Education
REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS
The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011
Regulation 16 - Education, employment and leisure activities
Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards
STANDARD 8 - Promoting educational attainment
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This chapter explains the way in which the fostering Agency promotes education for children in its care.
Contents
- Education Policy
- What the Agency will do
- What Foster Carers will do
- Safeguarding in Schools
- Further Information
1. Education Policy
Under section 22 (3A) and 23ZZA of the Children Act 1989 (as amended by section 4 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017), local authorities have a specific duty to promote the educational achievement of Looked After, Eligible and Previously Looked After Children.
AgencyFoster carers should support children to learn and make good progress in school and work from the child's starting point in education. Foster carers should be ambitious for a child and support a child to attend and do well in education. Further and higher education should be encouraged. There also must be effective liaison with the school/college including information given to the virtual school head (virtual school heads are in charge of promoting the educational achievement of all the children who are looked after by the Local authority).
Obtaining a good education can be the key to vastly improving a child's chances in life. Children in Care can be particularly disadvantaged educationally, as they may have had their education disrupted as a result of changes of placements and circumstances, and may not therefore have had the opportunity to develop to their full potential or establish long friendships.
The Agency is committed to providing foster placements which offer a stable, supportive environment from which children can take full advantage of educational opportunities. Foster carers should ensure that their home has a routine that is organised to maximise children's participation in education, including promoting opportunities for private study and maintaining positive links with any schools/educational setting attended by the child.
Foster carers (and Agency staff as appropriate) will be actively involved with Designated Teachers and other relevant professionals to support and plan each child's educational arrangements.
If a child is absent from the school/educational establishment, the foster carer will inform them on the morning of the day of absence unless an alternative arrangement (for example for a recurring appointment) has been made.
Where the child is an unaccompanied migrant child (and looked after by the responsible authority), they are entitled to the same local authority support as any other Looked After Child: to have a safe and stable placement; to receive the care that they need to thrive; and the support they need to fulfil their educational and other outcomes.
Some unaccompanied children who have recently arrived in the country may never have had access to education before. Appropriate education for unaccompanied children may include a period of time in a setting where their full educational needs can be assessed and integrated into their Personal Education Plan (PEP) (see Section 2.1, Personal Education Plans). They may need time to be prepared for and then become used to formal education, and their initial educational outcomes may include cultural orientation and life skills appropriate to their age. As a foster carer, you will have a key role in this.
2. What the Agency will do
The fostering Agency will ensure that education is valued and promoted throughout the organisation by ensuring that:
- Placements will only be suggested to local authorities when the fostering Agency is satisfied that it can meet the educational needs of the child. The Agency will therefore ensure it has all the relevant information possible from the placing authority, including details from the current Personal Education Plan (PEP) (see Section 2.1, Personal Education Plans) or, where this is the first placement, key information from the child's current educational setting;
- Every child will have an up to date Personal Education Plan (PEP) which is available at the first Placement Planning Meeting;
- If the child has special educational needs or disabilities, an up to date copy of their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) will be obtained prior to the placement to ensure that the child's needs can be met in the placement;
- Pre-school children will be provided with early years educational opportunities;
- Children will be encouraged and supported to undertake further and higher education;
- All efforts will be made to ensure children attend a local school or college; where this is not possible, the Agency will work with the child's Placing Authority and the relevant education service to identify a school/setting within reasonable distance which meets their needs or alternatively to facilitate the provision of specialist tuition;
- The parents of children placed are encouraged (where appropriate) to take an on-going interest in and to promote the education of their child;
- Children's achievements are recognised and rewarded;
- Records of children's educational achievement show progress towards targets / goals;
- Arrangements will be made to facilitate children having access to a computer in their placement;
- Children have an appropriate area for completing study and doing homework.
Where a young person becomes pregnant: the Fostering Agency and foster carer must ensure that they remain in education if at all possible.
This should be discussed with the young person taking into account their wishes and feelings.
The Designated Teacher for Looked After Children at the school should ensure an appropriate education plan is in place and a review of the PEP should be considered. Where there are difficulties, the Virtual School Head may be required to promote the plans for the child's continuing education.
2.1 Personal Education Plans
All looked after children must have a Personal Education Plan (PEP) which summarises their developmental and educational needs, short term targets, long term plans and aspirations and which contains or refers to the child's record of achievement. The child's social worker is responsible for coordinating and compiling the PEP, which should be incorporated into the child's Care Plan.
