Pupil premium: who’s getting the benefit? Guardian analysis of pupil premium figures

New analysis from the Office of David Lammy MP on the recipients of pupil premium was released last week and looked at by The Guardian’s Data Blog, ‘Pupil premium: who’s getting the benefit?’

According to the Department for Education, “the Pupil Premium for 2012-13 is allocated to local authorities and schools with pupils on roll in January 2012 that are known to have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time in the last six years. Each of these pupils will attract £600. Schools will have the freedom to spend the Premium, which is additional to the underlying schools budget, in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils. We urge schools and local authorities to encourage parents to register their child as eligible for FSM so that each school receives their maximum Pupil Premium entitlement.”

The analysis from the office of David Lammy MP, takes data for pupil premium distribution throughout the country in 2011/2012, and compares it to plans for 2012/13. As the premium, an additional £600 per child in extra school funding, is intended to benefit “England’s most disadvantaged pupils”, you might expect to see a trend towards poorer areas receiving more of the benefit.

However, the Guardian’s Jeevan Vasagar reports:

Buckinghamshire and Surrey are among the 10 areas where the pupil premium will increase the most this year, Lammy has found, while Tower Hamlets has one of the lowest percentage increases.

Government spending on the pupil premium has more than doubled in Buckinghamshire and Surrey this year. In both counties, 11% of children are living in poverty. In Tower Hamlets, where the pupil premium has gone up by 60%, over half of children are in poverty.

Further analysis takes the change in poverty levels for the regions and the collective change in the amount of pupil premium received by that region, and shows the relationship between the two in the following scatter plot:

                                                       Photograph: Graphic

The analyst states “the graph shows very clearly the relationship between high child poverty and low rise in pupil premium”.

The raw data can be accessed by clicking here.

Warwickshire’s pupil premium is expected to increase by £3,698,224 from 2011/12 to 2012/13 to £7,493,400 in 2012/13. As mentioned above, although the criteria for eligibility has widened over this year, Warwickshire see’s a 97.4% increase in pupil premium from the previous year, compared to the national average of 79.0%.

New ‘Poverty in England’ measures confirm Warwickshire’s pattern of need

Credit ratings company Experian has ranked 326 local authorities in England by key poverty indicators, from child poverty to the risk of long-term unemployment. The Observatory has analysed the information here.

The findings for Warwickshire are not unexpected and tend to reinforce our current understanding of the pattern of need and poverty across the county.  Nuneaton & Bedworth, as a whole, performs least well in Warwickshire across all measures, while Stratford-on-Avon is amongst the best performing areas in the country.

One specific observation is that the three northernmost boroughs in the county are considered to contain households that are at greater risk of falling into poverty over the medium and long term than are currently in poverty, relative to national trends.

See the full information here > http://wp.me/pGw9x-NE

Youth Unemployment in Warwickshire

Youth unemployment has been in the national headlines, with more than one million people aged 16 to 24 unemployed across the UK in September 2011.  The government has announced significant funding to support a new ‘youth contract scheme’ aimed at tackling the issue.

The Observatory has taken a look at the state of the youth unemployment issue in Warwickshire. The percentage of 18 – 24 year olds claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance varies considerably across the county, with rates as high as 18% in some wards but less than 1% elsewhere in the county. Furthermore, seven of the ten highest youth unemployment rates are located in Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough. Conversely, eight of the ten lowest rates are in Stratford-on-Avon District.

Click here for more details and to view a visualisation of the figures.

Looking after our children in Warwickshire

Warwickshire’s children are being safeguarded from harm and the quality of service to looked after children and care leavers is good, according to a new report from Ofsted inspectors.

The recent inspection was undertaken by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission between 31st October and 11th November. The overall effectiveness of services for safeguarding and looked after children were judged to be ‘good’ with ‘good’ capacity to improve.

The purpose of the inspection was to evaluate the contribution made by relevant services in the local area towards ensuring that children and young people are properly safeguarded, and to determine the quality of service provision for looked after children and care leavers.

Judgments are made on a four-point scale of inadequate(1), adequate(2), good(3) and outstanding(4).

Seven out of the ten judgments made for safeguarding services were “good” and three were “adequate”.  Ten out of the twelve judgments made for looked after children were “good” and two were “adequate”.

Warwickshire received praise for its ambition and partnership working to support some of the county’s most vulnerable children and young people. The inspectors highlighted many areas of good practice as well as making recommendations for improvement, such as: ensuring partnership arrangements remain robust and relevant case notes are shared with all appropriate key workers, and that the complaints service is effectively promoted and is readily accessible to looked after children and young people.

Warwickshire County Council Strategic Director for the People Group, Wendy Fabbro, said: “This is a very positive report which reflects much of the excellent work undertaken across the partnership in order to support children and young people in Warwickshire. We welcome Ofsted’s judgments on areas requiring further work, and plans are already in place to ensure these are acted upon.”

