Agenda and minutes

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th February, 2005 be received.

Reference was made to Minute No. 2 of the minutes relating to Teenagers to Work which this Panel had requested be referred to the Corporate Management Team expressing the Panel’s concerns that the Teenagers to Work Project was progressing very slowly.

It was reported that the Corporate Management Team at its meeting held on 11^th April, 2005 had considered a report presented by the Executive Director Social Services seeking support to increasing the number of places from 15 to at least 20.  The Corporate Management Team agreed as follows:-

(a)  That support be given to the establishment of an increased number of work experience placements, in a variety of settings, across the Council. 

(b)  That support be continued for the provision of £20 per week, for up to 12 months, per placement.

(c)   That modern apprenticeships be ring-fenced within the Council for those Care Leavers who have undertaken the above work experience training schemes.            

Resolved:-  That the Corporate Management Team be thanked for their considerations and proposals and be asked how this is intended to be taken forward in terms of the different Programme Areas and the work experience being offered to various young people who are in the Council’s care. 

- Ann Clegg, Acting Head of Inclusion Support Services to report.

Ann Clegg, Acting Head of Inclusion Support Services, submitted a report relating to new statutory guidance produced by the DfES relating to the Education of Children in Public Care.  

The guidance described the essential actions which local authorities were expected to take in order to comply with this new duty and brings the responsibility for the education of children in public care directly under the Director of Children’s Services and the Lead Member.

The report set out the proposals and details as follows:-

The Guidance emphasises the joined up approach now needed and the requirement on Children’s Services Authorities to prepare and publish a Children and Young Peoples Plan.   This plan needs to include:

·         Outcome measures contributing to the national target to improve the educational achievement of LAC.

·         Outcome measures to narrow the gaps between LAC achievement and their peers.

·         Actions to be taken by the Local Authority or Children’s Trust to support the educational achievement of LAC.

·         Resource allocation to meet actions

The Director (DCS) and Lead Member (LM) for Children’s Services will be respectively, professionally and politically responsible for ensuring that their local authority’s duty to promote the educational achievement of LAC is properly discharged. 

The report emphasises that this is a commitment across the Council and brings the education of looked after children firmly under the newly emerging Children’s Services.   The new Joint Area Reviews will look at how Children’s Services are working to raise the educational attainment of CiPC.    In addition, school inspections will also look at the levels of support for vulnerable children, which will include those in public care.  The Government expects schools to take a proactive approach to co-operating and supporting local authorities in discharging this duty. 

In particular there is mention of pre-school education plans (PEPs), that there are clear written expectations about homework in children’s homes and foster placements, LAC have top priority in school admissions and where there are difficulties that Social Workers work with the School Admissions Forum, all children should have a clear, up to date and suitable PEP.  For those leaving care a Pathway Plan must be in place. 

Schools have a powerful role to play and the guidance advocates designated teacher training, that designated governors are fully involved and there are appropriate policies in place to support this agenda. 

Finally the guidance looks at children in out of authority placements and reminds the home authority of their responsibility to monitor the standard and quality of education each child is receiving.  This is especially pertinent where children are placed in independent schools or homes with education attached.

Research shows that these children tend to achieve poorer educational and other outcomes.  The report recommends that local authorities should take steps to reduce their dependence on external placements where they are not in the best interests of the child.

The Panel made particular reference to monitoring procedures for those children in out of authority placements and it was reported that a review of out of authority  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

- 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:-

(1)  The Team

(a)  The team was now fully staffed and the learning mentor capacity had been increased by one further full time post funded from Social Services.  The team was in the process of getting this post established to fill as soon as possible.   It was envisaged that this post would undertake the support needs of all year 11 and year 10 pupils from Christmas in an attempt to prevent the drop in grades that were regularly seen between end of year 10 and actual results gained.

(b)  Rehearsals for GREASE were going well.   Despite early concerns, the situation was very much resolved with the RCAT students mentoring the young people and taking on support roles.  There were 17 young people aged between 6 and 17 years involved in the project to date.

(c) The team was still struggling to engage well with Designated Teachers in school.   Three consultation sessions were offered in the South, North and Central locality and unfortunately no-one attended.   These were publicised in a recent LAC matters newsletter especially for Designated Teachers and Head Teachers.   Developing this role in schools was pivotal to the success of the young people.

(d)  From Easter, the Team was piloting a termly meeting with the Designated Teacher and Head teacher from schools which had a higher population of Looked After Children or were involved in significant difficulties. This was being piloted for the rest of the Academic Year with Clifton Comprehensive school and if proved fruitful would be rolled out to all relevant schools from September.  This was an attempt to support schools to recognize their responsibilities towards young people particularly in Year 10 and Year 11.

(e)  Placements within the Council were now up to 11 young people.

Katy attended the Social Services Senior Management Team Meeting on 12^th April, 2005 to explain the scheme and had been promised  3 - 6 placements across Social Services. The information was presented to the Corporate Management Team on Monday, 11^th April, 2005 seeking support for further placements.  Katy did not actually attend but there was a promise of 3 placements within Social Services building up to 6.  

There was currently a young man on placement in the Town Hall kitchen for two half days per week.

(2)  LPSA Performance  

GCSE grades A* - G, as reported at the previous meeting actual achievement for this target was 56.5% and unlikely to change.

5 A-C, the target being 7 young people.  There were currently 6 young people with the grades who qualify for this target.  There were possibly 6 young people who could get 5 A* -C this summer and each young person’s Care Plan would be investigated to see if this target could be reached.  An internal management meeting had been held on Friday, 15^th April, 2005 to look at the resources deployed within the team and if they can  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The next meeting of the Panel will take place on Monday, 20th June, 2005 at 9.30 a.m.