The PEP should:
- Identify developmental and educational needs in relation to skills, knowledge, subject areas and experiences;
- Set short and long-term educational attainment targets agreed in partnership with the child and the carer where appropriate;
- Include a record of planned actions, including milestones on homework, extra tuition and study support, that the school and others will take to promote the educational achievement of the child, based on an assessment of their educational needs;
- Include information on how the child's progress is to be rigorously monitored;
- Record details of specific interventions and targeted support that will be used to make sure personal education targets are met, especially at the end of key stage 2 in relation to English and mathematics, and at key stage 4 in achieving success in public examinations;
- Say what will happen, or is already happening, to put in place any additional support which may be required - e.g. Possible action to support special educational needs involving the SENCO, educational psychologist, or local authority education services (information contained within an EHC Plan does not have to be duplicated in the PEP, a reference is sufficient as long as the plans work together to meet overall needs);
- Set out information on what will happen or is already happening to identify and support any mental health needs relevant to the child's education;
- Set out how a child's aspiration and self-confidence is being nurtured, especially in consideration of longer-term goals towards further and higher education, work experience and career plans. Discussions about longer-term goals should start early and ideally well before year 9 (age 13-14) at school. High aspirations are crucial to successful planning for the future. They should focus on young person's strengths and capabilities and the outcomes they want to achieve;
- Include the child's views on how they see they have progressed and what support they consider to be most effective;
- Be a record of the child's academic achievements and participation in the wider activities of the school and other out of school learning activities (e.g. Sporting, personal development);
- Provide information which helps all who are supporting the child's educational achievement to understand what works for them, helping to substitute for the role that parents might otherwise provide; and
- Have clear accountability in terms of who within the school is responsible for making the actions identified in the plan happen.
In addition, the PEP should have:
- An up to date and accurate chronology of education and training history which provides a record of the child's educational experience and progress in terms of National Curriculum Assessments, including information about educational institutions attended and the reasons for leaving, attendance and conduct record, academic and other achievements, any special educational needs, an indication of the extent to which the child's education has been disrupted before entering care or accommodation;
- A clear statement clarifying existing arrangements for education and training, including details of any special educational provision and any other provision to meet the child's educational or training needs and promote educational achievement;
- A description of any planned changes to existing arrangements and provision to minimise disruption;
- A description of the child's leisure interests;
- A description of the role of the appropriate person and any other person who cares for the child in promoting the child's educational achievements and leisure interests;
- A description of how the Pupil Premium is assisting the child's progress and applications for bursaries should be discussed as part of PEP Meetings;
- Details of who will take the plan forward, with timescales for action and review are an essential aspect of all PEP planning.
The designated teacher would normally have overall responsibility for leading the process of target setting for looked-after children in school, should monitor and track how their attainment progresses, and ensure that identified actions are put in place. The designated teacher will help the school and the local authority that looks after the child to decide what arrangements work best in the development and review of the PEP.
Monitoring and Reviewing the PEP in school
Designated teachers should work closely with other staff in school to make sure the child's progress is rigorously monitored and evaluated. They should be able to:
- Judge whether the teaching and learning and intervention strategies being used are working to support achievement and wellbeing; and
- Know whether the young person is likely to meet the attainment targets in their PEP.
If the young person is not on track to meet targets, the designated teacher should be instrumental in agreeing the best way forward with them in order to make progress and ensure that this is reflected in the PEP.
The child's Care Plan is reviewed regularly by the authority that looks after them. These reviews are statutory and must be completed at the following intervals: the first review must take place within 20 working days of the date the child became looked-after; the second at not more than 3 months after the first review; and the third and subsequent reviews at not more than 6 monthly intervals. The review is chaired by an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). The IRO will ask about the child's educational progress as part of the overall Care Plan review and should have access to the most up-to-date PEP.
To enable an informed discussion of the Care Plan about the child's progress in school as part of the statutory review, the designated teacher is responsible for ensuring that:
- They review the PEP before the statutory review of the care plan, it is up-to-date and contains any new information since the last PEP review, including whether agreed provision is being delivered;
- The PEP is clear about what has or has not been taken forward, noting what resources may be required to further support the child and from where these may be sourced; and
- They pass the updated PEP to the child's social worker and Virtual School Head (VSH) ahead of the statutory review of the care plan.
