Standards and Regulations
The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011:
Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards:
Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care:
AfC Virtual School: Information for Foster Carers/Carers (Useful Resources)
Looked After Children may have experienced disrupted education due to changes in their placements. This can have a negative impact on their achievements at school and on their ability to maintain friendships.
It is vital that a child’s educational arrangements and needs are discussed with the child’s social worker and your Supervising Social Worker before the placement starts.
Where the child is an unaccompanied migrant child, (and looked after by a local authority), they are entitled to the same local authority support as any other Looked After Child: to have a safe and stable placement; to receive the care that they need to thrive; and the support they need to fulfil their educational and other outcomes.
Some unaccompanied children who have recently arrived in the country may never have had access to education before. Appropriate education for unaccompanied children may include a period of time in a setting where their full educational needs can be assessed and integrated into their Personal Education Plan (PEP) (see Section 2, The Personal Education Plan (PEP)) They may need time to be prepared for and then become used to formal education, and their initial educational outcomes may include cultural orientation and life skills appropriate to their age. As a foster carer, you will have a key role in this.
You play an important role in promoting education, including pre-school and providing a learning environment outside of educational settings for the child/young person.
Children should attend school or other educational provision. They should be supported to make good progress from their starting points. You should be ambitious for children and support children to attend and do well in their education. There is effective liaison with the school/college and the virtual school head.
Your role:
All Looked After Children of compulsory school age must have a PEP, even if they are not currently in education. It provides important information to make sure that the right support is in place so that the child can achieve their targets. It should also be a record of the child's leisure interests and educationally what has been achieved.
The child's social worker should arrange a meeting to put together the first PEP within the first 10 days of a child becoming Looked After.
Who should be invited?
If the child is excluded from school, the Head Teacher, an education officer and the SEN adviser if needed should be invited.
PEP’s should:
In addition, the PEP should have:
The designated teacher would normally have overall responsibility for leading the process of target setting for looked-after children in school, should monitor and track how their attainment progresses, and ensure that identified actions are put in place. The designated teacher will help the school and the local authority that looks after the child to decide what arrangements work best in the development and review of the PEP.
The completed PEP should be given to you, the child, their parents, and all others invited to the meeting. A copy should also be sent to the child's Independent Reviewing Officer.
The child’s social worker must ensure PEP review meetings take place on time.
PEP decisions and recommendations must be shared with the child's Independent Reviewing Officer at the Looked After Review.
If there are changes in arrangements such as a change of school or if the child may need private tuition, these recommendations should be taken to the child’s Looked After Review.
Local authorities also have a duty under section 23ZZA of the Children Act 1989 (inserted by section 4 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017) to promote the educational achievement of previously looked-after children (children who are the subject of an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order) in their area by providing information and advice to:
Previously looked-after children are those who:
Looked After are eligible for Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) funding. This is additional funding provided to help improve the attainment of looked-after and previously looked-after children. It is not a personal budget for individual children. The designated teacher has an important role in ensuring the specific needs of looked-after and previously looked-after children are understood by the school’s staff and reflected in how the school uses PP+ to support these children.
The PP+ for Looked After Children is managed by the Virtual School Head (VSH) Virtual School Head. The PP+ for previously Looked after Children is managed by the school.
The PP+ is a key component in ensuring resources are available to support the child’s Personal Education Plan and the plan should clarify what the support is and how it will be delivered.
Choosing and applying for a school place is usually the child's social worker's responsibility but in some circumstances may be delegated to you or shared with others.
Changes of school should be avoided as this will disrupt the child's education. It should not take place in the middle of a school year or in years 10 and 11, unless this is unavoidable.
The new school should be provided if at all possible with a copy of the child's current PEP. Other members of staff who need to know should be identified at the PEP meeting, taking into account the child's wishes about confidentiality.
A change of school at any time needs the agreement of the relevant local education service maintaining the plan and the responsible social worker.
Disrupting a child’s school can have a negative impact for a child at any stage of their school career. A Senior Manager in the placing authority must approve any change of placement affecting a child in Key Stage 4, except in an emergency/where the placement ends because of an immediate risk of serious harm to the child or to protect others from serious injury.
In those circumstances, the Local Authority must make appropriate arrangements to promote the child’s educational achievement as soon as possible.
If the child is to be placed in the area of a different local authority and will need a new school, this should be looked at (unless it is an emergency placement) well before they move.
The Education Officer and, if needed, the SEND adviser, should be asked to help with this.
Where possible a child should not be moved to a new placement until they have a school place.
Pupils With Educational Health and Care (EHC) Plan
The local education service where the child lives (unless in residential accommodation) is responsible for the placement and provision of education to a pupil who has an EHC Plan. The education service for the area to which the child is moving should therefore be requested to adopt the EHC Plan. This needs to be planned as early as possible as it can cause long delays.
