Agenda item

Please introduce yourself and describe the roles and responsibilities that your post involves.

I am the Headteacher of the Virtual School Kent (VSK).  VSK has multi-agency responsibilities, not just to do with educational attainment. They include undertaking health assessments and dental checks when a child or young person enters care.  We also collect data on attendance and exclusions and pass it to the specialist children’s services Management Information Unit.  My primary duty is to ensure that young people in an education setting get the support they need and to drive for the best possible outcomes that we can achieve for them. VSK works with schools to put in help and support over and above what a child would receive in a normal school. We train teachers and support staff to identify and manage the issues that children in care face.  Pupil Premium Plus (PPP) is paid by the Government and is for children in care only.  It was previously paid to schools but it is now given to VSK, so we have control over how it is spent in schools. In April 2012, VSK took over responsibility for the Children In Care Council (which in Kent is called Our Children and Young People’s Council (OCYPC)) from the Young Lives Foundation and we developed the websites for the OCYPC and Kent Cares Town.  We organised focus groups which evolved into the participation days for children in care that we currently hold across the county in the school holidays. These have been a great success, with 300-400 children and young people taking part each year.

 

What are the key issues for children in care in education - achievement, attendance?

Children in care are the poorest performing young people in terms of school attainment, not just in Kent but nationally.  However, we have seen a very positive improvement. Kent is unique in the UK due to the number of children in care it has, which includes an extremely high number from other local authorities and unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC), and the pressures that this places upon its schools. For example, every secondary school in Thanet has 30 – 40 children in care.  In year 11, most other local authorities have 20 children in care in each of their schools, but Kent has 150, and this volume brings a challenge.

 

Summary of KS2 attainment stats over last 4 years

 

5 Yr KS2 Trend Breakdown

 

	2009-10*	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Level 4+ Reading (New indicator from 2012-13)			54%	61%	65% *?11%
Level 4+ Writing (New indicator from 2012-13)			44%	46%	59% *?15%
NI99 (Level 4+ Reading and Writing)	38%	44%	50%	50%	56% *?18%
NI 100 Level 4+ Maths	43%	44%	40%	49%	57% *?14%
NI99 + 100 combined	36%	36%	36%	39%	44%  *?8%

 

Results across all three indicators had increased across the board.

 

It is difficult to compare KS4 data like-with-like with previous years as the Government changed the method of measuring and weighting in 2014, shifting more emphasis to exam results.

 

Kent is one of only three local authorities to reduce the gap in attainment across all three indicators.

 

The extra weight now placed upon exam results is bound to have some impact on children in care as they tend to benefit from multiple chances to progressing at each level. Courses which are more modular in nature suit them better as their study is often interrupted, eg by the disruption of changing placements, hence modular courses are easier to pick up.

 

Has the number of children in care placed in Thanet by London Boroughs improved?

This is still an issue, although it is a bit better than previously. Some Thanet schools still have very high numbers of children in care.  VSK has to achieve a fine balance between supporting and challenging schools, and needs to maintain a good working relationship with them. PPP is a minefield as Kent has 1,100 children who qualify for it, across 500 schools. Thanet, Canterbury and Swale have a large number of children in care placed by many other local authorities, and each placing authority has its own system of administering PPP.  We have developed a combined offer for Kent children in care based in Thanet rather than each school applying for each child in care in their school. VSK cannot use PPP for other local authority children; their virtual head teacher has their funding.

 

Schools in Canterbury and Coastal areas have formed a federation. Last year was the first in which the new model of PPP applied and Government guidance was issued after schools had prepared their budgets for the year, so to help them, VSK gave schools a pro-rata percentage of their PPP allocation as a lump sum.  If we hadn’t done this, schools would have underspent their PPP this year.  Schools are not automatically entitled to PPP as a flat rate; it is calculated by a formula and is based on evidence of need, which in turn will identify the funding allocation for each child; some children are eligible for more than others.  Access to funding and navigation of the system have both been made easier and more flexible by close working between VSK and schools.  PPP can’t be used to cover admin processes.

