Children in care get reading help (From Swindon Advertiser)

Children in care get reading help

6:43pm Sunday 24th June 2007 in News By Anna Mansell

SOME of Swindon's youngest and most vulnerable residents are starting to benefit from improvements to their education, according to the council's 33rd pledge.

Education is a concern regarding children in care as they are often behind in school due to the fragile state of their home lives.

Just more than 12 months ago, under the council's pledges, reading had become a key focus, with fines being waived on children's library books borrowed by foster carers and 24 library books permitted to be borrowed at a time, instead of the usual 16.

Since then, all children in care have received a £10 book token and foster carers have been trained to support their reading.

Coun Garry Perkins, the lead member for children's services, said: "Across the country, children in care achieve at a lower level than their peers, so we are investing in making sure that they have the basic skills.

"Following the success of Putting Reading First in Swindon, we have now delivered the numeracy training for foster carers and have materials available for loan to foster carers to enable them to reinforce the strategies used in school in maths."

And the statistics are backing up the improvements, with just five per cent of children in care in Swindon missing 25 days of school each year, compared with the national average of 13 per cent, making the authority one of the best performers in the country.

Coun Perkins said: "As elected representatives of the community, all councillors take an interest in the educational welfare of our children in care and are pleased that attainment levels have improved since the launch of this promise.

"We are working with our colleagues in health to offer support to children in care with emotional needs that may prevent them from accessing education fully."

Another development for children in care is the appointment of a personal education plan co-ordinator, who is responsible for drawing up education plans identifying targets to be agreed by the young person involved.

These are reviewed every six months and further targets set, with council support provided if there is a need for extra support to catch up on work.