Every Child Journal

Volume 3.6 The drugs don’t work

Is drug therapy the best response to the increasing diganoses of behavioural problems?

Family mediation

How can mediation help families cope with separation?

Can nature nurture?

Does interaction with nature help troubled children?

A death foretold?

Could Daniel Pelka’s death have been prevented?

The Modern Baccalaureate is a grass-roots initiative that gives school leaders: ■ ■ ■ ■

A framework to accredit not only the pursuit of knowledge and high standards but also the application of knowledge and the development of skills in real life contexts An opportunity to share the best practice that already exists within British schools and the wider community Tools to close the gap between the 21st century workplace and the classroom and in doing so...

Helps learners of all abilities to exceed expectations against any performance measure

“

I have been blown away by the possibilities that the Modbac gave us as a school. It is an award that gives students an opportunity to attain credible GCSE grades, experiences to which they would not otherwise have had access, and a ‘rounded offer’ at Key Stage 4 that we were essentially looking for. It helps with student aspiration and pulls together so many of the strands that the students often don’t see the links between.

”

The Modern Baccalaureate team would welcome an opportunity to explain the concept in more detail, and describe how your school or service provider can join the rapidly growing movement. We are on stand 75.

For further information visit: http://www.modernbaccalaureate.com

Every Child Journal

Editorial

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n September, the Serious Case Review (SCR) into Daniel Pelka’s death in Coventry was published. It is the focus of two of our articles in this edition. It raises questions about safeguarding for all professionals with an interest in protecting children.

Ofsted define safeguarding as: ‘The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.’ This definition is a recognition that ‘protection’ cannot be separated from broader concepts of well being. The problem with ‘child protection’ was that it is too specific – it focuses too much on single issues of violence, neglect or abuse, rather than taking into account a broader narrative of a child’s life.

This is important. It reminds us that that preventing harm to children is everyone’s responsibility. That last statement sounds like a cliché these days, and like clichés, its meaning has been eroded by overuse. Yet we need to stick with it because it has important implications for schools. Daniel Pelka’s school’s safeguarding procedures were chaotic to the extent that it was unclear from their records how many of the injuries noted by staff had been reported.

The failure of Daniel’s school to join the dots of his various injuries meant that the danger he was in went unnoticed. They weren’t the only agency to fail to recognise signs of abuse. The police were called to Daniel’s house on 26 occasions in four years after reports of domestic violence and drunkenness. On two occasions, the police left the children with intoxicated parents. Health services failed to adhere to proper guidance when Daniel’s arm was broken although the manner and timing of the break should have raised great concern.

Most victims of child homicides are aged under 12 months, so schools are less likely to be involved. But it’s not always the case. On 4th October this year, Amanda Hutton was jailed after starving her four-year-old son to death and leaving his body in a cot for nearly two years. At the trial, she admitted cruelty to five of her other children who, according to the judge were ‘living in appalling squalor’. Yet none of the social services, the police or the education authorities had investigated her case sufficiently to discover that Hutton, a known alcoholic, had the corpse of a four-year-old in a cot in her house for all this time.

Risk factors Yet the risk factors that are associated with violence against young children are clear. They include, in no particular order, poor housing, debt, alcohol or drug abuse, domestic violence and mental health problems, and reflect exactly the experiences of Daniel’s mother. We know that missed school and health appointments can be an attempt to cover up harm, then there

are the obvious signs of violence – a broken limb, loss of weight, bruises and cuts (on the face in Daniel’s case). Finally, the fact that English is a second language should act as a reminder that more care, not less, should be taken with these children so that they can explain their experiences on their terms in a language that they have full command of. Daniel’s English was poor.

What does this mean for schools? It does question what we want from and what we mean by pastoral care. Schools, like other institutions, have a great deal to cope with, yet they need to take their role of pastoral care more seriously and understand the trends, the research and the signals of neglect and abuse.

Pastoral care ought to provide the space for children who have troubles, or who are anxious, frightened or are simply unhappy to come forward in an environment in which a violent parent is less likely to exert control. But pastoral care is too often seen as woolly, and is ascribed no particular role or responsibility, nor any strategy to adopt a proactive approach to seek out those children who will most benefit from it.

