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Education of
Children Living in Care
Education is our Future
Children Living in Care
There are approximately 65,000 children looked after by local
authorities in England. At any one time Bexley Council has responsibility for
around 220 children living in care. Most are in foster care and some of these
live out of borough with Bexley or agency carers. There are also over 200 children
in care to other authorities living within Bexley.
Children enter care for various reasons: generally as a result of abuse or
neglect, family dysfunction, inability to cope with a severe disability of a
child, disability or illness of the parent or for socially unacceptable behaviour.
Less than 10% of all looked after children are placed in local authority care
because of their own behaviour
Many of our children do have problems. If you think about their experiences
and the fact that they have come into the care system, this is probably not surprising.
Children living in care have the capacity to blossom just like any other and
they need support to realise their ambition.
The Importance of Education
Access to education is a right and is essential to promote
resilience, self esteem and positive life chances. Education provides the opportunity
to develop socially as well as academically and can be the key to escaping social
disadvantage. Formal education through school is extremely important and children
and young people themselves often say that school or college gives them much-needed
stability. In addition out of school hours learning through clubs, sports, trips
and other activities is also extremely important. All children living in care
must have a Personal Education Plan that co-ordinates appropriate learning experiences.
The academic achievement of children living in care is far below that of their
peers. Nationally, the statistics are quite alarming for this group. Only 43%
of children living in care obtained at least one GCSE A* - G compared with 95%
of all school children. Only 6% of children living in care achieved 5 or more
A* - C grades in GCSE exams, compared to 53% of all young people. Post 16 education
is also key with only 57% of children living in care remaining in full time education
compared to 72% of all 16 year olds.
Local Authorities now have a legal duty to promote the education of children
living in care and an expectation that schools and other providers will co-operate
to make better outcomes for this group. It is everyone's responsibility
to ensure that these children can achieve and that we have high expectations
of them, especially when they may not see any potential in themselves.
Corporate Parenting
Children living in care are a public responsibility and all
those coming into contact with them in a caring or professional capacity are
Corporate Parents. Children living in care are our children and we should all
have the same high expectations as we would for own children and do 'all
that a good parent would'. This includes promoting educational achievement.
We are failing in our duty if this aspect of a child's development is ignored
or overlooked.
Education of Children Living in Care Handbook
A comprehensive guide to Bexley policies, teams, protocols,
roles and responsibilities, systems and procedures. It includes information on
Personal Education Plans (PEP),
attendance, exclusions, Special Education Needs (SEN) and outlines the expectations
of different people involved in the education of children living in care. It's
aim is to support all those involved in the education of children living in
care.
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