Agenda and minutes

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd December, 2004 be received.

Reference was made to Minute No. 12 - Teenagers to Work and the Chairman asked about progress on the number of work experience placements.

Katy, the Get Real Team Manager, reported that there had been some delay with the property and that Social Services were monitoring this.  However, 5 posts had come up and 2 young people would be going into employment.

This Panel expressed concern that the Teenagers to Work Project was moving slowly and expected the Council to take seriously its role as “corporate parent” and asked that the Corporate Management Team take a lead role on this and consider options across the range of possibilities to progress the Project.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Corporate Management Team be informed of this Panel’s  concerns that the Teenagers To Work Project was progressing very slowly and that it be re-iterated that the Project needed positive promotion within the Council to enable the provision of training placements in-house for looked after young people and care leavers.  Supporting the theme of corporate parents ensured the best possible outcomes of our young people.  

(2)  That the Corporate Management Team be asked to consider options to progress the project.

- Ann Clegg to report.

Ann Clegg, Acting Head of Inclusion Support Service, referred to the Education Development Plan and submitted  the draft section relating to  the Educational Attainment of Children in Public Care.

Ann explained that the aim was to try and get the real educational focus into the team and work with schools, as many of the resources were in schools.   Every child would be known, tracked and monitored and if there was a need for intervention this could be done early.

The Chairman referred to extra support for looked after young people via additional part-time hours and suggested that this matter be referred to the Executive Directors of both Education, Culture and Leisure Services and Social Services.

Resolved:-  (1) That the draft section relating to  the Educational Attainment of Children in Public Care be noted.

(2)  That the issue about extra support for looked after young people via additional part-time hours be referred to the Executive Directors of both Education, Culture and Leisure Services and Social Services.

- Katy Hawkins, Get Real Team Manger to report.

Katy Hawkins, Manager of the Get Real Team, gave an update on progress and reported on the following :-

(a)  The Team

The Team was currently fully staffed and currently working at full capacity. Due to the high demand of support needs in the secondary sector the limited Learning Mentor capacity within the team means that they were not able to improve outcomes for as many young people as demand requires.

There had been thirteen referrals within the past two months, ten of which have been allocated in the team.

There are a significant number of year 8 and year 9 girls who are beginning to exhibit challenging behaviour in school and the team are working on developing a girls group to address some of the presenting issues.  This should be up and running after Easter.

Rehearsals for the version of Grease in collaboration with RCAT were  starting at the end of February and there had been a positive response from children and young people wanting to take part.

The weekend club was going strong with numbers up to fifteen attending the activities.  The Team are planning to start a young journalist group, where young people are trained in writing articles and photography and encouraged to interview people who have an impact in their life. This work will be displayed on the Get Real website.

On 4^th March, 2005 there will be a Conference for Social Services staff, foster carers and other relevant people involved in looked after children;  this is to compliment the conference held in October, 2004 for Designated Teachers and Governors.  A Joint Conference is planned for later in the year to  encourage joint working.

The Teenagers to Work Project was progressing with the RTI scheme with six young people signed up and attending the course.  Due to the withdrawal of match funding from Phoenix enterprises, only eight young people can go  through the scheme.  A property has been identified for renovation and negotiations on signing the lease are underway.

A day’s training was successfully delivered to 12 Social Workers in January, 2005.

There are named Education link workers in all the Children’s Residential Units and they hold half termly meetings where each unit is encouraged to identify specific training needs around education. Training around residential staff being able to deliver units of an Asdan Award in collaboration with the team  has been identified as a way forward for those young people who are not attending school.   However there is a cost implication of £820 which is proving difficult to find.

(b) Public Service Agreement - Performance

As the Team were entering the final year of our LPSA agreement they were, in some cases, working with results already achieved and monitoring closely those results which will impact.  The breakdown was as follows:-

GCSE grades A* - G, target 90%.  In 2004 examinations, 56.5% achieved grades A* - G although the care leaver statistic for 2004/5 has not yet been calculated. The only impact that this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The next meeting of the Panel will take place on  Monday, 18th April, 2005 at 9.30 am.