The government should expand access to independent schools for children in care
RED BOX | DAVID LAWS, NADHIM ZAHAWI AND JOSH MACALISTER
David Laws, Nadhim Zahawi and Josh MacAlister
Children growing up in care often sorely lack the stability in their lives that many of us take for granted. Those looked after by the state are often moved to different areas, different families and different schools on multiple occasions during their childhood.
This instability contributes to nearly nine in ten children in care leaving school
without a grade 5 in English and maths at GCSE. Fewer than 14 per cent go to
university. Last year only 90 care leavers out of thousands leaving school went to a high-tariff university. We must do more to secure stable settings for such children and give them the chance to achieve their full potential.
Research commissioned by the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation (RNCSF) — a charity that helps secure free places for looked-after children at some of the UK’s top private schools like Eton College and Gordonstoun — and published by the University of Nottingham on Monday, shows that accessing education in the independent or state boarding sector can alter the course of the life of a young person in care.
For the children who can benefit, the high levels of support and expertise available makes them four times more likely to secure good GCSE grades.
The study looked at pioneering work under way by the RNCSF with 30 local
authorities across England and Wales which has seen 150 children who have
experienced care securing a free place in an independent school or a state boarding school in the last three years.
It compared the outcomes of care-experienced young people who attended these schools with that of other pupils who had the same attainment profile as they did at Key Stage 2, and the differences are stark: 54 per cent of the “SpringBoarders”secured good GCSEs, against just 13 per cent of the controls.
The charity’s own evidence shows that those young people were also five times
more likely to get the A-level grades needed to get into a top university, when
compared to disadvantaged pupils nationwide.
Last year’s independent review into children’s social care highlighted the
dismaying reality that 70 per cent children in care moved home, changed school or had a new social worker each year. Only 16 per cent experienced none of these changes over two years.
This precariousness means children are not able to develop secure attachments, which compounds behavioural and emotional needs, making it more difficult to establish good relationships.
If 7 per cent of the UK’s school age population is educated privately, why not 7 per cent of the UK’s most vulnerable children too? This new research makes a
compelling case for priority access for children in care to whatever is the right
school for them — whether boarding or day, independent or state-funded.
Not only does this offer a route to secure better outcomes and preserve stable care relationships, but also offers savings for cash-strapped councils. The research team’s modelling estimates that for every 100 young people supported to attend a state boarding or independent school, there could be savings to social care budgets of £2.75million.
It also encourages more kinship care arrangements, when a child is cared for by a relative because their parents are not able to. Children like Alice (not her real name), who became looked after as a 15-year-old following the death of her single parent and brother, who found boarding school offered her the care, safety and attention she needed.
And Jacob (not his real name) who lived with his grandmother since his birth, but after her death was able to be cared for by his aunt when he was given access to an independent school place. With its longer school day and ability for Jacob to board at school on some nights, that allowed his aunt to continue her working arrangements in term time.
There are more than 1,000 large, mainstream independent schools in England and Wales and these opportunities should be extended to lift the life chances of
hundreds, if not thousands, more children in care.
The report highlights the large number of schools able and willing to prioritise
children for their fee assistance schemes. Far from giving a leg up to children from families with already relatively strong educational inheritances, this scheme does quite the opposite. By focusing places for children in care, or whose social work involvement is significant, it serves a defined group of students who may lack pushy or sharp-elbowed parents.
Given the compelling research findings that have emerged from the evaluation of the scheme to date, the government, local authorities and schools should support its significant scaling as providing a tangible, well-tested route to provide immediate benefits to our most vulnerable young people.
Nadhim Zahawi is a Conservative MP and former chancellor of the exchequer,
David Laws is a former Liberal Democrat education minister and Josh MacAlister
is a Labour prospective parliamentary candidate and author of the independent review of children’s social care.