Below is a summary of the work we are undertaking in response to the groups requests and feedback.
(UPDATED) You Said: There is an unfairness between what support previously looked after children receive compared to SGO children who have not been in public care.
We did:
We have extended our offer of support to all SGO children, regardless of whether they have been in care as we recognise the need for support is equal.
London Virtual Schools have raised the issue with DfE and this has been raised many times by Virtual Schools Nationally. We were interested to see that the Care Review made recommendations for children to stay in families where an SGO could be achieved without the child going into care. The recommendations include funding for SGO in these situations to be similar to those of a foster carer.
Update Dec 2023 – Sutton VSH worked with NAVSH and DfE to continue to lobby for greater kinship support throughout 2022-23. Dec 2023 – DfE released National Kinship Care Strategy ‘Championing Kinship Care’ which will see 8 LAs trialling equal payments to kinship carers to those of foster carers and Virtual Schools introducing advice and guidance support for children who move from birth family to SGO. A great result 🙂
You said: Feedback from SGO families:
‘If we have a problem, we know we can reach out to Sutton Virtual School and get help with any issue’
‘You provide much wider support than just education and you help us to understand how trauma impacts the way our child responds at home’
‘Where we have a school in a different Borough, we are not sure if we would get the same level of support’
We did:
We are continuing to build on the positives of the first year of SGO/Adoptive Family Voice input and will continue to build our support offer. We will support families to gain support from other Virtual Schools as required’
You said: We would like the knowledge of training sessions to reach more SGO families.
We did:
We will work with SGO social care to ensure that all 180 SGO families receive the message around the VS offer and are added to each calendar invite. We will also send a refresher each time before a session so they can join.
You said: We need all school staff to be trauma informed as it is so inconsistent currently
We did:
We have previously offered free trauma training to all schools and 80% took this up. We are now planning to deliver a training cycle of leadership training for DTs/DSLs to support them in their roles as Change Agents in schools to ensure systemic trauma informed change. We are also commissioning Developmental Trauma Training for PVIs/nurseries and all sectors (health, social care, housing, education) will receive two days trauma training in July with view to developing Trauma Champion leads with diplomas.
We have introduced a pilot with 6 Sutton schools called ‘Building Stronger Foundations’. This is working to support schools to review their policy and practice around trauma informed approaches and supporting the most vulnerable children.
You said: We would like training plan for 2023/23 to include the following: Trauma and how the brain works, New to SGO meeting with experienced SGO to give support, Leaving Care sessions to help plan for university, curriculum requirements for parents to understand, peer support sessions.
We did:
We are planning the training cycle using these suggestions
You said: School medical forms don’t ask for information around trauma needs
We did:
We will include this on the Designated Teacher training cycle for the year and support them to make this change in their schools.
You said: GPs, hospital staff, some teachers and other professionals don’t understand what an SGO is and we have had to explain in front of the children on many occasions.
We did:
We will work with SGO team to plan to increase understanding of term SGO across all sectors and will include in the cross sector trauma training
You said: We would like to learn more about Pupil Premium Plus and how we can ensure schools use this funding more appropriately to support Children Previously Looked After.
We did:
We have delivered an SGO / Adoptive Family Voice session on Pupil Premium Plus to provide the information that has been requested. We have also created a Pupil Premium Plus – PCLA webpage to support this training.
You said: We would like to have an understanding of the curriculum for our children from KS1 upwards
We did:
We are planning to do a session that covers the curriculum requirements that schools must follow in 2023/23.
You said: We would like to have training around online safety for our children
We did:
We have a delivered a session with Cognus Educational Safeguarding team in November 2022.
You Said: You would like a range of topics to be covered through future training programme (Trauma / attachment, teenagers, common behaviours from SGO/Adoptive children and reasons why, homework and learning routines, school engagement, ASD, ADHD, executive functions, anger management, professionals who can provide support)
We Did:
We have released a programme of training that includes these topic areas for the year ahead for 22/23
You Said: It can feel very lonely as an SGO parent as it is not always clear what support is available.
We Did:
We created a much bigger section in our website for SGO and Adoptive parents to illustrate our offer and give additional key information.
We have developed a ‘Welcome Pack’ for SGO and Adoptive parents which is on our website and have shared this with the SGO and Adoption social care team. We have requested that all new SGO and Adoptive families are given our welcome pack as they join and this is written into the support plan from the start.
We have uploaded a short video to the website with key information for SGO and Adoptive parents to reference.
We now offer a sign up facility on our website for SGO and Adoptive family voice group and option to give feedback.
You Said: New SGO and Adoptive parents would benefit from having trauma and attachment training at the very start
We Did:
We are building a training programme for SGO and Adoptive Parents that will run continuously and will be developed in partnership with SGO / Adoptive Families. Dates have been confirmed, invites shared and dates/links on website.
We will record the training sessions and upload them online at any time and will ask for the training to be published through the SGO and Adoption Team network
We have increased the range of families that can access the training to a wider scope than Sutton and the publication of training is being shared widely.
You Said: We have to fight with our schools each year to ensure that the Pupil Premium Plus funding is spent on our child. This is exhausting and does not help promote a positive relationship with our schools.
We Did:
We deliver training sessions for Designated Teachers throughout the year and one topic on this plan is to help them to understand what it is like to be an SGO or Adoptive family pursuing this funding. We would like to invite an SGO / Adoptive Parent to the session to speak to DTs directly as we believe this will have more impact.
We are continuing to encourage DTs and schools to take a welcoming approach to SGO and Adoptive families and proactively engage with them around the use of Pupil Premium Plus funding to support the individual needs of the child.
We remind them that the PEP template is on our website and request they consider using this to engage proactively with families and this message has been shared at both primary and secondary headteacher meetings.
You Said: There have been occasions where the class teacher was not made aware that a child is previously looked after and lives with grandparents.
We Did:
We recognise that every child’s situation is individual and a one size fits all approach to this is not appropriate, however we will discuss this at the SGO focused training session with Designated Teachers to request that a conversation takes place with the SGO and Adoptive parent for every child to discuss who information will and should be shared with. We will encourage this to be an ongoing conversation through the child’s educational journey.
You Said: Some SGO and Adoptive children have missed many lessons due to illness over the passed few years, in addition to learning time lost due to COVID. This has led to children being behind. Can tuition be provided for these children?
We Did:
National Tutoring Programme funding has been made available to schools and we will ask SGO / Adoptive Families to speak to their schools to request that their child receives tuition to support catch up.
The Government have just released the White Paper, Opportunity for All, which pledges many million additional tuition sessions for children moving forwards so the commitment to tuition catch up remains a high priority.
Sutton Virtual School is happy to speak with SGO / Adoptive families where they need advice or support
You Said: There is an unfairness between what support previously looked after children receive compared to SGO children who have not been in public care.
We did:
We have extended our offer of support to all SGO children, regardless of whether they have been in care as we recognise the need for support is equal.
London Virtual Schools have raised the issue with DfE and this has been raised many times by Virtual Schools Nationally. We were interested to see that the Care Review made recommendations for children to stay in families where an SGO could be achieved without the child going into care. The recommendations include funding for SGO in these situations to be similar to those of a foster carer.