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Educational outcomes for children and young people in children’s homes, including attainment and progression to education, employment and training destinations 

Research from the Rees Centre (The Educational Progress of Looked After Children in England: Linking Care and Education data November 2015)   identifies that children and young people cared for in children’s homes, have worse educational outcomes that those in foster care. This cohort of children, therefore, are given a special priority by the Virtual School in Plymouth, in an attempt to try to achieve the best possible school experience, positive outcomes and post 16 engagement.

This strategy includes:

• At least two visits (interrupted by COVID restrictions) by VS Officers per year to review the quality of education provided by independent schools where children are placed. This currently requires travel to The North West, Wales, East Anglia and the South East; in addition to the immediate South West Peninsular. Reports are provided to social work and commissioning managers and as a result there have been examples of significant challenge, and improvements made to the quality of teaching observed on subsequent visits, better resourcing and preparation for transition back to mainstream education.
• The receipt, analysis and response to three PEPs per year that monitor learning progress and identify specific short term targets for next-step improvement.
• Attendance and engagement with Plymouth-based children home leadership and management, with termly meetings in homes with operations managers to discuss the education provision and progress for the children in their care.
• Where requested, contribution to Ofsted and Reg 44 inspection reports, and feedback provided based on the home engagement with schools and promotion of learning.
• A requirement for social workers and commissioners to consult with the VS on the impact of possible placement in a new children’s home and the opportunities to ensure the least delay in accessing the best possible education provision in the new location.
• When requested, attendance at placement planning meetings and visits to settings before a social worker agrees to place a child.

Working with Plymouth and other 0-25 SEND Teams to support the provision of EHCPs where required or ensure annual reviews take place locally.

Comparative data is available from the Ofsted report from February 2021 which examined the education of school aged children living in children’s homes.*

In the March 2021 cohort of Plymouth C&YP age 4-18 in children’s homes 64% were living and educated outside the City.

Academic Outcomes

The wide-ranging and general turbulence factors that impact children in care and the unhelpfulness of any meaningful analysis and comparison of outcomes based purely on exam results is exemplified by the current Y12 cohort of young people in children’s homes. The year 12 cohort in residential care in March 2021 consisted of 11 students. Of this group of 11 students in March 2021, only 4 were either in care, in residential care or in care long enough to have their assessments reported.

There are no Y12 young people, in residential provision, who are currently NEET. This is, in part, due to the work done by the VS post 16 caseworkers who role it is to work with Y11 students and support them, social workers and carers, to identify further education, employment or training. It is also a recognition of care providers to ensure that their young people remain engaged and active in their learning and skill development.

The academic outcomes of the 4 ‘relevant’ students are as follows.

There was only one Y6 child in a children’s home, who attended a mainstream primary school and achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Special Educational Needs of children in residential children’s homes

In Plymouth, 34% of this cohort attend special schools, compared to 57% nationally. Only 6 of this group of 17 children are placed in Plymouth special schools. A further 5 are placed in independent special schools as a result of them being brought into care after parents were unable to continue to manage their complex health needs at home and are only in care for this reason.

Nationally, Children living in children’s homes were 20 times more likely to attend special educational provision than all children nationally. This reflects the complex needs of many children entering children’s homes.

Of Plymouth children in residential homes, 42% have an EHCP compared to 47% nationally.

Of the children in the national sample who attended a special education provider, 61% (750) attended an independent special school. In Plymouth this is just 22%, and these are all those placed outside the City where it is often difficult to identify a maintained special school space within the timescales of a placement move.

What types of school do Plymouth children in residential children’s homes attend?

14% of Plymouth young people living in residential provision attend an Alternative Provision. 57% of this group attend ACE and are Year 9+

Ofsted gradings of schools attended by children living in residential provision

Nationally, children living in children’s homes were less likely to attend good or outstanding education provisions. However, 87% of Plymouth children living in residential provision attend a good or outstanding provision. One reason for this is the determination of the Virtual School, Commissioners and social workers to not place children in a school that is less than ‘good’. The only young person in an ‘inadequate’ school was on roll there prior to entry to care.

Monitoring school attendance

Children placed outside Plymouth have attendance monitored on a daily basis by a commissioned service that either extracts data from a school MIS or calls the school. Those in Plymouth have attendance reported via the Capita One system and monitored by the VS. PEPs record termly attendance and any negative trend is followed up with the school.

*https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-education-of-children-living-in-childrens-homes/the-education-of-children-living-in-childrens-homes

The quality of, and access to, support for children and young people in children’s homes, including support for those with special education needs, and the support available at transition points

The quality of and access to support for children and young people in children’s homes is variable for services such as those responding to mental health needs; there is difficulty engaging therapeutic services if the child is not considered “stable”, when the reality is the  child needs support to become stable.

