Agenda item

Members to consider  information on the progress and results for Children in Care at the end of Reception, Key Stages 1, and 2 and 4.

The Head of the Virtual School introduced the report which reported on the progress and results for Children in Care at the end of Reception, Key Stages 1 and 2 and 4, Undergraduates and graduates and new university entrants.   The Head of the Virtual School had also invited John Lewis, the Head of Highgate School and the lead for the Chrysalis Accelerator Intervention programme for Looked after Children along with Alex White Community Development Manager at Tottenham Hotspur to talk about their work with Looked after Children and young people.

The Virtual School consisted of a head teacher, a small number of teachers and an Education Welfare officer.  The development of the Virtual school     had arisen in respond and changes the low levels of aspiration being seen in young people in care and also of their carers working with them.  The progress set out in the attached report was a summary of the work of the Virtual school team over the past 12 months. It was important to note that the Virtual school was driven by policy and research to help plan and develop children and young peoples learning and respond to their different circumstances.

 John Lewis, Head of Highgate Independent school, addressed the meeting   and spoke about the work of the Chrysalis Accelerator Programme for looked after children an intervention programme which had been co-developed by Highgate School and Future Foundation in partnership with the virtual heads of Enfield, Barnet and Camden to raise aspirations, attainment and confidence leading to successful applications to higher education and into work.  The committee learned about the ethos, aims and   what was hoped to be achieved with young people. The programme started for young people from year 6 and supported them through to year 10. They were also invited to summer school at Highgate School.  During the programme   there were  initiatives to develop  confidence , support  young people’s transitions periods in their  teenage age years, promote the benefit of extracurricular activities, improve skills in numeric and literacy, support self development  and  personal responsibility for  learning. The Virtual school was essential in facilitating the attendance of children and young people at the events organised by Chrysalis. At a   recent event at Highgate School, there were 4 young people attending from Haringey out of 25. This was a significant achievement keeping in mind that this is an area and environment which the young people will not be used to.

The committee commended the work of the project and felt this was a key initiative to be part of, as a council, to support raising the achievement and aspiration of young people in care.  The committee voiced their commitment and support to the project and endorsed its aims and development.

 The Chair invited Alex White, Community Development manager at Tottenham Hotspur Foundation to speak about the eighteen projects, aimed at providing 121 mentoring support and signposting for identified young people in care and care leavers living in Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest. The project had a number of success stories and recognised the role of the local Authority in this achievement.  The project was funded by the GLA and match funded by the Local Authorities. The referrals to the project were received from the Virtual school. The Football club were fortunate to have the commitment of Jermaine Defoe to the project that was an active ambassador .He was able to relate to young people experiences and issues as he put forward a genuine understanding of this. The project aimed to build confidence and get Young people into education and paid employment, the project was looking to secure funding for its next phase of work and was developing a toolkit to enable the project to be replicated by other football clubs.

 The committee was interested in finding out about how the project was meeting its set milestones and whether there had been an increase in physical participation by young people in the project.  Also as education was the focus behind receiving the funding, how would the project meet these funding criteria when it was sports based? The committee learnt that the project was meeting milestones and the GLA were flexible with sports element of the project as it was seen as a tool to enabling access to education.

Information on potential European funding opportunities was shared and it was explained that the project could be eligible   as part of the employment element of this funding. The ability to obtain matches funding for the project that would put the project on a strong position. Information on access to European funding was available from the London Council’s website.

The committee noted that mentoring was a strong component of the scheme and mentors were paid by the project to ensure there was this provision available to young people. There were between   twenty and thirty   part time mentors who also worked in other areas of the programme.

 In response to a question about the availability of the programme to girls, it was noted that there was a targeted programme for girls and female mentors available to them.

 The Committee continued to hear about the initiatives supported by the Virtual School which were aimed at inspiring younger children in care to engage in   learning such as the reading initiatives with local community organisations. The school understood the lifestyle of a child or young person in care and planned events according to them and their carer’s availability.

 The Virtual School team were congratulated on their work in supporting looked after Children and young people in their academic achievements this year.  The committee were interested in comparing these academic performance figures to national figures.  This information would be available to the committee in the New Year when figures were published.

 The Virtual School were not complacent about these results as saw their role in supporting looked after children in their educational achievement as a continual challenge. They were focussing on the   pathway to key stage 3 to drive up results further.  Some housekeeping issues   highlighted by the committee for the Virtual school website to consider were updating the care matters report and term dates for 2012/13.