Looked after children want the same long-term things in life as nearly all children: success at school, a good job, a happy family and children.
School and education are very important to them as a first step to achieving these ambitions.
"I want to be free of my past, better than my present and always ambitious for my future!"
Young person on the Office for the Children's Rights Director website.
School is much more than an opportunity to gain qualifications. It helps children to have a structure and a sense of purpose, maintain contact with friends and previous routines and keep in contact with those who may share their cultural and minority ethnic background.
It is a place to make friends and to enjoy new activities and social events. Being happy at school helps children behave better and adjust. Getting exams will help them improve their 'life chances' (Ref: SCIE Practice guide 03, 2004).
Many looked after children have poor experiences of school and low educational attainment. They all want to do well and many enjoy school, but they are more likely than children in the general population to be bullied, excluded or to miss long periods. (Ref: NCB, 2006).
What do you think you can do to help children do well at school?
Write your ideas on the notepad, and then read our commentary to get some more.
- Always show yourself to be positive about education and school
- Proactively make links with teachers and support school
- Encourage and help with schoolwork and extra curricula activities
- Demonstrate your strong commitment to the school
- Go to open evenings and school events
- Value and reward effort.
A useful exercise may be to plot a school network map with a child or young person.
They can plot lines leading from themselves (the large circle in the middle) to the outer circles, indicating those that are of special importance or concern.
You can then ask them questions, such as:
- What's going well?
- Where would you like help ?
- How would you like you to help?
- What can you do yourself?
- When can we do this by?
NOTE: we have included a ready-to-use school network map template in the Extra resources section (tools).
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