Agenda item

Purpose of the report:

To provide the Select Committee with information regarding the education and careers support that is available for vulnerable young people in Surrey, including the current priorities for increasing vulnerable learners’ participation in education, employment and training.

Witnesses:

Julie Iles, Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning

Liz Mills, Director – Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture

Jane Winterbone, Assistant Director – Education

Anwen Foy, Head Teacher, Surrey Virtual School

BenedicteSymcox, Operations Lead, Family Voice Surrey

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. The Head of Surrey’s Virtual School had been in post since June 2020 and had experience as the headteacher of Virtual Schools in a number of other local authorities. Virtual Schools were established as champions of local authorities to promote and track the progress and educational attainment of children or young people who were in care to ensure they receive the correct support, have their needs understood by teachers, and achieve educational outcomes comparable to their peers. Surrey’s Virtual School was fully staffed with a new team, following the restructure, that had been assembled by the governing board.

2. The Operations Lead explained that Family Voice Surrey was a parent carer forum that provided independent collective representation for families with children who had any degree of special needs or disability from 0-25 years old. The organisation welcomed the council’s work around transition into adulthood, which presented a challenging time for families with children with additional needs. Many families who reached out to Family Voice had children who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), which was a stigmatising label. One of the most commonly raised issues was about SEND children not being able to manage a full-time working week.

3. A Member asked what governance arrangements were in place for the Virtual School. The Head Teacher stated that there was a dedicated governing board, chaired by the Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning, which had taken an active role in the Virtual School’s improvement journey. The governing board had recently discussed being reconstituted as a subgroup of the Corporate Parenting Board.

4. It was noted that the cohorts least likely to progress to post-16 education or training were those with poor or persistent absence; those who had been excluded; those whose first language was not English; children of young parents; and children with illness. These cohorts needed targeted support to help their transition into post-16 placements. Through the Participation Strategy, officers wanted to explore how to achieve a more impartial approach to providing guidance and advice in school settings to children. The Head Teacher stated the importance of understanding young people’s individual strengths and having ongoing conversations with them to help them see themselves as a learner post-16 with more positivity. The Head Teacher emphasised that education stability and minimising disruption was key, but it was difficult to find post-16 provision where young people could start mid-year.

5. It was explained that the Service was working with schools and post-16 colleges to make the Maths and English core learning offer more exciting and relevant for those who had not yet passed their Level 2 assessments in those subjects. Functional Skills became a key element of the curriculum and provided a key step towards attaining these Level 2 qualifications. Adult learning courses for GCSE Maths and English were well attended in Surrey and the Service would continue to promote the importance and accessibility of those courses. There were also a number of developing pathways designed to meet a wider range of children’s needs. Failing to achieve Level 2 in Maths and English often presented a barrier to engagement so it was important to create other pathways, such as apprenticeships and internships, to enable all people to progress.

6. A Member asked how the council monitored the number of NEET young people in Surrey. The Assistant Director stated that the post-16 tracking team (U-Explore) was due to join the council’s Education team the following month. This team had an annual tracking activity cycle and contacted all of those who did not have a post-16 placement arranged. This team provided up-to-date data on the number of students who were enrolled and participating in EET and followed up on those who were not or who were not participating full time. This was to be an ongoing piece of work given the 100% participation target of the Participation Strategy.

7. A Member asked why the council was seeking to bring the Year 11-12 Transition Service in house and whether, in doing so, any financial savings or efficiencies would be provided. The Assistant Director explained that the budget remained the same and the transfer of the tracking team into the Education team meant data could be looked at more holistically and in greater detail and would enable better post-16 placement planning. All the work brought inhouse was linked to the themes and priorities of the Prioritisation Strategy and would make the post-16 offer more responsive.

8. A Member asked what proportion of Surrey’s young people who were at risk of becoming NEET upon completing Year 11 successfully transitioned into education, training or employment by the second half-term of Year 12. The Assistant Director responded that targeted intervention work undertaken in the previous year had positive outcomes, resulting in 94% of young people who were at risk of becoming NEET transitioning into education, training or employment. This was partly a result of the DfE funding that was granted to the council for the alternative provision cohort, who historically did not make positivepost-16 transitions. Children in alternative provision who remained enrolled at their mainstream school were not funded at the same level as their full-time peers, so the council subsidised the difference. Changes to exams and disruption to children’s learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic meant that the council was working with children’s settings to ascertain what additional criteria should be added to risk of NEET indicators. The council was also tracking those who did not access education during the lockdown.

9. A Member queried whether the council had a monitoring role over the careers advice and guidance given to vulnerable young people. The Assistant Director responded that it was not a statutory duty for the Service to monitor the quality of information, advice and guidance (IAG) given to young people in their settings; however, they understood the importance of raising the profile of IAG with all settings and identifying and sharing good practice. The Head Teacher added that the Virtual School had worked with U-Explore to undertake work with care-experienced young people and a member of the Virtual School team was training for a level six IAG qualification to expand the capacity within the team.

10. The Surrey Transition and Education Programme would no longer receive funding from the European Union (EU) due to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, so the council was exploring opportunities to secure future funding, for example through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Hampshire County Council were bidding to secure an extension of the European Social Fund funding until spring 2023, however this was not guaranteed.

11. Providing high-quality Personal Education Plans (PEPs) was challenging but officers were pleased with the consistent termly improvements in PEP quality and the outcomes for young people. Each PEP needed the input of a social worker, designated teacher, foster carer, and young person, which made achieving consistency and quality challenging. Nevertheless, many improvements were made and Surrey now compared well to its neighbouring Local Authorities: in autumn 2019, the percentage of children and young people who had their PEP completed within timescale was 80%, compared to 93% in autumn 2020, rising to 96% when post-16 data was omitted. Robust quality assurance criteria based on best practice and DfE guidance were introduced, whereby PEPs were quality rated as amber, red or green. The percentage of green-rated PEPs increased from 53% in autumn 2019 to 69% in autumn 2020. Feedback on PEPs was more consistently provided to designated teachers (who also received termly training), foster carers and social workers via a termly newsletter. The Service was also listening to feedback from User Voice and Participation groups. Overall, PEP improvement was an ongoing journey with consistent term-on-term improvement evident.

12. A Member asked for more information regarding the Surrey Participation Strategy. The Assistant Director explained that the previously termed NEET strategy needed a refresh so the Service drafted a revised participation strategy comprising four strategic priorities: a focus on the most vulnerable cohorts; adopting a joint partnership approach; linking with businesses to offer a wider range of apprenticeships and opportunities for young people; and the effective use of data. Sat under those priorities were other themes pertaining to impartial advice and guidance and the importance of young people understanding their skill base. Going forward, it was important that the Service looked at the at the risk of NEET indicators through a Covid-19 pandemic lens and involved settings in the tracking process wherever possible. The offer for the post-16 SEND cohort was another critical element of the strategy, as members of this cohort were significantly less likely to be in employment at 24 years of age.

13. The Operations Lead – Family Voice Surrey stated the importance of acknowledging that vulnerable children and SEND children were more likely to require additional support to gain independence. Education and information provided to SEND children and their families crucially did not explain how to navigate the vital systems that did not flex to the limitations of children with SEND, such as Universal Credit, and how to communicate with work coaches. Better guidance in these areas was key to helping young people gain and manage their independence.

Recommendations:

      I.        That the Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning report on the Surrey Participation Strategy to the Select Committee in autumn 2021.