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “I am pleased to see Warwickshire maintaining our overall Ofsted rating as ‘good’. To put this in perspective of the 47 local authorities that received a full safeguarding inspection over the last year, 9 were judged inadequate, 25 adequate and just 13 rated good.

“We were praised as an authority for strong leadership to ensure improved safeguarding outcomes for children and young people enabling children’s social care services to be protected during a period of severe financial pressure and cuts to other services.

“The report also stated that the needs of looked after children and young people are prioritised well by the council, health services and other partners and that outcomes for looked after children and young people are good.”

In her annual report published on 23/11/2011, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for England and the Head of Ofsted, Miriam Rosen reported that of the 47 local authorities that received a full safeguarding inspection over the last year, 9 were judged inadequate overall, 25 were adequate and 13 were good. None were outstanding.

The full report (48 pages) has been published on the Ofsted web site here  under the heading ‘Safeguarding and looked after children inspection’

 

Spotlight on FIPs

Warwickshire’s Financial Inclusion Partnership launched the Frontline Workers Toolkit this year which helps staff to spot and guide customers who may be in financial difficulty. This is the fifth in a series of articles which explores the messages of the toolkit. This month’s themes are ‘domestic violence’ and ‘community’.

The Financial Inclusion Partnership acknowledges that families in crisis may have complex issues that go way beyond money woes. With this in mind the group works closely with Warwickshire’s newly expanded Family Intervention Project. Sharing an acronym, they also have a vision in common: to turn the lives around of struggling families to the benefit of themselves and the whole community.

The Family Intervention project provides intensive support to highly problematic families across Warwickshire with multiple social, economic, health and behaviour issues.  Common problems include domestic violence, child abuse worries, escalating debt, children falling out of education and anti-social behaviour. Previously the families may have had up 20 different organisations (including social services, the Police and Probation) involved with them and have often rejected their support. Engaging together, those agencies now work with the families and a FIP key worker gives intensive support ensuring a ‘whole family approach’ is adopted. The Family Intervention model is big news across the UK: it’s endorsed by the Department for Education and Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles.

Working with frontline Financial Inclusion Partners is important to the project’s success. Colleagues at Warwickshire Direct outlets, housing departments, revenue and benefits offices and advice service settings and such are in a good position to spot troubled families and make a referral. And they play an important role in the families’ support package.

Mark Ryder, Chair of the Financial Inclusion Partnership said, ”Christmas can be a testing time when the financial burdens and troubles that beset a family might intensify. The Partnership and Family Intervention Project will be working as hard as ever this festive season to engage with and protect Warwickshire’s communities.”

For more information on the work of the Financial Inclusion Partnership and the Family Intervention Project contact louiserichards@warwickshire.gov.uk

Warwickshire’s approach to supporting families in chaos

On the back of the Prime Minister’s announcement about how local authorities should tackle society’s “problem families”, a representative from a Warwickshire project explains the county’s approach.

In a speech in Birmingham on Thursday 15 December, David Cameron outlined his expectations for local authorities to appoint a network of ‘troubleshooters’ to help chaotic families who face a range of problems.

This was welcome news to Ruth Eden, Family Intervention Project Manager, prompting her to speak of the progress already made in Warwickshire. Ruth said: “The Family Intervention Project (FIP) has been up and running in Warwickshire for two years. In that time we have supported over 30 families to address multiple and often complex needs such as housing problems, anti social behaviour, non school attendance, offending, substance misuse and many other issues.

“Project staff work with a small number of families to both support and challenge them to make the changes needed to prevent serious consequences for themselves, or the wider community, as a result of their behaviour. Some positive results have been noted so far.

“We have observed a reduction in the issuing of formal sanctions, and family breakdown has been prevented on a number of occasions. We have also seen the first CRASBO revoked at the local authority’s request because of the incredible progress made by the young person involved in the project.

“Our teams have tremendous input from key partners within the local authority and the third sector and we aim to co-ordinate efforts and methods of intervention to add value to the work colleagues are already doing.”

Cllr Timms, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Child Safeguarding, Early Intervention and Schools, commented: “It is very timely that David Cameron’s announcement co-incides with the expansion of Warwickshire’s Family intervention Project.

“It is reassuring to know that we already have reliable and effective systems in place to identify and reach these families in crisis – a great example of working in partnership to deliver real results in the community.”

Warwickshire’s Family Intervention Project started as a pilot in Nuneaton and Bedworth two years ago to help families with problems to address some of their issues. The project has now been extended to cover all five districts and boroughs within the county.

The latest Family Matters is out now

The latest edition of Family Matters, the quarterly newsletter for Warwickshire families with children and young people aged 0-20 is now available.

The publication may be of interest to some of the families you work with so please direct them to www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fis where they can read, this issue, past issues and obtain lots useful information and advice from the Family Information Service.

To read the latest Family Matters click on the image below:

The latest North Talk is out

A host of information that could assist in tackling Child Poverty is available in the latest issue of North Talk, produced by North Warwickshire Borough Council. 

Included in the latest issue are articles on managing debt, keeping warm and well, the BOB bus project and taking care to avoid flu, to name just a few of the articles.

