Common use of Care Leavers Clause in Contracts

Care Leavers. The College is cognisant of its duties under The Children and Young People’s (Scotland) Act 2014 in relation to young people in care and care leavers and our duty as Corporate Parents to understand the lives of Scotland’s looked after young people and care leavers and respond to their needs as any parent should. In collaboration with our CPP colleagues, we are working on producing a Corporate Parent Plan for the College that will outline our responsibilities and actions. The College nurtures a positive partnership and close working relationship with West Lothian Children & Families Steering Board in our commitment to further develop and improve the level and quality of the support offered for this cohort and to raise the number of care-experienced students enrolling and successfully attaining at West Lothian College. We were awarded the Buttle UK Quality Mark, which endorsed our commitment to young people in and leaving care, and are committed to increase our targets and activity with this vulnerable group of learners. We work closely with West Lothian Council External Hub members, including West Lothian Young Carers and Youth Inclusion Project, to remove barriers to participation and successful outcomes among young people in care and care leavers whilst supporting the CPP commitment to GIRFFEC to reduce the actual number of young people in and leaving care. We are also an active member of the Care Experienced and Carers East Forum (CECEF) led by ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ University. Recent innovative practice has seen the appointment of a Positive Participation Officer, an employee of West Lothian Council, joining our Support for Learning Team. Based at the College, the Officer is working collaboratively with College and SDS staff to identify vulnerable learners, particularly care experienced individuals, who are at risk of negative destinations to offer support into sustained employment, education or training. Positive action to identify and further support our care experienced and young carer learners will see the application form revised to include a field to guarantee those declared learners with interview for their first course of choice. Furthermore, the College’s Workforce Development Team is supporting three new recruits with an SVQ in Business Administration level 3, appointed by Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA), all of whom have experience of the Children’s Hearings System and/or being in care. The College’s commitment to enhancing employer engagement has seen the appointment at the start of academic year 2014/15 of two Employer Engagement Officers. Their targeted approach to working cross College with individual Centres has resulted in appropriately targeted exposure for learners to work experiences and employment opportunities. Employers are involved in the life and work of the College by attending career fairs, interviewing students, influencing course designs, providing work experiences, giving industrial talks and facilitating site visits. Employers are also increasingly working collaboratively with College staff to recruit Modern Apprentices to their businesses. The growth of the College’s reputation as a centre of excellence for delivery of health and social care and early years work-based qualifications was one of the factors which contributed to the achievement of the on-going very prestigious national contract for delivery of all training for the Children’s Hearing Panel members in Scotland. The College is working collaboratively with West Lothian Chamber of Commerce, the Department for Work and Pensions and JobCentre Plus to support a joint initiative to provide 18-24 year olds with opportunities to develop the skills necessary to succeed in interviews and secure employment. Called #getajob, the two-week programme provides a series of workshops followed by an interview with a West Lothian employer to finally undertake work experience on site with the business. The programme is run by a team of College tutors and employers from West Lothian Chamber of Commerce, including ClickNetherfield, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Houston House Hotel, event catering company Food Creations, security solutions company Servoca and Mitsubishi Electric plus many more throughout the scheme. Early discussions are underway to provide training for NHS staff and initial contact is being explored with a large food retailer. The College has a very positive relationship with West Lothian Chamber of Commerce, West Lothian Business Gateway, Federation of Small Businesses and with local employers who contribute to curriculum planning and design. Very positive initial meetings have already taken place with West Lothian Chamber of Commerce to establish an inaugural West Lothian Developing the Young Workforce Group. The College views employer engagement as critical in terms of: enhanced learner experience through work experience and industry visits; taking College learning and training into workplaces to up-skill the working population; ensuring academic staff have current vocational skills sets; involving employers in course planning and self-evaluations; and realising contracts to provide learning and training and generate a level of reinvested income.

