Educational support for looked after children


The Looked After Children Education Support Service is responsible for supporting the improvement of educational outcomes of children looked after by Suffolk County Council.

In each of the three areas (Northern, Western and Southern Areas) the service has a full time Senior Education Project Worker and a part time Education Project Worker.  These staff will work with all relevant professionals to improve educational outcomes for young people and may provide direct, interim support for looked after children.

  • awaiting an appropriate education placement
  • at risk of exclusion or failure to meet education targets
  • where the care placement stability is threatened by the lack of an appropriate education placement.
This support is additional to that available for all young people from local authority services and does not alter responsbilities held by those services.

The service also has an Achievement Co-ordinator responsible for performance monitoring and a Head of Service responsible for strategy and policy development.  All service staff work with staff from schools, other agencies, carers and families to promote rapid response to the needs of looked after children.  This includes targeting cohorts of young people as well as individual cases.