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Foundation FosteringIndependent Fostering Agency Procedures

Education

Contents

  1. Education Policy
  2. What the Agency will do
    1. Personal Education Plans
    2. Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) Funding
  3. What Foster Carers will do
  4. Safeguarding in Schools

1. Education Policy

Obtaining a good education can be the key to vastly improving a child's chances in life. Children in Care can be particularly disadvantaged educationally, as they may have had their education disrupted as a result of changes of placements and circumstances, and may not therefore have had the opportunity to develop to their full potential or establish long friendships.

The agency is committed to providing foster placements which offer a stable, supportive environment from which children can take full advantage of educational opportunities. Foster carers should ensure that their home has a routine that is organised to maximise children's participation in education, including promoting opportunities for private study and maintaining positive links with any schools/educational setting attended by the child.

Foster carers (and agency staff as appropriate) will be actively involved with Designated Teachers and other relevant professionals to support and plan each child's educational arrangements.

If a child is absent from the school/educational establishment, the foster carer will inform them on the morning of the day of absence unless an alternative arrangement (for example for a recurring appointment) has been made.

2. What the Agency will do

The fostering agency will ensure that education is valued and promoted throughout the organisation by ensuring that:

  • Placements will only be suggested to local authorities when the fostering agency is satisfied that it can meet the educational needs of the child;
  • Every child will have an up to date Personal Education Plan (PEP) (see Section 2.1, Personal Education Plans) which is available before the child is placed or is requested from the child's social worker at the first Placement Planning Meeting;
  • If the child has special educational needs or disabilities, an up to date copy of their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) will be obtained prior to the placement to ensure that the child's needs can be met in the placement;
  • Pre-school children will be provided with early years educational opportunities;
  • Children will be encouraged and supported to undertake further and higher education;
  • All efforts will be made to ensure children attend a local school or college; where this is not possible, the agency will work with the child's Placing Authority and the relevant education service to identify a school/setting within reasonable distance which meets their needs or alternatively to facilitate the provision of specialist tuition;
  • The parents of children placed are encouraged (where appropriate) to take an on-going interest in and to promote the education of their child;
  • Children's achievements are recognised and rewarded;
  • Records of children's educational achievement show progress towards targets / goals;
  • Arrangements will be made to facilitate children having access to a computer in their placement;
  • Children have an appropriate area for completing study and doing homework.

2.1 Personal Education Plans

All looked after children must have a Personal Education Plan (PEP) which summarises their developmental and educational needs, short term targets, long term plans and aspirations and which contains or refers to the child's record of achievement. The child's social worker is responsible for coordinating and compiling the PEP, which should be incorporated into the child's Care Plan.

The PEP should:

  • Identify developmental and educational needs in relation to skills, knowledge, subject areas and experiences;
  • Set short and long-term educational attainment targets agreed in partnership with the child and the carer where appropriate;
  • Include a record of planned actions, including milestones on homework, extra tuition and study support, that the school and others will take to promote the educational achievement of the child, based on an assessment of their educational needs;
  • Include information on how the child's progress is to be rigorously monitored;
  • Record details of specific interventions and targeted support that will be used to make sure personal education targets are met, especially at the end of key stage 2 in relation to english and mathematics, and at key stage 4 in achieving success in public examinations;
  • Say what will happen, or is already happening, to put in place any additional support which may be required - e.g. Possible action to support special educational needs involving the SENCO, educational psychologist, or local authority education services (information contained within an EHC Plan does not have to be duplicated in the PEP, a reference is sufficient as long as the plans work together to meet overall needs);
  • Set out information on what will happen or is already happening to identify and support any mental health needs relevant to the child's education;
  • Set out how a child's aspiration and self-confidence is being nurtured, especially in consideration of longer-term goals towards further and higher education, work experience and career plans. Discussions about longer-term goals should start early and ideally well before year 9 (age 13-14) at school. High aspirations are crucial to successful planning for the future. They should focus on young person's strengths and capabilities and the outcomes they want to achieve;
  • Include the child's views on how they see they have progressed and what support they consider to be most effective;
  • Be a record of the child's academic achievements and participation in the wider activities of the school and other out of school learning activities (e.g. Sporting, personal development);
  • Provide information which helps all who are supporting the child's educational achievement to understand what works for them, helping to substitute for the role that parents might otherwise provide; and
  • Have clear accountability in terms of who within the school is responsible for making the actions identified in the plan happen.

