3.5.2 The Reach Up Team |
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
Raising the educational achievement of children and young people Looked After.
Contents
1. Introduction
The REACH UP Team is a multi-disciplinary team of people working within established provision and on new initiatives to raise the educational achievement of children and young people who are Looked After in Oxfordshire. The Team monitors educational provision for all such children and young people and can provide short term funding or input where needed.
The Team comprises a number of education specialists who can provide information, advice and support in cases where there are concerns about a looked after child, which adversely affect his or her educational opportunities and progress. The REACH UP Team actively supports the children’s learning through, for example, attendance at PEP meetings (see Personal Education Plans Procedure). In addition the team provides learning mentor support to pupils at Key Stage 4. For further details, – see Section 2, The Roles of REACH UP Team Members.
The Team aims to:
- raise awareness of the responsibility of all agencies as ‘Corporate Parents’ to prioritise attention to the educational issues for children and young people who are looked after
- provide casework support from their own service
- promote good practice amongst colleagues in their own services and to all other agencies with whom they work
- provide training, advice and support to teachers, social workers, carers and associated professionals
- develop initiatives that will provide additional support for the education of children and young people who are looked after
- provide data and information that will inform practice for raising the educational achievement of such children and young people
- monitor and support the education of all children and young people who are looked after by reading, evaluating and responding to Personal Education Plans.
2. The Roles of REACH UP Team Members
2.1 Behaviour Support Teacher
The work of the Behaviour Support Teacher (BST) consists of 1:1 sessions with pupils and support to casework by the school’s allocated Behaviour Support Teacher. The REACH UP BST also works through advice and liaison with colleagues with children and young people looked after on their caseload and is available to give advice and support to social workers and carers. The BST aims to liaise with everyone involved with a pupil experiencing behavioural difficulties in school, ensuring best provision is in place and, where necessary, drawing up a detailed Behaviour Management Plan for joint working that will support the child in school and at home. Training and preparation of information materials specifically about children and young people looked after is also an important part of the role.
See also Behaviour Management Plan Procedure
2.2 Attendance and Reintegration Officer
The Attendance and Reintegration Officer liaises with Education Social Workers (ESWs) to support casework for pupils by the established school ESW. The role includes advice and liaison work with colleagues with children and young people looked after on their caseloads and advice on attendance issues to carers and social workers. There is a specific brief to develop regular contact and advice sessions with children’s homes as well as to contribute to training sessions and the preparation of information materials.
2.3 Attendance Project
An attendance project has been established to track, monitor and intervene where the school attendance of children and young people looked after becomes an issue. The Attendance and Reintegration Officer together with two Attendance Workers liaise directly with schools, children and their carers to promote high levels of attendance. The team target those young people at highest risk. Erratic attendance has been noted as one of the key factors underlying the poor educational achievement of children and young people looked after and so the project workers aim to build positive and supportive relationships with the young people with a view to improving their school attendance.
2.4 Educational Psychologist
The work of the Educational Psychologist (EP) includes support to casework for pupils by the established school EP for the child; advice and liaison with colleagues with children and young people looked after on their caseload and advice and support to social workers, foster carers and residential children’s home staff. Training, advising on the education service policy and practice for children and young people looked after and the preparation of information materials are also priority areas of work. The EP meets regularly with foster carer groups to discuss topics of interest and to support them in their care of children and young people placed with them.
2.5 Key Stage 4 Support
A team consisting of a specialist teacher and three learning mentors are working specifically with children and young people looked after to help raise their achievement. A major focus of their work has been on targeting pupils at Key Stage 4 studying for GCSE examinations. The Key Stage 4 team has been providing direct teaching in school and after school, liaison between schools, carers and social workers and supporting the students to look at future education/training placements with Connexions etc. Additional teaching support for some Key Stage 4 pupils has also been available through home tutors funded by the REACH UP Team. Young people are linked to a home tutor who works with them at home or school on an individual basis.
3. Case Consultation Meetings
Case consultation meetings are held on Wednesday mornings to provide a forum for professionals to consider the issues that may be leading to breakdown in school placement or significant lack of progress.
Requests for a consultation may well arise from Looked After Reviews, SEN reviews, from discussions around a child’s Personal Education Plan or on the basis of particular concerns raised by professionals in the local network.
They do not replace established meetings such as SEN Reviews but offer an additional space to enlist specialist advice from the REACH UP Team.
Case consultation meetings will be particularly useful in relation to Looked After children where:
- The child is finding it difficult to integrate into mainstream school and is at risk of exclusion
- The child is returning from an out of county placement
- The child is in special school or in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRUIS)
If agreed, the meeting will be arranged by the REACH UP Team administrative staff.
The meetings are chaired by the Educational Psychologist and attended by the Behaviour Support Teacher and Attendance and Reintegration Officer along with other team members who may be working with the child. The meetings will also involve the child’s social worker, a key worker from the child’s education provision, the parents and the carers.
The child will not attend although his or her views will be presented to the meeting by the social worker and those who know him or her well.
The venue is flexible although if possible meetings will be held at the child’s school.
The aim of the meetings is to provide:
- Proactive support for frontline workers with children and their carers
- An offer of specialist advice with regard to the areas of concern
- Information and advice about additional resources for the child in school
- An opportunity for an in-depth case consultation to avoid home or school breakdown
An Action Plan will be drawn up at the meeting to support the child in education and with the carer.
All meetings will be recorded and the meeting records and action plan will be circulated to those present and any other key professionals nominated at the meeting.
Copies will also be sent to the Service Manager at the REACH UP Team for monitoring purposes.
4. Mentoring Schemes
4.1 Oxford Brookes University Mentoring
This initiative is built around an independent learning module for Oxford Brookes students; this focuses on work with children and young people looked after. The students are supervised by their course tutor with additional support sessions from the REACH UP Team Educational Psychologist. Students are matched with individual young people and work 1:1 to befriend and encourage them.
4.2 Aim Higher
This is a new Oxford University initiative aimed at raising the aspirations of children and young people looked after and to encourage them into further and higher education.
Groups of National Curriculum Yr. 9 pupils are identified; a planned programme of activities will familiarise them with the University and other learning opportunities that are available to school leavers.
4.3 Library Links
The REACH UP Team and Key Stage 4 learning mentors liaise with the Library Service to ensure access to libraries and appropriate concessions for all children and young people looked after. Periodically books and magazines are given to the young people to encourage them to active enjoyment of literature.
4.4 Panel Meeting – Children Looked After
Monthly Multi Agency Panel meetings are held to look at the education provision of named looked after children whose needs are complex and whose school or setting is therefore struggling to meet their needs. At these meetings a key person is nominated to take forward a case and follow it through to reconciliation. Panel members can include education officers, social workers, YOT, attendance, health, behaviour and educational representatives.
The REACH UP team Service Manager chairs the Panel meetings.
4.5 Personal Education Plan (Pep) Support
PEP support has been available via the REACH UP Team for a range of different initiatives that have supported looked after children’s education. This has taken a variety of forms including the provision of additional teaching assistant hours at times of transition or particular difficulty, or to support existing activities such as music lessons. Support is allocated by team members who read individual PEPs and respond appropriately according to need.
4.6 Linked Agency -Reading Quest
The REACH UP team funds some children to participate in Reading Quest. Reading Quest is a literacy programme provided by a local educational charity. Trained tutors work every day for six weeks with children experiencing delay in developing good literacy skills. The emphasis has been on developing a love of books through a variety of related activities that enable the reluctant learner to experience success. Parents and carers have been encouraged to join in with the programme and to support the child at home with reading and related activities.
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