14-19 Network
14-19 Network Core Aim—The Early Years (0-7) / Y blynyddoedd cynnar Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Education Costs Parents living on low incomes in Wales are struggling to meet increasing and diverse "hidden" costs of sending their children to school.
Utilise the Children in Wales: good practice guide for schools (training available)
Vocational Skills The opportunities to work with parents accessing early years provision on improving skills for work are not always maximised.
Review the links between early years provision, vocational training, skills development and access to employment.
Ymyriad a chefnogaeth Mae ysgolion llwyddiannus yn gweithio mewn cymunedau o amddifadedd yn gosod targedau uchelgeisiol i ddisgyblion, yn eu holrhain yn rheolaidd ac yn ymyrryd ar unwaith os oes disgybl yn syrthio nôl
Datblygu dulliau cadarn o olrhain a chefnogi disgyblion sydd mewn perygl o dangyflawni
Where To Go? Tackling Child Poverty in Wales - A Good Practice Guide for Schools Or Contact anita.myfanwy@childreninwales.org.uk
ncsl.org.uk Report:-narrowing-the-gap reducing in school variation in pupil outcomes
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go? "not too hard to reach: developing a tool to reach the most disadvantaged families" Teaching Expertise article
Working with Parents The impact of parental involvement and support on children’s education has been widely acknowledged. Parental engagement in deprived areas is often lower than in other areas.
Consider doing more outreach work, including out of hours support and working with vulnerable families.
Working with others Schools alone are unable to tackle and overcome the effects of child poverty on education. Effective schools working in deprived areas develop creative methods of working with others.
Develop creative methods for the recruitment and retention of staff. Consider recruiting from the local community and ex pupils for all staff positions.
Sustainable Procurement In 2005 it was estimated that 35% of the ÂŁ4 billion spent each year by the public sector in Wales was won by indigenous business supporting some 70,000 jobs. Every 1% increase to this figure should relate to an increase of some 2,000 jobs.
Develop a common partnership approach to Buy Wales sustainable procurement that ensures http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/ opportunities to support the local economy and skills development of young people are node/1413 secured. http://www.s-p-i-n.co.uk/toolkit.asp#SocioEconomic
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Charging Policies Charging policies and practice that do not fully consider concessions can limit the life chances of the poorest.
Develop robust school charging policy and practice that Oldham Policy on charging effectively considers the needs of pupils experiencing for school activities poverty and disadvantage.
Travelling to learn/work
Review local policy and guidance and develop travel plan to ensure that learners and workers in disadvantaged areas are able to access learning opportunities in the most efficient way possible. Developing a Transport impact assessment maybe a useful evaluative tool.
Transport is a significant barrier to accessing learning/employment and training. Learners from less well-off backgrounds are further disadvantaged if they are not funded to travel to work placements.
Sustrans travel planning WAG Funding Advice
14-19 Network Participation and Decision Making / Cymryd rhan yn y broses Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Lack of Awareness There is limited awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Raise awareness of children and young people’s right to participate under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Welsh Assembly Government policy e.g. Extending Entitlements.
Useful supporting websites on the UNCRC – list some here. Save the Children Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group and Funky Dragon information on website on UNCRC for children and young people. http://www.sccyp.org.uk/participation/resources.php
Being Worse Off Children and young people experiencing poverty should not be worse off as a result of their participation.
Fully review the individual costs of participation and ensure that up front costs are minimised.
Camden documents
Lack of money Monetary issues can often act as a barrier to attending participation activity.
Develop good practice in relation to the reward, remuneration and recognition of Children and young people’s participation, ensuring that it takes into account the complexities of the welfare benefits system.
Good practice Guide www.participationworkerswales.org.uk
14-19 Network A Safe Home and Community / Cartrefi a chymunedau diogel Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Preventing Arrears
Help to improve tenancy security and transition into stable housing by linking the council’s approach to improving financial literacy skills of vulnerable young people and families to Local Housing Allowance agenda. This could be achieved by developing working arrangements between housing departments/ housing benefit administrators and financial literacy educators.
