Introduction to Children’s Services

1. Introduction to Children’s Services

2. Round 1 Overview of ChS Governance Arrangements

3. Other than the Director of Children’s Services, how many Officers are there in Children’s Services Leadership Team? • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6

5. The current Worcestershire corporate plan ‘Future Fit’ has four areas of focus. Which ones relate to Children’s Services? • Open for Business and the Environment • Children & Families and Health & Well Being • None of the above • All of the above

6. The lead member for Children’s Services chairs the Board that provides the strategic leadership for partnership co-operation for all children and young people. What is this called? • The Partnership Board • The Children’s Trust Board • The Children & Young People’s Planning Group • The Health & Wellbeing Board

7. The WSCB is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations in the local area will co-operate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do

8. What does WSCB stand for? • We Secure Children Board • Worcestershire Sharing Children’s Business • Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Board • Working for Safe Children Business

9. Round 2 Acronyms Despite our best intentions there are a number of Children’s Services acronyms which are used on a daily basis. Here’s an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the most common ones

10. What is CIN an acronym for? • Child Identification Number • Child in Need • Children in Nurseries • Care Initiation Notice

11. What is LAC an acronym for? • Library Activities for Children • Learning & Achievement Certificate • Local Authority Cabinet • Looked After Child

12. What is NEET an acronym for? • Not in Education, Employment or Training • National Eligibility Entrance Test • Needs Evaluation & Eligibility Team • Number of Expected Exclusions per Term

13. What is CAF an acronym for? • Children & Families • Care Assessments in Fostering • Common Assessment Framework • Community Advice Forum

14. What is SEN an acronym for? • Satellite Education Network • Special Educational Needs • Sensory Enabled Nurseries • School Enforcement Notice

15. What is CAMHS an acronym for? • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service • Childhood and Maternal Health Service • Centre for Assuring and Monitoring Health Services • Children and Adults Mental Health Service

16. Round 3 Worcestershire Schools

17. In Worcestershire we have approximately 70,000 children on roll in schools

18. What is the total number of state funded schools and academies in Worcestershire (including primary, middle, high, special and short stay)? • 142 • 242 • 342 • 442

19. There are also approximately 83 children not accessing education, known to Children’s Services as CME (Child Missing Education)

20. In England, an academy is a state funded school directly funded by central government and independent of direct control by local authorities

21. How many of Worcestershire’s schools are academies? • 8 • 28 • 108 • 208

22. In Worcestershire 8 primary schools, 1 middle school and 19 high schools are academies

23. Worcestershire operates both a two-tier and a three-tier school system. Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling where pupils are taught in three distinct school types; first, middle and high school. Middle schools can be deemed either primary or secondary depending on the age of the pupils it takes

24. In which of these areas of Worcestershire would you find middle schools? • Droitwich • Malvern • Kidderminster • Stourport

25. Middle schools can be found in the following areas; Bromsgrove, Droitwich, Evesham, Pershore and Redditch

26. Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills and are responsible for inspecting and regulating services which care for children and young people, and those providing education and skills for learners including schools and Children’s Centres

27. What are the correct Ofsted Inspection grades? • Exceptional, Good, Satisfactory, Inadequate • Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, Inadequate • Excellent, Good, Satisfactory, Inadequate • Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, Insufficient

28. In Worcestershire we have 37 schools rated as Outstanding, 158 rated as Good, 41 rated as Requires Improvement and 4 rated as Inadequate

29. Compulsory education is divided into four Key Stages

30. At the end of which Key Stage are most GCSEs completed? • Key Stage 2 • Key Stage 3 • Key Stage 4 • Key Stage 5

31. Key Stage 1 is the first stage of primary education (age 5-7), Key Stage 2 is the later stage of primary education (age 7-11). Secondary education is split between Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) and Key Stage 4 (age 14-16). Key Stage 5 has no legal definition but indicates Sixth Form or Further Education College

32. In the UK, a free school meal is provided to a child or young person and paid for by the Government when their parents or carers are receiving particular qualifying benefits

33. How much do schools receive per child, per day to provide free school meals? • £1 • £1.50 • £2 • £2.50

34. At the last census in January 2013, there were 9,640 children eligible for Free School Meals in Worcestershire

35. Round 4 Social Care

36. Whenever a child or young person under the age of 18 needs local authority services to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development, or to prevent significant or further harm to health and development they are defined as a Child in Need (CIN)

37. Which of the following might be a Child In Need (CIN)? • A child from a travelling community • A child who has a care responsibility • A child with a disability • All the above

38. In Worcestershire we have 3851 Children in Need including those who are Looked After or subject to a Child Protection Plan

39. How many children are subject to a child protection plan (CPP) in Worcestershire? • 128 • 228 • 328 • 428

40. Sometimes it is not safe for children to continue to live at home, or their family may not be able to provide the level of care and support a child needs. When this is the case professionals will make the decision for the child to become ‘Looked After’ (you may know this as being taken into care)

41. How many Looked After Children (LAC) do we have in Worcestershire? • 532 • 632 • 732 • 832

42. Worcestershire strives to have the right child, in the right placement at the right time. This is facilitated through the LAC Action Plan

43. Social Workers form relationships with people and assist them to live more successfully within their local communities by helping them find solutions to their problems

44. How many Children's Social Workers do we have in Worcestershire? • 66 • 166 • 266 • 366

45. Their role includes providing assistance and advice to keep families together, managing adoption and foster care processes, providing support to young people leaving care or who are at risk or in trouble with the law and helping children who have problems at school or are facing difficulties brought on by illness in the family

46. There are all sorts of children who need adoptive parents in Worcestershire, from babies to young teenagers. Most of those waiting for adoption will have complex histories and will currently be looked after by foster carers

47. Which of the following criteria would mean that you would not be able to adopt in Worcestershire? • I’m not married • I’m in a same sex relationship • I live in rented accommodation • I’m 20

48. Adoption is a lifelong commitment providing a loving, permanent family for a child or children who cannot return to their birth family. When someone adopts they take on all the legal rights and responsibilities for the child

49. Worcestershire County Council believes that children’s homes can offer an alternative, safe environment when children are unable to live at home or in family settings and that residential care is a positive placement choice for some young people

50. How many residential children’s homes do we have in Worcestershire? • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5