Caring for a looked-after child

Education

This chapter explains the way in which Norfolk Fostering Service promotes education for children in its care.

The role of the designated teacher for looked-after children

A designated teacher promotes the educational achievement of looked-after children on the school roll, acts as an initial point of contact with the school and works closely with foster carers, social workers and other professionals to promote the child's educational achievement.

More information about the role of the designated teacher can be found in the Government's statutory guidance The designated teacher for looked after and previously looked after children (opens new window).

Role of the Virtual School

The Virtual School Head (VSH) is the lead responsible officer for ensuring that arrangements are in place to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of the authority's looked-after children, including those placed out-of-authority.

VSHs should ensure the educational attainment and progress of children looked after by the local authority are monitored and evaluated, as if those children attended a single school.

Every local authority or borough will have a VSH and although the teams may operate differently, the statutory guidance remains the same. Norfolk's Virtual School can be contacted on 01603 307742 and for more information you can see their page on the Norfolk Schools website (opens new window).

What are carers expected to do?

We know from experience and research that looked after children do markedly less well than other children when it comes to achieving in school. It's been the Government's and Norfolk County Council's priority to improve this situation and close the gap in attainment between looked after children and their peers.

This is how foster carers can play their part in making this happen:

Promote the value of education to the child and support the school and local authority in all their efforts to provide the child with a good education
Ensure your foster child attends any early years provision, school or college
Accompany your foster child to their early years setting or school, unless your child is of an age and ability to go on their own or the school is so far away that transport has to be provided
When a child is placed with you, introduce yourself to the early years setting or school and to the designated teacher for looked after children in the school or, if the young person is at college, the named person
Maintain contact with the school, share information about your foster child when needed and attend parents evenings and school functions, such as school plays, sports days and any award ceremonies
Talk with your foster child about what is happening at school and how they are getting on
Show an interest in everything they do in school and celebrate any successes that your foster child has in school with them
Ensure your child has somewhere quiet to study and access to a computer to support their education and encourage them to do their homework
Keep any certificates that they get from school and information about school trips to go in their record of achievement or life story book
Have a supply of children's books for younger children, which includes those that deal with topics such as being in care, losing family, bereavement, going to early years settings, going to the dentist, etc
Ensure your foster child joins a library and read to them frequently and regularly, if they're of an age where this is appropriate (this can be done as part of the bedtime routine each day)
Take your foster child out on family trips which include visits to more educational places to broaden their horizons and develop their general education, but do not book holidays during term time
Encourage them to use out of school and after school facilities
Pick up on their interests and hobbies and provide them with books, information and materials to encourage them in their specific interests
Seek support from the child's social worker or your supervising social worker, especially when problems occur and let them know of any problems at school in good time
Take part in developing the child's personal education plan and attend the PEP review meetings
Be an advocate for your child's education with the child's social worker and school

Getting a child prepared for school

Neglected and abused children are less likely to be ready for school than other children due to their early experiences. They may have difficulty concentrating, show agitated or hyperactive behaviour, have difficulty fitting into a group and, at worst, may have some developmental delay.

By the time they start school, although they should be able to put on their coat and dress themselves, hold and use a pencil, crayon or brush and recognise their name when they see it written, sometimes these tasks will be beyond their capabilities.

It's vital that carers encourage and help young children to master these basic skills. However, priority needs to be given to the child's needs for security, stability and the opportunity to develop a positive attachment with their carer before consideration is given to placing a young child in a nursery setting.

Children may be behind in their language. It is important for foster carers not only to read to the under fives, but also to spend a lot of time talking to them. Singing to them and reciting nursery rhymes are important too.

They should also have a rich variety of toys and play things, both for indoor and outdoor use. Neglected children will probably have had little opportunity for constructive play or have been left to their own devices for long periods of time.

It's essential for foster carers to encourage play, to talk to the child about what they are doing and get excited about their achievements. It's through play that children learn to take turns and to share. These are essential social skills that children should have by the time they start school, for they'll be needed when they have to be part of a larger group.

You can keep up to date with information about the early years and preparing children for school by looking online at Foundation Years website (opens new window), which has resources for parents and professionals.

Starting a new school

The onus is on Children's Services to keep a child coming into care in the same school. For older children in years 10 and 11, a move to another school should only be made in exceptional circumstances. In most cases therefore, the decision about where the child is to go to school should have been made before they are placed with you.

