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Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024 - Annual Report 2020-2021

Education - to ensure children and young people are the best they can be

Priority 1.1 All Children and Young People will have improved levels of attainment

Action

We will provide targeted support to families in need, including Armed Forces families, to reduce the potential for children to have an adverse childhood experience

Progress 2020-2021

  • The Welsh Government established Supporting Service Children in Education in Wales Fund` to help mitigate the effect that an Armed Forces lifestyle can have on Service children in our schools.  It is administered by the Supporting Service Children in Education (SSCE) Cymru programme and we were awarded £9750 from the fund for the academic Year 2020-2021. The allocation was based on the number of service children in the area – currently 72 children in 26 schools.
  • The Vulnerable Learners Service (VLS) have worked with the Regional Armed Forces Liaison Officer to work with Neath Port Talbot schools to deliver and address training around the barriers faced by service children.
  • An additional grant of £8750 has been awarded for the academic year 2021-22 and plans on how to maximise its usage are currently being considered.

Action

We will continue to work with schools and other relevant settings to support and provide access to work experience, training and professional development opportunities for those who are at risk of becoming not in education employment or training (NEETs) post 16.

Progress 2020-2021

The period of lock down in Wales prevented some activity from continuing in particular work placements. However:

  • Cynnydd Youth Engagement workers continued to work in school settings to support the most vulnerable young people. Much of this work focused on emotional wellbeing but for year 11’s it also included a focus on transition and completing qualifications. (The Cynnydd project work with those aged between 11 and 24 years old who are at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training)).
  • Cynnydd support was provided virtually to young people not attending schools; workshops with careers and 1-1’s, garden visits to go through work and transition support such as Education Maintenance Allowance forms and setting up bank accounts etc. Resources to complete qualifications were also delivered to homes. As a result of all of this, no young person missed out on the qualification they had been working towards.
  • Our Youth Service Legacy Team supported young people who have been identified as being at risk of becoming NEET from all secondary schools during this period. The interventions varied depending on the needs of the young person and the schools. Legacy Youth Workers supported 176 young people during this period (74 females and 102 males). The majority of this support was carried out via telephone calls although home visits and one to one support was delivered to young people who were particularly vulnerable or at risk.
  • Virtual training sessions took place with young people attending online Construction Skills Certification Scheme Card training and Virtual Basic Food Hygiene courses. Young people were also supported with CV writing, interview, job application support and helping young people open up bank accounts, get their National Insurance Numbers, general forms of ID required such as Birth Certificates etc.
  • Legacy staff have been offering young people emotional wellbeing support to those young people who were struggling to re-engage with schools.
  • During this period, our Legacy Team engaged with young people to identify post 16 destinations and any barriers faced. Work to help engage with post 16 destinations and Careers Wales has begun and from April 2021 plans are in place to visit post 16 destinations such as Neath Port Talbot Colleges Group and Work Based Learning Provisions.

Action

We will work with schools to identify those children who require specific support at foundation phase and key stages

Progress 2020-2021

  • Cynnydd provide opportunities for young people to complete a range of qualifications at KS4, which provide alternatives for young people who have barriers to engaging in mainstream education. These include Princes Trust, ASDA qualifications, work based learning qualifications and BTEC SWEET. To date 170 young people have achieved a qualification through Cynnydd.
  • The Wellbeing and Behaviour Service and Cynnydd, continued to support children and young people to enable them to understand any barriers to engaging with learning. This has included work with children and young people on social and emotional capabilities, trauma support plans and emotional regulation. Families have also been supported over this period; they have been given guidance and resources, such as play boxes, to continue this work at home through the lock down period.
  • The Educational Psychology Service, including the Early Years Educational Psychology Team work through a collaborative consultation model to help identify the needs of children and young people early. Where relevant, Early Years Educational Psychologists facilitate timely transition meetings from pre-school into Nursery / Foundation Phase, so that support can be provided from the outset. This may include support to develop early language skills, enhanced teaching assistant support or advice and guidance for school staff in relation to removing barriers to learning. For school aged children, the Educational Psychology Service offers a range of support and advice to all schools across all key stages in order to help identify children’s needs and ensure the appropriate support is provided. This includes advice in relation to differentiation, training across a range of areas, consultation, assessment and also work with parents / carers.
  • Speech & Language Therapy – A designated therapist supporting social and emotional behaviour disorder (SEBD) provisions in both primary & secondary phases with the aim to improve pupil’s confidence and understanding. The therapist will support statemented pupils with speech and language provision. Referrals for individual pupils are made following discussion with the therapist.
  • Specific Learning Difficulties – Multi-sensory literacy packs allocated to secondary SEBD provisions to engage and measure progress for pupils with complex SEBD needs. The aim is to improve the pupil’s confidence and self-esteem in all areas of literacy.
  • Occupational Therapy – A sensory pack of resources has been allocated to all Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), SEBD & Moderate Learning Difficulty (MLD) provisions. This includes a sensory equipment box allocated to each provision in both primary & secondary phases, along with specific training. In addition to the support and training offered to the specialist provisions, training in Sensory Circuits & Sensory processing have been delivered to schools with a high level of need and to the specialist provisions within Neath Port Talbot. This will support pupils and staff with sensory regulation. In addition to this, the Occupational Therapist has delivered Zones of Regulation training to mainstream schools and specialist provisions. It is a whole school approach to teach regulation and provides a common language to support positive mental health and skill development for all. The framework is designed to help move students toward more independent regulation.
  • ASD – to ensure progress is made for pupils within the ASD provisions, PECS training has been offered to all staff. This will ensure that each provision will have access to appropriately trained staff to enable our pupils to make progress with their communication skills.
  • Outdoor learning equipment allocated to all primary specialist provisions to enhance the pupils’ outdoor learning experiences with an emphasis on sensory play.