The designated teacher would normally have overall responsibility for leading the process of target setting for looked-after children in school, should monitor and track how their attainment progresses, and ensure that identified actions are put in place. The designated teacher will help the school and the local authority that looks after the child to decide what arrangements work best in the development and review of the PEP.

Monitoring and Reviewing the PEP in school

Designated teachers should work closely with other staff in school to make sure the child's progress is rigorously monitored and evaluated. They should be able to:

  • Judge whether the teaching and learning and intervention strategies being used are working to support achievement and wellbeing; and
  • Know whether the young person is likely to meet the attainment targets in their pep.

If the young person is not on track to meet targets, the designated teacher should be instrumental in agreeing the best way forward with them in order to make progress and ensure that this is reflected in the PEP.

The child's Care Plan is reviewed regularly by the authority that looks after them. These reviews are statutory and must be completed at the following intervals: the first review must take place within 20 working days of the date the child became looked-after; the second at not more than 3 months after the first review; and the third and subsequent reviews at not more than 6 monthly intervals. The review is chaired by an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). The IRO will ask about the child's educational progress as part of the overall Care Plan review and should have access to the most up-to-date PEP.

To enable an informed discussion of the Care Plan about the child's progress in school as part of the statutory review, the designated teacher is responsible for ensuring that:

  • They review the PEP before the statutory review of the care plan, it is up-to-date and contains any new information since the last PEP review, including whether agreed provision is being delivered;
  • The PEP is clear about what has or has not been taken forward, noting what resources may be required to further support the child and from where these may be sourced; and
  • They pass the updated PEP to the child's social worker and Virtual School Head (VSH) ahead of the statutory review of the care plan.

The school and the local authority which looks after the child have a shared responsibility for helping looked-after children to achieve and enjoy. The content, implementation and review of the PEP enable both the school and local authority to discuss how they can help achieve this. The PEP review should be done through a meeting involving the social worker, the young person, carers and others, such as the VSH.

The PEP must include the contact details of the Virtual School Head for the authority that looks after the child.

2.2 Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) Funding

Both looked after and previously looked after children are eligible for Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) funding. This is additional funding provided to help improve the attainment of looked-after and previously looked-after children, and aims to close the attainment gap between this group of children and their peers. It is not a personal budget for individual children. The extra funding provided by the PP+ reflects the significant additional barriers faced by looked-after and previously looked-after children. The designated teacher has an important role in ensuring the specific needs of looked-after and previously looked-after children are understood by the school's staff and reflected in how the school uses PP+ to support these children.

The PP+ for looked after children is managed by the VSH.

The PP+ is a key component in ensuring resources are available to support the child's Personal Education Plan and the plan should clarify what the support is and how it will be delivered.

3. What Foster Carers will do

Foster carers will actively demonstrate that education is valued by ensuring, in relation to children placed with them, that:

  • They actively promote the children's education and learning and find ways to introduce aspects of the curriculum into their day to day activities in the home;
  • They are fully conversant with the children's educational needs and any plans that have been agreed with placing authorities;
  • They establish close working relationships with teaching staff at the children's schools/educational settings and attend parents evenings;
  • They encourage the children to leave for school in good time and, where they are not taken to school by the carer, liaison takes place with the school to ensure that there are no issues regarding attendance or lateness;
  • They ensure that children / young people have all the necessary equipment to complete their homework;
  • They support children to participate in leisure opportunities and out-of-school activities;
  • They encourage children to use local libraries and other educational facilities;
  • They assist young people who have completed their compulsory full time education to make arrangements for their continued training and employment.

4. Safeguarding in Schools

Looked after children are a vulnerable group. All staff in the school should all be aware of the systems in place that to support safeguarding children and to promote their welfare. The aim of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children is defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children as:

  • Protecting them from maltreatment;
  • Preventing any impairment of their mental and physical health or development;
  • Ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with safe and effective care;
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

There should be staff (usually the Designated Teacher or the SEND coordinator) who will be able to share with you information about:

  • The school's child protection policy and procedures;
  • The Data Protection Act and safeguarding;
  • The child behaviour policy;
  • The staff behaviour policy (code of conduct);
  • The safeguarding response to children who go missing from education.