Protocol between Hillingdon Youth Justice Service and the Hillingdon Education Service Governing Services to School Age Offenders

As a condition of its grant funding the Youth Justice Board requires that a written agreement exists between the Hillingdon Youth Justice Service and the Local Education Authority to ensure that all children of statutory school age worked with by the Youth Justice Service are offered suitable education opportunities.

There are in addition a number of national and local targets regarding the provision of education to children including;

• Youth Justice Board National Standard 8.26 requiring children of statutory school age to receive a programme of education of at least 25 hours upon transfer from a secure establishment;
• The social inclusion agenda;
• All pupils excluded from school will have full time education within 15 days of the exclusion;
• Pupils excluded from school for 15 plus days, at any one time, must be provided with full time education. This is the responsibility of the school in discussion with the LEA.

This document is a response to these requirements. Note should also be taken of the DfES documents 10/11 of 99, Social Inclusion, Pupil Support, as amended in October 2004, which clarifies aspects of educational provision, including Pupil Referral Units and exclusion of pupils.

This agreement covers young offenders of statutory school age residing in the Borough of Hillingdon, including those placed in the borough by other authorities.

Hillingdon children in public care, placed outside of the borough, will be the responsibility of the education service in whose area they are currently residing but liaison will take place through the education officer (for Looked After Children).

Children in secure accommodation will receive their education through the secure unit. The Hillingdon education service, through the Youth Justice Service Education Liaison Officer (ELO) will ensure the resumption of education through local providers upon the child’s return to the community.

The education service, to identify an appropriate placement, will assess children without named education provision. The offer of provision will be made by the Placement Panel (Hard to Place Pupils), which meets fortnightly, in term time.

Education provision in this context may include the following or a combination of the following depending on the outcomes of the assessment:

• Mainstream school;
• School for students with learning or behavioural difficulties;
• Pupil Referral Unit;
• Work experience with Group Tuition;
• Any other learning provision provided or organised by the education service.

Responsibilities of the Admissions Team

The education service is only the Admissions Authority for Community Schools, i.e. not Foundation Schools, Voluntary Aided Schools or Academies. There are NO Community Secondary Schools in Hillingdon. All Foundation Schools organise their own admissions, and are responsible for the process. The Admissions Team, do, however, coordinate the Primary to Secondary school transfer.

Process for applying

All parents apply to each school of their preference. If a school has room the pupil should be enrolled. If the school is full, the parent can appeal for a place. If they are refused at appeal, and no other school has spaces close to the parents’ home, then it may be possible for the Director to direct a school to take the pupil. Evidence (letters) will required, to show all the application and appeal refusals, in order to facilitate a possible school direction.

The school can appeal to the Secretary of State if they wish to refuse the direction. This whole process is long – possibly 3 to 4 months.

N.B. Only parents/carers can apply for a school place.

Support for the process

The Admissions Team will assist and advise parents. If there are admissions issues with Community or Foundation Schools, advice should be sought from the Admissions Team.

The ELO or Parenting Officer within the Youth Justice Service will assist parents (of Youth Justice Service clients) with literacy problems, to fill in forms.

The Youth Justice Service Education Liaison Officer, in consultation with the Admissions Team, will support and assist parents of those children known to the team.

If parents remove their child from school, they are responsible for the child's education and the education service has no statutory duties in such cases. This is not therefore an action that parents should be encouraged to take, as they will lose their legal rights. Home education is known as Elective Education.

If a family known to the Youth Justice Service is considering removing their child from school, the Education Liaison Officer (ELO) should be advised who will then liaise with the Pupil Support Manager. An education service adviser will visit the home to evaluate the education provided by parents at an agreed future date. If not satisfactory the Pupil Support Manager will be informed and a decision on future action will be made.

The statutory role of the education welfare officers (EWO) within the borough pertains to attendance. They only work with families whose children's school attendance is poor. EWOs assist pupils in attending school, and liaise with the school to consider alternatives if appropriate.

Schools have responsibility to initiate actions for poor / non-attenders, prior to referring to the Education Welfare Service (EWS). Additional support is available in schools that are part of the excellence cluster, from staff within those schools. 

Schools refer to the EWS if their action plans to improve attendance are having no impact. Parents and other agencies can also refer for advice/support on attendance issues. Poor attendance is routinely dealt with by the EWS via Fast Track (multi agency) Attendance Panels in schools.

Where school non-attendance is an issue for a child known to the Youth Justice Service the Youth Justice Service case holder will liaise with the ELO who will clarify if there is currently EWS involvement. Where there is not, the ELO work with the school and education service to monitor and support school attendance. Where Youth Justice Service intervention ceases on a case and attendance issues are outstanding, the ELO will refer the case to the Education Welfare Service.

Legal proceedings against the parents of non-school attenders will remain the responsibility of Education Welfare Service.

Pupils can be excluded for a fixed term for up to 45 days in a school year.

