Adela Kay, Assistant Headteacher at Aspire Virtual School, has conducted in-depth research on a variety of pressing issues affecting children and young people within our community.
For December’s research, Adela explores various critical issues impacting children and young people, ranging from government proposals to safeguarding practices. Below, you’ll find summaries and links to valuable resources aimed at addressing these concerns and supporting vulnerable children in our schools and communities. The topics covered include:
- Elective Home Education Proposals
- Attendance and Multi-Agency Working
- Post-Looked-After and Care-Experienced Children
- Child Sexual Exploitation
- Oral Literacy in Key Stage 1
Elective Home Education Proposals
Not from my usual range of sources but I don’t think I could really ignore the case of Sara Sharif which many of you will be aware of from the news coverage around her murder by her father and step-mother. Behind Sara Sharif’s smile was a life of violence and torture – BBC News. I am raising it here because one of the key aspects of the case rested on the father’s decision to home school 3 months before her death. I do not think it is a surprise that in response to the convictions both the Children’s Commissioner and the Prime Minister are calling for tighter regulations around families who home school. Proposals include for all electively home schooled children to be ‘registered’ with the local authority and for children known to social care at child protection level to require the permission of the local authority. Within LBBD we are also working on processes to monitor children known to social care who are currently home schooled.
Attendance and Multi-Agency Working
You will be aware from the new DfE guidance document which I mentioned in November’s missive that there will be new guidance on the make up of strategy meetings to include education professionals, at the moment they are not statutory attendees although I know they often attend. From an attendance perspective there is a growing emphasis on multi agency working to try and improve attendance in the trickiest cases. Emotionally based school non‐attendance: Development of a local authority, multi‐agency approach to supporting regular attendance – Corcoran – 2024 – British Journal of Special Education – Wiley Online Library. This research paper outlines how one local authority have taken a multi-agency approach to emotionally based school avoidance. In the guidance updates in August there is an implicit expectation that local authorities will work across agencies to meet these expectations. This research paper suggests that dissemination of information is an important part of building multi-agency working.
Post-Looked-After and Care-Experienced Children
New resource launched to support parenting care-experienced siblings | Stand Up For Siblings This is a tool for those parenting care experienced siblings, and in light of the new interest in Kinship care may apply to a wider audience across our schools. It aims to understand and support sibling relationships whilst protecting them when children experience distress. This is a tool developed by adoption Scotland but it is online and free to use. The Padlet also draw together information for professionals and families which may be useful when consider siblings who are in care or who are cared for by people other than their parents.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
The CSE Task Force have just published a report on Group Based Offending. There are a number of recommendations but I think of note for me was the fact that 26% of cases were in family environment and 48% of ‘suspects’ were aged 10-17. There is a growing awareness of child/child sexual abuse and LBBD CSC have been working with the NSPCC on a project which focusses on inter familial sexual abuse. This report is a wake up call to recognise and work collaboratively to safeguard children and tackle the root causes of exploitation. In LBBD the work on the Neglect, which many professionals reading this will be aware of, highlighted the increased risk of CSE (and CCE) where neglect was present. The report can be found here CSE-Taskforce-Group-Based-Offending-Publication-November-2024.pdf.
Oral Literacy in Key Stage 1
Low oral reading fluency at the end of Key Stage 1 – FFT Education Datalab This has just come out from the FFT on levels of Oral reading fluency and disadvantage. The data is so stark. I know that we already know about the summer born lag and in the KS4 table you can see that whilst it exists at KS4 the discrepancy is less but the difference between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged (this will include FSM/PP as well as Social care I think) is massive. What I find interesting here is the long term impact of poor outcomes in KS1. I think it is easy to think as a secondary/primary school that what we achieve is almost disconnected from the next stage but actually the long term lag carries on right through until GCSEs. I know that many of you will be aware of me banging on about speech and language, but it is really important that we focus on oral ability particularly early on because it is the foundation of understanding across our education landscape.
Wishing you a restful festive season,
Best wishes,
Adela
