 data for comparison
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Attainment at Key Stage 2 – 2011
Number eligible to sit
Key Stage 2 tasks and
tests
English
Maths
Eng & Ma
50
54
50
42
Statistical Neighbour Average
41
38
31
England Average
Essex 2009-10
50
48
40
67
65
58
Rank among statistical neighbours
Rank in England, among LAs with
eligible CiC
Achievements of all KS2 pupils in
Essex
1st
1st
1st
28th
30th
26th
81
81
74
Key Stage 2
Essex
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Percentage who achieved at least Level 4
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Attainment at Key Stage 4 – 2011
Key Stage 4
Percentage achieving
Number eligible to sit
5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C
GCSEs
5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C
A*-C in English & maths
including Eng & maths
Essex
29.8
12.2
13.0
Statistical Neighbour Average
26.2
8.2
8.8
England Average
Essex 2009-10
31.2
12.8
13.4
27.8
9.6
Rank among statistical neighbours
Rank in England, among LAs with
eligible CiC
Achievements of all KS4 pupils in
Essex
5th
3rd
3rd
65th
29th
28th
78.2
57.8
n/a
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130
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Attendance – provisional absence to
31 May 2012 (2011 in brackets)
32+ days
(20%) PA
All CiC
CiC for >1 academic year
in census
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23+ days CiC Abs. %
(15%) PA
rate
5.77%
10.46%
5.86%
3.04%
(3.30%)
6.25%
(6.10%)
4.23%
(5.30%)
Governors’ role
•
Governors have a duty to designate a member of staff to promote the
educational achievement of CiC who are on the school roll (the ‘designated
teacher’ – section 20 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008)
•
Governors should challenge and support their school over outcomes for all
children and, within this, ‘vulnerable groups’ – CiC is one such vulnerable group
•
It is recommended that governors receive at least an annual report from the
designated teacher for CiC, to cover standards/progress, attendance/exclusions
and other relevant information
•
The governing body and school leadership team should consider the report and
act on any issues it raises so as to support the designated teacher and maximise
the impact of the role
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Some suggestions!
•
Consider nominating a governor to champion CiC in school and the
standards/progress they make – perhaps the SEN governor if there is one
already? (Recommended in DfE guidance ‘Supporting Looked After Learners’)
•
Visits to school by the nominated governor could be made in relation to CiC and
include data review, meeting with the designated teacher and any other staff
involved with CiC
•
Headteacher Reports could include a breakdown of standards/progress for
vulnerable groups, including CiC
•
Try to identify and encourage more people with experience of care to become
school governors if possible (All Party Report on CiC and care leavers 2012) –
particularly if the school has a significant number of CiC on roll
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Ofsted
• ‘Inspection is primarily about evaluating how well individual
pupils benefit from their school. It is important to test the
school’s response to individual needs by observing how well it
helps all pupils to make progress and fulfil their potential.’
• Source: Ofsted – School inspection handbook, September 2012
• CiC and other vulnerable groups are referenced throughout the
current Ofsted school inspection documentation – reference is
also made to the Pupil Premium Grant.*
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Ofsted, cont.
•
‘When evaluating the achievement of pupils, inspectors will consider how
well…gaps are narrowing between the performance of different groups of
pupils, both in the school and in comparison to those of all pupils nationally.’
•
‘Inspectors will also evaluate how effectively governors, or those with a similar
responsibility, challenge and hold senior leaders to account for all aspects of
the school’s performance.’
•
‘Inspectors will evaluate evidence relating to the achievement of specific
groups of pupils and individuals.’
•
Source: Ofsted – The framework for school inspection, September 2012
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*Pupil Premium Grant (PPG)
•
The PPG is currently £600 annually
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CiC become eligible for PPG the term after being in care continuously
for 6 months
•
The purpose of the grant is to ‘narrow the gap’ in attainment
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The PPG can be spent on the individual child or for the purposes of the
school that will benefit pupils at the school
•
The PPG should be discussed and where possible agreed and
understood at the Personal Education Plan meeting
•
Can be carried forward between financial years
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PPG and Ofsted/governors
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‘Inspectors should also satisfy themselves that the governing body is ensuring that the school’s finances are
properly managed, and investigate governors’ role in deciding how the school is using the Pupil Premium.’
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Source: Ofsted – The Quality of leadership and management of the school / Governance (pages 18-20
Subsidiary guidance Sep 2012)
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Ofsted has also produced the results of a recent survey about how schools are using the Pupil Premium to
raise achievement and improve outcomes for eligible pupils (children from low-income families who are
eligible for Free School Meals, CiC and those from families with parents in the Armed Forces)
•
Among the recommendations:
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1. ‘School leaders, including governing bodies, should ensure that Pupil Premium funding is not simply
absorbed into mainstream budgets, but instead is carefully targeted at the designated children. They should
be able to identify clearly how the money is being spent.’
•
2. ‘School leaders, including governing bodies, should evaluate their Pupil Premium spending, avoid
spending it on activities that have little impact on achievement for their disadvantaged pupils, and spend it in
ways known to be most effective.’
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Annual report from designated teacher for
CiC – a template
• Copies available for information at this session
• Will be highlighted in the Governors E-Bulletin, Chair’s mailing
and Education Essex Newsletter – comments will be most
welcome!
• Please note: the annual report is a suggestion; there is no
obligation to use it. But governors may have to explain how CiC
and other vulnerable groups are performing to Ofsted inspectors,
and we hope the report and this presentation will be useful!
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Useful documents
1.
Report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Looked After Children and Care Leavers
(www.parliament.uk/business/publications/)
2.
The Pupil Premium – Ofsted survey (www.ofsted.gov.uk)
3.
Promoting the Educational Achievement of Looked After Children: Statutory Guidance For Local Authorities
4.
Guidance on the Education of Young People in Care (DfES 2000) Improving the attainment of looked after
young people in primary schools – Guidance for Schools (DCSF 2009)
5.
Improving the attainment of looked after children in primary schools – Guidance for schools (DCSF 2009)
6.
Improving the attainment of looked after children in primary schools – Guidance for schools (DCSF 2009)
7.
The role and responsibilities of the designated teacher for looked after children – Statutory Guidance for
schools Governing bodies. (DCSF2009)
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(3-7 available via the Department for Education website – (www.education.gov.uk/)
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The Achievement Service for Children in
Care
01245 434957
www.essex.gov.uk/achievementservice
email:achievement.servicecic@
essex.gov.uk