Vulnerable Learners (Elements included in Access, Attendance and Equalities)

1. Vulnerable Learners(Elements included in Access, Attendance and Equalities) Ofsted Vulnerable children are amongst those groups that may need additional support or intervention in order to make optimum progress. Ofsted cite children “whose needs, dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances require particularly perceptive and expert teaching and, in some cases, additional support“. e.g. pupils whose prior attainment may be different from that of other groups academically more or less ablepupils for whom English is an additional languageminority ethnic pupilsGypsy, Roma and Traveller childrenlooked after childrenpupils known to be eligible for free school mealslesbian, gay and bisexual pupilstransgender pupilschildren from Service Families young carerspupils from low income backgroundsdisabled pupils • Education Attendance • This includes: • Educational Attendance Officers, • Children Missing from Education (CME), • Elective Home Education (EHE) • Licensing Children in Employment and Entertainment. Children in Care Education TeamThis includes:Functions of the Virtual Head teacher for Children in Care • Equality and Diversity • This includes: • Ethnic Minority Achievement • English as An Additional Language • Able but underachieving (G&T) • Traveller Education • Support to schools on statutory equality issues • Partnerships with Community Organisations And pupils from other vulnerable groups

2. External ReviewSummary of Recommendations • Work more closely together with a common and clear focus on improving outcomes for vulnerable learners • Work more closely with schools, identifying and sharing good practice • Work in a more systematic way, ensuring that there is a focus on fulfilling the statutory responsibilities, • Use data to determine priorities and allocating resources appropriately • Work more cost-effectively, developing the use of information technology • Identify the scope for trading services, once statutory responsibilities have been discharged.

3. Statutory Duties Children in Care Education Team Education Attendance • Statutory duty to promote and monitor the educational achievement of Children in Care • Provide advice to schools to enable them to fulfil their statutory duties in relation to school attendance issues. • To provide early intervention (Home Visits) to ensure safeguarding of vulnerable children e.g. CME/EHE • Assist schools in investigating and addressing the reasons for poor attendance and, where necessary, taking legal action • Identify, monitor and track pupils who are, or are potentially, Children Missing from Education (CME) and, where necessary, taking legal action • Assess the provision received by children who are Electively Home Educated (EHE) and take action where the provision is unsatisfactory. • Address and investigate issues relating to child employment, chaperones and child performance licenses. • Fulfil the statutory requirements of the LA by completing school registration audits where necessary to ensure compliance with legislation of maintained schools. Equality and Diversity • Statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups • Statutory duty under the Equality Act 2010 for both LA, schools and academies to have due regard for the need to: • Eliminate Harassment and Discrimination • Advance equality of opportunity • Foster good relations and tackle prejudice • LA, schools and Academy Statutory duty to set specific and measurable equality objectives and publish information Reference to specific activities and the range and levels of activity are referred to in the Milestones Business Needs Report

4. Future Options for the Delivery of Services Option 1 – Maintain the Status QuoServices are funded through a combination of LA and CSB Option 2 – Reduce Services to a Statutory/Core Minimum Only LA reduce their staffing and resources to cover the minimum statutory elements and core support to ensure schools meet their statutory duties. Schools and academies can then determine any additional services they may want to take on or reduce in a similar model to the PFSAs Option 3 – Develop a tiered system of Statutory/Core Supplementary and Bespoke Services Statutory/Core Services - Available to all schools and academies (LA funded) Supplementary Services – Services that are available to all schools and academies but determined by agreement by all schools and academies (CSB Funded) Bespoke Services – Services available to individual schools or groups of schools and academies on a traded basis (ISB funded) Option 4 – Externalisation Determine if these services are ones which could be joined up with wider services for vulnerable learners, SEN, School improvement and others and developed as a Joint Venture Company. Note: No one model needs to be viewed in isolation e.g. the development of Option 3 could lead towards developing Option4

5. Please note this is just an example for illustration

6. Next Steps To find the best way in which to engage ‘Compact’ schools and academies to: • Undertake a needs based analysis of the distribution of vulnerable groups/schools • Identify desired outcomes and vision statement • Develop and discuss potential flexible models that will achieve desired outcomes and meet changing local and national agenda.