Where a placement has been made in an emergency, the local authority has to secure a new place in suitable education, if it is needed, within 20 school days. This is also true if the school placement breaks down for any reason.

The child's social worker is responsible for arranging placements in schools, so you will need to discuss any of these issues about admissions with them. However, when a child is placed with you, you should contact the school as soon as possible to let the designated teacher for looked after children know.

School admissions

At the normal time of entry to a school, that is when starting school or transferring to a secondary school, schools are required to give the highest priority to looked-after children. They are given preference over other children and this will ensure that they are guaranteed admission to preferred schools.

Outside the normal admission round, a local authority-maintained school must admit a child in care, if requested to do so, and the local authority with responsibility for the child can direct the school to do so, even if it is full.

The Head of the Virtual School has responsibility for ensuring that these powers are used whenever necessary. There is much more information about school admission policies and appeals on the Gov.uk website (opens new window).

School absences

It's expected that children in care will attend school every day for the whole school day, unless they are too ill or there are exceptional circumstances, such as a family bereavement.

The foster carer should contact the school as soon as possible on the first day of any absence to let them know that their child cannot attend, stating the reason. They should also keep their own record of all absences, which can be shown to the child's social worker.

As with any parent, they should avoid taking the child out of school during term time. Appointments with doctors and dentists should be avoided during school hours wherever possible. Similarly, Children's Services should avoid arranging reviews, planning meetings and contact during school hours.

We know that there will always be some children in care who have problems with going to school. Foster carers should let the child's social worker know as soon as any problems arise, so that actions to deal with them can be agreed. If there are longstanding problems with school attendance, this should be covered in the child's personal education plan.

Supporting educational achievement

Section 52 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to promote the educational achievement of children in care (with the exception of children who are receiving only short breaks). You can read what this means in the statutory guidance on the GOV.UK website: Promoting the education of looked after and previously looked after children. (opens new window)

Personal education plans (PEPs)

These are part of the care plan and identify what needs to happen for a child to fulfil their educational potential. You should be fully involved in the process of developing and reviewing the PEP, which takes place on a termly basis.

This gives you an opportunity to state what you need in the way of help from the local authority to enable you to complete your tasks.

The plan should also cover the decisions that you can make yourself about your foster child's education. In particular, it should state whether you are able to sign the consent forms for school trips and other activities. You should do, and ask for support in doing, everything that you would do for your own child's education.

Looked after children display considerable resilience given some of their experiences. However, children who have experienced trauma may at times be preoccupied with other thoughts and distractions, which can sometimes mask a learning difficulty or be interpreted as a learning problem.

The child's learning and development will be discussed at meetings when a child's personal education plan is begun and reviewed. Each year carers of looked after children between the ages of four and 16 will be asked to complete a 'strengths and difficulties questionnaire'.

A teacher's and young person's version is also available for young people aged 11 and older. For children with disabilities, including learning disabilities, an alternative document has been produced, the 'strengths and areas needing support questionnaire', which is available for teachers to complete to compare home and school views.

Supporting young people leaving care

A young person in care's continuing need for education after leaving school should be considered and taken care of in the pathway plan. This will include what support is offered to maintain them in further education, higher education or training.

Each eligible care leaver is entitled to a bursary when going on to study on a further education course, which is in addition to any other support that they might get.

Exclusions

Children in care are more likely to be excluded from school than other children because of their background of difficulties. Children can be excluded for fixed periods or permanently. The total number of days lost due to fixed exclusions should not exceed 45 days in any school year.

There's no such thing as an 'informal exclusion'. Any enforced absence is an exclusion and should be recorded as such. Schools should be challenged if a pupil is sent home without any formal exclusion.

Foster carers should be notified immediately of any exclusion of a foster child, ideally by telephone and then a letter. The letter should specify the reasons for the exclusion, the period of exclusion and the date of return. Schools will normally expect to see the parents before the child returns to school and foster carers should expect to have to do this. However, you may wish to discuss this with the child's social worker first to decide who should do this or ask the child's social worker to accompany you, if necessary.

The purpose of any such discussion is to agree what needs to be done to make sure it does not happen again. If the exclusions amount to more than 15 days in a term, the school governors must hold a meeting to review the decision of the head teacher to exclude.

Foster carers have the right to make representations to the meeting when their foster child has been excluded. You will be invited to attend the exclusion hearing and you may take a representative with you. In the case of permanent exclusion the Committee can either agree with the head's decision or recommend reinstatement of the pupil.

