Councillors updated on the educational attainment of the city’s care experienced children and young people

25 November 2021

Aberdeen City Council’s Education Operational Delivery Committee were today (Thursday 25 November) updated on progress on the educational attainment of the city’s care experienced pupils.

Councillors were given an overview of the range of measures and interventions put in place to support care experienced children and young people and approved proposals to adopt an agile approach towards removing impediments to attainment and extending the Virtual School to help pupils returning from out-of-authority.

Committee Convenor, Councillor M Tauqeer Malik, said: “It was heartening to learn today of the success of our interventions over the past 12 months despite the additional challenges of the pandemic and I would like to thank our Education and Children and Family Services for their hard work in difficult circumstances in helping our care experienced young people achieve their goals through a range of innovative measures.

“We will look to build on these achievements over the coming 12 months and beyond”.

The measures introduced over the last year include the promotion of uptake in the increased Early Learning and Childcare provision among looked after pre-school children, the ongoing rollout of Compassionate and Connected Trainers to ensure we have a trauma-informed workforce , a 17% increase in the number of care experienced children who have been considered for a Coordinated Support Plan and the roll out of the MCR Pathways mentoring programme to six of the eleven Secondary schools in Aberdeen , with those who are mentored having a higher staying on rate at school.

Aberdeen City Council’s Chief Education Officer will present an annual report on the progress of care experienced children and young people to the Committee, commencing in September 2022.