Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of moving schools on children in care; and what steps she is taking to reduce the number of children in care who experience school moves.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. The Children’s Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care and ensure placements safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. Furthermore, the guidance is clear that the child’s allocated social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education and, where a child is in key stage 4, a move should only be made in exceptional circumstances. Responsibility for looked-after children sits with the local authority. The guidance and regulations of the Children Act 1989 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1000549/The_Children_Act_1989_guidance_and_regulations_Volume_2_care_planning__placement_and_case_review.pdf.
Every local authority must appoint a virtual school head (VSH), who has a statutory duty to promote the educational attainment of all children in their care. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to act as a source of advice and expertise about the needs of the looked-after children on the school’s roll. Looked-after children also have top priority in school admissions and attract pupil premium plus funding of £2,570 per child, up to age 16. This is managed by the VSH, who works with the child’s education setting to deliver objectives in the child’s personal education plan.
In February 2023, the department announced the national rollout of £24 million of pupil premium plus style funding to looked-after children and care leavers at post-16 for the next two years, from 2023/24. This funding, which builds on an initial £8 million pilot that launched in October 2021, gives VSHs the financial levers to positively impact the educational outcomes of looked-after children and care leavers in post-16 education.
Written Evidence May. 23 2024
Committee: Home Affairs Committee (Department: Home Office)Found: Children on F2 visas can attend state schools free of charge.
Written Evidence May. 23 2024
Inquiry: Boys’ attainment and engagement in educationFound: the finding quoted above, we would draw the committee’s attention specifically to the TBS call that schools
Written Evidence May. 23 2024
Inquiry: Boys’ attainment and engagement in educationFound: b)Lack of support and understanding from schools during the pregnancy and/or after the birth.
Found: Public health impacts of heat 14 POSTnote 723 - 23 May 2024 Schools an d educational settings In
May. 23 2024
Source Page: Pre-sentence reports in the youth justice systemFound: identified in writing PSRs, such as accessing the necessary information from professionals (e.g. schools
May. 23 2024
Source Page: Pre-sentence reports in the youth justice systemFound: Challenges were noted around gathering information on education, with schools and colleges not responding
Written Evidence May. 22 2024
Inquiry: Food, Diet and ObesityFound: attitudes have been recorded in children as young as three (Puhl & Latner, 2007), and hospital admissions
Written Evidence May. 22 2024
Inquiry: Food, Diet and ObesityFound: needed to fundamentally reset our relationship with the food that surrounds us; in supermarkets, schools
May. 22 2024
Source Page: Immigration Rules archive: 11 April 2024 to 15 May 2024Found: , foundation schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools, community special schools