The Department for Education has released the latest outcomes data for Looked After Children in England and we are keen to share its findings….

Educational attainment gap continues…  

• Educational outcomes for LAC continue to lag behind non-looked after peers by between 25-30% at KS2. 

• Looked After Children achieved significantly lower scores at KS4, scoring an average Attainment 8 score of 19.1 compared to 44.6 for all children; the percentage of LAC achieving the threshold in English and maths at grade 5 or above decreased from 7.7% in 2018 to 7.2%.

• At Key Stage 2 LAC tend to perform slightly better across reading, writing and mathematics compared to children in need. 

• First year DfE has published destination measures for LAC and Children in Need.

• The rate of permanent exclusions for looked after children has fallen and is now less than the rate for all children and continues to be much less than the rate for children in need.

Outcomes for Looked After Children/SEN

• Looked after children are almost four times more likely to have a special educational need (SEN) than all children, and are almost nine times more likely to have an education, health and care (EHC) plan than all children.

• In 2019, 55.9% of looked after children had a special educational need compared to 14.9% of all children and 46% of children in need. 

• 27% of all looked after children have an EHC plan, 28.7% have SEN support, more than Children in Need and more than all children. 

Social, emotional and mental health continues to be primary need 

• For those on EHC plans and those with SEN support, social, emotional and mental health is the most common primary type of special educational need for looked after children, covering 40.4% of those with EHC plans and 47.5% of those with SEN support.

EHC Plan

• Looked After Children with an EHC plan scored on average 6.9 at Attainment 8 compared to 13.0 for non-looked after children on an EHC plan. 

Persistent absenteeism

• Looked after Children are just as likely as the overall population to be persistently absent at 10.9%. Children in Need remain the most likely group to be persistently absent at 33.2%.

Attainment by Key Stage 

KS1

• In 2019, 52% of Looked After Children reached the expected standard in reading, 43% in writing, 49% in maths and 60% in science. Compared to non-looked after children, attainment for LAC is much lower. The largest differences are in writing and maths (26 percentage points).

KS2

• In 2019, 37% of looked after children reached the expected standard in the headline measure reading, writing and maths compared to the national average of 65% for non-looked after children. 

• This is lower than the percentage reaching the expected standard in individual subjects which ranges from 49% in reading to 53% in grammar, punctuation and spelling.

• This may be partly explained by fact that 58% of LAC have a SEN at the end of KS2

• Looked after children progress less well than non-looked after children, with the largest difference being in writing and maths, where looked after children have an average progress score of -0.8 and -1.0 respectively, compared to non-looked after children who make average progress. 

• Children in Need progress less well than LAC with average progress score of -1.9.

• HOWEVER, Looked After Children either with no identified SEN or who receive SEN support typically progress as well or better than non-looked after children or children in need across all subjects.

KS2 - Regions and Local Authorities

• At a regional level, the North East and Inner London produced consistently higher average scores;

• The North East scored 47% for Reading, Writing and Maths compared to a 37% national average; 

• At a Local Authority level, Knowsley scored 83% for Writing, against 50% for England;

• In Maths, Thurrock scored 75% compared to 51% nationally. 

Attainment gap increases at KS4

• Looked After Children had an average Attainment 8 score of 19.1 compared to 44.6 for all childrenIn 2019

• The percentage of LAC achieving the threshold in English and maths at grade 5 or above decreased from 7.7% in 2018 to 7.2% in 2019. 

• Conversely, there was an increase in the percentage of children in need achieving from 9.3% to 9.7%. 

• Looked after children progress less well at KS4 than non-looked after children but slightly better than children in need.

• High prevalence of SEN in this age group (53% of LAC and 48% of CIN) partly explains attainment gap.

• Differences in attainment across exams e.g English Baccalaureate  

• Length of time in care affects progress with those who in long term care having higher progress scores than pupils whose most recent period in care is much shorter. 

Regional differences 

• Inner London outperformed the North East at Attainment 8, scoring an average of 21.8 compared to 20.6.

Destination Measures

• In 2017/18, 78% of Looked After Children who completed Key Stage 4 in 2016/17 were in sustained education or employment, compared to 74% of children in need.

Persistent absenteeism 

• The percentage of Looked After Children classified as persistent absentees has increased slightly over recent years, from 8.9% in 2014 to 10.9% in 2019. In 2019, 32.0% of children in need were classified as persistent absentees.

• In 2019, LAC (10.9%) and all children (10.9%) were much less likely to be classified as persistent absentees than children in need (32.0%).

Permanent and fixed exclusions

• The rate of permanent exclusions for LAC has fallen and is now less than the rate for all children and continues to be much less than the rate for children in need.

• In 2018, 11.67% of LAC had at least one fixed period exclusion, a decrease from 11.83% in 2017.