Cardiff - 2008-09

Proposal 2008-09

The RAISE Key Stage 4 Attainment Project works with looked after young people to support and encourage them in their learning. The Team consists of a specialist teacher and a learning mentor whose shared approach has worked well in engaging looked after pupils. Some of the work undertaken that will be further developed included:

The development of learning packs for young people within Cardiff residential units. The packs include everything the young people need for school, for example, pens, paper, highlighter pens, folders etc The feedback from the young people receiving them was excellent and enough packs were provided for future residents to benefit.

A Young Persons Safety Skills Training Day was developed in conjunction with Cardiff International Airport Fire Service Training and Development Centre. This was developed in response to what some of the young people had spoken about when discussing moving on to independence. The aims of this day were to give the students an understanding of fire awareness and fire prevention so that in a fire emergency situation they would know how to react properly to save life and property. An emergency first aid session was also included to enable the young people to know how to react safely and render assistance to a casualty. An added bonus for the young people was that they were given a full fire fighting demonstration by the fire fighters of how they would fight an aircraft fire.  Framed certificates were provided by the training centre and each person was given a personal first aid kit. An individual photo show was also put together for each young person, set to music, which shows photos of them during their day. The day was enjoyable but highly valued by those who took part and will be developed further in the coming academic year.

Individual grants for pupils to ensure specific needs could be met, either by the provision of additional tuition, specialist equipment or educational visits. This ensured closer working with designated teachers during the assessment of learning and also allowed for the building of stronger links with colleges and training providers. This will continue.

Designated teacher training days allowed the staff to bring not only a different view point but also an added dimension for teachers, especially around the issues for young people living in residential units and for those pupils that have moved frequently between foster care placements.  Additionally, a member of staff from a training provider attended this training as our first designated tutor. This approach was also used in the training of social care staff, which included foster carers and newly inducted social workers. Raising literacy by reading at home was highlighted in the training which included singing nursery rhymes. A box of books was provided to demonstrate the kind of reading material that would be suitable for the very young right up to the more proficient reader, both in English and in Welsh. Foster carers were provided with National Literacy Trust resources for use at home along with a book voucher and list of local library services. The training pack will be used to promote literacy in future training sessions.

‘Lunch and learn’ sessions for professionals to allow the sharing of good practice in an informal way. These proved extremely useful for busy staff who were able to enjoy lunch whilst updating their knowledge on educational issues and particularly how care episodes may sometimes impact negatively upon engagement with learning. Those attending included residential unit link workers and staff from the leaving care service. This approach will be further extended to include teaching staff and social workers training together.

Summary of Proposal

To fund a new project managed by the School Liaison Team to:

• improve communication and collaboration;
• develop links with educating authorities outside Cardiff; and
• support the transition of LAC into purposeful learning or employment.

To monitor and support LAC from Yr 9 to end of Yr 11, ensuring improvement of educational engagement, attendance and attainment, and put in place processes to promote the value of lifelong learning, and to encourage and support access to FE or other work based learning opportunities.

• Develop a monitoring system for tracking school and care placement for pupils outside Cardiff.
• Develop a monitoring system to ensure appropriate school attendance.
• Individual educational assessments to identify gaps in pupil knowledge, identifying opportunities for:
  • Timely support of need;
  • Learning support, esp. in relation to coursework/revision; and
  • Mentoring support.
• Improved liaison with all partners involved with LAC.
• Identification of training needs among staff.
• Development of ILPs specifically to cover transitional period from Yr 9-11.
• Development of PEPs to support movement to independent living support services.
• Post-16 monitoring to ensure that education continues to be prioritised.

Summary of Activities to July 2007

• Learning Mentor employed to re-engage LAC
• Specialist Teacher employed supporting LAC in schools
• Identified bursary sum for individual LAC
• Review of training programme for professionals
• Individual pupil profiles were developed along with a Key Stage 4 Personal education Plan, incorporating career pathway plans
• A handbook for professionals was developed
• Systems review for LAC to Care Leaver status
• Temp admin staff employed for data input
• learning packs were purchased for residential unit children

Impact:

• Young people felt they were on a par with peers by accessing their individual bursary to purchase educational equipment such as catering whites
• Individualised programmes of learning were enabled for those who were not capable of achieving GCSE standards
• children in residential units have benefited from a strong relationship with the learning mentor