Minutes:
Wendy Peake from the Rowan Centre gave a verbal report on how the educational needs of pregnant school girls and school aged mothers are met within the Authority.
Rowan Centre, part of the Redbarn Rowan Pupil Referral Unit, was a specialist full-time unit for the education of teenage mothers.
At the point of disclosure, girls are referred to Else Burton, Healthy Schools Consultant: Teenage Pregnancy. A home/school visit is made and the educational options are discussed. Options are to remain in school with support, attend the Rowan Centre, or a combination of the two.
Those girls most likely to remain in school are those attending well, and who had good relationships with teachers and had someone able to care for their baby once born. Quite often they are young women who had not been doing particularly well in school and the one to one attention they receive at the unit often helps build their self-esteem.
Some schools make flexible arrangements to allow a girl to leave lessons early.
Attendance at the Rowan Centre involved full-time education from Monday to Friday from approximately five months into the pregnancy and remaining there until a pupil left school, or returned to school, if appropriate.
Regular meetings would take place with pupil and teaching staff to ensure a girl was accessing education. If educational choices were not being met, the pupil could decide to attend at a later date. Child care options were discussed and girls had their maternity leave from school negotiated on an individual basis. Whilst on maternity leave, liaison with school continued and work was sent home.
All girls were able to visit the Rowan Centre in order to make a decision as to what they were going to do. At an initial meeting, curriculum needs were discussed.
Teaching provision was given in many of the eight core subjects at GCSE level. Specialist staff could be requested from schools if girls wanted to continue with subjects that could not be offered at the Centre.
Girls were given advice on parenting skills, ante-natal classes, peer support in terms of mixing with other young women in similar situations, and a nursery to enable the bonding process to take place.
Once a girl reached the leaving age she could continue with post 16 support to ensure that further education, training and employment needs were met and a provisional start date would be discussed. If a girl decided to remain at the Rowan Centre, liaison took place with mainstream school in order to obtain background information. An agreement was then set up and a start date confirmed. Once a girl started at the Rowan Centre, liaison took place on a weekly basis about education/curriculum issues, regular contact being maintained with the Re-Integration Officer.
During the past year, eighteen young women had been referred, seven had attended, four had remained at school with support, three had either miscarried or terminated their pregnancy, one had refused to engage, one had left the area and two referrals were currently being processed.
Staff at the Rowan Centre worked closely with many Agencies and were members of the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board and its sub-groups.
Agencies varied according to needs and the Rowan Centre staff raised awareness of referral procedure in school.
The following questions were raised:-
- What advice and support was given to girls who may wish to terminate a pregnancy – how were very sensitive issues discussed in a family environment and what happened if a girl lived with a carer?
Sometimes when a girl disclosed her pregnancy the family were unaware of the fact and it may be necessary to work with a young woman to help her make that disclosure with her family. A large proportion of girls were not referred until late into a pregnancy because it was usual they did not disclose and had had no medical care. It was then too late for any choices to be made. However, if a pregnancy was disclosed early enough, the young woman would be referred to relevant Agencies such as Youth Support for relevant counselling to help her make an informed decision.
One member paid tribute to the sensible attitude of some of the young mothers he had met who had received help from the Rowan Centre, many of whom had experienced a traumatic experience due to their pregnancy. The help from the Rowan Centre was excellent in his opinion, not only with educational needs but in restoring self-esteem which some girls had never had in their lives.
Resolved:- That Wendy Peake be thanked for an interesting and informative presentation.