The school and the local authority which looks after the child have a shared responsibility for helping looked-after children to achieve and enjoy. The content, implementation and review of the PEP enable both the school and local authority to discuss how they can help achieve this. The PEP review should be done through a meeting involving the social worker, the young person, carers and others, such as the VSH.
The PEP must include the contact details of the Virtual School Head for the authority that looks after the child.
2.2 Education, Health and Care Plans
Requesting an Education, Health and Care Needs AssessmentAn Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment is an assessment undertaken by a local authority of the education, health and care needs of a child or young person aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs (SEN) or disabilities to determine whether it is necessary to make provision for those needs in accordance with an Education Health and Care Plan.
The following have a specific right to ask a local authority to conduct an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment:
- A child's parent;
- A young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25; and
- A person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution (this should be with the knowledge and agreement of the parent or young person where possible).
In addition, anyone else can bring a child or young person who has (or may have) SEN to the attention of the local authority, e.g. foster carers, health and social care professionals, education staff, youth offending teams or Probation Providers, or a family friend.
Following a request or a child having been brought to its attention, the local authority must (unless it has already undertaken such an assessment during the previous six months) determine whether an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment is necessary and communicate that decision within 6 weeks. The Local Authority must give its reasons where it decides not to proceed.
This can be appealed. For further advice around appealing and disagreements, see Children with SEND (gov.uk)
Undertaking an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment
Local authorities must consult the child/young person/parent/foster carer/social worker throughout the process of assessment and production of an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Where particular services are assessed as being needed, their provision should be delivered and should not be delayed until the Education, Health and Care Plan is complete.
Following the completion of an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment, if the local authority decides that an Education, Health and Care Plan is not necessary, it must notify the child/young person/parent, the education and the health service and give the reasons for its decision. This notification must take place as soon as practicable and at the latest within 16 weeks of the initial request or of the child or young person having otherwise been brought to the local authority's attention. The local authority must also inform the child/young person/parent of their right to appeal that decision and the time limit for doing so, of the requirement for them to consider mediation should they wish to appeal, and the availability of information, advice and support and disagreement resolution services.
When a Child has an EHCP
The final Education, Health and Care Plan must also be issued to the governing body, proprietor or principal of any school, college or other institution named in the Plan, and to the relevant ICB (or where relevant, NHS England).
Children/young people who have Education, Health and Care Plans have the right to request a Personal Budget, which may contain elements of education, social care and health funding. Each request for a Personal Budget must be considered on its own individual merits.
Education, Health and Care Plans should be used to actively monitor the progress of children/young people towards their outcomes and longer term aspirations. They must be reviewed as a minimum every 12 months. The local authority's decision following the review meeting must be notified to the child and all relevant agencies within four weeks of the review meeting.
Before a Young Person is 18
For disabled children who are likely to have needs when they turn 18, then under the Care Act 2014, the local authority must undertake a transitions assessment if it considers it will benefit the individual in them doing so. This is even if the child is not receiving any current services. The Act does not specify a specific age, prior to 18, at which an assessment can be requested, but the phrase 'significant benefit' is used by which the local authority can decide if the young person would benefit from an assessment.
The Education, Health and Care Plan review at Year 9, and every review thereafter, should include a focus on preparing for adulthood. It can be helpful for reviews before Year 9 to have this focus too.
How EHCP Works with PEPs
The child's Education, Health and Care Plan works in harmony with his/her Care Plan and adds to, but does not duplicate, information about how education, health and care needs will be met.
The assessment must be carried out by the authority where the child lives (i.e. is ordinarily resident), which may not be the same as the authority that looks after the child. If a disagreement arises, the authority that looks after the child, will act as the 'corporate parent' in any disagreement resolution.
It is the Looked After child's social worker (in close consultation with the Virtual School Head in the authority that looks after the child) that will ultimately make any educational decision on the child's behalf. However, the day-to-day responsibility for taking these decisions should be delegated to the carer who will advocate for the Looked After child and make appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (SEN and Disability) as necessary.
2.3 Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) Funding
Both looked after and previously looked after children are eligible for Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) funding. This is additional funding provided to help improve the attainment of looked-after and previously looked-after children, and aims to close the attainment gap between this group of children and their peers. It is not a personal budget for individual children. The extra funding provided by the PP+ reflects the significant additional barriers faced by looked-after and previously looked-after children. The designated teacher has an important role in ensuring the specific needs of looked-after and previously looked-after children are understood by the school's staff and reflected in how the school uses PP+ to support these children.