Daniel’s case is particularly alarming because as a result of an earlier SCR in Coventry, a pilot was set up to promote awareness and understanding of domestic violence.

Failure to learn from domestic violence In June 2008, an SCR conducted after the death of a six-monthold baby recommended that West Midlands Police Domestic Abuse Policy should acknowledge the additional risks which arise when a pregnant woman is a victim of domestic abuse. In the same month, an SCR on the murder of a mother of two by her husband recommended: ‘Work needs to be carried out (nationally and locally) to consider how professionals can engage the perpetrators in cases of domestic violence, assessing the risk they pose both to their partners and their children.’ It added: ‘Since this tragic death, there have been significant changes in the coordination of services and management of cases of domestic violence in Coventry. These changes have led to improved risk analysis and support for victims of domestic violence.’

In December 2012, an SCR carried out in Coventry into the death of child W recommended that all agencies needed to better understand the impact of domestic violence on children.

Domestic violence was the backdrop to Daniel’s life. The school was unaware of this because the information had not been shared with them. Yet basic safeguarding practices such as identifying Daniel’s injuries, noting his emaciated condition would have been a way into discovering more about the neglect and violence he suffered. That’s what safeguarding should do – ensure that at every step, reasons for concern about a child’s wellbeing are identified. Daniel’s case is an extreme one. But if such cases can be missed, it means that thousands of children must be suffering abuse, violence or unhappiness at home. It is time for the education to get serious about pastoral care.

Editorial

Editorial

A serious case for pastoral care

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Every Child Journal

Contents

this issue n Regulars Editorial

1

Developments & News

4

12

The latest news on from the sector

Reports

8

Summaries of latest Government reports

n Features 12 A brief life Violence, neglect and cruelty was the daily staple for Daniel Pelka throughout his brief life. Why were the signs unrecognised? In the first of two articles, Tim Linehan reports on the serious case review findings.

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18 Chronicle of a death foretold We itemise the key events of Daniel Pelka’s life that should have alerted the authorities to his peril.

24 Making separation work for children Family break up can cause intense distress to children as their world is turned upside down. Lisa Parkinson shows how mediation can help.

32 Faith in the family Why do parenting programmes fail to take into account cultural diversity? Kathleen Roche-Nagi reports on a new programme of parenting support for Muslim families.

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Contents

42 Can nature nurture Can the healing powers of nature help schools tackle children’s mental health problems? Carl Dutton and Jaya Chandna make the case.

49 Moving towards inclusion Di Rickard and Michael Sutoris look at how children with severe disabilities have benefited from a new programme designed to keep them in mainstream schools.

56 The impact of addiction Maggie Swann’s son had a glittering future ahead of him. And then he discovered skunk. Here she tells her story.

62 Turning the tables Research is something that’s done to people in care, right? Not in this case. Kristen Liabo looks at what happens when care leavers take control of the research agenda.

68 The poverty trap?

Kerry Martin and Julie Nelson identify factors and interventions that help persistently poor children achieve a positive outcome in adulthood.

74 The drugs don’t work The use of prescription drugs for children’s behavioural problems is spiraling out of control, says Dave Traxson.

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PUBLISHER Howard Sharron EditorIAL board Lisa Nandy Brian Cairns Heather Payne Frances Binns Dai Durbridge Fiona Ward Editor Tim Linehan PRODUCTION EDITOR Maisie Gould DESIGN MANAGER Devinder Sonsana ADVERTISINg DEPARTMENT 0121 224 7590/91 marketing DEPARTMENT Gay Hardicker 0121 224 7591 CUSTOMER SERVICES 0121 224 7599 Company registration number 02445043 © Every Child Journal 2013 ISSN 2041-0840 No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means.

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The views expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent those of the magazine.

The magazine cannot accept any responsibility for products and services advertised within it.

