Central

Education Partnership Officers

Claire Fox/Alison Walsh

Period

Autumn - October 24

Priority

School Avoidance- what support is available for schools when working with children and families experiencing anxiety when attending school, resulting in poor attendance.

Intended Outcomes

Ongoing work is needed to support schools with the available mental health and emotional wellbeing support across Chorley and South Ribble
The Central Lancs TASS work will link in with the county wide work looking at this.
Local needs can be addressed through the TASS partnership and linked to the Trauma Informed work.

Activity last period

Findings and recommendations drawn up from the pilot, including feedback from schools and partners. Main findings indicate that a permanent district panel would be beneficial.
Discussions with LCC Attendance team around the implementation of a more permanent School Avoidance Panel across Chorley and South Ribble
A mapping of district panels and multi-agency meetings was completed to show gaps or possible alignment, from this it was clear that there was no other meeting looking at this cohort of young people.
Invitation extended to all Chorley and South Ribble secondary schools to the next school avoidance panel meeting.
More partners identified as key to the school avoidance panel.
New Terms of Reference and criteria drawn up.
Meeting took place with Lancashire Mind to explore their wider offer.
Meeting with Barnardo's took place looking at the offer for schools.
Schools encouraged to attend the Senior Mental Health Lead (SMHL) network facilitated by Compass Bloom.
EPO attendance at the MHiST strategic steering group.

Planned activity next period

Follow up with PMHW/ CAMHs planned.
EPO involvement with the mental health pathways mapping across mental health providers, this will be across the South Lancs area. This has now been developed for all Chorley and South Ribble schools. EPOs will support schools accessing and using this pathway.
Handover of the school avoidance work to LCC Attendance Team.
School avoidance panel meeting to be held with more school and key partners.

Impact so far

12 high schools attended and contributed to the initial discussion around school avoidance and 4 high schools were part of the School Avoidance pilot, 6 individual cases have been discussed in the pilot.
8 high schools attended the first panel meeting (4/11/24), 6 external partners and discussion around 8 young people.
The School Attendance network across Chorley and South Ribble have agreed to host the discussions around school avoidance.
Commitment from PMHW to offer termly network meetings for schools to come together for ongoing CPD and support around mental health.
Commitment from Compass Bloom to coordinate and facilitate the SMHL network.
80 schools/ partners attended the mental health development session hosted by CFW with presentations for mental health partners.

Exit Strategy

Schools will feel supported in the mental health offer, they will know what's available to them across the district, who to refer to and when. The MH pathways document will be in place for all schools.

Targeted support for those who are the MH lead in schools will be available through the MH partners.

Priority

Increase the number of young people engaging in education, employment and training across Chorley & South Ribble

Intended Outcomes

To explore the number of young people who are NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training) and develop a pathway of support, advice and guidance to improve their outcomes.

Activity last period

Regular meetings held with Chorley & South Ribble Council, Inspire Youth Zone, Targeted Youth Support, LCC Youth Futures, Lancs skills hub & Preston North End to explore how the data provided can be used to target young people across districts.
Inspire continue to deliver in most secondary schools in Chorley including Shaftesbury. This includes work around life skills, aspirations and mentoring.
Runshaw College have made links with Chorley council in relation to NEET specific roles and are attending working group.
Virtual school rep connected with the group and would feel linking to the LCC data would be beneficial.

Planned activity next period

EPO's to explore with careers hub re-establishing secondary careers leads network meetings to share good practice across schools.
Inspire and district councils to effectively use the data from LCC to cross reference contact with young people who are NEET or not known and ensure they are offered appropriate advice and guidance. A system of regular information sharing to be agreed.
Chorley council, Inspire and TYS to explore obtaining the YP voice via Youth Forum.
The group to consider other partners who have contact or support YP who are NEET and invite to the working party.
SHOUT survey analysis to be shared with the working party members to inform delivery.
Post 16 LCC team to keep the working party informed of the DfE Risk of NEET indicator tool (RONI).
To explore the role primary schools can play in encouraging younger children to engage in aspirational discussions and explore opportunities to achieve this.
Next working group planned for 21.01.2025.

Impact so far

The partners who are attending the working group are all delivering services and support to young people who are NEET or are identified as at risk of NEET across Chorley and South Ribble. Bringing together all services to explore the data and good practice from other districts has enabled the working group to have a shared vision and plan to improve pathways, transition and provision to increase the number of YP who end up in education, employment or training.

Exit Strategy

The connections made between LCC and both district councils, along with many other partners who support and advise young people, will strengthen the approach to NEET young people across the district. The plans to explore YP voice along with cross referencing data will ensure some future sustainability in terms of a continued joint response to encouraging participation in EET.