Agenda item

(i)         Councillor Temperton to Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning   

In the last two budgets, money has been allocated to develop a school of 50 places in Bracknell Forest to support our children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues. When will this project be realised and the school opened?

(ii)        Councillor L Gibson to Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning   

What schemes does this council currently have in place to support levelling up the life chances of Children looked after, and Young carers registered with the borough?

Councillor Temperton asked Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for

Children, Young People and Learning the following published question:

In the last two budgets, money has been allocated to develop a school of 50 places in Bracknell Forest to support our children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues. When will this project be realised and the school opened?

Councillor Dr Barnard replied that a feasibility study has been undertaken for the provision of a Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) hub that the council is seeking to put forward. The emerging evidence is that there is a need for both primary and secondary school provision. He advised that this changed the shape and nature of the project to be taken forward. He confirmed the report containing all the options being considered would be shared with Councillor Mrs Temperton following the meeting.

Consultation work with schools would continue in the autumn term as part of the wider reshaping of the high need and SEND funding provision which would include all schools and College Hall, Kennel Lane School and Manor Green School as links closely with provision for Bracknell Forest residents. He added that the next stage of the process was to look at local provision and service level agreements, see what resources and facilities were available and bring forward capital proposals for 2022-23. He understood that the earliest date the facility could be open would be September 2023. Considerable work was ongoing with commissioning of SEND provision following the updating of SEND propels and plans. He acknowledged that this project was taking longer than expected but this was due to the changing requirements from 50 place primary provision to all through provision for 70 – 120 places. He concluded that this change had consequences on the building which could be used or converted to provide this.

Councillor Temperton thanked Councillor Dr Barnard for sharing the options report, noted the reasons for the delay but also that this proposal was necessary to reduce the high needs budget so it would be better for residents to have a local provision in place as soon as possible.

Councillor Dr Barnard agreed that this would be good for residents and that the Council would continue to support families to ensure that the best use of high needs block funding was made.

Councillor L Gibson asked Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for

Children, Young People and Learning the following published question:

What schemes does this council currently have in place to support levelling up the life chances of Children looked after, and Young carers registered with the borough?

Councillor Dr Barnard replied that young carers were not recognised in the same way that children looked after were but additional support was offered through schools to help with school / home life balance due to their caring responsibilities at home. He explained that youth work and youth clubs which were being built up again following the pandemic which aimed to help build resilience as well as signpost young carers to socially enriching activities.

Councillor Dr Barnard stated that in relation to Children Looked After the Council was committed to deliver the best outcomes it could with processes like ‘team around a child’ to look at education progress, life skills and life chances to focus on building resilience, understanding the consequences of neglect as investing early in children was evidenced to work well. He described the ‘All about me’ project in which social workers engaged with young people to update a record of what they had achieved and this was not just about school experiences. He added that as well as working with the Virtual school on education provision the Council worked with external providers such as Power of Parenting (POP) Charity pay for programme of tuition and catch up sessions and Champion Higher, a project working with those aspiring to go to university.

He concluded that it was about widening participation and raising aspirations for Bracknell Forest’s Children Looked After to have the same opportunities and life experiences of other young people and support the transition into adulthood. The Council works closely with its foster carers and adopters, residential and others that provide support to give them those opportunities.

Councillor L Gibson asked whether he would support the addition of a cycle scheme for our Children Looked After and Young Carers to support them to learn the basics of cycling so they can access BikeAbility training with their peers during Year 5 or catch up and do this training later if they are already past year 5 as well as provision of a bike bank for young carers and children looked after to borrow safe and correctly sized bicycles for as long as they need them and be taught how to repair and maintain the bicycles appropriate to their age.

Councillor Dr Barnard replied that he thought this was a good idea as children quickly outgrow bicycles and the skills learnt through BikeAbility would give children the skills to safely go out and meet up with their friends. He noted that in particular teenagers / young people make use of cycling as they transition into adulthood. He suggested that the Corporate Parenting Panel could take up this issue and, if supported, work with foster carers and other representatives to see what was possible to further support life chances. He concluded that he hoped it would be for a minority as his understanding was that this was already provided by foster carers but recognised that it was worth exploring the issue to ensure cycling was accessible for those that needed additional support.