Designated teachers ePEP guidance
PEPs are education plans drawn up at a meeting, usually held in school.
They are a statutory part of the care planning for each child.
They are designed to ensure that all important decisions, about the education of Children in care(CiC) are made jointly by the corporate parents;this includes all professionals supporting the young person, including designated teachers.
The PEP is an evolving record of what needs to happen for looked-after children, to enable them to make at least expected progress and fulfil their potential.
At what age do children have a PEP?
In Birmingham, all CiC from pre-school (age 2 if accessing a minimum of 15 hours Early Years entitlement, aged 3 if accessing their 15 hours of provision) to age 18 (until the end of Year 13) are required to have a PEP.
Who should initiate the PEP?
The social worker has the duty to initiate the PEP within 10 working days of a child or young person coming into care.
How often should a PEP be completed?
PEPs need to take place once a term, a review of the PEP should take place termly or more frequently if there is a need.
If a child is new to care or new to the school, a PEP needs to take place within 20 school days and then be reviewed each term.
A PEP can be done at the same time as IEP or EHCP reviews (or similar), if this is convenient.
Quality assurance of the PEP
Birmingham Virtual school believe that all of our looked after children deserve a high-quality PEP to support them in achieving to their full potential.
Refer to our Quality Assurance guidance and use this to support you when writing a PEP.
BVS will regularly monitor PEPs for quality assurance using the above framework.
This will help inform us where our children are being well supported by a quality PEP, and also identify any areas in need of improvement.
These can then be discussed during your schools corporate parent visit.
Who should attend a PEP and what are their responsibilities?
- Social Worker completes Section A: this includes; essential information and care information.
- Young Person (if appropriate) completes Section B: child/young person’s views section with the support of the designated teacher.
- Designated Teacher completes Section C: Education Information; attainment levels, attendance, targets, Health and Emotional Well-Being, SEND and 14-19+Plan etc.
- Carer/ Key Worker completes Section D (if they have access to the ePEP system, if not then the social worker or designated teacher can add to the PEP on their behalf.
- Designated teacher completes Section E: This is the record of the meeting that is completed at the PEP review.
Pupil voice
The Statutory Guidance places an emphasis on the pupil/student voice and in Birmingham the Virtual School consulted with a group of CiC.
The wishes of the young people from this consultation were:
- For professionals to be more discreet about meetings, as they felt they needed to lie to friends about why they were out of lessons.
- They would like more notice about the meetings.
- They would like fewer people at the meeting.
- On occasions they felt that the meetings were too formal, too long and lacked emphasis on them and their learning.
- They would like subject teachers from their weakest subjects to attend to discuss support in these areas.
- If deemed applicable, children may want to chair their own PEP.
Target setting
Targets can be: in-school targets, pupil led targets or be identified as a result of the discussion.
Targets need to be SMART:
Specific, Significant, Stretching,
Measurable, Meaningful, Motivational,
Agreed, Achievable, Action-Orientation,
Realistic, Relevant, Results-Orientated and
Time-Bound, Tangible, Trackable.
There should be a minimum of one target relating to Pupil Premium Plus. There also needs to be targets linked to literacy, numeracy or at least 2 academic targets.
The meeting
The discussions that take part at the PEP meeting are recorded in Section E, and this section includes any achievements since the previous PEP and an outline of the PEP meeting discussion, support needs and outline of the agreed plan for the coming term plan.
It should also reflect the voice of the child / young person.
The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning that meets the child's identified educational needs, raises aspirations and builds life chances.
