Agenda item

- 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 can have on this target is by carefully considering the care plans for these young people and looking to see if Care Orders can be discharged early without leaving the young person at risk. However, although not meeting the target, the expected outcome will still be considerably higher than the 2001 base line of 34.3%.

5 A* - C, the target here is seven young people leaving care between April, 2004 and March, 2006.   At present there are six young people who qualify for this target and again careful examination of care plans will allow the team to consider if they can reach the target. This will need to take place after the results of this year’s cohort as it may be some of these young people will fit the criteria.

Key stage 2 SATs results, Target 42%.  The team are currently on line for this target.  One young person has entered the system early February and his predicted results are awaited.  If he meets level 4 the predicted outcome will be 55.5%, if he does not, the expected outcome will be 50%. The risk factors in the category are high as previous years have shown this is one of the most transitory groups. Up until the point of sitting the tests the team are open to young people entering or leaving the system which affects results.

(c) Improvement Plan – Attendance

For the school year 2003/2004 the absence figure for Children in Care over 12 months, and missing 25 days or more education, was 18%.  This was higher than the predicted figure of 14%.  Activities to improve this figure included:-

 - A new system for monitoring attendance allows the team to have access to registers for young people. This makes the data more timely and accurate. It also allows the team to pick up early warning signs and investigate absences which were beginning to build up.

-  The team have developed a system where every young person who achieves 100% attendance gets a certificate and voucher for an activity of their choice, this has been the first term this has run and 101 certificates where sent out.   There had been positive feedback from Carers on this.

-  A letter from the Head of Service had been sent to all parents who have Children subject to Care Orders living with them. This letter outlines their responsibilities in getting their children to school and failure to do so may result in a prosecution under Section 44 of the Education Act 1996.

The team were currently addressing the small number of Looked After Children, both in Foster Care and in family placements, who are having holidays during term time which impacts on the figures.

Ann Clegg, Acting Head of Inclusion Support Services, advised that all schools were operating first day absence which could be challenged and followed up and that the monitoring of absenteeism for looked after children was no different to that of all other children.  

Resolved:-  That the attendance be kept under review.

(d)  GCSE Attainment – 2005 Onwards

This year’s cohort stands at forty young people which is the largest Year 11 cohort since the beginning of the team. The team are the only source of education for five young people who are all working towards a minimum of three GCSE’s. This is on top of a further three younger years that have alternative packages where the teaching is delivered by the Get Real Team.

The teaching staff are actively supporting a further sixteen young people to help improve their outcomes. This high level of support limits the team in picking up young people whose grades are beginning to drop in school.

The Art tuition is proving to be very successful with some very challenging young people engaging well. This is an area where development may offer a GCSE to the most hard to reach young people.

The Team have also given consideration to developing the delivery of the Expressive Arts GCSE. The syllabus for this could enable some of the most dis-engaged young people to work towards a GCSE.   Unfortunately staff capacity is not allowing the team to follow this up.   The mentoring staff are prioritising Year 11 pupils at risk of dis-engaging. This is a scarce resource in the team and there is a delicate balance between supporting other young people.

The homework club has been a positive resource and the team are trying to link young people into this who are at risk of falling behind in their coursework or studies.

All Year 11 pupils are regularly monitored and Action plans put in place.

The breakdown of the cohorts predicted grades are as follows;

• Total cohort 40 pupils
• 9 children in special school  22.5%
• 1 long term dis-engaged  2.5%
• 5 A- G  30%
• 5 A* - C  7.5%
• 1 A* -G  70%

(e)  Pupils off School Roll

Details of three pupils currently off school roll and action being taken to meet the pupils educational needs were explained.

(f)  Forthcoming Events

- Between 21^st February, 2005 and end of March, 2005 – A number of mandatory training sessions being arranged for Foster Carers.

-  A number of young people are meeting with Elected Members to discuss the corporate parenting agenda and policy.