 

Do you look at how schools use PPP, eg to support pupils taking the Kent test?

Contrary to popular belief, it is not illegal to coach children to help them pass the Kent Test. Good and effective parents would help their own child to prepare for the test so good corporate parents can do the same. VSK officers can coach a child and develop their potential. 

 

Who says who takes the Kent test? Do we have an opt-in or opt-out system?

VSK can do this, although it is difficult to identify which children to target. However, VSK is best placed to identify children. The Government has changed expectations on schools re assessment which means they no longer have to use national curriculum levels.

 

The Education and Young People’s Services Directorate has produced a grading system but schools do not have to use it. The Government has recently changed all the assessment processes. VSK can identify children who are suitable and PPP can be used to pay for a place.  It is difficult to track their progress and we have to track them almost on a daily basis.  It is complex but VSK will find a system.

 

The VSK website is excellent and gives local contacts.

This was put together by VSK and young people.  The website that young people designed and put together is brilliant; it includes a radio station which they run.  I can send the Select Committee a link to this.  The Kent Cares Town website features buildings, which allow the user to access certain information when they click on them.  For example, there’s a picture of County Hall, a radio mast to access the radio station, and a coffee shop to access an ‘agony aunt’, who was formerly a child in care and is a senior VSK apprentice who gives advice to other children in care.

 

I am still not confident of how I personally could help young people . How do I identify and help young people in my local area?

There are many ways in which you can help. You could attend the VSK activity days which take place in school holidays.  This would give the opportunity to meet and chat to young people informally. You could search via the VSK website and link to the young people’s website.  You could go and meet the team at Worrall House in Kings Hill, which is the local office in your division. The Swattenden Centre is also quite near you. VSK holds an achievement ceremony for children in care in Canterbury every September, which all County Council Members are welcome to attend. I regularly ask if any County Council Member wishes to contribute some of their personal allowance to fund additional activities. My annual budget does not cover the cost of many activities so the VSK apprentices regularly have to fund raise to cover what they want to arrange.  My budget of £50,000 p.a. allows me to employ the eight VSK apprentices and does not cover all of the activity days and participation days that we want to hold.

 

I regularly attend Corporate Parenting Panel meetings to give an update on my work and expect County Council Members to hold me to account for what I do and how well I do it.  I also attend the officer group, the Kent Corporate Parenting Group, which has one County Council Member on it, Martin Vye. I provide data to these two groups about the number of children in care across the county, the education outcomes that we achieve for these children, etc.

 

I have attended participation days and there is a tremendous camaraderie among children in care.

Yes, over 90% of the feedback that we get from these events is very positive.

 

Do you get positive feedback about the VSK apprentice scheme?

Yes, some other local authorities have asked about the scheme, eg most recently Devon County Council. Kent’s scheme has been a great success.  It started with one apprentice being employed by the Young Lives Foundation, which VSK took over.  VSK then had four and now has eight apprentices.  We support them and get them ready for work.  They have all passed their NVQ Level 2 and are very employable. Members may have seen the ‘Never Stop Listening’ DVD they made last year as a follow-up to ‘Care To Listen’ DVD a few years ago. This was presented by Sophia, who we have as a senior apprentice.  Sophia is currently undertaking her NVQ level 3. We seek to progress people in this way so we are able to retain people of a good calibre. Bella also is an excellent example of the scheme, but not all our apprentices have had their level of confidence.

 

Is there anything else you want to tell the Select Committee?

There is one County Council Member whom I would describe as ‘a beacon of good practice’ – Martin Vye. His involvement is a very good example of Member engagement. He serves on the KCPG, makes regular visits to the local office in his area, has met the local team and comes to the VSK activity days.

 

I am employed by Members to raise the educational attainment of children in care and achieve the best possible outcomes for them, so I expect to be challenged and held to account for what I do and how well I do it.

 

There are massive changes going on/coming up at a national level. There is a clash between the location of foster care places and school places. There is a rising number of children in care in Canterbury and Swale and all Swale schools are currently oversubscribed. 

