Education Outcomes Report 2013
Contents
1.Introduction
2.The Virtual School
3.Outcomes for CLA
4.Attendance and Exclusions
5.Destinations of post-16 children
6.Personal Education Plans and Pupil Premium grant
7. School placement
8.Appendices
1.Introduction
Promoting the Educational Achievement of Looked After Children
Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities
“Looked after children have a right to expect the outcomes we want for every child – that they should be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic well-being. To achieve these five outcomes for looked after children, local authorities as their ‘corporate parents’ should demonstrate the strongest commitment to helping every child they look after, wherever the child is placed, to achieve the highest educational standards he or she possibly can. This includes supporting their aspirations to achieve in further and higher education.”
Although some do well, looked after children as a group have poor experiences of education and very low educational attainment. Their educational outcomes, in terms of the proportion who reach the average levels of attainment expected of seven, eleven, fourteen and sixteen year olds, remain significantly lower than for all children. A relatively small number of looked after children progress to higher education.
‘A Better Education for Children in Care’ identified five key reasons why looked after children underachieve in education:
●their lives are characterised by instability;
●they spend too much time out of school;
●they do not have sufficient help with their education if they fall behind;
●primary carers are not expected or equipped to provide sufficient support and encouragement for learning and development; and
●they have unmet emotional, mental and physical health needs that impact on their education.
The Statistical First Release (SFR): ‘Outcomes for children looked after by local authorities in England’, provides information at national and local authority level on the outcomes for children who have been looked after. It is the main source of information on the outcomes for looked after children in England. It is used to inform policy decisions to improve the life chances for this vulnerable group of children. It is also used extensively by other groups interested in this subject and by LAs for benchmarking purposes.
The main change from last year’s SFR is around the definition of looked after children used for the national attainment measures. Last year, the pupil premium cohort (children looked after continuously for 6 months) was used. This year, only children looked after continuously for at least 12 months at 31 March have been included. The definition of 12 months has been used so the support that a looked after child has received from a local authority has had time to have an impact on educational results.
Statistical First Release: Outcomes for Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England, as at 31 March 2013
HEADLINES
2. The Virtual School
All of the data about the Virtual School contained in this report will be from the
academic year 2012/13.
The Virtual School consists of three groups of CLA
•all Poole CLA who are educated in Poole schools
•Poole CLA who are educated in other local authority or independent schools
- CLA from other local authorities and educated in Poole schools
The main focus of the work of the Virtual School relates to CLA who are of statutory
school age. However the Virtual School also has oversight of the Early Years and post
16 CLA.
The Virtual School education support team consists of a 0.6 FTE Headteacher, 0.5 Teacher for CIC, 0.6 Education Welfare Officer and 0.2 Educational Psychologist for CIC.
The VIRTUAL SCHOOL HEAD TOOLKIT produced by DCSF in MARCH 2010 identifies three key areas of responsibility of a virtual school head for which s/he should be accountable:
• To make sure that there is a system to track and monitor the attainment and progress of looked after children to:
rigorously track and monitor data on where looked after children are at school and their progress, in a similar way to a head teacher of any school.
ensure that schools know which children are looked after and make sure that there is a Personal Education Plan (PEP) for all looked after children and one-to-one support where appropriate.
maintain an accurate record of the location and educational progress of looked after children in their authority, including those whom they look after but are placed in another authority or a non local authority school and those who are looked after by another authority but educated in this one.
act where necessary and work towards improving overall attainment at the virtual school, by maximising achievement and progress of both individual and cohorts of looked after children.
ensure that the head teacher and the designated teacher in each school know which of the children on their roll are in care, and what can be done to support them.
• To ensure that all looked after children have a robust and effective personal education plan and access one-to-one support, including personal tuition where appropriate by:
working with relevant professionals to ensure PEPs are of a high quality, subject to a rigorous monitoring and evaluation process, with impacts and outcomes that are followed up. In conjunction with School Improvement Partners they should challenge schools and others when appropriate to improve the quality of the PEP and promote faster progress.
They should also ensure that looked after children are able to access one-to-one tuition and Pupil Premium* wherever appropriate. They should also explore other sources of additional funding/support e.g. disadvantaged subsidy/home access project.
• To champion the educational needs of looked after children across the authority and those placed out-of-authority by:
championing the needs of looked after children across the authority and spread effective practice, particularly in relation to improving behaviour and attendance, promoting stability of placement and school stability through admissions policies and use of school transport.
working with others in local authorities and schools to ensure that measures are taken across the authority to promote positive behaviour, good attendance, and reduce exclusions, which should in turn lead to good progress and improved attainment.
ensuring social workers adequately consider the educational needs of looked after children when a child/young person comes into care or when taking decisions about moving placements. Where moving placements is absolutely essential, wherever possible a new placement should be found which enables continuity of schooling but at KS4 ensures there is no change of educational placement. The virtual school head should take responsibility for making sure that admissions powers to admit looked after children to the most appropriate school are used wherever necessary, and they should ensure that school transport is provided as required to help children stay in the same school.
