Issue - meetings

The Board received the Annual Report of the Headteacher of the Virtual School, which gave the education outcomes and achievements of Halton’s Children in Care (CIC).

The Annual Report (appended to the cover report) included detailed data, analysis and a summary of the work of Halton’s Virtual School, during the academic year 2021-22.  It was reported that the work of the School had continued throughout the academic year and the full Annual Report provided detailed analysis of how Halton’s Children in Care had performed against each of the individual key performance indicators. 

The Annual Report also gave a summary of the Virtual School’s progress towards its identified key priorities for the academic year 2021-22 and identified the priorities for the Virtual School in 2022-23.

Members welcomed the report and the following was discussed following their questions:

·         Bench marking for Pupil Premium Plus (PPP) – it was important that the right children were being targeted for this funding, such as those with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.  The impacts being made on those currently in receipt of PPP were being monitored;

·         Personal Education Plans (PEP) for those already in care – a PEP was completed for every school age child in care.  This included a section of gathering the voice of the child and was an integral part of the process.  The Virtual School were also looking at the use of an ‘App’ to gather their wishes and feelings in other ways, when they were reluctant to talk to professionals;

·         Lateness/absence from school – although there was a spike of non-attendance during Covid, this had not been the case since the children had returned following this.  It was noted that the attendance of CIC was better than those under Child Protection (CP), this would be looked at;

·         Lowering the number of CIC leavers who were NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) – actions already taken were discussed, such as identifying traineeships and upskilling the core skills of the young person.  It was recognised that there was a need to remove barriers to employment or further education for care leavers; and

·         Effectiveness of PEP’s – it was recognised a year ago that this needed looking at.  A new Post-16 Officer role was created following which an improvement was made.  The Officer has since left though so this role was currently vacant and being recruited to.

RESOLVED:  That the Board

1)    note the information provided; and

2)    accept the Headteacher of the Virtual School’s Annual Report as an accurate account of the performance on the education outcomes and achievement of Halton’s Children in Care.