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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 Key Stage 2

Number eligible to sit Key Stage 2 tasks and

tests

Percentage who achieved at least Level 4

 English Maths Eng & Ma

Essex 50 54 50 42Statistical Neighbour Average 41 38 31England Average 50 48 40Essex 2009-10 67 65 58Rank among statistical neighbours 1st 1st 1stRank in England, among LAs with eligible CiC 28th 30th 26thAchievements of all KS2 pupils in Essex 81 81 74

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Attainment at Key Stage 4 – 2011

Key Stage 4 Number eligible to sit GCSEs

Percentage achieving

 5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C 5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C 

including Eng & maths  A*-C in English & maths

Essex 130 29.8 12.2 13.0

Statistical Neighbour Average 26.2 8.2 8.8

England Average 31.2 12.8 13.4Essex 2009-10 27.8 9.6Rank among statistical neighbours 5th 3rd 3rdRank in England, among LAs with eligible CiC 65th 29th 28thAchievements of all KS4 pupils in Essex 78.2 57.8 n/a

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Attendance – provisional absence to 31 May 2012 (2011 in brackets)

32+ days (20%) PA

23+ days (15%) PA

CiC Abs. % rate

All CiC 5.77% 10.46% 5.86%

CiC for >1 academic year in census

3.04% (3.30%)

6.25% (6.10%)

4.23% (5.30%)

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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

• 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

• 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

• ‘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.’

• Source: Ofsted – The Quality of leadership and management of the school / Governance (pages 18-20 Subsidiary guidance Sep 2012)

• 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:

• 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)

• (3-7 available via the Department for Education website – (www.education.gov.uk/)

The Achievement Service for Children in Care

01245 434957

www.essex.gov.uk/achievementservice

email:achievement.servicecic@essex.gov.uk