Growing Personal Education Plans
Children in Care have the right to expect the same outcomes as any other child. Under section 52 of the Children Act 2004 local authorities have a duty to promote the educational achievement of Children in Care and must ensure they have an up-to-date Personal Education Plan (PEP).
What is a PEP?
The PEP is a record of what needs to happen for a Child in Care to enable them to achieve good educational outcomes. The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning which meets the educational needs of the child, stretches aspirations and builds life chances.
How often must a PEP be done?
Statutory guidance states that when a young person enters care a PEP meeting must be arranged within 10 working days. The form should be finalised by the social worker within 20 working days.
After this, social workers must liaise directly with education settings and all other relevant parties to arrange PEP meetings on a termly basis. Education settings are also accountable for ensuring all children in their care have an up-to-date PEP in place, which is reviewed each term.
Find out more about the PEP Process
The PEP form
In Cheshire West and Chester all our young people in care, from birth to age 18, require a PEP. The young person, however, can request one up till the age of 25. Owing to this, our PEP forms are formatted slightly differently for each key stage.
You should receive the relevant PEP form from business support up to two weeks before the meeting date where possible. You can also download a blank word version of each PEP form from this website.
If you have any questions about the form you can speak to a PEP co-ordinator.
Who must be present at the PEP meeting?
The key people that must be present at the meeting are:
- social worker as the lead professional for care planning
- designated practitioner/teacher/person as the lead professional for education planning
- carer as they will be able to make a valuable contribution to the planning process by ensuring that support for the young person can be put in place at home and also in supporting the young person to have their views heard
The key people who are strongly recommended to be present at the meeting are:
- health visitor for EYFS children not in an education setting, and for those in a setting if health is impacting on their progress
- family nurse if one is allocated (criteria as for Health visitor)
- school health adviser if health issues are impacting on school
- young People’s Service link adviser for the school for year 9 students onwards
- young people have the right to attend their Personal Education Plan meeting
How do I apply for funding through the PEP?
All Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) and Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) requests must be linked to the ‘Next Steps’ or ‘SMART’ targets on the PEP.
Please click on the links below for more information:
Further guidance
Promoting the Educational Achievement of Looked After Children
