The Interim Assistant Director (Children’s Social Care Improvement) will present a report (Document “U”) on the virtual school outcome for Children Looked After (CLA) for 2017-18.  Outcomes for children in care from Early Years to key stage 4 shows an improving picture over time. By the time they leave school, the progress made by children in care compares favourably to the national picture.

Primary outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 remain above those nationally for children looked after in all four benchmark (expected standard) measures, reading, writing, maths and the combined measure. At the end of Key Stage 2, outcomes for CLA gaining the expected standard in reading have improved by 10 percentage points to within 3% of CLA nationally. Results for CLA in Bradford gaining the expected standard in maths have improved by 9% and are 1 percentage point above CLA nationally. Results for CLA in writing and GPS have improved by 5% and 3% respectively. The average (mean) scaled score across all pupils with a scaled score shows Bradford CLA marginally above pupils nationally for this measure.

At KS4 in terms of Attainment 8 Bradford CLA outcomes in 2018 were above the national and regional outcomes. The score of 19.7 is above the score of 18.7 nationally.In terms of Progress 8 Bradford outcomes in 2018 were above the national comparator.

Recommended -

That the Corporate Parenting Panel note the contents of Document “U”.

                                                                        (Ken Poucher – 01274 439623)

The Interim Assistant Director (Children’s Social Care Improvement) presented a report (Document “U”) on the virtual school outcome for Looked After Children (LAC) for 2017-18.  Outcomes for children in care from Early Years to key stage 4 showed an improving picture over time. By the time they leave school, the progress made by children in care compared favourably to the national picture.

The Virtual Head Teacher provided an overview of the report which stated that primary outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 remained above those nationally for LAC in all four benchmark (expected standard) measures, reading, writing, maths and the combined measure. At the end of Key Stage 2, outcomes for LAC gaining the expected standard in reading had improved by 10 percentage points to within 3% of LAC nationally. Results for LAC in Bradford gaining the expected standard in maths had improved by 9% and were 1 percentage point above LAC nationally. Results for LAC in writing and GPS had improved by 5% and 3% respectively. The average (mean) scaled score across all pupils with a scaled score showed Bradford LAC marginally above pupils nationally for this measure.  At Key Stage 4, in terms of Attainment 8, Bradford LAC outcomes in 2018 were above the national and regional outcomes. The score of 19.7 was above the score of 18.7 nationally.In terms of Progress 8 Bradford outcomes in 2018 were above the national comparator.

In response to Members questions, it was reported that:

·         The national statistics were published in November but information relating to LAC were released in February/early March, therefore comparisons could only be made with statistical neighbouring authorities in the year following the results.

·         The average attendance of LAC in 2017-18 was 96.1%.

·         The number of Key Stage 5 Care Leavers that were cited in the report as being not in education, employment or training (NEET) had reduced to nil by November 2017.  This was because their next destinations had not been fixed at the time the statistics were collated.

·         There was a programme in place to address the issue of any Care Leavers within the NEET category.

·         LAC were given priority for Apprenticeships offered by the Council.

The Interim Strategic Director of Children’s Services spoke of recent visits she had undertaken to children’s homes and raised concerns about the number of children she had seen on her visits during school hours.  She suggested the Panel consider requesting information/regular updates about alternative education provision being provided to LAC to ensure they were receiving the right level of education.

Members were informed that the Virtual Head Teacher was a part-time post as funding had not been available to recruit to the post on a full time basis; however there was a lot of demand on the team as the virtual school was growing and it was not considered that a part-time Virtual Head Teacher would be feasible going forward.  Members were informed that there were 902 LAC in education within the Bradford district and that Bradford had one of the biggest virtual schools in the country yet had one of the smallest teams.  The Virtual Head Teacher stated that his team were finding that Head Teachers were making budgetary cuts to pastoral and therapeutic interventions to protect core teaching in their schools and whilst the way in which pupil premium for LAC was generally improving, it still varied across schools. 

Members thanked the Virtual Head Teacher for his report.

Resolved –

That the Virtual School Head Teacher and Head of Service Through Care and Resources be requested to submit a joint report to the Panel, within the 2019-20 municipal year, to outline the alternative education provision for Looked After Children and that the report include the types, location and level of education being provided.

ACTION: Virtual School Head Teacher/ Head of Service Through Care and Resources