Financial Inclusion Briefing (cih)
Economic inactivity In 2005-6 men and women living in social housing in Wales had a lower rate of economic activity and higher unemployment than those living in other tenures and of economic inactivity.
Explore ways of working in partnership to join up employment and housing solutions. Review housing related procurement processes and investigate the potential for social clauses and employment skills development. Link housing options advice with employment advice
DWP Report on Social Housing and Worklessness
14-19 Network A Safe Home and Community / Cartrefi a chymunedau diogel Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
The new Local Housing Allowance (LHA) scheme aims to increase financial inclusion by paying housing benefit directly to individuals this poses two risks: 1. There is a possibility that more vulnerable families and young people will put their tenancies at risk through non-payment of rent. 2. Private landlords may face greater risk of non payment if the LHA process is not managed effectively and may be less likely to rent to people receiving LHA.
Develop a robust Local Housing Allowance Safeguards Policy for tenants and landlords that ensures that safeguards are in place to prevent the risk of tenants falling into arrears with their rent and losing their home due to eviction and to provide some assurances to landlords about potentially vulnerable tenants and those who are unlikely to pay.
Local Housing Allowance Safeguards for tenants and Landlords Policy
14-19 Network Income Maximisation / Employment / Heb fod dan anfantais o achos tlodi Income Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Unemployment and worklessness in families are major factors in child poverty. Paid work is seen by the government as a route out of poverty, however the ability to achieve higher quality and sustainable jobs is also important.
Develop in partnership a cohesive local approach to reducing worklessness. That co-ordinates local resource, understanding, data and expertise. Consider the use of outreach services and IT solutions to assist in reducing Worklessness.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation : Local initiatives to help workless people find and keep paid work
The nature and degree of partnership working between Job Centre Plus and the local councils varies across Wales. To date only a small percentage of Council’s have signed up to the Job Centre Plus Local Employment Partnerships initiative (which aims to bring together Government and large employers to help 250,000 disadvantaged people into jobs within three years).
Consider the appropriateness of committing the Council to the Job Centre Plus’s Local Employment Initiative (the following public sector bodies have signed up to this Scheme Somerset County Council, Coventry City Council, Glasgow City Council, Middlesbrough City Council, NHS Wales, North Glamorgan NHS Trust, West Lothian Council, Birmingham City Council). Review HR policies to ensure that recruitment practices are inclusive and do not disadvantage vulnerable groups.
Local Employment Partnerships
14-19 Network The Early Years (0-7) / Y blynyddoedd cynnar Service Poverty
Current Challenges Basic Skills Improvement
What Can Be Done? Develop robust approached to improving basic skills.
Where To Go? http://www.basic-skills-wales.org/ bsastrategy/en/resources/early_years.cfm http://www.basic-skills-wales.org/ bsastrategy/en/resources/early_years/ family_programmes good_practicepack.cfm http://www.basic-skills-wales.org/ bsastrategy/en/cross_phase/ financial_literacy_homepage.cfm
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Curriculum and Teaching Extended Schools and out of school activities programmes that provide effective and complementary educational support to vulnerable children play a significant part in reducing the gaps in educational attainment.
Priorities community schooling in schools with high populations of pupils entitled to free school meals.
Literacytrust.org.uk/socialinclusion nfer extended schools
Basic Skills Lack of basic skills limit the ability of pupils to partake in educational and skills based activities.
Work with the Basic Skills Cymru to develop a robust approach to developing Basic skills attainment at secondary level.
Basic Skills Agency
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Basic Skills Lack of basic skills limit the ability of pupils to partake in educational and skills based activities. This limits employment opportunities
Work with the Basic Skills Cymru to develop a robust approach to developing Basic skills attainment at post 16.
Basic-skills-Wales: post_16 resource
Basic Skills Low levels of basic skills in work hamper the ability of employees to progress and perpetuates in work poverty.
