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Useful Websites on Looked After Children.

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Useful Websites on Looked After Children.

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Advancing Access.
Chapter 1 – Demography (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Cox, T., Tomlinson, S., Walkerdine, V., Jackson, S., Chazan, M., Sylva, K., … MacBeath, J. E. C. (2000). Combating educational disadvantage : meeting the needs of vulnerable children
NSPCC.  Looked after children | NSPCC Learning
Education issues in the care system | Become (becomecharity.org.uk)
Effective Personal Education Plans (PEPs) (afaeducation.org)
Knowles, Gianna, and Vini Lander. Diversity, Equality and Achievement in Education, SAGE Publications, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bishopg/detail.action?docID=689503.
*Promoting the education of looked-after children and previously looked-after children (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Quality statement 4: Support to explore and make sense of identity and relationships | Looked-after children and young people | Quality standards | NICE

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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Top 5 Tips for Designated Teachers on listening to the voice of the child:
• Be available, take the time to get to know me
• Notice if I am upset or angry and listen to me when I need help
• Understand that even though I’ve had a different past than most people, it doesn’t
mean I need to be treated differently
• Understand my experience of being looked-after
• Understand that my past will affect my present and my future behaviour even if I don’t notice

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Higher Education and Looked After Children. 

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Higher Education and Looked After Children. 

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Inequality is shown when only 6% of looked after children will go to university.

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As those who work in education and social care will know, the issue of how we help children in care is a challenge that can sometimes feel intractable.

Thanks to numerous policy changes under successive governments - some of which have given young people in care more agency over the choices affecting them - we have developed a more consistent oversight of looked-after children as they move through the education system. But the fact remains that for many of the 72,000 children in care in England (pdf), their life chances are significantly worse than for young people as a whole.

Those who have been in care between the ages of 10 and 17 are five times more likely to be convicted of a criminal offence or subject to a final warning or reprimand. Children in care are also five times more likely to have been excluded (pdf) from school. Overall, they face a much higher risk (pdf) of homelessness, teenage pregnancy and unemployment overall .

Evidence from the British Birth Cohort Studies shows that progressing further on the educational ladder is linked to improvements in mental and physical health, employment, income, housing, family life, as well as absence of addiction, and lower risk of involvement in the criminal justice system. Yet, just 6% of young people with experience of the care system will attend university, compared to almost 50% of the general population.

When we think about how to help children in care, I believe that education needs to be at the heart of any solution. We also need to make much more of a radical intervention if we are to have a real impact on these children's lives.

As education secretary, I was impressed by the work of the Buttle Trust, which provides funding for disadvantaged young people to attend top boarding schools. This can change the lives of these children quite dramatically and costs a fraction of a residential care placement. Despite this, it has not been widely adopted. This has been attributed to a number of factors including the ability of boarding schools to cater to some children's more complex needs.

At St Mary's University we have recently launched a new programme called First Star to meet the academic and emotional needs of children in care. Our first cohort of 30 students, aged 14-18, arrived in May. They had been living in foster care or children's homes in different boroughs across London, including Richmond, Hounslow, Ealing, Southwark, Kingston and Wandsworth.

Students spend four weeks at the First Star Academy on St Mary's University campus each summer, receiving academic tutoring, life skills training and emotional support. Our team will help pupils plug any gaps in English, maths, science and IT to prepare them for the following academic year. They'll also be taught how to manage money, about nutrition and how to cook healthy meals, and how to develop emotional resilience. For foster parents, there is a programme of support, including sessions on educational rights and attachment theory, that aims to reduce the chances of foster placement breakdown. In term time, there are monthly day-long sessions on Saturdays.

In the USA, the First Star programme was initiated by Peter Samuelson, a film producer, and has achieved impressive results so far. It now operates across 13 campuses, serving around 350 young people. To date, 99% of First Star Academy pupils who complete four years of the programme have graduated from high school, and 91% have enrolled in higher education.

It's still too early to tell what the results of the St Mary's programme will be, but the initial signs are positive. If we can achieve results comparable with the US, this educational project could be rolled out nationally, with universities across the country playing a central role in transforming the life chances of some of our most vulnerable young people.
Follow us on Twitter via @GuardianTeach, like us on Facebook, and join theGuardian Teacher Network the latest articles direct to your inbox Looking for a teaching job? Or perhaps you need to recruit school staff? Take a look at Guardian Jobs, the education specialist

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Only 6% of care leavers go to university. They deserve better chances | Ruth Kelly

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As those who work in education and social care will know, the issue of how we help children in care is a challenge that can sometimes feel intractable. Thanks to numerous policy changes under successive governments - some of which have given young people in care more agency over the choices affecting them - we have developed a more consistent oversight of looked-after children as they move through the education system.

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Techniques for equality in the class room

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Techniques for equality in the class room

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- differentiating tasks.
- Scaffolfing work and questioning.
- Teaching assisants.
- Creative tasks.
All these techniques gives all students access to the work given to them.

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“Looked-after children, especially those in residential care, are identified as a group whose mental health needs are known to be greater than those of the general population of the same age” (Utting et al, 1997)

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Children in care report:

twice the level of bullying than other children in primary years (see Safe To Play 2008) - 38% vs 19%

four times the level of bullying than other children in secondary years (see Safe To Play 2008) - 36% vs 9%

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We have a free online training course on looked after children and bullying which you can access by clicking on the image below.
Care-experienced young people (i.e. looked after children and those who have been in care) are among the groups who are most vulnerable to bullying.