Permanent exclusion should be a last resort, following the failure of all other means to improve the situation. You should have been involved in all the stages before this point is reached, so a permanent exclusion should not come as a surprise. No child in care should be excluded from school without discussion with the local authority to ensure that there is some alternative provision.

Normally, if a child is permanently excluded, the local authority has a duty to provide full-time alternative education from the sixth day following the exclusion. However, if the child is in care, alternative provision should be available whenever possible from the first school day following the exclusion.

Anyone who is seen as a parent (and this includes foster carers) has the right to appeal against an exclusion. If you are thinking of doing this, you should discuss it first with the child's social worker, so that any action the local authority may be thinking of taking can be co-ordinated. If a permanent exclusion is upheld by the Governor's meeting, the foster carer can ask for the decision to be reviewed at an Independent Review Panel. You'll be given details of how to do this when the decision to exclude is sent to you.

You can find much more information about exclusions and appeals in the Government's statutory guidance on school exclusions. (opens new window)

Further help is available from the Children's Legal Centre at www.childrenslegalcentre.com or you can telephone them on 0808 802 0008.

Home education

Unless a child is permanently excluded, all looked-after children must be registered with an educational establishment. Therefore they cannot be educated at home unless on a part-time basis and then only with agreement from the school, social worker and Virtual School representative.

Foster children with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Children with special educational needs are those that have greater difficulty learning than most children of the same age. This may be caused by a range of cognitive, physical or sensory factors, emotional and behavioural difficulties, or difficulties with speech and language or social interaction.

The responsibility for identifying children who are having difficulty learning rests with everyone who knows them - teachers, carers, social workers and family. When a need has been identified, additional resources and expertise are brought in to help such children in a step by step approach.

In most cases, the school will take the lead in offering any extra help. It's usually a teacher who first raises any concerns. However, it is the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO - Send local offer) who advises on and arranges any additional support. This is likely to come from extra resources within the school itself.

Each child will have a plan with specific targets for improvement. These are reviewed regularly and you should be involved in this process. If there's insufficient progress, the child may need to move on to the next stage. Here the teachers and the special educational needs co-ordinator will consider a range of different teaching approaches, additional materials or computer programmes that can be used for specific problems.

They may also decide that they do not have the right kind of expertise to deal with them and need to bring in expertise from other services, particularly the educational psychology service or Child and Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS). These specialist services will undertake further specialised assessments, offer advice on strategies and in some cases give direct support to the child.

Even this may not work for a relatively small number of children, who then may need to move to the final stage, where a 'statutory assessment of need' is undertaken. This is a detailed investigation, which brings together information from all the people and organisations who know the child, to find out what the needs are and what special help is required.

It will only be done if the school or early years setting cannot succeed using their own resources. The school and anyone with parental responsibility for the child can request a statutory assessment.

If the result of the assessment is that additional resources are needed, the local authority will issue a draft Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) that summarises the child's needs and states what the local authority will provide to meet those needs. This could be services of a different kind or even a specialist school. If the parents accept the initial statement a 'Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) is issued.

The whole process must be done within 20 weeks of the decision to start an assessment. Foster carers have a key role to play in these assessments because of the information they have about the child. You should be asked automatically for your views during the assessment.

You should also be involved in any plans and actions taken by the school to meet your foster child's educational needs. If you are not happy with what is proposed or what the school is doing, you can raise your concerns first of all with the SENCO and share these with the child's social worker too.

If you want any additional support or guidance, you can contact Norfolk SEND Partnership's Information, Advice and Support Service, an independent service which helps parents with all matters concerning special educational needs.

Norfolk County Council also publishes its SEND Local Offer, which sets out in one place information about provision that is available, plus expected provision, across education, health and social care.

School transport

The Placement Planning meeting will identify who will be responsible for transporting and/or escorting the child to and from school. The expectation is that you will undertake this task but in exceptional circumstances, Norfolk Fostering Service may consider assisting through other means.

If the child has a disability and the local authority provides transport, this will be discussed and all times for pick ups and drops off will be agreed and given to you. If it's safe to do so, you're encouraged to walk or cycle with the children to school.

School trips

The Placement Plan for the child will set out clearly who gives consent for the child to go on a school trip. Any family holidays should be taken outside of school term dates to promote education and learning.

Standards and regulations

Fostering Services National Minimum Standards (England) 2011

Standard 8 - Promoting Educational Attainment (opens new window)

Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care

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