Monitoring the Attainment of Looked After Children to secure and maintain appropriate personal education provision

The Provider:
Foster Care Associates, Bristol

• Foster Care Associates is an independent fostering agency, with 11 regional offices in England, 2 in Wales, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Northern Ireland and 1 in the Republic of Ireland. FCA provide high quality family placements and opportunities for children and young people to experience stability in their lives and achieve their full potential.
• FCA receive referrals and place children and young people who have complex needs and require intensive support.
• Currently there are 2296 children and young people placed with FCA. To address the educational needs of children each FCA region has an Education Liaison Officer with responsibility for securing and maintaining school and educational placements, their work involves establishing relationships with Education Authorities both locally and nationally as some children may be placed a considerable distance from their home authority.

Summary:

• Foster Care Associates successfully secure school placements or alternative education provision for approximately 95% of children and young people who are placed with FCA foster carers.
• Education is paramount to stability within a foster placement and to enhance the life chances for children (in line with the government Every Child Matters Five Outcomes). Foster Care Associates work holistically in their approach to providing family placements, this is demonstrated in the Team Parenting approach, whereby Education Liaison Offices are linked with children at the point of referral and begin their work of identifying an appropriate educational place for each child, the relationship continues throughout a child's foster placement with the ELO maintaining support for the child and foster carer, liaising with schools and other providers, monitoring and recording the childs progress.

The Aim:
The work of Education Liaison Officers demonstrates improved educational outcomes for the children and young people placed with FCA foster carers, compared to the national average for young people looked after.
What do you see in the school?

• Conference Schedule
• Data base of all pupil progress against national targets, followed by support and intervention
• Documentation prepared for OFSTED
• ELO National conference presentations
• Examples of action taken in special cases that illustrate scope of policy and practice
• Focus group meetings in place to maintain improvement cycle
• Individual children's progress file available to ELO contacts
• Induction training programme
• Invitations to be represented at conferences and to share programmes
• Involvement with research projects
• Learning support assistants (fleet tutors for year 11 )
• National and regional management structure reflects vision and purpose
• Policy Documentation
• Programme of ELO visits
• Publication of services provided on the website
• School Liaison procedures to audit routine progress and to focus on cases of need
• Training and support programme provided nationally and logistically managed locally
• Training materials for the support of foster parents
• Training Programme
• Work with LAs and schools to monitor pupil progress and to target additional support shared with other foster care providers

What difference does it make?

• School Placements negotiated and secured that meet the needs of the children
• Extra provision used to supplement school work (fleet tutors )
• Attendance records kept electronically and early intervention arranged where required
• Partnerships with schools are welcomed by schools because of the quality of the support offered

From where is evidence collected to prove the Leading Aspect?

• Business Plans
• Conference Agenda
• Conference invitations from LEAs
• ELO work schedules and guidance handbook
• FC annual review documents including social worker reviews
• FCA corporate statement of purpose
• FCA data base and special reference to Year 11 monitoring
• FCA Intranet
• FCA national Management Structure
• FCA Website
• Fleet Tutor Programme
• Induction training packages and regional job descriptions
• Involved in the Hadley research project at Bristol University
• Letters and Testimonials from carers and pupils
• Minutes of focus group meetings
• OFSTED Report
• Records of ELO contact and pupil progress reports
• Results of Key stage tests and GCSE
• Scheme registration procedures
• Social inclusion policy
• Standard letters to schools requesting data
• Take up of Fostertalk Magazine
• Witness statements by Foster Carer, ELO, and director of supporting organisation
• Year 11 audit and action planning process to target extra provision

The Verifiers Comment
Foster Care Associates successfully secure school placements or alternative education provision for approximately 95% of children and young people who are placed with FCA Foster carers. Education is seen as central to stability within a foster placement and as a key to enhancing the life chances of the child. FCA Education Liaison Officers assess the needs of the child on referral and negotiate the appropriate education provision. They continue to monitor progress to ensure the child engages with their education. Where issues are encountered, FCA Officers make appropriate additional or alternative provision. Within FCA, continuous staff development is in place to enhance both ELO and Carer awareness of a child's potential and of the support available.