Education Support for Looked After Children

Helping You Get the Best Out Of School and Education

Maybe you find something tough or worrying in school or may be you just want to do even better.
But if you are in care there are some extra arrangements to help you. Every school should have a Designated Teacher for children and young people in care. This is a teacher in your school who has the job of trying to help you get the best out of your education. He or she should know who you are, be able to talk to the teachers who take your lessons and also link with your social worker and your carer. If you want an adult to talk to in school about anything that is on your mind, the designated teacher could be a good person. If you don’t know who your designated teacher is, another teacher, the school office or your social worker should be able to tell you

All young people who are looked after will have a personal education plan. This is often called a PEP for short. It is your record of what you have achieved in school, what the adults have agreed to do to help you and what you aim to achieve both now and in the future.

Your social worker and your designated teacher should arrange for you to have a PEP within 20 days of coming into care or changing school. You and your carer will be invited to a meeting to discuss this and then there should be a meeting every six months to ensure the PEP is up-to-date

It is your record so it is good for you to attend the meetings and take part in the discussion. You will get a copy of the PEP to keep after every meeting

Enfield has a small team of people, called the Heart Team, who work with schools, social workers and carers. There may be issues about your progress, your attendance and how you are getting on in school that your teachers can’t deal with on their own. Then HEART may be able to help. Someone from the team might attend your PEP meeting if this is useful. And if you do not have a school place, they will help your social worker sort out your education for you.

Who else can help?

If something is particularly troubling then the school or social worker can ask advice from an Educational Psychologist (usually called EP) or CAMHS worker (see below). They may belong to the HEART team if you are in care to Enfield. These people are especially trained to try and understand and help when children and young people have worries or difficulties.

What does an EP do?

All schools and places where children and young people are educated should have an EP who visits regularly. An EP can also help when young people are not in school. At some time, many children or young people need help with school work or getting along with others and managing their feelings and behaviour, especially when there are things on their minds. Some need help getting around or seeing or hearing or with speaking and listening. The EP will usually meet with you either at or away from school to try and understand what’s troubling you and find ways to try and make things a bit better. The EP may also want to speak to your teachers and whoever looks after you in order to find the best way of helping you. Usually your school will contact the EP on your behalf but it may be something you also want to speak to your social worker about

What does a CAMHS worker do?

If your feelings are more about things going on for you outside of school it may be that a CAMHS worker is the best person to help. CAMHS stands for Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service. CAMHS workers include therapists and psychologists - all are specially trained and experienced in helping young people with difficult feelings and relationships. Usually your social worker will contact CAMHS on your behalf.

SAFE (Service for Adolescents & Families in Enfield)

This is part of CAMHS and young people aged 16 or 17 yrs can contact the SAFE team directly (Tel: 020 8360 7391)

This document was last updated on 2005-12-15 13:27:53 published by the Sysadmin team. Document Reference:LBE_119498