This meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel was scheduled to consider a number of reports on the performance of Children’s Services. The agenda also included verbal updates on the recent Gallions Mount consultation, the proposed changes to Children’s Centres, and the planned items for the next meeting on 12 March 2025.

Quarter 2 2024-2025 Performance Monitor

A report on the performance of Children's Services was scheduled to be considered.

This report focussed on five key areas:

• Children achieve throughout their education
• Supporting children with special educational needs
• Missing education / at risk of falling out of education, employment and training
• Risk outside the home
• Children at risk, suffering harm or in our care

Children achieve throughout their education

The report summarised the provisional Key Stage 2 and 4 data for Royal Greenwich schools¹ and noted that:

• Performance at KS2 continued to compare favourably with London and England.
• Performance at KS4 was above the provisional England data in all three headline measures.
• The suspension rate in Royal Greenwich schools increased, although it remains well below the England average.

Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities

The report noted that the number of new requests for EHCP assessments continues to be high with 375 requests received in the first six months of the 2024-2025 reporting year, an increase of 28% compared to the same period last year.

Missing education / risk of falling out of education, employment and training

The report noted that:

• Engagement in education, training and employment for 16-17 year olds will be reported on in quarter 3.
• Engagement of young offenders in suitable education, employment and training continued to track lower than previously.

Risk outside the home

The report noted that:

• The number of first time entrants to the Youth Justice System in Royal Greenwich continued to be high when compared with other London boroughs and England, but was lower than the average for the Youth Offending “Family Group”².
• The number of first time entrants to the Youth Justice system was significantly above the same period last year. The report noted that
  • Many of the young people committed their offences some time ago.
  • Many of the offences were serious, such that alternative outcomes were not an option.

Children at risk, suffering harm or in our care

The report noted that:

• The number of children accessing FaASS³ remained broadly stable. The proportion of families that were stepped up to statutory services was low, as was the number of families that were stepped down to FaASS, but then needed statutory services again within a 12 month period.
• The proportion of children subject to a repeat Child Protection Plan (CPP) increased. This was being monitored closely by the service.

Insight and Influence Service – Annual Impact Report

The panel was scheduled to consider a report on the work of the Insight and Influence Service. This report aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the services efforts to engage young people in Royal Greenwich.

The Insight and Influence Team was established within the Quality Improvement division in August 2023. It provides guidance and expertise to support the consultation and engagement activity of the council and its partners.

The report listed a number of key activities from the past year:

• Relaunching the Junior Children in Care Council and Care Leavers Forums, and supporting the Greenwich Young People's Council (GYPC) and the Children in Care Council (CiCC).
• Surveying Children in Care and Care Leavers through the Bright Spots Survey, and engaging Children in Care in the Chill Hub and the weekly Funwork club run by the Virtual School.
• Working with young people to ensure their views informed the new Children and Young People’s Plan.
• Working with children and their parents to inform the development of the SEND and Inclusion Partnership Strategy.

The report outlined a number of priorities for the next 12 months:

• Expanding engagement with Children in Care, with a particular focus on those who live outside the borough.
• Enhancing engagement with unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
• Supporting the Greenwich Young People’s Council election process.
• Delivering the Young Advisors programme.

Annual Virtual Schools Report 2023 - 24

The panel was scheduled to consider the Annual Report of the Royal Greenwich Virtual School. This report summarised the work of the Virtual School, and its impact on the educational outcomes of Children in Care, care leavers, children previously looked after, and children known to social care.

The report is based around eight key themes:

• Contextual data
• Attainment & progress
• Further & Higher Education
• Special Educational Needs
• Attendance & Inclusion
• PEPs⁴, Pupil Premium & PEA⁵
• Beyond the Classroom
• Citations of Our Wonderful Children and Young People

Contextual Data

The report noted that:

• The number of Children in Care in Royal Greenwich has remained between 450 and 500 for the past few years.
• The number of Children in Care living outside of the Borough has increased slightly.
• Most Children in Care have experienced 1 or 2 placement moves since being taken into care.

Attainment & Progress

The report summarised the attainment of Children in Care across all key stages and phases of education. In particular the report noted that:

• The progress of Children in Care in Reception in Royal Greenwich was below the national average, but significantly above the national average for Children in Care.
• 71.4% of Children in Care in Year 1 achieved the expected level in phonics. This was below the England average but above the provisional England average for Children in Care.
• The Year 6 cohort made good progress, and scored above the national average in maths. Writing was their weakest subject.

Further & Higher Education

The report noted that:

• 8 young people in Year 13 were offered places at university.
• 20 young people and Care Leavers are currently at University, studying a wide range of courses.

Special Educational Needs

The report noted that:

• Almost half of Children in Care in Royal Greenwich have an identified special need.
• 58% of Children in Care with an EHCP are making expected progress or above.

Attendance & Inclusion

The report noted that:

• Overall attendance for all school aged Children in Care increased to 91.2%.
• Persistent absence was significantly lower than the previous year.

PEPs, Pupil Premium & PEA

The report noted that:

• 99% of PEPs were completed within the six month timeframe for Children in Care of statutory school age.
• 100% of PEPs were completed for post-16 young people in care within the six month timeframe.

Beyond the Classroom

The report summarised the work of the Virtual School to support children with extra-curricular activities.

Citations of Our Wonderful Children and Young People

The report included citations of two Children in Care, celebrating their successes.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Update

The panel was scheduled to consider a report providing an update on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision in Royal Greenwich.

This report provided context on recent changes to national policy on SEND, including:

• The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan published in March 2023.
• The ISOS Partnership report on SEND published in July 2024, which was commissioned by the Local Government Association and the County Councils Network.
• The Big Listen undertaken by Ofsted, the results of which were published in September 2024.
• Research commissioned by London Councils on the inclusion of young people with SEND in London schools published in November 2024.

SEND in Royal Greenwich

The report summarises the current provision of SEND services in Royal Greenwich, including the Area SEND inspection in May 2023, which concluded that the local area partnership’s special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

The report also summarised the findings from work the council has undertaken with Newton⁶ to design a new model of system change. Four main areas of focus were identified:

• Ensuring a comprehensive and effective support offer
• Building capacity and capability in the SEND system
• Spending more time with children & young people and their families
• Transforming the experience of parents & carers

SEND prevalence in Royal Greenwich

The report noted that:

• The number of 0-25 year olds with an EHCP increased by 116% from 2016 to 2024.
• The number of young people receiving SEND Support increased by 8% between 2023 and 2024.
• Most requests for needs assessments are made during transition years.
• The number of young people requiring specialist provision is expected to increase.

Proposals for SEND provision to meet demand

The report included proposals for new SEND provision in Royal Greenwich, including:

• A new 240 place all-through free school for autism with complex learning needs, sponsored by Compass Partnership of Schools
• The delivery of 128 place secondary and post 16 provision for young people with autism with complex learning needs on Hargood Road.
• The expansion of Willow Dene Special School to accommodate post-16 provision and additional Year 7 places.
• Additional places at Kings Park.
• A new moderate learning difficulties (MLD) provision.
• The establishment of a designated specialist provision (DSP).
• Exploration of options to meet the need for additional SEMH provision.
• A new 19-25 multi-purpose SEND facility at Bexley Road.

Secondary transfer 24/25 pressures

The report noted that:

• The cohort for secondary transfer has increased by 10% since last year to 208 young people.
• Of these, 150 need a specialist place, an ASD DSP, an MLD DSP, a specialist school or an independent specialist school.
• There are currently only 77 specialist or DSP places available.

Compliance

The report noted that 60% of EHCPs are issued after the 20 week statutory timeframe. This is higher than the national average of 51% and represents a reduction in compliance from 2023.

The main cause of delays was preparing for NA2 panel⁷, due to the capacity constraints of the Educational Psychology Service.

Comparison with neighbouring boroughs

The report noted that the growth in requests for EHCP assessment in Royal Greenwich was at least 25% higher than its statistical neighbours.

Annual review compliance

The report noted that only 14% of annual reviews were completed within the 4 week statutory timeframe.

Travel assistance

The report noted that:

• The total percentage of young people with EHCPs receiving travel assistance in Royal Greenwich was 29.2%.
• This was 3.75% lower than the average for all London boroughs.

Tribunals

The report noted that there has been a significant increase in the number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal in Royal Greenwich.

Supported Internship Programme

The report summarised the Royal Greenwich Supported Internship Programme.

Engagement with Stakeholders

The report noted that the council was developing its engagement with parents, schools, and Children and Young People with SEND.

The Local offer

The report noted that the council's Digital Team is redesigning the Local Offer website.

Commissioning of Future Reports

The agenda also included a note listing items scheduled for the next meeting of the Panel, on 12 March 2025.

These items were:

• Annual Education Standards and Achievements.
• Cabinet Member Update.
• Social Worker recruitment, retention and wellbeing.
• MTFS Update.
• Childcare Sufficiency.