 

How are these children in care placed? Who placed them there?  

These figures do not include children in care placed by other local authorities – these are just Kent’s own children in care.  If this level of placement carries on, I fear that head teachers in Canterbury and Swale, as Thanet head teachers have in the past, may start to act illegally and refuse admission to their school to a children in care coming into a placement. When this does happen the County Council takes robust action

 

Can you tell the Select Committee something about missing children?

Most of the young people who go missing are UASC who move around, and these have very little impact on VSK.  Those who go missing sporadically have more impact on what VSK are trying to do as they have gaps in their education. Also, when they are missing they are at more risk of harm. However, VSK scores as well or better than the national average on attendance.  

 

What can the County Council do to help the pressure on schools caused by excessive numbers of children in care?

Addressing this issue requires a balancing act; unless better distribution of children in care can be achieved, ‘hotspots’ will continue and will remain a big issue. The County Council can help by building up the numbers of foster caress in other areas, to spread out the placing across wider areas and avoid the concentrations that currently exist. When placing children with foster carers, the aim is to minimise the level of disruption as far as possible by placing a child as near to their family home as possible.

 

Other local authorities placing children in Kent use independent fostering agencies (IFAs), which are profit-making companies.  Such companies operating in London seek to recruit foster cares in Kent, and those foster cares will not then be available for the County Council to use.

 

What can the the County Council do to stop this happening?  

Legislation to say where they can and cannot operate came into operation last year,  however it does not set the same expectations on children’s homes that were there before this legislation. Although there is now a restriction to setting up new IFAs, there are many already in existence.  What would help the County Council to compete with and manage the risk posed by IFAs is effective care planning.  The County Council needs to hold placing authorities to account, to require and insist that they place children in care only in areas where there is good educational provision and that they undertake suitable planning before making a placement.  If a child is placed as an ‘emergency’, then we should insist that, as soon as the immediate issue is resolved, a substantive placement is made, with proper planning, in a place where the child’s needs can be properly met.    

 

Is there any evidence that Police activity increases where there is a children’s home?

Not in the case of Kent’s children in care as we don’t run children’s homes. I can’t speak for any home run by any other body or used by other local authorities. Some young people do get into trouble while they are in care and trying to deal with the issues that caused them to come into care, but I can tell you examples of young people who have overcome troubled times and been very successful.   Not all young people come into care due to neglect; one young man came into care because his parents were dying and struggled to cope with that fact, but is now moving towards attending Oxbridge.  His push to turn himself around was that he wanted to succeed for his parents and wanted them to have been proud of him. One of my VSK officers working with 16-18 year olds was in care 30 years ago and committed minor offences but grew out of it. He now makes an excellent role model for young peopled and can relate well to them as he knows the pressures they face and has overcome them successfully.

 

Is there anything else the County Council can do, apart from improving the educational outcomes for children in care?

Local authorities are currently going through a very difficult time, but at a time of many redundancies, VSK has grown. We have taken on new work streams and are achieving good and improving outcomes. We are now properly resourced for what we need to do and are moving in the right direction.  Each of my Assistant head teachers has a caseload of over 250 cases.  Future changes that are coming will have greater impact on our work, eg the international GCSE will not be valid after 2015. However, it still holds that if a young person can pass 5 GCSEs at grades A* - C, their life chances will be greatly enhanced. Supporting them to achieve this will give them as much help as we could possibly give them.

 

If vulnerable children are placed in a vulnerable area they will lack aspiration. Surely they are more likely to seek more chances if they are placed in a more affluent area?

Some of the schools in which our children in care are placed are over-subscribed but those schools are experienced and are good at nurturing children in care. What we should be seeking is for all schools to develop this expertise. VSK being able to utilise PPP to facilitate whole-school training to develop these skills and expertise will help in the long-term to build capacity for schools to offer children in care a good education.    

 

Thank you very much for giving your time today to help the Select Committee with its information gathering.