3.6.2 Personal Educations Plans |
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This chapter should be read in conjunction with Education of Looked After Children Procedure.
RELEVANT FORM
The following form can be found in the Forms Library
Early Years Personal Educational Plan
This is a new chapter for June 2010.
Contents
1. Introduction
All children in care between the ages 3 and 16 years are required to have a Personal Education Plan. The Social Worker is responsible for ensuring that a Personal Education Plan is in place.
2. First PEP
The Education Support Team is based at Dryfield House in Batley and will organise the Initial PEP meeting as soon as they are notified that a child has become Looked After. They receive a weekly update from Care First and will contact the Social Worker to arrange the first meeting. The Social Worker should provide information on the child’s school and placement. The first meeting will be chaired by a member of the Education Support Team. A date is set and the designated teacher invites appropriate education colleagues and the social worker will ensure that carers and, where appropriate, parents are invited.
The designated teacher will arrange for help for the child or young person to complete their section of the PEP, which gives an opportunity for the child to have their views taken into account and valued. It is expected that the child or young person will attend the PEP meeting.
The Social Worker should consult with carers and parents and they should be encouraged to attend the meeting as they have a key role to play as the first line of support for the child or young person’s education.
The PEP Proforma is broken down into the following age ranges:
3-5 years, 5-7 years, 7-11 years, 11-14 years and 14-16 years. The templates are available in the forms section.
Prior to the meeting the Social Worker will gather all required information for PART A of the PEP.
The School will collect information relating to attainment, progress, target setting, attendance, support needs and school interventions. This information will be recorded in Part B of The Plan.
The Education Support Team will record the discussion and complete the PEP and then arrange for this to be sent to the School, placement and Social Worker. The Social Worker will then send hard copies of the completed PEP to all those invited to the meeting who were not on the above list. This provides a clear written record of actions agreed and those responsible for ensuring their delivery. The PEP should be stored on Care First and the date of the PEP entered on Care First.
3. The PEP Review
PEP Reviews take place within the same time framework as Looked After Reviews.
There is not adequate time within a LAC review to comprehensively review the PEP so Social Workers are encouraged to hold PEP reviews in advance of the LAC review. The PEP Review date should be set at the end of the Initial PEP meeting. The Social Worker will also receive a prompt from Care First indicating that a review is due. On receipt of the prompt, the Social Worker needs to book a Review PEP meeting and ensure that all the key individuals are invited to the review meeting.
For children placed Out of Area it may be more practical to hold LAC Reviews and PEP Review meetings on the same day.
Also see Looked After Reviews Procedure.
4. Education Support Team
The Education Support Team for Children in Care will support a Social Worker in securing appropriate educational provision.
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