Contact: John Clarke, Deputy Director of Children's Services, Tel 01962 846459
e-mail [email protected] or

Rachel Hughes, County Lead for the Education of Children Looked After
Tel 01962 845232, e-mail [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report summarises the academic performance of children looked after (CLA) at all key stages in Hampshire for 2004-5. These figures are for those 634 children who have been looked after for more than twelve months as of 30 September 2005. They do not represent the whole Hampshire CLA cohort which is fluid and, at any one time, usually comprises around 1050 children, with approximately a quarter attending schools outside Hampshire. The percentages have been rounded up/down and because of small numbers can be easily distorted by the performance of just a few children. However, over three years this data gives some indication of the progress being made.

1.2 The report supports Aim 1 of the Corporate Strategy (maximising life opportunities). Children looked after are among the most vulnerable people in our society and their educational achievements are crucial to their future lives.

2 Background

2.1 Under the 1989 Children Act, the local authority has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children looked after . A critical dimension to this is their education. Hampshire County Council is required to act as the `Corporate Parent'; this means acting in a way that any good parent would. The 2004 Children Act gives the local authority an additional duty to promote and support the educational achievement of children looked after. This extends beyond Children's Services, to all departments within the Authority and to other agencies outside the County Council who, from April 2005, are under a new `duty to co-operate'.

2.2 Children looked after tend to have lower levels of achievement than the main school population. Historically, there have been low expectations of their potential and, consequently, a significant proportion were not entered for the national tests. In addition, five further key factors have been identified as contributing to their lower levels of achievement:

· Their lives are characterised by instability

· They spend too much time out of school

· They do not have sufficient help if they fall behind

· Primary carers are not expected or equipped to provide sufficient support and encouragement for learning and development

· They have unmet emotional, mental and physical health needs that impact on their education.

2.3 By definition all children looked after are vulnerable and can present complex issues which need to be addressed. Of this group, 155 had statements of special educational needs, representing 25% of the entire CLA cohort. This is ten times higher than that in the general school population.

3 Results

3.1 Attached to this report as Appendix 1 are the performance tables for each key stage. These detail performance over the last three years (where data is available) comparing the children looked after cohort to the main Hampshire school population, highlighting the variance between the two and rates of improvement for 2004-5.

3.2 Key observations:

· At all key stages there has been a reduction in the achievement gap between the looked after cohort and all Hampshire children

· In all cases the rate of improvement for the CLA cohort exceeds that of the main cohort

· With the exception of key stage 2, a higher percentage of the CLA cohort were entered for and sat the national tests in 2004-5 than ever before

· Despite this progress, the outcomes for CLA remain significantly below that of their peers.

4 Key Stage 1

4.1 The performance of CLA at key stage 1 has improved in all subjects at a time when the numbers of children who sat the tests has also increased from 85% in 2003-04 to 92% in 2004-05. Headline achievement in each subject was as follows:

· 62% of the cohort achieved level 2+ in reading

· 57% of the cohort achieved level 2+ in writing

· 70% of the cohort achieved level 2+ in mathematics.

5 Key Stage 2

5.1 The performance of CLA at key stage 2 is mixed and there was a decline in the percentage of the cohort who sat the tests in 2004-05: 77%, compared with 89% in the previous year. Headline achievement in each subject was as follows:

· 43% of the cohort achieved level 4+ in English

· 30% of the cohort achieved level 4+ in mathematics

· 47% of the cohort achieved level 4+ in science.

6 Key Stage 3

6.1 The number of the CLA cohort who sat the test has increased and there has been an improvement in all subject areas, most notably in science. Headline achievement in each subject was as follows:

_ 25% of the cohort achieved level 5+ in English

_ 31% of the cohort achieved level 5+ in mathematics

_ 31% of the cohort achieved level 5+ in science.

7 Key Stage 4

7.1 The number of the CLA cohort entered for national exams at key stage 4 has increased by 10% and there has been mixed progress towards Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets for the percentage of care leavers achieving 5 GCSEs at A*-G and A*-C. Headline performance is as follows:

· 67% of the cohort achieved at least 1 GCSEs grade A*-G

· 41% of the cohort achieved at least 5 GCSEs grade A*-G (PSA target 69%)

· 10% of the cohort achieved at least 5 GCSEs grade A*-C (PSA target 21%)

8 Conclusions

8.1 The small size of the cohort makes it difficult to draw any firm conclusions about levels of progress and trends. Further work needs to be undertaken to investigate the circumstances of each child within the cohort; to identify which key factors need to be in place to enable the young person to achieve their full potential; and to properly understand pupil progress at all stages of the curriculum alongside value added data. The high incidence of special educational needs also makes comparison with the main cohort difficult.

9 Support

9.1 The Team for the Education of Children in Care is a multi disciplinary team, dedicated to promoting and supporting the education of all children and young people in public care in Hampshire schools, as well as Hampshire children placed in other local authorities.

9.2 Specifically, in 2004-5 the team:

· Supported over 250 children to ensure that they stayed in school and were able to participate in the national tests

· Targeted year 11 children to support them with coursework and exam preparation

· Accompanied some young people in their tests and helped them to overcome their barriers to participation

· Organised two Prizegiving events to celebrate the achievements of the children.

9.3 For the future:

· The Children Looked After Support Panel will be strengthened to reduce the numbers of children without a school place or without full time provision

· Attendance data will be routinely collected so that the Team can intervene early when children stop attending school

· Work will be undertaken with schools to ensure that more children are entered into the national tests

· Attached Inspectors will regularly question schools about the work they are doing to support individual looked after children.

10 Legal implications

10.1 None.

11 Personnel implications

11.1 None.

12 Financial implications

12.1 Approximately 50% of the Team for the Education of Children in Care is funded through the Standards Fund, not the Children's Services base budget, and £400,000 is required for the Team to function at its current level after March 2006.

13 Impact assessment

13.1 None.

14 Crime prevention issues

14.1 There is a danger of stereotyping children looked after as more likely to commit offences, and this needs to be avoided. The baseline proportion of children aged 10-17 cautioned or convicted is 3.6% nationally. The figure for children looked after is 10.8%¹. Few children looked after engage in crime and, to reduce the numbers even further, efforts are being made to ensure that children looked after are fully engaged in education, with a full time school place and positive recreational activities after school.

15 Views of the Local County Councillor

15.1 Not sought in the drafting of this report.

Recommendation

1 That the Panel notes the content of this report and welcomes the new and ongoing work of the Team for the Education of Children in Care.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

None