3. Outcomes for CLA
The tables below describe the outcomes for the cohort of CLA who were in continuous
care for the year 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013.
Key stage 1
Subject / NC level / National / NationalCLA / Poole / Poole CLA / 2011-2012 / 2010-2011
No of eligible children / 593,770 / 1,720 / 2 / 2 / 5
Reading / 2+ / 89% / 69% / 91% / 50% / 100% / 60%
2B+ / 79% / 81% / 50%
3 / 29% / 37% / 0%
Expected progress* / 50%
Writing / 2+ / 85% / 61% / 88% / 50% / 50% / 40%
2B+ / 67% / 74% / 50%
3 / 15% / 23% / 0%
Expected progress* / 100%
Maths / 2+ / 91% / 71% / 93% / 50% / 100% / 40%
2B+ / 78% / 82% / 50%
3 / 23% / 31% / 0%
Expected progress* / 50%
*based on progress from end of Foundation Stage profile score 6 points to 2B at end of KS1, deemed national average
Commentary:
Writing was a relative area of strength for the 2012-2013 cohort. All children made expected progress against Foundation Stage profile scores.
In all three areas the performance of Poole CLA at L2+ was below that for CLA Nationally, although this was less significant in writing.
The gap between the performance of CLA and all children at L2+ is more significant in Poole than it is nationally across all three areas; again this is less significant in writing.
Overall, there is a declining trend in Reading over 3 years. There is an upward trend in Writing and Maths. However, the impact of the very small numbers within these cohorts means these results should be treated with caution.
Key Stage 2
Subject / NC level / National / NationalCLA / Poole / Poole CLA / 2011-2012 / 2010-2011
No of eligible children / 2,290 / 11 / 4 / 4
Reading / 4+ / 86% / 63% / 78% / 73% / 25% / 75%
5+ / 45% / 42% / 27%
Expected progress* / 88% / 85% / 82%
Writing / 4+ / 83% / 55% / 76% / 64% / 25% / 75%
5+ / 30% / 24% / 0%
Expected progress* / 92% / 79% / 82%
Maths / 4+ / 85% / 59% / 77% / 55% / 25% / 50%
5+ / 41% / 35% / 18%
Expected progress* / 88% / 81% / 55%
R,W & M
combined / 4+ / 76% / 63% / 45%
5+ / 21% / 15% / 0%
Grammar, punctuation & spelling test** / 4+ / 74% / 64% / 27%
5+ / 48% / 42% / 18%
Figures given in italics represent English (Reading and Writing) combined *Expected progress is 2 NC levels over 4 years from KS1 to KS2 **Results were suppressed for two children
Commentary:
In Reading and Writing the performance of Poole CLA at L4+ exceeded that for CLA Nationally. In Maths the performance of Poole CLA was slightly below that for CLA nationally.
The gap between the performance of CLA and all children at L4+ is less significant in Poole than it is nationally across all three areas; this is particularly significant in Reading and Writing.
The expected progress made by Poole CLA is close to that of all children in Poole in Reading and Writing; however there was a significant difference in Maths.
Overall, there is a declining trend in Reading and Writing over 3 years. There is an upward trend in Maths. However, the impact of the very small numbers within these cohorts means these results should be treated with caution.
3 children made greater than expected progress (3 levels) in Reading and 2 children made greater than expected progress in Maths. Two children in the cohort have a statement of SEN and attend special schools; neither achieved national expectations for attainment or progress.
Key Stage 4: GCSE results
Table 1: All Poole CLA
Subject / National / NationalCLA / Poole / Poole CLA / 2011-2012 / 2010-2011
No of eligible children / 4, 870 / 14 / 14 / 15
A* - C GCSEs in English & Maths / 59% / 16% / 21%
5+ GCSE
gradeA* - C
(inc English & Maths) / 59% / 15% / 62% / 0% / 29% / 27%
5+ GCSE
gradeA* - C / 81% / 37% / 80% / 7% / 50% / 33%
5+ GCSE
gradeA* - G / 94% / 43% / 64% / 73%
1+ GCSE
gradeA* - G / 100% / 64% / 71% / 80%
Expected progress*
English / 71% / 33% / 36%
Maths / 72% / 30% / 29%
Commentary:
The performance of Poole CLA was significantly below that for CLA nationally in the key indicators of 5+ GCSEs A*-C and 5 GCSEs A*-C including English and Maths.
