Raising attainment and delivering positive outcomes for Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP) across P站色情片 and Bute will continue to be a key priority for the council in the year ahead.
At a meeting of the Community Services Committee, councillors welcomed positive news on the latest figures on the educational attainment and life chances of care experienced youngsters.
Data on key areas such as positive destinations, attainment and school attendance for the area鈥檚 care experienced children and young people shows that support from the Scottish Government鈥檚 Scottish Attainment Challenge (CECYP) Fund is reaching those most in need.
The latest report shows that 94% of P站色情片 and Bute鈥檚 CECYP have achieved a positive destination. Sixty per cent continued in school education, 11.5% went on to further education and higher education while 13.5% are in employment (paid and voluntary), with 9% undertaking formal training.
The figures in P站色情片 and Bute for those achieving a positive follow up destination exceeds the national percentage for both care experienced and non-care experienced learners. On attainment, National 4 results for all learners in P站色情片 and Bute are above the national average by 12%.
For school attendance, the total average attendance figure across primary and secondary schools for the area鈥檚 CECYP was 87.4% with primary school attendance at 91.4% and secondary at 82.8%. The area鈥檚 corporate parenting target is to have less than three exclusions of CECYP target, and to date that have been none.
The council鈥檚 Care Experienced Education Team has also become the first in Scotland to achieve Education Scotland鈥檚 鈥榃e Promise鈥 award, which validates a commitment to supporting Care Experienced learners.
During session 2022/23, a key development was the appointment in April of a Virtual Head Teacher for CECYP to lead the council鈥檚 dedicated Care Experienced Education team, building further on the support provided for children and young people throughout the area.
The team assists pupils across P站色情片 and Bute, maintaining links between home and school, supporting attendance, wellbeing and learning support.
Councillor Yvonne McNeilly, the council鈥檚 Policy Lead for Education, said: 鈥淲e are committed to 鈥楰eeping the Promise, and improving outcomes for children and young people in our Care Experienced Community. A key priority in our Education Strategic Plan is our dedication to improving outcomes for Care Experienced Children and Young People and care leavers.
鈥淭here is extensive research to suggest that having an additional layer of support with a specific focus on care experienced children and young people has a very significant, positive impact. The latest figures demonstrate the value of the initiatives we already have in place and, via ongoing funding from the Scottish Government鈥檚 Scottish Attainment Challenge Fund, and we will continue to focus on further raising attainment and closing the gap for CECYP in the coming year.鈥