CLA Changing Schools

When a child or young person becomes looked after, every possible effort should be made to avoid disrupting their education. This means doing everything possible to find a care placement from which the young person can continue to attend their present school, providing this is meeting their needs.

This may mean the local authority providing transport to enable the child to continue at their school.

The same duty to ensure, as far as possible, that education is not disrupted applies when a young person has to move to a new placement. When the care placement of a Looked After Child necessitates the sourcing of a new school, this must be secured before the child is moved so there is no break in educational provision.

An exception to this is when a child has to move to a new care placement in an emergency. In this instance, a new school must be secured within 20 school days. The child's home local authority has a duty to avoid drift and delay. If the child is in Key Stage 4 (Years 10 or 11), a change in educational provision may only be made in exceptional circumstances.

If such a move is contemplated, the designated teachers of both the old and new schools should be consulted, as must the IRO. The child's wishes and feelings should also be ascertained, and those of their parents if the child is accommodated. Even if the child is on a care order, the parents' views should be sought, unless this is not appropriate or possible. The local authority must be satisfied the new placement will promote the child's educational achievement and is consistent with the PEP, which will need to be amended to set out the arrangements for minimising disruption to the child's education and what will happen in cases of syllabus/course changes.

Where a child's placement move will have the effect of disrupting their education at Kay Stage 4, the change cannot be put into effect until it has been approved by a nominated officer at a senior level in the child's home authority.

Securing a place

Looked After Children have been given the highest priority within school admission arrangements. In practice this means they are given first choice, even above siblings. The only exception is for faith schools, where Looked After Children of that faith, get higher priority.

Application for a school place may usually be made either by the carer or the social worker in consultation with the child's VSO. Most applications for mainstream school places are now done online, either directly to the school or to the admission department of the local authority in which the school is situated. If the application is made directly to the school it is good practice to send a copy of the application form to the child's VSO.

When an 'in year' (during the school year) application is being made, mainstream schools are required to give Looked After Children priority in their oversubscription criteria. In practice, this means that a school must admit a Looked After Child, even if they are full.

Schools must not 'interview' a child. They can have an informal meeting with a young person and their Carer and Social Worker but under no circumstances must they formally interview a child.

The VSH should be kept informed of the progress of all school admissions applications so they can take appropriate action if there is any undue delay, avoiding protracted negotiations.