Action

We will work with schools to ensure all pupils, particularly those from low income families and those where COVID-19 has had particular impact, can access appropriate digital devices

Progress 2020-2021

  • We provided 9,500 Chromebooks and 300 laptops to pupils to facilitate wellbeing support and engagement in learning.
  • 940 laptops were purchased for teachers to develop blended and distance practices further and support them to provide pupils with live or recorded sessions.

Action

We will work with schools to identify those children who require enhanced non-academic support as a consequence of the impact of COVID-19 to help them to fulfil their potential

Progress 2020-2021

The impact of the COVID-19 on pupils during the last year has been significant, from accessibility to digital devices to emotional wellbeing support and everything in between.

Pupils previously identified and in receipt of support continued to do so while schools and our various services worked together to identify and support those who were particularly in need of support as a consequence of the impact of the pandemic:

  • Laptops and chrome books were distributed to many of our pupils, and staff, to ensure studies could continue.
  • 260 referrals (41 of which were made by schools) were received for early intervention support for children aged 5-16 years. Support included emotional health and wellbeing, domestic abuse, youth work support, support for children with disabilities or an additional learning need, Team Around the Family.  Support was also provided for parents where needed.
  • Our Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) made over 1800 contacts (including 560 house visits) during January – March 2021 to deliver devices, sanitary products, pencil cases, food parcels and books and be ‘someone’ to talk to about pupils’ concerns.
  • During the academic year 2020 - 2021, the EWOs met with safeguarding leads in school on a regular basis to identify and support the most vulnerable young people: 200 young people were identified from attendance reports who had not returned and contact was made to support families/the young people.
  • Two videos on non-attendance were made featuring celebrities and young people .These highlighted the importance of attendance for not only academic reasons but also for meeting friends at school, making new friends etc. to combat the social impact of COVID 19.
  • Resources have been developed including transition packs and social stories, to assist in alleviating anxieties and preparing children and young people for a successful return to school.
  • Referrals were made to the Legacy Counsellor for those young people who were suffering from anxiety due to the pandemic.
  • Our Wellbeing and Behaviour Service has continued to provide support around SEBD.
  • Our Youth Service Core Team provided one to one support to young people identified by their schools as needing additional support on a range of issues. The work helped young people with their anxieties and give them the opportunity to talk to a trusted adult.
  • Training was provided to all secondary schools and special school staff on supporting young people’s emotional wellbeing in preparation for their return to school.
  • Our Educational Psychology Service has continued to offer regular supervision and training for Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) staff within schools.
  • Lesson plans were developed to help staff and pupils manage the return to schools following the initial lockdown. These plans were reflective resource to enable and support any concerns that children and young people wanted to discuss following the crisis. The feedback regarding these resources from schools was very positive.

Priority 1.2 All children of school age will have improved wellbeing and a greater sense of belonging

Action

We will continue to work with pupils, parents/carers and schools to reduce the number of instances of non-attendance and exclusions in all our schools

Progress 2020-2021

  • Our Wellbeing and Behaviour Service continued to work with children, young people, families, schools and other services to provide support for SEBD. This included working with pupils and staff on school site, carrying out garden visits to support families, multi-agency working and support for our SEBD provisions. Training was delivered to school staff on Working with Pupils with SEBD, Trauma Informed Approaches and Team Teach, all of which include practical tools for emotional regulation and de-escalation.
  • A trauma informed pastoral support plan has been developed and schools will be consulted on this in the autumn term 2021.
  • Cynnydd continued to work in schools to support the most vulnerable pupils. Recent feedback from Estyn said that ‘the service plays a key role in supporting vulnerable pupils to improve their behaviour, attainment and attendance’.
  • 91% of pupils who have left Cynnydd are at reduced risk of becoming NEET due to improved attendance, attainment and behaviour.

