Agenda item

To inform the Corporate Parenting Committee of the work undertaken by the Brent Virtual School (BVS) and school results for Looked After Children in the 2021-2022 academic year. This report was delayed in being presented to the Corporate Parenting Committee due to the need for exam results to be ratified.

Sharon Buckby (Head of Inclusion and Brent Virtual School) introduced the report, which outlined the achievements for all children in care that had an assessment during the reporting year. She highlighted the following key points:

• There were 423 children and young people enrolled in BVS during the 2021-22 academic year.
• Priorities during 2021-2022 had been to train social workers on personal education plans (PEPs), measured through how well schools were using resources to improve the opportunities young people had. PEP work was high, with a 95% completion rate. The 5% of incomplete PEPs would likely be due to a placement move or change in education provision. 
• The service wanted to focus more on how teachers could utilise young people’s own interests for the PEPs rather than have a collective approach, and it was doing this through exploring enrichment provision.
• The attendance rate was high and almost equivalent to the cohort who were not looked after, and significantly higher than other local authorities. This was attributed to the joint work of foster carers, social workers and schools.
• BVS had ensured no child in care received a permanent exclusion. Where possible, education officers manage disruption occurring in school and Sharon Buckby had occasionally stepped in with the Head of the school to ensure any issues were resolved.
• There had been good feedback from Ofsted following the Ofsted ILACS inspection regarding how well BVS knew the children who were looked after and its focus on achievements.
• In relation to progress and attainment, Key Stage 2 had done very well and results were not dissimilar to mainstream cohorts. Generally, the longer a child was in care the better their educational achievements because they had stability and it was easier in Key Stages 1 and 2 to support young people into enrichment activities. It was found that attainment was lower for those who entered the care system late because their education had been disrupted and they lacked stability, so for Key Stage 3 and 4, those young people coming into care late had lower attainment in their GCSE results.
• There was an opportunity for BVS to support young people not going into education, employment and training by encouraging them to stay on into year 12 and 13, which were critical months in a young person’s long-term pathway and outcomes.
• A challenge for children who went into care late was issues around trauma and attachment and so a lot of work around mental health had been done. For example, a recent forum with designated teachers had looked at triggers and trauma and how to move forward, and the commissioned contract with WEST at the Anna Freud Centre delivered targeted intervention for young people and the family as a whole.
• BVS conducted direct interventions with the top 50 children of most concern who were likely to be excluded or had poor attendance and there was crossover there with the most vulnerable groups who were missing or known in relation to contextual safeguarding.

In considering the reports, the following points were raised:

The Committee asked what the take-up of WEST’s Reflective Fostering Group was, as detailed in section 9.3 of the report. Sharon Buckby explained that take up of that group was very good, where there was a lot of work done around trauma, attachment and support. WEST also ran surgeries and consultations for social workers and foster carers around emotional wellbeing.

The Committee asked whether there were any known reasons for the difficulty in improving grades in maths, which were lower in comparison to reading and writing. They were advised that maths was an issue across all children in the reporting year, including children who were not looked after. It was a problem in the national education system. BVS did offer booster classes and there were teachers in the school enabled to provide catch up classes online and face to face through PALAC. BVS looked to aim higher for all children, irrespective of where they were in their journey and Sharon Buckby highlighted the importance of 1-1 support and group support within schools. She felt that was something that BVS could do more of, including looking at how education endowment programmes could be used to offer advice on how to improve maths literacy at primary school.

The Committee asked whether past exam papers were used at booster classes and preparatory classes. Sharon Buckby confirmed that was done for SATS and GCSE homework classes in the Civic Centre and online. The challenge for the reporting academic year had been that it was the first time many pupils had done exams since pre-pandemic. She highlighted that Brent had been lucky that all schools had remained open during the pandemic and BVS had pushed to ensure that teachers remained face to face with Brent’s looked after children. Following the challenges, she highlighted BVS had been pleased with the results.

The Committee felt that the enrichment programme detailed in section 11.1 was an excellent programme. Sharon Buckby agreed it was a good programme but there were low participation numbers overall at 70 children in total. As a result, BVS was working with the John Lyons Foundation and Harrow, Ealing and Barnet to think about that offer and what difference it was making. The Equine Therapy Programme only tutored around 1 young person per year, but it was very much based around what young people wanted to do.

The action to develop a mentoring partnership with the Football Association and Wembley Stadium, detailed in section 10.1 would be followed up. Officers would report back what had been agreed. In considering other opportunities for enrichment, the Committee heard that BVS was looking to do some closer work with Scouts and Sea Cadets through their relationship with Welsh Harp, and Committee members highlighted links they had with other organisations that could offer enrichment including Brownies, RAF in Wembley, and Northwick Park Gardens.

The Committee noted that the report did not detail work by BVS on career advice and guidance. Sharon Buckby explained that individual schools were responsible for careers advice and guidance and there were hubs available in all schools in every area of Brent. BVS ensured that, through the PEP process, careers advice and guidance was given in years 8, 9, 10 and 11 and followed that through post-16 with supported targeted work with prospects.

RESOLVED:

i)              To note the contents of the report.