Also gaps in how services respond if need escalates to the point of crisis or where there is no obvious solution or intervention which can be delivered – our provider partners report that it can feel like non-statutory services ‘fall away’ at these points and the risk is held by a smaller group of professionals, often the placement provider and the social work team.

There remain significant gaps between provision for children and provision for adults, with differences in types of assessment and approaches and tolerance of risk. There continue to be challenges with children’s plans being informed by adult services input earlier on, to shape the critical years between 16 and 18.

Adult providers still find it difficult to step into offering services for children – the regulation and approach to risk management for children is difficult to navigate, along with the fear of what will happen if something does go wrong for a child. Equally, children’s providers are often reluctant to ‘stretch’ their offer into young adulthood, and this poses difficulty in preparing young people adequately for independent living.

Too often we see children nearing transition expressing anxiety about what is going to happen to them in a an adult world, and expressing a sense of loss/grief about what they feel they are leaving behind – at times this translates into an escalation of behaviour, to try to manage ‘endings’ in their own way.

The use and appropriateness of unregulated provision

For Plymouth Children’s Social Care, our use of unregulated semi-independent provision is for our 16+ cohort and Plymouth City Council, in conjunction with partners and people who use services, are designing the future complex needs system as one which will enable people to be supported flexibly, receiving the right care, at the right time, in the right place.  This principle is used when considering the right step forward option for our young people who are transitioning towards becoming 18.

Changes to legislation in September in relation to the use of unregulated placements for under 16’s and the quality of provision for over 16’s will feed into our commissioning plans, development conversations with providers and arrangements for brokering placements. Plymouth currently have 37 young people that are in a semi-independent placement which provides a variety of support, from a 24 hour support service, to live-in hosts via supported lodgings.

Unregulated placements for those in crisis are typically used by councils to accommodate young people after other arrangements have broken down or where complex needs mean no other option is available, even in the short term. Temporary emergency use of crisis accommodation and support for any child in care is a last resort following risk assessment, matching assessment where needed and safety planning, and has to be agreed by the Service Director with firm senior management oversight to assure all care planning while using crisis accommodation. 

Plymouth currently have three young people that are in ‘bespoke’ arrangements supported by Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards agreed via the court of protection (2) and using the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court in care proceedings (1). Ofsted is aware of these arrangements. Two of these placements are in place while suitable Welfare Secure placements are identified; this is a national placement sufficiency issue. Bespoke arrangements are monitored via daily briefings and weekly monitoring at the Care Planning and Review Panel, chaired by Head of Service to track closely.

The sufficiency of places in children’s homes, and the regional location of homes

Our sufficiency data shows that there are ‘enough’ children’s home beds in the far south west for the numbers of children placed in residential, across Plymouth and our neighbouring local authorities. The model of residential care in the south west has tended towards much smaller homes, with the majority of homes in and around Plymouth for one or two children, which meets the needs of those we place.

However, it can be challenging to access beds in the south west for local children. This is because the majority are registered for emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) and will decline the placement of children with a diagnosis of autism or a learning difficulty. The providers will also decline if the child has a significant level of emotional and mental health needs. Fire setting is also a reason for requiring specialist or crisis provision, and this tends to be out of area. Conversely, the rural locations of some homes in Devon and Somerset attracts local authorities from out of area (particularly in urban areas) to place children in the south west.

Providers struggle to recruit and retain staff to manage these very complex needs, and also report concern about the potential impact on their Ofsted grading if they take a child with a very high level of needs.

A positive development for Plymouth has been our residential children’s home block contract – “Caring in Partnership”. This has increased the local supply of children’s homes beds in Plymouth from a very low number (2) so that we now have 23 beds in-city, with a mixture of block contracted and framework provision. This has enabled a number of children to remain in Plymouth, or return to the city, and step forward to fostering, independence or return home. To support the providers we work closely with colleagues in Camhs and the Virtual School.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the extent to which this might increase the demand for places in children’s homes

During 2020/21 we received over 3,600 referrals. This is approximately 500 referrals more than the previous year. Our rate of referrals per 10,000 children is reported at 681.9 and is significantly higher than the 2019/20 published England average of 534.8

At the start of lockdown on 23 March 2020, there were 842 Children in Need, 301 children with a Child Protection Plan and 432 Children in Care. By the end of Sunday 18 April, there were 1,189 Children in Need (up 347), 341 with a Child Protection Plan (up 40) and 479 in care (up 47).