Care Leavers. The College is cognisant University of its duties under The Children and Young People’s (Scotland) Act 2014 in relation to Brighton has a long established track record of working successfully with care experienced young people in care and care leavers and our duty as Corporate Parents we will continue to understand the lives of Scotland’s run a Spring School specifically aimed at looked after young people in East Sussex and provide lead sponsorship for the EPIC (Exceptional People in Care) Awards with West Sussex County Council. As noted in the previous Access Agreement we have established a cross-institution Care Leavers’ Group which is working well to bring together staff that have a key role to play with care experienced students across the student lifecycle. As a result of the work of this group, the Momentum mentoring programme offered by the University of Brighton Careers Service will target careers mentoring opportunities specifically to care leavers in 2015 and respond this will be extended to their needs as any parent should. In collaboration with our CPP colleagues, we are working on producing a Corporate Parent Plan for the College that will outline our responsibilities and actionsyoung carers from 2016. The College nurtures a positive partnership group is also working to support care leavers on entry into university and close working relationship in 2015 will be providing welcome packs of catering and bedding supplies for those students in halls of residence to ensure that they are equipped with West Lothian Children & Families Steering Board in our commitment to further develop and improve the level and quality some of the support offered for this cohort and to raise the number of care-experienced students enrolling and successfully attaining at West Lothian College. We were awarded the Buttle UK Quality Mark, which endorsed our commitment to young people in and leaving care, and are committed to increase our targets and activity with this vulnerable group of learners. We work closely with West Lothian Council External Hub members, including West Lothian Young Carers and Youth Inclusion Project, to remove barriers to participation and successful outcomes among young people in care and care leavers whilst supporting the CPP commitment to GIRFFEC to reduce the actual number of young people in and leaving care. We are also an active member of the Care Experienced and Carers East Forum (CECEF) led by ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ University. Recent innovative practice has seen the appointment of a Positive Participation Officer, an employee of West Lothian Council, joining our Support for Learning Team. Based at the College, the Officer is working collaboratively with College and SDS staff to identify vulnerable learners, particularly care experienced individuals, who are at risk of negative destinations to offer support into sustained employment, education or training. Positive action to identify and further support our care experienced and young carer learners basic items that they will see the application form revised to include a field to guarantee those declared learners with interview for their first course of choice. Furthermore, the College’s Workforce Development Team is supporting three new recruits with an SVQ in Business Administration level 3, appointed by Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA), all of whom have experience of the Children’s Hearings System and/or being in care. The College’s commitment to enhancing employer engagement has seen the appointment need at the start of academic year 2014/15 term. The University has established successful partnerships with the Virtual Schools in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex to support looked after children and their educational progression. We will continue to work in collaboration with all of two Employer Engagement Officersthe Virtual schools and care leaving teams that our Care Leaver entrants are attached to in order to support their Pathway Plans. Their targeted During 2016-17 we will look to further develop work initiated in 2105-16 to consider how we may better support the progression into HE, retention, success and progression from university for this group of young people. We aim to do this by working with local groups that support young carers and expanding our Care Leaver Group to consider issues faced by this particular group of young people. As noted in the previous Access Agreement we believe that a holistic approach to working cross College widening participation cannot be achieved without the involvement of parents and carers. The university has appointed a member of staff with individual Centres has resulted in appropriately targeted exposure for learners a specific remit to work experiences with parents and employment opportunities. Employers are involved in the life carers and work of the College by attending career fairs, interviewing students, influencing course designs, providing work experiences, giving industrial talks and facilitating site visits. Employers are also increasingly working collaboratively with College staff to recruit Modern Apprentices to their businesses. The growth of the College’s reputation as a centre of excellence for delivery of health and social care and early years work-based qualifications was one of the factors which contributed to the achievement of the on-going very prestigious national contract for delivery of all training for the Children’s Hearing Panel members in Scotland. The College is working collaboratively with West Lothian Chamber of Commerce, the Department for Work and Pensions and JobCentre Plus to support a joint initiative to provide 18-24 year olds with opportunities to develop the skills necessary to succeed in interviews and secure employment. Called #getajob, the two-week programme provides a series of workshops followed by an interview with a West Lothian employer to finally undertake work experience on site we will continue with the business. The programme is run by a team implementation of College tutors our parental engagement strategy which dovetails with our long-established and employers from West Lothian Chamber of Commerce, including ClickNetherfield, highly successful work with primary schools (activities such as ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Houston House Hotel, event catering company Food Creations, security solutions company Servoca ▇. Gull). We know from our work in this area that interventions which involve parents and Mitsubishi Electric plus many more throughout carers can help address fears and concerns regarding the scheme. Early discussions are underway to provide training for NHS staff and initial contact is being explored with a large food retailerpotential cost of university as well as promote the concept of inter-generational learning. The College has University of Brighton will continue to work on parental engagement in the following strands (as detailed in the previous Access Agreement):  To engage parents in outreach activities together with their children.  To provide study support sessions aimed at parents of identified students in Key Stage 4 in Maths and English.  To develop a very positive relationship network of parent ambassadors who are parents/carers of current students at the University of Brighton from a widening participation background.  To provide opportunities for learning (e.g. credit-bearing short study modules) for parents and carers who may be interested in becoming part-time students as a result of their children’s engagement with West Lothian Chamber the university. This is a longer-term goal which will be dependent on successfully establishing the first 3 strands of Commerce, West Lothian Business Gateway, Federation of Small Businesses and with local employers who contribute to curriculum planning and design. Very positive initial meetings have already taken place with West Lothian Chamber of Commerce to establish an inaugural West Lothian Developing the Young Workforce Group. The College views employer engagement as critical in terms of: enhanced learner experience through work experience and industry visits; taking College learning and training into workplaces to up-skill the working population; ensuring academic staff have current vocational skills sets; involving employers in course planning and self-evaluations; and realising contracts to provide learning and training and generate a level of reinvested incomeactivity.