Measured against the indicator of A*-C GCSEs in English & Maths the performance of Poole CLA slightly exceeded that for CLA nationally.
The gap between the performance of CLA and all children is more significant in Poole than it is nationally across these key indicators.
The expected progress made by Poole CLA is in line with that of CLA nationally in Maths and slightly exceeds that of CLA nationally in English. 2 children achieved above expected progress in English and 1 child in Maths.
Overall, there is a declining trend across all key indicators over 3 years.
However, the impact of the very small numbers and the very high proportion of children with SEN within these cohorts means these results should be treated with caution.
6 out of 14 of the eligible children have a statement of SEN, of whom 5 attended special schools.4 children have severe learning difficulties and their progress is being measured using P-levels.
4. Attendance and exclusions
Attendance figures continue to be monitored half-termly for analysis and follow up by the Virtual School team. Good attendance was sustained during the 2012-2013 school year, with the overall figureat 96.49%.
In line with previous years, there were no permanent exclusions for this group. This places the LA below the most recently published national figure (0.15%).
5.Destinations of post-16 children
Further Education
At the end of 2013-2014 the Pathways team had 37 CLA/Care Leavers undertaking FE:
22 YP studying at Bournemouth & Poole college, predominantly BTEC-type programmes at Level 1, 2 or 3 in vocational areas
8 YP studying an academic programme at a school 6th form undertaking A or AS levels
Other YP studying with a range of local providers egBrockenhurst College, Paragon, Routes
Higher Education
At the end of 2013-2014 the Pathways team had their highest ever number of Care Leavers undertaking HE.
Current HE courses and destinations as follows:
HNC in Electrical Technology (1st year) at Bournemouth University
Degree in £D Computer Generated Imagery: Modelling & Animation (2nd year) at Bournemouth University
Degree in Public Service (2nd year) at Bournemouth University
Degree in Medical Engineering (3rd year) at Swansea University
Degree in English & American Literature (1st year) at Goldsmiths University
Degree in Social Work (1st year) at Winchester University
Degree in Music Business (1st year) at Academy of Contemporary Music, Guildford
4 Care Leavers in Year 13 have conditional places to study degree courses.
6. Personal Education Plans and Pupil Premium Grant
Promoting the Educational Achievement of Looked After Children
Supporting educational achievement and aspirations:
Discharging the duty on a day-to-day basis meansensuring that all looked after children of compulsory school age have an effective and high quality PEP.
The PEP is a record of what needs to happen for looked after children to enable them to fulfil their potential and reflects any existing education plans. The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning which secures good basic skills, stretches aspirations and builds life chances. The PEP is the joint responsibility of the local authority and the school.
Effective and high quality PEPs should:
- be a comprehensive and enduring record of the child’s experience, progress and achievement (academic and otherwise);
- be linked to information in other education plans, including a statement of special educational needs and IEPs;
- identify developmental and educational needs (short and long term) in relation to skills, knowledge, subject areas and experiences;
- set short term targets, including progress monitoring against each of the areas identified against development and educational needs;
- set long term plans and educational targets and aspirations (e.g. in relation to public examinations, further and higher education, work experience and career plans and aspirations);
- document identified actions for specific individuals intended to support the achievement of agreed targets;
- identify whether the child is eligible for Pupil Premium Grant and if so how the allowance will be used to support the targets set in the PEP; and
- highlight access to one-to-one tuition and how this will make/has made a difference to achievement levels.
The Virtual School team work hard to ensure the attendance of a team member at PEP meetings in order to sustain theimprovement in the completion of PEPs to timescales and provide appropriate support and challenge in the formulation of the PEP document. The Virtual School Head operates a system of quality assurance, monitoring and assessment of completed PEPs.
Additional Support – Pupil Premium Grant:
During 2012-2013 this direct-to-schools support funding rose to £900 per Looked After pupil.
The Virtual School aims to encourage schools’ usage of the Premium towards interventions that have the best outcomes. The main way that the Virtual School continues to monitor PPG use on an individual level is via the PEP.
7. School placement
Analysis of school placements for Poole CIC (Appendix A) shows that 75 % of Poole CIC in Poole schools attend a good or outstanding school; 68% of these attend a good or outstanding Poole primary school, 93% attend a good or outstanding Poole secondary school and 44% attend a good or outstanding special school.
There are two Poole primary schools currently graded as requiring improvement and one graded as inadequate and one Poole secondary school graded as requiring improvement. There is one Poole special school graded as requiring improvement which is attended by a significant proportion of CIC; during statutory assessment this school was deemed to best meet their identified SEN.
71 % of Poole CIC in out-of-borough schools attend a good or outstanding school. Further detailed analysis of residential schools is being undertaken.
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