Personal Education Planning

All children in care must have a care plan, of which the Personal Education Plan (PEP) is an integral part. Every child from Nursery to Year 13 should have an up-to-date PEP in place. All of those involved in the process of developing the PEP should use it to support the personalised learning of the child or young person.

The PEP is an evolving record of what needs to happen for children in care to enable them to make expected progress and fulfil their potential. The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning, that meets the identified educational needs of the child, raises aspirations and builds life chances.

The quality of the PEP is the joint responsibility of the local authority that looks after the child and the school. Social workers, carers, VSHs, Designated Teachers and, as appropriate, other relevant professionals should work closely together. 

All of those involved in the PEP process at all stages should involve the child (according to understanding and ability) and, where appropriate, the child's parent and/or relevant family member.

Waltham Forest uses an online platform (ePEP) for all Personal Education Plans

If you have not received your login details, please contact the Virtual School

Email: virtual.school@walthamforest.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8496 1741.

Initiating, developing and reviewing the PEP

The different responsibilities for the different people involved in a child's PEP are listed below.

The Designated Teacher should:

  • Chair the PEP meeting and complete their section of the ePEP form.
  • Lead on how the PEP is developed and used in school to make sure the child's progress towards education targets is monitored.
  • Ensure that the PEP contains a summary of the child's current attainment and progress.
  • Include SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) short-term targets, including progress monitoring of each of the areas identified against development and educational needs.
  • Include SMART longer-term plans for educational targets and aspirations. These should, according to age and understanding, typically focus on public examinations, further and higher education, managing money and savings, work experience and career plans and aspirations.
  • Identify developmental (including any related to attachment) and educational needs (short and longer term) in relation to skills, knowledge, subject areas and experiences.
  • Identify actions, with time scales, for specific individuals intended to support the achievement of agreed targets and use of any additional resources (e.g. the Pupil Premium Plus) specifically designated to support the attainment of children in care.
  • Highlight access to effective intervention strategies and how this will make/has made a difference to achievement levels.

The Social Worker should:

  • Contact the school to initiate a PEP meeting. This should take place at least termly; the date of the next meeting should be set during the PEP meeting. Where a child is without a school place, the PEP should take place at the home placement and involve education providers if appropriate. See PEP initiation flowchart (below) for more details.
  • Ensure that where a child is placed in an emergency the PEP is initiated within 10 working days of their becoming looked after, wherever they are placed.
  • Complete their section of the ePEP form ahead of the meeting.
  • Ensure that the completed PEP is available for the LAC review.
  • Alert the Independent Reviewing Officer to any significant changes to the child's PEP such as the breakdown or change of an education placement so that the IRO can decide whether a review of the care plan is required.

Young people should:

  • Attend their PEP meetings. Where it is not possible to attend a whole meeting, the young person should attend for at least part of the meeting or put forward their views in a way they feel comfortable with; this may include speaking with a Key Person at school or home before the PEP meeting, writing their views down, drawing, submitting photos or recording a short video.

The Virtual School should:

  • Quality Assure PEPs to ensure that they are timely, effective and of high quality. PEPs should be a 'living', evolving, comprehensive and enduring record of the child's experience, progress and achievement (academic and otherwise) and inform any discussion about education during the statutory review of the child's wider care plan.
  • Support Social Workers, Foster Carers and Designated Teachers to play an active role in the PEP process through training and support.
  • Attend PEP meetings in line with the published VS attendance criteria (see below).

    Independent Reviewing Officers should: 

    • Ensure that the PEP's effectiveness is scrutinised in sufficient detail as part of the statutory review and at other times if necessary. Where a child has special educational needs, the IRO should ensure that the PEP review is linked with any review of those needs.
    • Raise any unresolved concerns about a child's PEP or education provision with social workers and the VSH.

    Foster Carers should:

    • Attend every PEP meeting.
    • Put forward their views as to how their child is best supported.
    • Celebrate the child's achievements both in and out of school.

    Pupil Premium Plus

    The Virtual School will allocate to each school, with a Waltham Forest child in care on roll, an annual PPP grant on receipt of a completed PEP from the school. Their PEP must identify how the school will use the Pupil Premium Plus for the academic year, the intended outcomes and make clear the links to the child/young person's PEP targets.

    An invoice from the school must be submitted along with the completed PEP. Pupil Premium Plus will be allocated in accordance with each child's needs, up to a maximum of £1,900.

    It must be used to improve educational outcomes for children and young people in the following areas:

    • Academic achievement and progress
    • Wider achievement e.g. in an area in which the child is gifted and talented or to raise aspirations
    • Transition into the next key stage and/or a new learning provider

    The Pupil Premium Plus will only be provided to meet the needs identified in a high quality plan in the PEP with clear quantitative, and exceptionally qualitative, targets for improvement, underpinned by well-targeted support.

    Guidance on the efficacy of a range of interventions can be found in the Sutton Trust Toolkit.

    Schools will be asked to review and detail the impact of the PPP via the PEP for each application they submit for further funding. This will be used for evaluation purposes.

    Please contact The Virtual School for more information.

    Downloads

    E PEP User Guide

    User guide for the ePEP online system

    Download

    Virtual School PEP Attendance Criteria

    How PEP is reviewed at each level.

    Download

    PEP Initiation Flow Chart

    Download

    WF Agenda for PEP Meeting

    Example agenda for a Waltham Forest PEP Meeting

    Download

    Round Robin Agenda Template

    Email or letter template for staff

    Download

    Education Information Checklist

    Checklist for teacher on information needed for a PEP meeting

    Download

    Sutton Trust Toolkit

    Teaching and learning toolkit

    Download

    WFVS Pupil Premium Policy

    Waltham Forest Virtual School Pupil Premium Plus Policy

    Download

    Rees Report Overview

    Download
    Last update: Wednesday 1st of July 2020 10:24:06 AM