Action

We will continue to work with parents/carers of pre-school children to ensure that they are prepared for school

Progress 2020-2021

  • Flying Start and Families First parenting teams continue to work with families with pre-school children, to support good parenting and to help parents support their child’s healthy development.
  • Through WG’s Child Development Fund, we have offered additional activities for children under five and their parents, aimed at supporting children impacted by COVID.  Activities were delivered which supported:
    • Speech, language and communication
    • Gross and fine motor skills
    • Social and emotional development
    • Early years nutrition

Additional funding has recently been confirmed for October 21-March 22 and plans are being discussed with partners to continue delivery of projects.

  • Referrals for support services are received through our Early Intervention and Prevention Panel, which directs families to appropriate early intervention services.  Services are able to support children and parents to address issues that may be impacting on ability to parent or on children’s development, including domestic abuse and emotional and mental wellbeing.  Approximately 25% of referrals received in 2020/21 were for families with a child under 5 years of age.
  • The Childcare Offer for Wales provides funded childcare to children aged 3 and 4 years with working parents.  The scheme was suspended in April 2020 and the temporary Coronavirus Childcare Assistance Scheme (CCAS) was introduced for vulnerable children and children of key workers.  824 children in NPT were approved for CCAS.  The Childcare Offer was reinstated in September 2020, with 806 active users by end April 2021.
  • The Flying Start programmes continues to support families with early years’ children in some of the counties most deprived areas.  Throughout COVID, much of the programme was delivered remotely through Teams and Zoom, but children have continued to access their free childcare place.  Approx. 1700 children under four were engaged with at least one element of the programme.
  • Support is provided to children with additional learning needs access childcare, supporting their development and their preparedness for school.  Spaces are funded through Childcare Offer, Flying Start and O Gam I Gam, and the teams sit as part of the Early Years Multi-Agency Panel to co-ordinate support with partners

Action

We will collect data from schools and support schools to address bullying and harassment in all its forms and work with them to address trends/issues

Progress 2020-2021

Pupil bullying incidents are recorded by schools using schools information management system. This information will be looked at to identify trends and support schools where there are numerous incidents. We are currently reviewing our anti-bullying guidance, which will support schools in addressing instances of bullying and harassment.

Action 

We will work with schools and other relevant settings to support pupils who are victims of bullying and work with perpetrators of bullying

Progress 2020-2021

  • Cynnydd continue to work with young people who are both victims and perpetrators of bullying through 1-1 and group work sessions. Work with perpetrators focuses on understanding behaviour and why bullying occurs.
  • Restorative training for schools has been developed and will be rolled out in the autumn term. This will give schools even more tools to deal with bullying incidents.
  • Our Inclusion Service provides training and advice to schools to support the emotional wellbeing of all children and young people.

Action

We will continue to work with schools and other relevant settings to ensure that their learning environments are safe and nurturing, where there is respect and due regard to equality, diversity and inclusion

Progress 2020-2021

  • A grant from Welsh Government has provided funding for all schools to have outdoor learning packs; the Wellbeing and Behaviour Service have enhanced this by including activities. The service are also offering outdoor learning training and consultations to develop forest school areas on school sites. One team member has recently completed forest school level 3 training the trainer which will allow full forest school leader training to be provided to schools

Action 

We will work with schools to explore the benefits of employing Family Liaison Officers or similar roles, including a cluster approach, out of delegated budgets in order to support pupils and parents to overcome challenges that impact negatively on learning and wellbeing.

Progress 2020-2021

  • Education Support Officers will be visiting schools to review the School Development plans (SDP) and the self-evaluation process. The support offered to pupils and parents will be a specific focus. e.g. Case study from Awel y Mor on effective use of a Family Engagement Officer will form part of the national guidance on effective use of the Pupil Development Grant.
  • The Council is working strategically with The Child Poverty Action Group and the ‘Cost of the School Day’ project, which will support targeted schools to develop approaches to engaging with families to overcome barriers to learning.

Action

We will work in partnership with schools and local organisations to ensure our children and young people ‘are knowledgeable about their culture, community, society and the world now and in the past and respect the needs and rights of others, as a member of a diverse society’

Progress 2020-2021

  • Education Support Officers collaborate with schools to develop the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales, which includes the need to develop learners as ethical and informed members of society and healthy, confident individuals.
  • The local authority strategy for learning and teaching is a plan to develop learners’ higher order thinking. Higher order thinking, particularly creative learning leads to wide-ranging benefits including improved wellbeing and better employability prospects

Action

We will work with schools and local organisations to ensure teaching of the new curriculum reflects the multi-ethnic nature of Wales

Progress 2020-2021

  • Education Support Officers collaborate with schools to develop the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales, which includes the need to develop learners as ethical and informed members of society and healthy, confident individuals.
  • Specific integration work carried out by the Local Authority Vulnerable Learners Service supports schools to develop this culture through training and the sharing of a wide range of resources.