Personal Education Plan (PEP) for Cared for Children
The PEP is a record of what needs to happen for a cared for child to achieve good educational outcomes by making expected progress and fulfil their potential. PEPs should be of high quality and reviewed each term. PEPs are the joint responsibility of the Local Authority and the school. Social Workers will implement the PEP and ensure it is effective and available for reviews while schools will take the lead in implementing and maintaining the PEP as well as monitoring the impact of any interventions. The Virtual School will support all parties and monitor the PEPs, providing support where needed. The first PEP should take place within 10 days of a child coming into care, and forms part of the Local Authority Care Plan. The process is subject to Ofsted inspection, and the documentation should be available in the child’s record.
Personal Education Plan process
Complete as much as possible prior to the PEP meeting, so that the focus can be around review of progress achieved related to past interventions and Pupil Premium expenditure, any barriers to learning, and future actions planned to progress or extend learning.
Completing a Personal Education Plan (PEP)
Cheshire East operates an ePEP system which is accessed online via a portal link to the children’s information system Liquid Logic the PEP forms an integral part of a Cared for Child’s care plan. This is the safest and most efficient way to share the plan.
Designated Teachers for Cared for Children in schools need to become users of this system to enable them to complete the necessary plan. The Designated Teacher and their school need to enter into a data sharing agreement. Once this process is complete a log in to the portal can be created.
Instructions and guidance
Designated Teachers for Cared for Children in a Cheshire East schools should contact Deborah.bradbury@cheshireeast.gov.uk if you need further guidance.
Once a date for PEP meeting has been agreed between the school and social worker the Virtual School team will delegate the ePEP as a task to the ‘in tray’ of the user in the portal. This will be available to be completed online and submitted back once finished. This will then be reviewed and finalised by an Education Adviser of the Virtual School. Word document templates for PEPs are available via the Virtual School administration team if the system is interrupted.
Attainment and progress monitoring
When a child enters care, the school or college are asked to give a baseline of their current attainment and progress so that appropriate targets and interventions can be put into place.
At the end of each term, further attainment and progress data will be collected. Schools are asked to work with their data managers to ensure this is returned as it will be used to monitor impact and inform future planning.
‘My Voice’
Two versions are available, for children aged 5 – 11 years, and 11 – 16 years. The aim of the form is to get children to state how they feel about their school routine, and life beyond the school gates at the date they complete the form. Children should always be given the opportunity to attend and contribute to their PEP meetings, even if for only part of it.
Page last reviewed: 24 September 2021