Children’s educational (and other) achievements should be acknowledged at one or more of the following times: at Looked After Reviews; in the PEP, at school-based meetings; in school reports; and after exams.
A Looked After Child's educational attainments should be recorded and in the PEP.
Looked After Children are a vulnerable group, and all staff, working in schools should be aware of the systems in place to support safeguarding. As a foster carer, it is important for you to be aware of the school’s safeguarding policies.
[1] Upskirting is against the law. See also: GOV.UK, Upskirting: know your rights
[2] NSPCC, Sexting: advice for professionals
An Ofsted thematic review (Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges (Ofsted)) identified substantial levels of sexual harassment for both girls (90%) and boys (nearly 50%) – usually in unsupervised settings. Sexual harassment and sexual violence exist on a continuum and may overlap. Where the latter occurs, there could be a criminal offence committed.
The Ofsted Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges also recognised a wide variety of behaviours that children and young people told (them) happened online including:
Keeping Children Safe in Education (see Useful Information above) notes that with regard to sexual harassment, all staff working with children are advised to maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’ and must respond to all reports and concerns about sexual violence and/or sexual harassment, including online behaviour and incidents that have happened outside the school/college. This could include picking-up information from other pupils.
Nevertheless, the Ofsted thematic Review also reflected that children said they did not bring events to the attention to staff for fear of losing control over events and the subsequent consequences.
A foster carer who has concerns about the sexual harassment or bullying of a child (in any setting), should always raise these concerns with their supervising social worker or the child’s social worker. It should not be assumed that the school will necessarily inform you of such concerns or behaviour (they may not be aware).
See also: Internet, Photographs and Mobile Phones Procedure.
There should be staff (usually the Designated Teacher or the SEND coordinator) who will be able to share with you information about:
They will also explain that staff must report any concerns regarding Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), modern slavery, trafficking or exploitation.
You must notify the school and the child’s social worker immediately if the child does not attend school for any reason (for example if they are unwell).
If the child is missing, see also: Missing Children.
Children must not be taken on holiday during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances and the holiday has been approved by the Head of the child’s school and the Social Worker's Manager.
The school should tell you and the child’s social worker the reasons for the exclusion. You should decide with the child’s social worker who should speak to the child. The social worker should inform the parents, if appropriate. The social worker, after talking to the child and their parents, must look at whether to appeal against the decision to exclude the child.
The child’s social worker must also inform the child’s Independent Reviewing Officer.
Exclusion from school should be a last resort for children who are looked after so it is vital that you work with the school as soon as a child's behaviour becomes a cause for concern.
If a child is excluded from school for a fixed period, the school will provide homework for the first 5 days of the exclusion.
The social worker must talk to you about suitable arrangements for making sure the child does schoolwork during the day and ensuring that the child does not go out during school hours.
From the 6th day the school should provide a place for the child to be educated.
If the child is in primary school and receives a fixed term exclusion or is in secondary school and is excluded for more than 5 days, the social worker should make sure a meeting is held within the 5 days to discuss the child’s return and how best this can be supported.
When a child is permanently excluded, the social worker should speak to the local education service to find another school placement.
In the case of permanent exclusion a meeting of the governors will be held within 15 days to review the decision. If the meeting decides to uphold the decision to permanently exclude, an appeal can be made within 15 school days. The appeals form can be completed by you or anyone who has Parental Responsibility for the child.
Becoming pregnant is not in itself a reason to stop attending school, nor to cease education.
Where a young person becomes pregnant, the social worker must ensure that the young person remains in education if at all possible. This should be discussed with the young person taking into account their wishes and feelings. This should be discussed with the Designated Teacher for Looked After Children at the school to ensure an appropriate plan is in place if required.
In order to keep a child at the same school, those with responsibility for school transport should be approached to see if at all possible they can provide help with transport. A decision will be made taking into account the child’s age and the distance from the child’s address to the nearest suitable school.
Wherever possible children and young people who live close to their school should travel in the same way as their peers.
Transport costs may be agreed by the placing education department if a child or young person needs to attend a special school. They will also consider whether an escort is needed.
The child’s social worker in conjunction with the school should help you make these arrangements.
Under Section 22 (3A) of the Children Act 1989, local authorities have a duty to promote the educational achievement of Looked After Children. Section 99 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires an officer be appointed to take on this duty – this is sometimes referred to as a ‘Virtual School Head’ (‘VSH’). The VSH should ensure that there are appropriate arrangements in place to meet the training needs of those responsible for promoting the educational achievement of Looked After Children. This includes carers, social workers, Designated Teachers and IROs.
The training will cover information about school admission arrangements; Special Educational Needs; attendance and exclusions; homework; choosing GCSE options; managing any challenging behaviour in relation to education; promoting positive educational and recreational activities and supporting children to be aspirational for their future education; training and employment, and the importance of listening to and taking account of the child’s wishes and feelings about education and the PEP process. You should speak to your Supervising Social Worker about this.