The PP+ for looked after children is managed by the VSH.
The PP+ is a key component in ensuring resources are available to support the child's Personal Education Plan and the plan should clarify what the support is and how it will be delivered.
3. What Foster Carers will do
Foster carers will actively demonstrate that education is valued by ensuring, in relation to children placed with them, that:
- They actively promote the children's education and learning and find ways to introduce aspects of the curriculum into their day to day activities in the home;
- They are fully conversant with the children's educational needs and any plans that have been agreed with placing authorities;
- They establish close working relationships with teaching staff at the children's schools/educational settings and attend parents evenings;
- They will give time and space to the child/young person when they return from their education setting to check how school is going for them and ensure they are coping satisfactorily, supporting with homework if necessary - speaking to their fostering support social worker or the child's social worker if there are any concerns (see also Section 4, Safeguarding in Schools);
- They encourage the children to leave for school in good time and, where they are not taken to school by the carer, liaison takes place with the school to ensure that there are no issues regarding attendance or lateness;
- They ensure that children / young people have all the necessary equipment to complete their homework;
- They support children to participate in leisure opportunities and out-of-school activities;
- They encourage children to use local libraries and other educational facilities;
- They assist young people who have completed their compulsory full time education to make arrangements for their continued training and employment.
Foster parents should also:
- Be aware of admission processes for local schools;
- Have an understanding of the School's safeguarding policies (see Section 4, Safeguarding in Schools);
- Be familiar with the school's bullying policies;
- Have an understanding of the role of the Designated Teachers for Looked After Children (see Further Information).
4. Safeguarding in Schools
Looked after children are a vulnerable group. All staff in the school should be aware of the systems that are in place to support safeguarding children and to promote their welfare. The aim of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children is defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children as:
- Protecting them from maltreatment, including emotional, physical abuse and harm; bullying and cyberbullying; upskirting [1]; sexting [2] (also known as youth produced sexual imagery); sexual harassment, etc.
- Preventing any impairment of their mental and physical health or development;
- Ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with safe and effective care;
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
[1] Upskirting is against the law. See also: GOV.UK, Upskirting: know your rights
[2] NSPCC, Sexting: advice for professionals
An Ofsted thematic review (Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges (Ofsted)) identified substantial levels of sexual harassment for both girls (90%) and boys (nearly 50%) – usually in unsupervised settings. Sexual harassment and sexual violence exist on a continuum and may overlap. Where the latter occurs, there could be a criminal offence committed.
The Ofsted Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges also recognised a wide variety of behaviours that children and young people told (them) happened online including:
- Receiving unsolicited explicit photographs or videos, for example 'dick pics';
- Sending, or being pressured to send, nude and semi-nude photographs or videos ('nudes');
- Being sent or shown solicited or unsolicited online explicit material, such as pornographic videos.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (see Further Information) notes that with regard to sexual harassment, all staff working with children are advised to maintain an attitude of 'it could happen here' and must respond to all reports and concerns about sexual violence and/or sexual harassment, including online behaviour and incidents that have happened outside the school/college. This could include picking-up information from other pupils.
Nevertheless, the Ofsted thematic Review also reflected that children said they did not bring events to the attention to staff for fear of losing control over events and the subsequent consequences.
A foster carer who has concerns about the sexual harassment or bullying of a child, should always raise these concerns with their supervising social worker or the children's social worker. It should not be assumed that the school will necessarily inform the Fostering Agency or the foster carer of such concerns or behaviour (they may not be aware).
There should be staff (usually the Designated Teacher or the SEND coordinator) who will be able to share with you information about:
- The school's child protection policy and procedures;
- The school's bullying policy;
- The Data Protection Act and safeguarding;
- The child behaviour policy;
- The staff behaviour policy (code of conduct);
- The safeguarding response to children who go missing from education.
They will also explain that staff must report any concerns regarding Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), extremism and the Prevent duty, modern slavery, trafficking or exploitation.
Further Information
Legislation, Statutory Guidance and Government Non-Statutory Guidance
Promoting the Education of Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children
Designated Teacher for Looked-after and Previously Looked-after Children (DfE)
Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE)
Guidance: Working Together to Improve School Attendance - guidance to help schools, academy trusts, governing bodies and local authorities maintain high levels of school attendance, including roles and responsibilities