Management Information Sheet
Personal Education Plans (PEPS) for Children in Care - a move to electronic PEPs (ePEPs) - next steps
This MI sheet is an update to earlier communications regarding some key changes to the construction, approach and content of Personal Education Plans for all Norfolk Children in Care.
The first tranche of training in respect of the electronic Personal Education Plan (ePEP) has been completed. It was attended by over 300 staff who are involved in the completion of PEPS, further sessions have been scheduled for April.
The system will now go live on 21 March 2016 and all staff will be receiving their log in details within the next few days. From the 21 March 2016 all PEP meetings should be recorded on the electronic system.
An online user manual is available and some FAQ's are included below. Please contact the Norfolk Virtual School for Children in Care if you have any further queries, email virtual.schools@norfolk.gov.uk
It is essential that the Virtual School are notified of staff changes so the appropriate access can be maintained.
Why are we changing the PEPs?
An internal audit of the quality of Norfolk Personal Education Plans was undertaken in April 2015. The audit looked at a number of PEPs in the county and outcomes of this audit recognised that too many PEPs were not accurately capturing the child's education journey. Furthermore many contained outdated information and lacked the child's voice. The audit made a number of recommendations which will be supported by the introduction of the ePEP.
In July 2015 the LA inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers identified that 'education plans are poor and do not identify how children will get the best possible chance to achieve at school'.
'The quality of the vast majority of personal education plans (PEPs) is also poor. Information about attainment history is missing and targets are not specific or challenging enough. Children's and young people's views are not always evident. This suggests that PEPs are not used effectively to plan and evaluate support for children's education and to promote and raise children's aspirations. The local authority's own audit of PEPs (May 2015) identified a number of areas in which it is not meeting its statutory duties in this respect. ' OFSTED July 2016
What are we doing?
Training on the use of the ePEP has been attended by over 300 staff who are involved in the completion of PEPs. The Designated Teacher will be able to access all the ePEPs relating to children in care who are on roll at your school. If a looked after child joins the school, the Designated Teacher will be able to access their existing ePEP as soon as Welfare Call are notified that the pupil has joined the school roll.
What are the benefits of an ePEP?
The benefits of an ePEP are that:
- The quality can and must be improved to reflect sharp and ambitious educational targets and objectives;
- Templates are readily updated and will keep abreast of statutory and local requirements;
- PEPs will be easy to collate, monitor and evaluate (inadequate PEPs will be followed up by the Virtual school in a timely fashion)
- Additional documents can be uploaded to support the PEP - so they can be personalised;
- We can achieve 100% completion (as other LAs do that use an ePEP) as the timeliness will be closely monitored and schools and social workers will be prompted.
What can you do to improve the quality of PEPs now?
It is important that every looked after child has a good quality PEP which is reviewed termly. It may be useful for your Designated Teacher to review the quality of your in school PEPs. We would ask that you prioritise ensuring that the voice of the child is properly and appropriately reflected in the PEP and that as far as possible that it is a comprehensive and enduring record of the child's experience, progress and achievement (academic and otherwise). The PEP should be able to inform any discussion about education during the statutory review of the child's wider care plan. Targets should be SMART in both the short term and should also include evidence of longer term planning for education outcomes for the child. Many schools have requested Pupil Premium Plus funding and have given the Virtual School plans for how this funding is to be used. This should be built into the PEP and should be related clearly to the targets agreed for the child's academic achievement.
The Virtual School is establishing multi-agency network meetings, commencing in April 2016. The focus for these first events will be PEPs, SMART targets and Pupil Premium. Please see the flyer on this week's e courier for more details and how to book on.
Actions to note:
- Designated Teachers and Designated Governors are encouraged to review the quality of existing PEPs and make recommendations to the Headteacher for improvements as recommended above in forthcoming PEP meetings.
- Schools will be receiving user names and passwords for the ePEP system within the next few days and are asked to check access as soon as possible. From the 21 March 2016 all PEP meetings should be recorded on the electronic system.
For further information and queries please contact Keeley White (Head of Virtual Schools for Children in Care) keeley.white@norfolk.gov.uk or Wendy Rudd (Virtual School Development Manager) wendy.rudd@norfolk.gov.uk.