Virtual Sch newsletter Autumn 12_PDF version - Staffordshire ...

As this is my first contribution to the
Virtual School Newsletter, I should
introduce myself, the Strategic Lead for
Looked After Children and Disability here
in Staffordshire; this includes our
fieldwork Social Work teams, residential,
fostering and adoption services.
I like getting my Letterbox parcel because I
look forward to all the books I can read and
things that I can play with.
My favourite book is Where’s Wally but I also
like the sticker albums you get where you can
put stickers of different countries into a map.
I love playing sport, especially football and
swimming and I had a great book from
Letterbox about all the different sports in the
Olympics. I enjoyed watching some of the
Olympics in the summer and I saw a lot of the
sports that were in my book. I also get coins
and calculator charts to help with my Maths
which is really useful.
A View from Families First -
I have been greatly impressed with the
work of the Virtual School over the past
two years and believe that we can justly congratulate ourselves on a
range of positive developments which have begun to improve the
education and learning we provide for our Looked After Children
across the age range, including pre school, FE and HE. Whilst a time
for congratulations, this is not a time for resting on our laurels.
There are many areas that the Virtual School and its partners are
working on to further improve the service our children receive and
the outcomes they achieve. One pressure for all of you who work with
and support our children is the increased numbers of Looked After
Children. This is a national trend and Staffordshire has experienced a
significant increase over the past two years.
Another impetus is that both locally and nationally there is a growing
pressure to speed up the processes that lead to children arriving at a
position of permanency in their living arrangements (which can
include adoption, placement with another family member or return
home). Here in Staffordshire, we are reducing delay and performing
well against national indicators, but again, considerable work is
underway to improve this further.
There is also the pressure of a new inspection regime (including an
integrated inspection of all Looked After Children’s services) which will
be implemented in April 2013. This will follow individual children’s
journeys and ensure their voice is clearly heard and responded to. All
of you engaged with the care and support of our children will be
participants in the child’s journey and are integral to the quality and
shared common focus of that journey. Clarity of purpose and good
open communications between the often wide range of individuals
who can be involved in a Looked After Child’s life is essential to an
effective journey through care. As is listening and enabling the child to
contribute to the planning and decisions that occur in their lives. On
this second point I should mention that our Children’s Voices Project
was recently awarded the ‘Hear By Right’ gold award for their work
engaging Looked After Children and young people in Staffordshire.
Finally, I will just mention the quality assurance role that the School
has developed over recent months in relation to Personal Education
Plans, to which many of you will contribute. The PEP is the key process
through which a Looked After Child’s educational needs are addressed
on a multi agency basis and when effectively used, contributes
significantly to achievement. The QA work undertaken to date will be
analysed and shared with you over the coming months along with
actions and learning. In this way, we can all learn together and work
together, with the overall aim of improving outcomes for our Looked
After Children.
Richard Hancock
Head of Looked After Children and disabilities.
Voice from a Children’s Home
It is important to hear about the roles of other colleagues involved in the
education and care of our Looked After Children. Here, a manager of one
of our Residential Homes introduces his role, their ground breaking ‘social
pedagogy’ model and their links with the Virtual School.
My name is Mark Guest, I am the registered
children’s home manager for Shaping Futures; a
short term residential service that provides care
and support for up to five young people at any
one time. I have worked in similar environments
since 1998 and jumped at the opportunity to
join the team at Staffordshire as I knew they
were known for the quality of its provision and I
welcomed the opportunity to be part of their
social pedagogic journey.
The young people we support are aged between twelve and seventeen and
will stay for approximately twelve weeks. Our objective is to return young
people home or assist them in moving to an appropriate long-term
placement. We recognise the importance of effective partnership working,
perceiving young people, their families and a broad range of professional
services as being key to how we meet our objectives. We pride ourselves on
providing individually based interventions that support positive outcomes
and allow young people to gain new experiences.
The home’s core principles are founded in ‘social pedagogy’ which aim to
provide quality relationships for all our young people, their families and our
stakeholders. The staff team have undertaken a meticulous training
programme to gain a thorough understanding of how to practice and adopt
the philosophy of ‘social pedagogy.’
A key element of working in partnership has been the relationship between
the home and the Virtual School. At least once a week, we meet with our
Education Coordinator Denise Grimshaw, which has proven to be
fundamental in providing a service able to meet young people’s needs. For
some of the young people placed with the service, maintaining or accessing
education resources can have a significant impact, leading to increased stress
and anxiety at an already difficult time. The support and advice provided
through the Virtual School ensures young people’s educational needs are
managed as a priority aspect of their care. The partnership the home has
developed with the Virtual School is completely supportive of young people
accessing education.
The Virtual School has enabled young people to access education services
specific to their needs and support on-going learning.
On admission, the home has a designated member of the home’s staff who
takes responsibility for co-ordinating the young person’s education. This
member of staff contacts the Virtual School to advise of new admittances
with discussion on how the young person’s education will be supported.
It is the home’s philosophy to maintain where possible, the young person’s
current education provision, which can at times involve staff transporting
young people some distance to ensure this happens. Each case would then
be discussed weekly with the Virtual School feeding into placement plan
meetings for the young person. Staff work with the Virtual School to
promote and support stability for young people in education resources. The
Virtual School often accompanies staff to meetings with education provisions
where additional support is needed or complex issues arise.
In this way, a partnership-driven, team approach is developed and
maintained with the overall aim of meeting the key aim – to support the care
of some of our most vulnerable young people.
Anyone interested in finding out more about Shaping Futures
or social pedagogy, can contact Kirsty Simpson or
Mark Guest on 01785 253673, alternatively please email:
kirsty.simpson@staffordshire.gov.uk
mark.guest@staffordshire.gov.uk
The Virtual School for Looked After Children in Staffordshire
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