To read the latest issue, click on the image below:

The 21st Century Social Club

Young people are now using social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, over phone conversations and texting, and almost as much as chatting in person to their friends, according to a new study.

A major consultation by Warwickshire County Council involving 303 young people from around the county, has discussed how they like to communicate with each other, and how they’d like to be communicated with.

Many of the questions were open to all ages, but some were restricted to those aged 14+ where discussing social media only permitted to this age group.

When asked ‘When you are catching up with your interests and want to know about new things how do you get the information?’ the survey found that face to face talking is the highest at 128 young people, but social media is a close second at 113, compared to just 38 reading magazines or 18 chatting on the phone.

Another question asked about communication with friends ‘When chatting what do you use?’ and found that again face to face was highest at 162, but closely followed by social media at 132, ahead of texting each other at 86, phone 93, and email just 22.

The Warwickshire County Council study also asked ‘When we’ve got urgent news how would you like us to contact you?’ and the vast majority opted for Facebook (107), followed by text (88), and email (56).

When questioned about access to the internet, the growth of smartphones, such as iPhones, HTC and Samsung, became apparent with only 30 of the respondents saying they did not have a smartphone, making it possible for young people to access social media and the internet from wherever they are.

The widespread use of social media has prompted Warwickshire County Council to remind young people and parents about keeping safe when updating Facebook or posting tweets.

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “Social media is the fastest growing phenomena on the internet. It provides a brilliant way to stay in touch with friends and share photographs, comments or even play online applications, but if used carelessly can expose you and your children to identity theft and online predators.

“I’m not intending to scaremonger, but parents and young people need to be aware of the risks, and there are a few simple things you can do to make the whole process safer.”

Simple social media rules:

• Pay attention to age restrictions – for example Facebook and Bebo are only for people aged 13 years and older.
• Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Bebo, have a range of privacy settings. These are often setup by default to ‘expose’ your details to anyone. When ‘open’ anyone could find you through a search of the networking site or even through a search engine, such as Google. So it is important to change your settings to ‘Friends only’ so that your details and profile content can only be seen by your invited and accepted friends and don’t forget to remove yourself from search engine results.
• Have a neutral picture of yourself as your profile image. Don’t post embarrassing material.
• You do not need to accept friendship requests. Reject or ignore unless you know the person or want to accept them. Be prepared that you may receive friendship requests or suggestions from people you do not know. It is not a competition to have as many friends as possible.
• Remember you can delete unwanted ‘friends’ from your social networking sites. On some you can also ‘Block’ them as well so they can’t request your friendship again.
• Exercise caution! For example in Facebook if you write on a friend’s wall all their friends can see your comment – even if they are not your friend.
• If you or a friend are ‘tagged’ in an online photo album the whole photo album may be visible to their friends, your friends and anyone else tagged in the same album.
• You do not have to be friends with someone to be tagged in their photo album. If you are tagged in a photo you can remove the tag, but not the photo.
• Your friends may take and post photos you are not happy about. You need to speak to them first, rather than contacting a web site. If you are over 18 the web site will only look into issues that contravene their terms and conditions.

Facebook Privacy information can be found here

The safest way for your Facebook profile to be set-up is for it to be as private as possible, for example only allowing your ‘Friends’ to have access to your information and pictures. It is therefore advisable that you only have ‘real’ friends as contacts on Facebook and other Social Networking sites.

See the image below of the ideal set-up for a Facebook profile. You can find this by following these steps:

1) Click on Account in the top right hand corner of your Facebook page.

2) Choose the Privacy Settings option.

3) You will then see the page below and you can edit the settings to ensure that Friends only have access to your profile and its information.

More information is also available here or here

The most important safety message of all about any contact through social media or the internet is to ‘Never go alone to meet someone you have met online’ and to ‘Never reveal any personal contact details’.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is a government backed agency dedicated to keeping children safe on the internet. To find out more, visit: www.ceop.gov.uk

CEOP’s Top Tips for Staying Safe Online are:

• Remember, everyone you meet online is a stranger, even though they might seem like a friend.
• Always use a nickname when you log on and never give out any details that would allow someone you meet online to contact you. That means your full name, home or school address, telephone number, personal e-mail or mobile number.
• If you publish a picture of yourself online, remember anyone can change it or share it, or use it to try and contact you.
• Never arrange to meet up alone with someone you make friends with online, but if you are going to anyway, take an adult you trust and meet in a public place.
• Accepting e-mails or opening files from people you don’t really know, can get you into trouble – they may contain viruses, nasty messages or annoying links to stuff you don’t want to see.
• Talk to an adult you know well and ask for help if you’re worried or upset about anything you’ve sent or been sent online

Young people and parents are advised to visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk to find out the latest information on sites to visit, mobiles and new technologies.

See the links below for full details and advice from Warwickshire County Council on using the internet and social media safely.

Child Safety

An e-safety information booklet for parents, children and young people

Warwickshire e-safety advice for parents and carers

BBC news item today on Child Poverty