1. Educational Outcomes of Looked After Children: Extending Evidence from a Pilot Study in the London Borough of Camden Dr Kimberley Bradbury Prof. Alastair Sutcliffe, Dr Claire Tipper, Dr Gita Croft, Prof Ted Melhuish, Prof Jacqueline Barnes and Rebecca Smees General and Adolescent Paediatric Unit, Institute of Child Health. Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues. Birkbeck College

2. Background: Looked After Children (LAC) known to be vulnerable Lack of research evidence on effective interventions Aims: 1. To assess educational outcomes LAC in Camden 2. To identify means of extending this analysis to the national cohort

3. Method Accessed Camden data from 1989-2012 Data for 50 variables for 949 LAC over this period Data collected whilst a LAC Demographics Placement details Education (Key stages)

4. Results: Demographics

5. Results: Placement Stability

6. Results: Qualifications earned In Camden 80.3% of children achieved 5 A*-C grades

7. Results: Post-16 Activity

8. Results: How demographics affected outcomes Time in care Total number of placements Ethnicity Gender

9. A good news break!

10. Discussion: Unanswered questions and the national picture Dept. for Education publishes Statistical first release Narrow focus on cohort ‘attainment gap’ National Pupil Database- richer more complete data Can follow up children once they have left care

11. Conclusions LAC in Camden, nationally and internationally have poorer educational outcomes than their peers. To enhance our understanding we need more detailed analysis. Valuable data is collected but has not been analysed

12. References Children Looked After in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2012; DfE; 2012 Outcomes for Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England, as at 31 March 2012; DfE; 2012 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2010) [Looked-after children and young people: Promoting the quality of life of looked-after children and young people]. [PH28]. London: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Jones R et al; Factors associated with outcomes for looked-after children and young people: a correlates review of the literature; Child Care Health Dev; 2011 Sep; 37 (5):613-22 Looked after children: Exploratory analysis of Camden data, children born 1989-2012; IOE; 2012

13. Any questions?