For any exclusion of 15 plus days at one time, the school is required to consult with the LEA to provide education. It is the school's responsibility to supply provision (There may be a cost if an LEA provision is required).

Permanently excluded pupils become the responsibility of the education service, 15 school days after the School Disciplinary Meeting has upheld the Head's decision. If a parent appeals to the local authority, the school remains responsible until the appeal is held. An education officer interviews all permanently excluded pupils and their parents, to discuss future placements. The education service will apply for out of school placements. Pupils are offered placements after the fortnightly meeting of the Placement Panel.

Where parents are considering appeals against Permanent Exclusions they will be put in contact with the LEAs Access Officer for advice and guidance on the process, by the ELO. Where the excluded pupil has an Education, Health and Care Plan, the ELO will also put the parents in contact with Parent Partnership for additional support or the SEN team.

Where the student is known to be a Youth Justice Service client, the Youth Justice Service will be advised of permanent exclusions by the Pupil Support Manager in order to ensure that the parents have access to appropriate advice and information regarding the appeal process. The ELO will do this in consultation with the Pupil Support Manager.

If a secondary age pupil is permanently excluded from a mainstream school their information will be considered by the Placement Panel, comprised of Head Teachers and education officers. The Panel will decide the next provision for the pupil. He/she may go to another mainstream school immediately; be referred to the PRU for an assessment and subsequently return to the Panel if a school is identified as being appropriate; or be offered alternative full time provision. The Panel will agree the named school/provision for the pupil according to the ‘Exceptional 2’ policy for accessing a school as a permanently excluded pupil.

It is good practice for schools to set up Pastoral Support Plans for students at risk of exclusion. The Behaviour Support Team (BST) advises and supports schools in this process. Where the student is a Youth Justice Service client the ELO will liaise with the school and BST in order to identify any action, which can be taken by the Youth Justice Service, which can either form part of or support the Pastoral Support Plan.

Any challenging pupil who moves into Hillingdon will also have their details considered by the Placement Panel.

Pupils with SEN are dealt with by the schools, at Stages 1 - 3 of the Code of Practice. Schools are expected to educate pupils with high incidence SEN, e.g. Dyslexia, via the additional resources allocated to them.

Where a school believes (with external advice including from an educational psychologist) that they need extra support/advice/finances then the school refers the pupil to the SNAS Panel. This panel considers whether the evidence provided is in line with Hillingdon's criteria for SEN. If agreed, a pupil will be assessed, and at Stage 5 will receive an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan are monitored by the school SENCO. Parents can receive advice from them or the SEN Team. SEN pupils are not suitable for the Pupil Referral Unit if they have an Education, Health and Care Plan.

This is only available for pupils:

• Who are too sick to attend school;
• Where there is no place available in Group Tuition. When a place becomes available, the pupil will not be able to continue Individual Tuition;
• If a pupil has an Education, Health and Care Plan with no school place available; the pupil will be expected to take part in other activities etc. as provided.

NB Most permanently excluded pupils are not offered Individual Tuition, as this does not equate with full time education. However a pupil with extended work experience can be offered group tuition.

A child on the roll of a school is the responsibility of the school, for setting up and monitoring work experience in liaison with parents. They also have support from the Education Business Partnership for placements. 

For a pupil receiving tuition from Pupil Support Teachers, or on the roll at the PRU, it is the responsibility of the family to access a work placement, with support and advice from the education providers. The Pupil Support Teachers and the PRU will be responsible for monitoring the work experience.

The ELO will also negotiate placements for Youth Justice Service clients who are on roll at the PRU or receiving tuition from Pupil Support Teachers.

Free School Meal, Bus Passes, Uniform Grants (Year 7 & 9 only).

All application forms are from the Benefits Team.

There are policies on entitlement that can be clarified through the ELO. Bus passes for under 16s are now available free of charge from London Transport.

Where Uxbridge Youth Court has requested the court report or a Referral Order has been made the court officer will have interview the child and identify the relevant school. This information will be recorded on the pre-sentence report (PSR) request form.

The admin team in preparing the papers for allocation will fax the request for an education information form (Appendix A: YJS Education Information Form) to the appropriate school. The completed form provides basic information on the child which will form the basis of future discussions between the Youth Justice Service and school. The form has been designed with a view to its completion by admin staff from school record.

Where the school information is not available the admin officer will contact the Education Welfare Duty Officer for the information.

The form will then be attached to the allocation papers so that the allocated worker is aware that the school has been notified and when the completed form is faxed back this will be passed to the report author.

The form requests details of a liaison person within the school who can provide additional information verbally if required to the report author.

On those rare occasions when the child is a primary school pupil, the report author should discuss the case with the Head Teacher.

Hillingdon Youth Justice Service

Education Information

A pre-sentence report/Referral Order panel report has been requested for the following child who is a pupil at your school. The author will be contacting the school in the near future to discuss the child’s progress. In the meantime it would be helpful if the following information could be provided from the school records as soon as possible as there are strict time limits for report preparation.

Click here to view Appendix A: YJS Education Information Form.