1.4.1 Education

Contents

1. Our Policy
2. Our Responsibilities
3. Exclusion/Refusal to Attend School

1. Our Policy 

Clifford House Policy in relation to Education is set out in our Policies, Values and Principles - Section 2, Point 15, Philosophy and Key Policies.

2. Our Responsibilities

At Clifford House Care we recognise the importance that education plays in the future experiences and life chances of the young people in our care. We believe that every young person has a right to access education of the highest quality and at a level appropriate to their individual ability and circumstances.

We believe that in order to maximise educational opportunities it is essential that teaching and care staff work co-operatively in an attempt to provide meaningful and relevant 24 hour curriculum. Education is not limited merely to the classroom, education is a continuous process which occurs throughout the waking day. That is not to say that education can not be enjoyable or fun, there are many educational activities which occur naturally in our work with young people.

A simple trip to the shops is an excellent opportunity to practice skills in both numeracy and literacy. The use of money is an obvious example of supporting number work but encouraging young people to read signs and notices in shops also promotes social literacy. Many of these tasks are routinely completed others may need to be engineered in order to address specific deficit areas in a young person's educational development.

It is however important that staff work co-operatively and that care staff liaise on a regular basis teaching staff to ensure that educational programmes are appropriately differentiated.

Key Workers have planned monthly meetings with each young person's Teacher Tutor in order to review Individual Care and Education Plans (ICEP's), this is also an opportunity to share information about schemes of work and courses completed. Such close working relationships are designed to promote multi-disciplinary working and a consistent approach to the education and care of young people.

Staff within Clifford House are clear about their responsibilities in relation to the education of young people. Staff transport young people to school each day ensuring that they have the necessary school equipment, staff also attend a morning and afternoon briefing with school based staff in order to share information and support educational opportunities.

All of our homes have excellent facilities available for undertaking homework. Each home has filtered broad band access to the internet and a quiet area conducive to study. Staff are available to help young people with homework and this is regularly reviewed with teacher tutors. Young people are encouraged to join the library and a range of educational support material is available in the home including books and specialist educational software. Other facilities are available such as, dictionaries, encyclopedias, calculators and IT equipment that support and extend learning opportunities. Young people are also encouraged and supported in attending extra-curricular activities arranged by the school.

Each young person has a Personal Education Plan (PEP) which addresses the appropriateness of the young person's educational placement and any special educational needs that the young person has. The plan also details the arrangements for monitoring school attendance, and arrangements for parental or social work involvement in the education of the child.

Additionally the plan lists the dates of examinations or tests that the young person is taking and will identify named staff with responsibility for liaising with school, Connexions, Job Centre or employment agencies and employers as appropriate.

Key workers, in the absence of parents, attend all school events that would usually be attended by parents such as open days, school plays etc.

Any young person of statutory school age who is not attending school (or a pupil referral unit) would be provided with an appropriate and differentiated educational programme delivered under the supervision of a qualified teacher during normal school hours. Staff from the home would work closely with the placing authority to secure a school placement as quickly as possible.

Essential to maximising educational opportunities is the commitment to multi-disciplinary working and a genuine desire to promote the 24 hour curriculum. 

3. Exclusion/Refusal to Attend School

On rare occasions young people may either be unable to attend school as a result of exclusion or may choose not to attend school, school refusal. Exclusions are either fixed term; i.e. for a specified number of days after which the young person will return to his or her school; or permanent; where it is not intended that the young person will return to that particular school.

Due to the close working relationships established between care staff and school based staff it is likely that staff from the home will be aware of any difficulties the young person is experiencing or causing within the educational setting prior to exclusion being used by the school. At this stage staff from the home will liaise closely with school staff in order to provide additional support to the young person during this period of difficulty. All action taken at this time will be recorded in the young person's individual records and the Personal Education Plan (PEP) will be amended to reflect the changed circumstances.

However there may well be situations whereby the school has no option but to exclude the young person without prior warning, for example in response to an isolated incident of a very serious nature. Examples of this would include a serious assault on another pupil or member of staff or the taking of illegal substances into to school.

When young people have been excluded from school or have refused to attend, staff from the home will ask the school to provide study materials for the young person to complete during the period of their exclusion or refusal. Staff from the home will assist and supervise the young person in completing this work during normal school hours.

It is important that any young person who is excluded, and also other young people in the home do not view exclusion from school as an extended holiday. A criticism often levelled at residential care is that too frequently young people have no routine, they are frequently not at school, get up when they please, and at best, spend their days unoccupied and bored. We believe that establishing a balanced approach for young people will achieve positive outcomes.

On those occasions where a young person is permanently excluded from school staff from the home will work closely with the placing authority to identify an appropriate alternative educational placement. Whilst an alternative placement is being sought, Clifford House will endeavour to provide a short term educational package.

The individual needs of young people within each service setting will vary greatly; because of such diverse need it is neither possible, nor do we intend to be prescriptive about nature of any alternative educational package provided. All such programmes would be delivered under the supervision of a qualified teacher and would be appropriately differentiated.

End