Management Information Sheet

As you know, there is a requirement to report the school attendance data of Looked After Children to the DFE. In addition, having 'real time' data is crucial in enabling the local authority to be more proactive in tackling under achievement where it is related to poor attendance. To this end, Norfolk is renewing the contract with the company, Welfare Call, to gather this important data from schools for a second year.

You may not currently have any Looked After Children on your roll, but we are alerting all schools to this initiative in case a child in the care of Norfolk County Council joins your school in the future.

As before, we will be providing Welfare Call with a list of the relevant names, schools and carers' contact details. Commencing in September 2014, they will be telephoning schools with one or more Looked After Children on roll daily to determine whether they are at school. If they are not, Welfare Call will contact the Carer and if necessary the Social Worker. A daily report will also be sent to the Virtual School for Children in Care. Additionally, Welfare Call will also be contacting schools on a termly basis to gather teacher assessment data.

Welfare Call provide this service to many other local authorities throughout England, so it is possible you are already receiving calls from them regarding the attendance of Looked After Children from other local authorities at your school.

Thank you in advance for your continued cooperation in supplying Welfare Call with this data. If you have any queries, please contact Wendy Rudd, School Development Manager, Virtual School for Children in Care on 01603 307742 or Stuart Henderson at Welfare Call on 01226 716333.