Information for carers, social workers and elected members

A personal education plan (PEP) forms an essential part of each child’s care plan and also forms part of the child’s official school record. Schools and the Local Authority have a shared responsibility for ensuring the PEP is a living and useful document. The PEP is a vital document because it provides a collective memory about a child’s education and when used effectively improves the educational experience of the child by helping everyone gain a clear understanding of the teaching and learning provision necessary to meet the child’s educational needs, this is especially important at any transition points. Successful completion of a good quality PEP will release Pupil Premium + funding for the school to spend on improving educational outcomes for the child or young person.

Personal Education Plans

The ePEP system is now live and log in details will be emailed to each designated teacher on 9 January 2018. If you don’t receive your log in please contact educate.educationsystems-mailbox@devon.gov.uk

For those DTs who weren’t able to attend the training provided, a video is available via this link: http://epep.tv/video-training the password has been emailed to all Devon schools – if you don’t have it please contact Aga Spier on 01392 383000/ aga.spier@devon.gov.uk.

• ePEP website (where you can log into the ePEP system)
• DCC Training Guide for ePEP (January 2018)
• Pupil premium and funding – improving outcomes for CIC letter to schools (August 2018)
• Devon policy for pupil premium plus (May 2019)

Pupil Premium information for adoptive children is available here.

Personal Education Allowance (PEA)

A PEA is for children in care who are at risk of not reaching the expected national standards of attainment. The allowances are to provide additional, personalised support. They must be linked to the targets set in the personal education plan (PEP) and show how this will contribute to improving educational achievement. The Personal Education Allowance is currently £300 per child (aged from 5 to 16 years, reception to year 11).

The designated teacher, social worker or personal education plan coordinator can apply.

A PEA will only fund activity that is over and above that which should be provided already by services or support from Devon County Council, schools and carers, or which other practitioners already provide.

Before applying for Personal Education Allowance (PEA) funding for children in care, schools must ensure that any pupil premium funding is carefully targeted to provide additional support, is meeting the educational requirements of the young person and improving their education outcomes.

• PEA application form
• Music lessons
• DfE guidance on charging for school activities

These questions and suggestions will help you prepare for the PEP meeting:

When is a PEP needed?

• before or when received into care (the initial PEP should be held within 10 days of coming into care)
• it should be reviewed every term
• if the child or young person changes school then a PEP meeting should be held within 20 days of starting the new school
• after a change in placement
• for any concerns a PEP review will be called
• to access specialist EP support.

What is my role?

As a carer you must attend the meeting. It should not happen without you. You will need to discuss the issues affecting the education of the child or young person in your care, including:

Educational progress

• how well do you think your child or young person is doing at school?
• have the targets from the last PEP been achieved?
• what are your main hopes for the child or young person this year?
• do you know what the expected progress and attainment is for a child of their age?
• attendance – other than for illness have there been any other absences and is there an explanation?
• has the child been late for school more than once and can this be accounted for?

Wellbeing

• talk to your child or young person before the meeting, ask if they want to raise or discuss anything
• does your child or young person seem happy in school?
• when does your child or young person behave well?
• does your child or young person make good relationships with adults and peers?

Communication

• help your child or young person to complete the section on their views
• do you have a copy of the last PEP?
• do you know who to contact in school? (designated teacher for children in care)
• do you have regular contact with the school?
• do you attend parents’ evening and other events your child or young person is involved in?

Supporting the child or young person at home

• do you talk to your child or young person about school?
• does your child or young person enjoy reading or being read to?
• does your child or young person enjoy out of school activities?
• does your child or young person do homework and do you support them with their homework?

More information

• Early Years PEP is now available on ePEP Online System here
• New into care protocol (May 2019)
• PEA application form (v6 June 2019)
• Music Lessons
• DfE guidance on charging for school activities

Local authorities receive additional funding to support the education of children in care. This funding is called Pupil Premium Plus. Further information can be found at GOV.UK Pupil premium: funding and accountability for schools.

The County Council, as the corporate parents, decides where a child in care should be taught to ensure they receive a good education and have a stable placement to support this. This decision is made jointly by the child’s social worker and the Virtual School Headteacher, and will be supported by the Admissions and the 0-25 SEN team.

Children in care are given priority for a place at a school which is deemed to be suitable for them. Once admitted to school children will be support by a designated teacher for children in care in the school. All schools should also have a policy for supporting children in care, it may be helpful to read this.

More information

Attendance

Research shows that pupils who attend school regularly achieve higher grades than those who do not. Also, for a child in care, school can be the only constant in their life. The Virtual School works to ensure that every child in care has an appropriate full-time programme of education and is committed to working with schools, carers, other professionals and young people themselves to overcome obstacles to regular attendance and ensure positive educational outcomes for our children in care.

The Virtual School has high expectations of our children in care and encourages full attendance and punctuality. We expect carers to promote and support full attendance at school, and to avoid all absences unless absolutely essential. In particular, carers should try to arrange appointments and meetings outside school time wherever possible.

To address Attendance issues we ask that schools:

• Inform our VS Administrator, Kate Clarke (kate.clarke@devon.gov.uk) when the attendance level for any Child in Care drops below 95%. This information will be passed to our Area Learning Advocates who will follow this up with the relevant Social Worker.
• Contact Foster Carers when a Child in Care fails to arrive for school on any given day,  to ascertain the reason for non-attendance.

The Virtual School use welfare call for all schools that do not use SIMs pupil database, also for independent schools and those outside of Devon that have a Devon Child in Care on roll. Welfare call with call schools twice per day to gather attendance information for Devon children in care.

Holidays in term time

The Virtual School does not support holidays in term time and carers requesting time off school to go on holiday will need the agreement of the Virtual School Headteacher and the social worker. The Virtual School attendance policy can be found here.

CiC Attendance Policy (August 2018 v3)

SEND

Devon’s SEND website (local offer) sets out what you can expect to be available to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities aged 0-25, along with Devon’s approach and underlying principles.

Full information and support tools are available here.

National guidance on the support system for children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND) is available at GOV.UK – SEND: guide for parents and carers.

More information

Children in care are provided with automatic membership of Devon libraries. Further information is available at devonlibraries.org.uk 

Transitions guidance

Babcock LDP Educational Psychology and Early Years Services have collaborated with Devon County Council to produce guidance for schools and settings to promote successful transitions across all phases of education. Transitions are very important for children and young people and can be a challenging and anxiety-provoking time, particularly when the child or young person is vulnerable or has Special Educational Needs and/or a disability that require understanding and support over the transition. These guidance documents aim to support parents/carers, staff and other professionals in ensuring high quality transition practice across Devon.

The below 4 documents can be found on the Babcock website here:

• Transitions in Early Years.
• Transitions in Primary and Secondary education.
• Transition from School to further education and training.
• Transition from College.

The 2020 Children in Care Celebration Event will take place on Friday 6 March 2020 at St James School, Exeter. Find out more about this event or make a nomination at Children in Care Celebration Event.