Challenges that may face looked after children are:

several placements

having to adapt to new situations/people repeatedly

losing contact with friends and often extended members of family

an increased risk of psychiatric disorders (McCann, J., A., Wilson, S and Dunn, C. (1996) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in young people in the care system)

Prevalence of bullying among looked after children

Children in care report:

twice the level of bullying than other children in primary years (see Safe To Play 2008) - 38% vs 19%

four times the level of bullying than other children in secondary years (see Safe To Play 2008) - 36% vs 9%

Children who are looked after and living away from home are particularly vulnerable (Smith, P.K. (2008) ABA Briefing Bullying Among Looked After Children) and may face discrimination from other children at school and in the community, simply because they are looked after (Safe To Play 2008)

There is strong evidence to suggest that the corellation between looked after children and bullying increases with age. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) survey found that looked after children aged 14 years were 1.56 times more likely to be bullied than those who had not been in care, 1.72 times more likely to be bullied at age 15 and 1.75 times more likely to be bullied at age 16 ( National Centre for Social Research, 2010).

Research has also shown that a high proportion of looked after children report being bullied in school. In 2003, a report by the Social Exclusion Unit stated that 60% of the looked after children who were consulted during the study reported being bullied at school, compared with just 10% of all pupils.

Experiences of bullying among looked after children

According to Rao & Simkiss (2007),looked after children are a vulnerable group who were found to experience many of the same types of bullying as other children including verbal abuse, physical abuse and racism.

Many looked after children report being in care as the reason for being bullied, stating:
people can bully you about being in care; get called horrible names.
(OFSTED, 2009)

When compared to children who have not been in care, research has also shown that looked after children were more likely to have been continuously bullied between the ages of 14-16 years (National Centre for Social Research, 2010).

Looked after children have reported that sometimes being treated differently by teachers can contribute to bullying.
Teachers sometime label you - like if you have an older sibling who was a trouble-maker or if you have got into one little fight - and these labels stick for life. You start to believe it's true and then act up to it. You don't want to tell the teachers that you're in care because they will treat you differently and stereotype. If the teachers label you then the other pupils all automatically think the same.
(ABA consultation, 2018).

Research also shows that care leavers are 5% less likely to have a really good friend and are almost 10% more likely to report being lonely often or always.

It's mostly an alone feeling like I can't go anywhere or do anything because of the way I look and having nobody.

(Coram Voice, 2018)

For further information and to download the full reports, please click on the attachments below.

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We have a free online training course on looked after children and bullying which you can access by clicking on the image below. Challenges that may face looked after children are: several placements having to adapt to new situations/people repeatedly losing contact with friends and often extended members of family an increased risk of psychiatric disorders (McCann, J., A., Wilson, S and Dunn, C.

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'It is recognised that in order to support the children to achieve, providing equality of access to learning for them will mean ensuring their learning is personalized in a way that is appropriate for their needs - which for CIC includes, 'summer in the city' which provides in foster care with the oppurtunity to 'try art activities music and dance. outdoor pursuits canoeing, climbing, skiing, rollerblading and swimming.' (Knowles, Gianna, and Vini Lander.  2011. Pp.116-117).

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A Personal Education Plan is a record made by adults supporting a LAC to ensure they are successful in education. They will always include the strengths and view on the child. The students current target and attainment data.
Personal Education Plans are very important as they help all invloved understand where the child is curruntly and what needs to happen to ensure the student is successful.
All schools will have a designated teacher who deals with looked after children at the school. Once a child becomes in care the teachers will recieve a basic PEP which inclides:

Age.

Care status.

Where the child lives.

School history and whether the child has special educational needs (SEN) or EHCP or are having their SEN met through additional support.

Details of the child’s carers.

The child’s parents and what restrictions might apply in relation to their contact with the child.

Who to contact within the Local Authority that looks after the child .

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Issues in school for Looked After Children

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Issues in school for Looked After Children

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Important issues for looked-after children and
young people were that:
� encouragement to attend and do well at school is lacking for many, yet those who have achieved success in
education feel it is a key factor in their success
� the provision of practical support and resources is felt to be another key facilitator of success, yet is frequently lacking, particularly in residential care
� another source of support often felt to be pivotal in educational success was education-specific support, in
the form of educational advice
� emotional support during education, particularly higher
education, was noted as a need
� stereotyping and stigma on the part of others, including teachers, was seen as a common barrier to educational success
� a lack of continuity in placements and schooling is a
further barrier to the educational success of looked-after children and young people
� being placed in residential care was seen as particularly disadvantaging educationally.
Looked-after children and young people who had achieved success in education cited their self-reliance as the key factor which helped them overcome the barriers mentioned above.
The following concerns were raised:
� the issue of continuity in their relationships with
professionals
� the negative impact of a lack of continuity
� a desire to form a personal relationship with professionals

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A looked after child is somebody who has spent more than 24 hours in the care of social services.
Some children end up in care due to being at risk at home, and this is what most people normally think off for a looked after child.
However there is also other types of situations that can class a child as a looked after child.
One could be classed as a LAC due to being an unaccompanied asylum seeker, with no responsible adult to care for them.
Another reason for a child becoming looked after is if the parents can not cope due to a child's disability.

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Most looked after children have been put into a box of having behavioural issues, a problem in the classroom, less likely to achieve and then put into another box of most have special education needs.
They are grouped together and seen as a number, not individuals.
Every individual child will be different in their behaviour and intelligence just like any other child, as a school, we must ensure all students are given the support they need to achieve great things.

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My original thoughts on Looked After Children.

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My original thoughts on Looked After Children.

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I do not have lots of experience with looked after children, so I was not well informed on them. I knew looked after children were children who are or have been involved with social services or care. My original thoughts before doing this padlet was that looked after children may have some disadvantages in schools, but the main issue they would face are behavioral issues. I have since learnt this is one of the many issues that looked after children face and before they enter the classroom, they are a part of a social inequality due to their background. I have researched what teachers are doing to ensure all children, especially looked after children, get equality in schools.