Improving attendance of children looked after

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Improving attendance of children looked after

• Sarah Wright, Looked After Children Education
  Service (LACES)
• Lesley Asbridge, Education Welfare Service (EWS)

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The duty

• The duty of a local authority to safeguard and
• promote the welfare of a child looked after by
• them includes, in particular, a duty to
• promote the childs educational achievement

The duty came into force on 1 July 2005
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What does the duty mean day-to-day?

• Listening to children in identifying and meeting
  educational needs
• Ensuring that all school aged LAC have an
  effective and high quality PEP

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What does Good attendance mean?
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This is Simon. He is looked after and in year 7.
He has 90 attendance...
Simon thinks this is pretty good So does his
carer And his social worker Are they right?
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Is Simons attendance good? What does 90
attendance mean?
90 attendance ½ day missed every week!!!
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Lets look a little closer
1 school year at 90 attendance 4 whole weeks
of lessons missed!!!
38 school weeks
Sept
July
Absent for 4 weeks
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Increasing deficit 90 attendance over 5 years
of secondary school means ½ a school year
missed!!!
Year 7
Year 9
Year 8
Year 10
Year 11
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Every Day, Every Half Day, Every lesson counts

• Correlation between absence in a school and the
  qualifications that its pupils achieve
• Every lesson matters in school and children who
  have time off often find it difficult to catch up
• As absence increases the more difficult it
  becomes to achieve

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THE LACES TEAM
Acting Team Leader Fraser Livesey
Education Welfare Officers Sarah Wright (East
and West) Anna Coutts (South) Rebecca Raw
(responsible for Personal Education Plans)
Advisory Teachers Penny Crudge (North and
East) Margaret Prudhoe (West) Stephen Pipe
(South) Pat King (North and East) Hazel Eccles
(South)
Administrative Assistants Anne Moore
(Countywide) Megan Shore (Countywide) Natalie
Wood (South) Katrina Lowrey (West)
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KEY TASKS

• A termly visit by our Advisory Teacher to each
  school with Looked After Children to track
  progress and proactively support planning and
  intervention
• Short term and task centred intervention with
  individual pupils
• Facilitating access to appropriate services /
  liaison between services
• Training, advice and support for
• Children who are looked after
• School staff
• Social Care staff
• Residential staff
• Carers

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County wide PEP-Post

• EWO designated to supporting the PEP process
• Working towards the 100 target
• Supporting key adults to ensure
• PEPs are in place within 28 days
• PEPs are reviewed every 6 months, following a
  change of circumstance, at key times of
  transition
• Completion, consistency and quality of PEPs
• Relevant information is readily available-
  guidance, support, copies of PEPs passed on,
  sharing good practice, multi-agency training
• Maintaining central PEP record monthly updates
  to social work team managers, LACES, units
• Developing Early Years PEP with Cumbria Sure
  Start

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Annes story
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The role of the Education coordinator

• Ensure young people access education suitable to
  their needs
• Helping young people to access education,training
  or employment
• Provide stability and consistency for young
  people
• One point of contact for schools,education and
  training providers
• One point of contact for agencies
• Help change the ethos and raise education
  aspirations with young people and staff

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Analysis of coordinators role

• Contact
• Relationships
• Multi agency working
• Pro-active
• Resources
• Routine
• Challenging
• ECM
• Targets