3.4.1 Personal Education Plans (PEP)

The PEP document is a statutory requirement for all Looked After Children. It is produced purposefully by the Designated teacher and the social worker in order to reduce the gap in educational achievement between children in care and their peers. It sets out the specific educational needs and support measures which the local authority and schools, working together in their role of "Corporate Parent" can promote to improve the education of Looked After Children. The Statutory requirement is contained in Section 52 of the Children Act 2004. Children's Services should collaborate effectively and cooperatively in order to meet educational targets. In order to streamline this process Lincolnshire has introduced an Electronic Personal Education Plan (ePeP) for all of its Looked After Children which can be accessed by authorised users anytime anywhere 24/7. This Guidance explains PEPs in order to inform the respective roles of Directors and Lead Members of Children's Services, Team Managers, Social Workers, YOS Officers, Designated Teacher, Foster Carers and Independent Reviewing Officers.

When a child becomes looked after - either on a short-term or long-term basis - it is the duty of the Children's Services Authority to safeguard and promote his or her welfare.  This means that alongside planning secure and reliable care and responding to the child's need to be well and healthy, local authorities have a specific responsibility to support his or her educational achievement.

The measures of a local authority's success in promoting the educational achievement of Looked After Children are:

• Looked After Children at every age achieve educational outcomes comparable to their peers;
• Strategic planning and day-to-day processes throughout the local authority demonstrate robust procedures and a culture of pro-active commitment to secure the highest educational outcomes for Looked After Children;
• Looked After Children are encouraged to have high expectations of themselves and to achieve their full potential;
• Training, development and support for carers and local authority staff ensure that they understand the needs of Looked After Children.

Looked After Children are individuals with distinct identities and needs shaped by their ethnicity, culture, religious beliefs, age, disability, their gender and sexual orientation. They all have the potential and right to succeed.

Protective factors which may lead to later educational success for Children in Care include:

• Stability and continuity in care arrangements;
• Reading competence;
• A parent or carer who values education and sees it as a positive value;
• Friends outside care who do well at school;
• Out of school interests and hobbies and outside the care system;
• A significant adult who offers consistent encouragement and support and serves as a mentor and prospective role model;
• Attending school regularly.

The PEP should set clear objectives and targets for the child, covering the following

• Chronology of education and training history which provides a record of the child’s educational experience and progress in terms of National Curriculum levels of attainment, including information about educational institutions attended and the reasons for leaving, attendance and conduct record, academic and other achievements, any special educational needs, an indication of the extent to which the child’s education has been disrupted before entering care or accommodation;
• Existing arrangements for education and training, including details of any special educational provision and any other provision to meet the child’s educational or training needs and promote educational achievement;
• Any planned changes to existing arrangements and provision to minimise disruption;
• The child’s leisure interests;
• Role of the appropriate person and any other person who cares for the child in promoting the child’s educational achievements and leisure interests.

Roles and Responsibilities for completing ePeP. The recent guidance published on the statutory role of schools to have a designated teachers (published September 2009) clearly places the responsibility for the educational content and targets recorded in the personal education plan, to be produced by the Designated teacher in the school where the child is on roll.  It is the duty of the social worker for the child to facilitate access to the ePeP system as soon as the child becomes looked after in order that professional diagnosis of need can become actioned and recorded so that the appropriate provisions can be made to begin to support the educational needs of the child. The Social worker is responsible for the initial core data entry onto ePeP to include any other relevant educational history.

The ePeP should be initiated as part of the Care Plan before the Child becomes Looked After (or within 10 working days in the case of an emergency placement) and be available for the first Looked After Review meeting. Or reviewed within 20 working days following a move to a new school placement.

The Lead Social Worker/Social will:

• Ensure that a social care practitioner attends the meeting with the teacher and child;
• Record the needs that are identified in the PEP into the child care plan prior to the first review being held, or if the review is held within 20 days record the needs within 10 days following the date of the first review;
• Enter relevant data onto the completed plan and the review date of the PEP onto the child's record;
• Set up the PEP meeting within at least three working days of the placement commencing;
• Check the child's core person's details for the relevant education information;
• Contact the school to set up a date/time when the meeting is to be held;
• Enter the date and time of the meeting into the Lead Social Worker's e-diary.