Successful Personal Education Plans (PEPs)

Every child looked after is required to have a Personal Education Plan as part of the Care Plan (PEP). This section offers instructions for developing and putting into practice PEPs of high caliber and significance.

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The Personal Education Plan, or PEP, is a document that details how the professionals who are responsible for the child looked after will assist their academic success and results. The assigned instructor, young person, social worker, caregiver, and virtual school contribute yearly to its development and review. A PEP must be initiated within 10 days of a child becoming looked after, and the child's plan must be in place by the time of the first review.

PEP forms vary across Local Authorities, but they must always contain the following:

By assisting everyone in developing a clear and shared understanding of the teaching and learning provision required to fulfill the child's educational requirements and how that will be supplied, PEPs may help CLA achieve better educational results. Social workers must study the PEP and speak with the school, child, caregiver, parent (if applicable), VS, and Independent Reviewing Officer(IRO) before making decisions regarding the education of a child looked after.

For the Children Looked After, the school and local authority have a shared responsibility for the PEP. In reality, this implies that the child's opinions are taken into consideration while the DT, VSH, and assigned social worker collaborate to construct the PEP. The PEP's creation and execution inside the school is, after that, the responsibility of the Designated Teacher.

The Local Authority that looks after a student on the school's register should ensure that the Designated Teacher is informed and given a basic PEP whenever the student becomes looked after.

This must contain specifics on the kid, like:

If a kid has been cared for a while, the PEP ought to include details regarding academic development and how the child learns best.

The designated teachers are responsible for ensuring that each student's unique educational and developmental needs are accurately and wholly assessed as soon as the child becomes looked after at the school or when the child looked after joins the school at the start of the school year or during it. A reading assessment needs to be part of this. To pinpoint the student's advantages and disadvantages and any learning obstacles, the Designated Teacher should collaborate closely with other educators. The development, revision, and improvement of the PEP will start with this evaluation of learning requirements.

PEPs must be prepared and evaluated in a meeting that includes the designated teacher, the designated social worker, the child's caregivers, and, if feasible, a virtual school representative.

The Duties and Responsibilities of the Designated Teacher in Relation to the PEP

A PEP should establish high standards for quick improvement and put in place the additional supports needed for the child or young person to achieve. The Designated Teacher should be in charge of establishing targets for specific Children Looked After in school and should closely monitor their achievement and development. The PEP should be a helpful tool the designated teacher uses to ensure that the school is doing everything possible to assist the student's academic success.

To ensure that the student's development is meticulously tracked and reviewed, the Designated Teacher should collaborate closely with other school personnel. The designated teacher must be able to judge if the intervention, teaching, and learning methods being employed will help the young person achieve the PEP's educational goals. The Designated Teacher should decide with the student the appropriate course of action for moving forward if they are not on pace to accomplish goals, which should be reflected in the PEP.

A successful PEP is a "living" document that should be used to meet the child's daily requirements for growth and education. PEPs do not have a standard structure since each Local Authority will have created their own form and will provide training on how the procedure operates in their region. The applicable Virtual School should guarantee the PEP is quality assured and will:

PEPs are checked as part of the care plan review. These checks are required by law and must be performed after the child becomes looked after 6 weeks, then every 3 months, and every 6 months after that. The examination is led by an Independent Examiner (IRO). The IRO should be able to inquire about the child's educational progress as part of a review of the overall care plan and access her current PEP.

Preparation for the Care Plan Review

In preparation for the care plan review, the DT is responsible for ensuring that the PEP:

The PEP is a component of the official school file for a Child Looked After. If a child changes schools, the PEP should be sent to the new school and the social worker for the child at the local authority responsible for caring for them, together with other school documents. The PEP continues to be a crucial document to ensure that a child's educational requirements are satisfied even if they are no longer being cared for.

Questions for the Designated Teachers

Questions to ask Designated Teachers as they prepare for PEP meetings:

Punctuality / Attendance

Curriculum

Educational Needs (learning, Emotional, Social, Behavioral)

Study Support

Cultural / Religious

Out-of-School-Hours Learning (OSHL)/extra-curricular Activities

Personal Development

Other Agency Involvement:

Transfer/transition: