Children Looked After (CLA)
All children looked after are extremely welcome in the school. We realise that it can be a difficult time moving schools and perhaps having a new person to live with.We will work closely with carers and pupils, so you feel comfortable in our school and that transition into the school will be smooth and you will feel part of our school community within a short period of time.
All staff, including ancillary staff have annual training in Level 1 Children Looked After Friendly School. We have achieved the Platinum Award of CLA Friendly Schools in 2020.
Julia Render is the Designated Teacher for CLA. Julia is trained to Level 3 Children Looked After Friendly School. She liaises with the Local Authority CLA Team and makes sure that each Child Looked After has a Personal Education Plan (PEP). These are reviewed in PEP reviews every six months. In addition, she attends the CLA reviews which are usually held every six months. Where it is possible, we encourage the child/ young person to attend their CLA review and to have input into the PEP. Recently, along with the new ALN Bill, there have been changes to the way in which PEPS are managed and created. From September 2022, we will be running the PEPs slightly differently as pupils will have a PCP meeting as part of the PEP, so Libby Carey will help with this.
The Governor for CLA pupils is Janice Stuckey.
We also have a team of people who look after wellbeing in our school. Sean Gilbertson is the TLR for wellbeing. Sara Nuthall, Lyndsay Moulden and Krissy Evans run the Ty Hwyl provision in the school.
The school has six ELSA's, one per department. Please contact your child's class teacher if you feel they would benefit from ELSA support.
We have members of staff in each area who are Trauma Informed Practitioners and all staff have had training on Trauma Informed Approaches. We are on the journey to becoming a Trauma Informed school and TIS approaches are embedded in our context booklets. We use restorative approaches in our school and our goal is to build, maintain and repair relationships. We have a relationship policy which is central to what we do.
Additionally, we have a Family Centre which is run by Karen Murphy, the Family Centre Instructor, over three days a week. She gives support through organising coffee mornings, organising training on Signalong, First Aid. She has organised sessions for different therapies-yoga, Pilates and reflexology. Most recently, she has organised " Maths on Toast".
We work closely with other services, such as social services and therapies of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy. We also liaise with other services such as play therapists under the direction of social services.
If additional services are needed, we liaise with the CLA Team in the Local Authority. Assistance may include support from psychologists. Please see the RCT CLA leaflet for further information.