Prioritise basic skills within your own organisations and encourage all partners to sign up to "Basic skills employer pledge". Complete and implement the action plan.
Basic-skills-Wales: employer pledge
School Leadership Schools that successfully address educational inequalities have dynamic leaders who establish a ‘can do’ culture and value and motivate staff.
Further improve management and leadership development for educational staff especially within schools with a high proportion of free school meal entitlement.
The Extra mile : How schools succeed in deprived areas WAG school effectiveness framework
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
School Leadership
Develop a culture which is characterised by an The Extra mile: How schools succeed in assumption by teachers that they need to earn deprived areas pupils respect and attention by using interactive teaching techniques.
Improvement & Accountability Schools that successfully counter the disadvantages caused by child poverty possess excellent systems to monitor and evaluate the quality of the curriculum.
Review the current monitoring arrangements for the extra mile: How schools succeed in raising aspiraeducational inequality and ensure that good tions in deprived areas practice is adopted.
Supporting Educational Attainment
Develop effective Children and young people partnership monitoring arrangements for educational attainment specifically targeting underachievement.
Contact Partnership Support Unit for available resources. Contact Charlotte Drury PSU Manager (029) 20468616
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Curriculum and Teaching Tailor the curriculum specifically to the Schools that are ‘learning organisations’ and needs of the pupils and consider flexible prioritise classroom experiences and learning approaches to teaching methods. rather than teaching have been found to be successful in reducing the gaps in educational attainment caused by poverty.
14-19 Learning Peacehaven Community School
Curriculum and Teaching Cultural opportunities provide many benefits which can increase childhood resilience. Those who grow up in poverty have fewer recreational, social and cultural opportunities.
Provide cultural opportunities that pupils would otherwise not have access to (sport, art and other activities)
Enhancing pupil learning on museum visits (TL_MUSEUMS)
Homework Policies Children from more advantaged backgrounds enjoy considerable out of school support in overcoming their problems that their disadvantaged peers do not receive. The latter are almost totally dependent on out-of-school homework clubs if they are to access such support.
Develop guidance on homework policies that take account of the difficult situation faced by children experiencing poverty and the support that can be made available to them.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ atoz/h/homework/ Homework Policies
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Working with others
http://www.infed.org/biblio/ Consider bringing in role models to show people from their own background that can role_model_education.htm http://www.teachers.tv/video/244 be successful.
Smooth transitions
Develop robust methods that track those at risk of becoming a NEET, deal swiftly with dropout and develop efficient coordinated youth support services.
Smooth Transitions Develop a partnership approach to the In Wales, the proportion of young people not reduction of NEETs focusing on early engaged in education, employment or intervention. training (NEET) aged 16-18 is at a relatively high level – at around 10-12% or 12,000 young people for nearly a decade.
TOOLKIT ALIGNING PROVISION Developing provision to meet PSA Targets for Attainment of Level 2 at 19 and Reducing the proportion of Young People who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) WAG Consultation paper on NEETs http://www.bild.org.uk/03books_autism.htm http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/children/ docs/neet-toolkit.pdf
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Community Schooling Community Focussed Schools: Making it Explicitly target Community Schooling Extended schooling and out-of-hours activities provision at the most disadvantaged com- happen a toolkit are particularly important to disadvantaged pu- munities/young people. pils: they do not enjoy the range and richness of out-of-school learning available to their more advantaged peers. Curriculum and Teaching Schools that are ‘learning organisations’ and prioritise classroom experiences and learning rather than teaching have been found to be successful in reducing the gaps in educational attainment caused by poverty
Further develop pupil centred approaches The Extra mile : How schools succeed in that assesses what would it take to deprived areas achieve good outcomes for each individual child.
Consider using the Scottish toolkit parents teachernet. workingwithparents Working with Parents Parental engagement in supporting learning as partners in learning toolkit to enhance parents as partnersinlearning toolkit has been found to be a key factor in increasing current work. the attainment of vulnerable pupils.
