Agenda item

(Mrs P Harris, Interim Virtual School Head and Mr P Brightwell were present for this item)

(1)       The Committee considered a report that outlined the provisional attainment results expected for 2009, in relation to children looked after by Kent County Council in relation to the National Indicators 99 to 101. The report also included a revised action plan focussing on the key areas necessary to promote the educational attainment of Looked After Children (LAC) and Care Leavers.

(2)                     Mrs Harris introduced the report explaining that the Virtual School Head was a new role, which acted as a champion for Looked After Children.  Mrs Harris advised that she would be the interim Virtual School Head until a permanent appointment was made.  This was an important role to ensure the most vulnerable children were looked after and their educational aspirations taken forward.  She felt that Members, in their corporate parenting role, needed to be confident in their monitoring role and needed to ensure that they knew who the vulnerable children were so that those children received the best interventions. Currently the Advisory Service were monitoring 57 named children that were now in year 6 at Key Stage 2, and how they were performing at Key Stage 2 and 170 children in year 11 at Key Stage 4.  Their attendance and attainment were being monitored and the individual programmes eg one to one tuition set for them were being tracked.  There was a new indicator of 5 A* -C in mathematics it was predict that about 17 ½ % of the 170 children in year 11 would achieve the 5 A* – C. 

(3)                     It was proposed that a report be submitted to a future meeting of this Committee in a year’s time on the 170 children being tracked in year 11 whether they were in care or not, to demonstrate whether the programmes that had been put in place had any impact and if they had not what else could be done.

(4)       Mr Ridings said that to put what Mrs Harris said into prospective with the total figures nationally where 51.6% of children in Kent who gained 5 A* -C at Key Stage 4 in English and Mathematics against 6.34% of Looked After Children.  He felt that it was important for Members to do all they could as corporate parents to meet those childrens’ needs.  He felt that this was an excellent piece of work.

(5)     In response to a question by Mr Bowles on how many of the children were from outside Kent or England and what percentage of those children was English a second language, Mrs Harris advised that out of the current year 11, 16% of the new arrivals had English as an additional language and 63 of those students came into care before the original targets were set either from out of the County or the Country.   Mr Brightwell referred to the national indicators advising that they looked at the performance of the children at certain ages but did not look at the work that continued beyond statutory school age. The role of the Virtual School Head extended beyond the statutory school age until 24 years, approved by Kent’s Corporate Parenting Group.

(3)                         Mr Vye welcomed the initiative as it ensured that the children concerned got the best education.   He felt that school Governors should have access to the fair access protocols to ensure that the LAC get into the best school for them.  There was a need to know whether there were schools that did not give those children the attention there should be. The virtual Governing Body should also be tracking the LAC to find those children that were under achieving.  He advised that children in care were three times more likely to be cautioned or convicted of an offence and that he was keen to see that number going down.  He questioned what happened to the children in a secure estate which may be outside our control?  If LAC were contributing to that figure this initiative should affect that. Mr Brightwell advised that if the targets were right we would achieve the right outcomes.  Research showed that the education achievements gained at 16 years was likely to show how successful children would be in the future.

(6)             Mrs Harris advised that of the 170 LAC in the current year 11 that were being tracked:

·                    23% were in special schools

·                    29% had statements for special educational needs

·                    10%  were in alternative curriculum of which 7 were teenage mothers 

The cohort had significant special educational needs.  With the educational input it was hoped to get the measure and the teenage mothers back into the system with the right intervention.

(7)         In response to questions by Dr Wadman, Mrs Harris explained that (i) the whole cohort was 170 students in year 11 and 57 students in year 6.  (ii) The targets were set by looking at every Year 11 LAC and tracking their performance at the end of Key Stage 2, which was the same for all children and predicted the target on those that had achieved level 4 when they were 11 years old.  For children in year 6 the achievements were based on their reading and writing at Key Stage 1.  (iii) Referring to the action plan set out in the report as appendix 1, Mrs Harris advised that this was a draft action plan and the column headed ‘On-going Monitoring’ would be completed once the activities were agreed.

(8)                     In response to a question by Mrs Cole, Mr Brightwell explained that the monitoring of school attendance was under an old indicator, no longer in the national indicator set, PAF C24, as an indicator, our performance within that was approx 15% of LAC who missed more than 25 days schooling per year for a number of reasons eg exclusion, school refusers, ill health.  This was the reason why there was recognition in the action plan as there was a need to know why they do not attend school, the aim was to have a matching needs and framework audit as a method of identifying different needs groups to ensure the services meet their needs.

(9)                     The Chairman felt that there was a need to celebrate the achievements of the LAC who were going onto University and suggested that they be sent a letter of congratulations and encouragement accompanied by a book token.

(10)                RESOLVED that :-

(a)         a progress report be submitted to this Committee in a years time;

(b)         the comments and suggestions made by Members be noted; and

(c)         the predicted attainment results for National Indicators 99 and 101 and the revised action plan promoting the educational attainment of Looked After Children and Care Leavers be noted.