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Supporting Positive Activities for Looked after Children

Expression of Interest(EOI)

to join an approved provider list

For a period from 21 May 2018 – until 31 March 2020

Submission deadline: midday 14 May 2018

1.Introduction & Shropshire context

Childhood experiences have a lifelong influence. We know that a secure, loving family life is at the heart of those experiences and its absence can have profound negative consequences.

Children rely on parents to provide a stable, caring environment in which they can develop and make sense of the world. However,parents are not always able to provide the positive start to life that their children need and some children experience neglect or abuse which can cause enduring problems.

Their experiences can affect their behaviour and attitude. Consequently,some childrenare not able to make the most of learning opportunities. They may have challenging behaviours, little or no confidence in their ability to learn and little sense of self-efficacy. Their learning experience may have been interrupted. They may have an under developedsense of self. They may be vulnerable and at risk of exploitation.

Shropshire Virtual School supports and strives to improve the educational achievement of their looked after children (LAC) and care leavers, aged 2 to 18. The virtual school approach is to work with looked after children as if they were in a single school, liaising with the schools they attend, tracking the progress they make and supporting them to achieve as well as possible.

2. What we want to achieve

Shropshire Virtual School for Looked After Children is looking to use the Pupil Premium Plus Grant to offer participation in positive activities for those young people

  • Who are at risk of exclusion
  • Who have experienced disrupted schooling and placement moves
  • Who need support to have a successful transition into post 16 education and training.

Eligible service users:The Service is for Shropshire looked after children who are covered by the remit of the Shropshire Virtual School and in receipt of the Pupil Premium Plus Grant.

We are looking for time-limited interventions based around the interest of the young people. We expect progress reports and feedback, including feedback from the young person and on the impact of the intervention. We are initially aiming the interventions at those young people of secondary school age (12 through to 17), spanning into year 12.

We want to be able to offer a range of interventions services, to meet the varied interests of the young people.

The purpose of this expression of interest is to gather information from providers who can meet our criteriaand who are able to operate in Shropshire or in neighbouring local authorities. We aim to establish a preferred provider list, which we can use to obtain specific quotes. This list may be made available to other Virtual Schools, who place looked after children within the Shropshire

3. The type of support we are looking for

The following list is just an indication of what type of support we may need. It is not meant to be exhaustive.

  • Individualmentoring / coaching based around a activities
  • Preparing for work / apprenticeship skills, e.g. Workshops on preparing a CV, interviewing etc
  • Preparing for adulthood skills, cooking, budgeting, understanding finances
  • Learning a new skill or hobby e.g. sport, music, arts
  • Math and English entry level / GCSE support
  • Supported Work Based learning / experience
  • Keeping safe - including e-safety
  • Using public transport

4. Potential providers need to know

  • Providers will have to demonstrate in their application that they can meet our basic requirements in order to join the approved provider list. Price detail issought for information only and not evaluated at this point.
  • Providers will be asked to provide prices, which would apply from a period starting 21 May 2018 until at least 31 March 2020. (We may conduct a price review for the period from 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020.)
  • Acceptance of an expression of interest may lead to the council contacting a provider to quotefor a specific intervention with a child. Acceptance of a quote will lead to a fixed term, one off contract. The contract will be based on a council’s purchase order, which will be linked to the quotation. Payment terms will be based on submission of a satisfactory invoice.
  • Providers who fail to meet our basic requirements will be notified and will not be added to our approved provider list.
  • We reserve the right to add suitable providers to the list before the service ends in March 2020.

5. Our basic requirements

  • The provider needsto have a named person with DBS checks.
  • Staff are suitability qualified to provide the intervention by merit of their skills, experience or training. Depending on the nature of the intervention, staff may have completed accredited courses and/ or have membership of professional body.
  • Staff will understand how loss, trauma and adverse childhood experience impact on behaviour and relationships and be skilled at engaging young people.
  • The provider will have Public Liability Insurance
  • Some activities and or young people may require the completion of a risk assessment to ensure safe inclusion. The organisation will be expected to complete and share any risk assessment with the Virtual School Head.
  • The provider will be General Data Protection Regulation Compliant (GDPR)
  • The provider will be part of a wider team working around the young person and will be required to submit written feedback on the intervention, to include progress and impact. The frequency of this will be established at the start prior to the intervention and a specific link within the Virtual School established for each young person
  • As support is delivered to children and young people, providers will be expected to know, understand and work to our areas safeguarding children protocols. These can be found at

6. Timeline

23 April 2018 / Publish EOI
14 May 2018midday / Deadline for submission
15-18 May 2018 / Evaluation & response to providers
21 May 2018 / Service starts
31 March 2020 / Service ends

7. Next step

If you wish to be considered, please complete the following proposal form and email it to

(Interim Head Shropshire Virtual School)

(SC, Commissioning Development Officer)

For further information contactRose Hooper on 01743 250124.

Supporting Positive Interventions for Looked after Children

Basic requirements to join an approved provider list

Provider Information (insert below heading)
Name & type of your organisation
Address
Name of contact person
Email
Telephone number
Commissioner evaluation
Meets our needs?
Y/N/Partial / Our comments &
Justification for rating
About your organisation
1 What experience & skills does your organisation have with this type of work? Your response should demonstrate that you have understood what we are looking for and can meet the requirements in section 5.(max 500 words):
2 Are you registered with Ofsted? Yes / No
If yes, please provide your Unique Registration Number and rating.
3 Are you registered with a professional body? Yes / No
If yes, please provide the name of the professional body and your registration details.
4 Do all your staff have current DBS certificates? Yes / No
5 Describe the employment status, skills, qualifications and experience of the worker(s), who would provide the support
6 Describe how you would ensure that your worker(s) have adequate supervision and continuous professional development.
7 Describe how you would ensure that worker(s) comply with
- General health & safety legislation
- Local safeguarding children and adult protocols
About your service
8 Describe what types of interventions you would implement to strengthen a young person’s resilience, confidence and self esteem
9 Describe what typesof interventions you would implement to increase the engagement with the intervention
10 Describe what type of support you would provide to a young person who is struggling with identity issues resulting in low self-esteem and confidence
11 Describe how you can evidence that your support is effective. Please add two recent examples to support your response.
12 Your pricelist
(Applicable from 21 May 2018 to 31 March 2020)
Please be guided by the list in section 3. We expect that some prices are expressed in hourly rates, others may be better expressed as unit price or for the term of the intervention.
13 Please include names and contact details of two references for whom you have done similar work
Other information in support of your expression of interest (including added value)(maximum 500 words):
Please sign here to validate your quote and to confirm that you have understood and are able to meet all the requirements relating to your expression of interest:
Signature ______
Print name ______
Date ______