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges Operating within an anti discriminatory framework Teacher labelling and stereotyping on the grounds of socio economic status can adversely affect the academic performance of pupils.
What Can Be Done? Ensure staff are socially attuned and learn to interact with pupils in non-patronising, non judgemental ways.
Where To Go? Training and Staff Development on Inclusion- a checklist for schools Inclusive education: knowing what we mean (E848_1) http://www.teach-nology.com/ tutorials/teaching/poverty/2/
School Rewards
Develop in partnership a flexible pastoral and youth support framework
dfes goodpractice WAG: A whole school approach to behaviour and attendance
School Rewards
Develop robust recognition and reward and practices.
dfes.gov.uk keystage3 downloads
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
School Exclusions
Prevent vulnerable children missing out by adopting approaches that minimise the potential for school exclusions.
http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/ findings/socialpolicy/961.asp http://www.teachers.tv/video/2542
Intervention & Support Successful schools working in deprived communities set ambitious targets for pupils, track them regularly, and intervene immediately should any pupil fall behind.
Develop robust pupil tracking and support mechanisms for pupils at risk of underachievement
WAG A focus on achievement: Guidance on including pupils with additional needs in whole school target setting
Learning Coaches
Undertake Learning Coach training on child poverty.
Learning Coaches (Wales)
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Service Poverty
Current Challenges Communities First Communities First now has a responsibility to address Child Poverty.
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/ Consider good practice in partnerships between schools and regeneration projects that findings/housing/983.asp homeoffice.gov.uk activecommunities address child poverty, skills and educational attainment of the most vulnerable in society.
14-19 Network Participation and Decision Making / Cymryd rhan yn y broses benderfynu Service Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Workforce Development There is a perception that there are skills gaps in relation to the delivery of participation activities relating to child poverty.
Training adults in the participation of children and The Participation Unit has a list of young people living in poverty so that they can participation trainers from across Wales. support, encourage and facilitate this process. The Unit is also piloting a Train the Trainers in children and young people’s participation which will cascade training across Wales.
Limited local knowledge There is limited research on the local barriers to participation caused by child poverty
Undertake participatory approaches to explore the barriers to participation of hard to reach children and young people/children and young people living in poverty in particular.
Download the good practice guide on ‘Ensuring Inclusion’ from www.participationworkerswales.org.uk Contact organisations with expertise in reaching hard to reach groups e.g. Black Voluntary Sector Network
14-19 Network A Safe Home and community / Cartrefi a chymunedau diogel Service Poverty
Current Challenges Homelessness
What Can Be Done? Ensure that Youth Workers, Careers Wales staff and other officers dealing with unemployed young people are trained in homelessness issues
Where To Go? http://www.homelesspages.org.uk/index.asp
14-19 Network Education and Learning Opportunities / Addysg Participation Poverty
Current Challenges
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Stigma Children experiencing poverty from a very young age show a clear awareness of the difficulties that they face in and out of school and how this will affect the outcomes of their schooling.
Develop supportive mechanisms that prevent stigma and bullying
The impact of poverty on a young child's experience of school
Participation in Schools They suggest that it is only through listening closely to young people that we can begin to fully understand issues associated with poverty, disadvantage and educational achievement.
Further develop in partnership to place the voice of families and children at the centre of discussions around the scrutiny of educational achievement and progress the nature of provision to effectively target educational inequalities.
participation for schools web site
14-19 Network Health Freedom from Abuse and Exploitation / Iechyd, a rhyddid rhag cam-drin a Participation Poverty
Current Challenges Engaging local people in learning about nutrition
What Can Be Done?
Where To Go?
Cymru Cooks Cymru Cook website Cymru Cooks supports the development of cookery clubs, as an out of school hours learning activity. Clubs can now register on the Cymru Cook website either by downloading an online form or a word document.