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Contents

3.6

Every Child Journal

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Every Child Journal

Developments and news

Free school meals for primary school children

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ll children in the first three years of primary school will be given free school meals from next September in a £600 million giveaway, regardless of their parents’ income.

Free primary school meals for all pupils was one of the recommendations of a recent review of school food by two founders of the Leon restaurant chain for the Department for Education.

It concluded that packed lunches were nearly always less nutritious than a cooked meal, and that giving all children free lunches would raise academic standards.

There have been several pilot studies on free school meals and researchers analysing the outcomes last year claimed that a free meal for all helped to narrow the divide in the achievement gap between rich and poor pupils.

Supporters argued that children with a regular healthy meal were more likely to be able to concentrate, get better academic results and were less likely to be obese. It’s a public health approach, covering everyone for the long-term benefit.

The new policy does not ban packed lunches, but

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

the aim is that having the hot, free option will boost the numbers of pupils having school dinners.

Henry Dimbleby, who carried out a review of school meals for the government, said: ‘It completely changes the culture in the school, it creates a one-school culture where all teachers and children eat together, rather than “us and them”.’

Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, said: ‘My ambition is that every primary school pupil should be able to sit down to a hot, healthy lunch with their classmates every day.

‘We will start with infant school pupils because teaching healthy habits young, and boosting attainment early, will bring the biggest benefits.’

The move was welcomed by the National Union of Teachers, who called for it to be extended to all primary school pupils.

At the moment free school meals are available to all children whose parents are on benefits or earn less than £16,190 a year. Providing them for all infants will cost an estimated £600m and comes after the previously universal child benefit was cut for those earning more than £50,000 a year.

Developments & News

Every Child Journal

Cost of the school places crisis rises

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Youngsters live in fear of ‘big school’ bullies

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Developments & News

ocal authorities are spending £9,000 on every pupil making up for a government funding shortfall, in order to create new school places in London, new figures reveal.

Analysis by London Councils, which represents the capital’s 33 local authorities, looked at the shortage of school places in the capital. It identifies that while councils have strategies to create places, the £9,000 cost per pupil that they are awarded is placing unprecedented pressure on councils’ already squeezed budgets.

The scale of the school places crisis in London is vast, the analysis notes, with 83,470 school places needed to be created between 2014 and 2017. Between 2010 and September 2013, boroughs created more than 46,039 school places, equivalent to 1,535 classrooms, but more funding is needed to continue this expansion.

Cllr Peter John, London Councils’ Executive Member for Children’s Services, said: ‘Councils are pulling out all the stops to create places, but London’s rising population, particularly at school age, means they are running to stand still. Frankly, this is just not sustainable.’

‘Families will rightly be asking why the government isn’t doing more to avoid putting pupils’ education at risk.

Councils need sufficient funding to do this job and can’t simply be left to pick up the tab.’

While other regions are also facing pressures to create additional places, the problem is most acute in London. The analysis notes that London accounts for 42 per cent of the future school place need. However, the government has only provided London with 36 per cent of the funding shortfall – leaving local authorities to pick up the shortfall in order to provide each child a school place.

Although the funding which the Department for Education made available this year is welcome, it is far from sufficient to meet the growing need caused by a rising birth rate, fewer pupils attending private schools and changes in where parents can afford to live due to the rising cost of housing in London.

London’s challenge is compounded by higher property and construction costs which make it more expensive than elsewhere to build, but the government has failed to adequately take these costs into account.

Cllr Peter John added: ‘Cash-strapped councils could otherwise spend this money on school equipment or other essential services. The government needs to reassure worried parents and provide adequate school funding.’

he majority of primary school pupils are worried about being bullied when they start secondary school, and 52 per cent think there is more bullying in secondary school than in primary school. That’s according to a new survey released by Parentdish and BeatBullying, the leading international anti-bullying charity.

As schools around the country re-open, BeatBullying and Parentdish spoke to over 800 children aged 8-15, and found many other common concerns about starting a new school.

Fifty-eight per cent of primary school pupils were worried about being bullied when they start secondary school, with most concerns about being bullied for being too clever or not clever enough (56 per cent), followed by not being

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Every Child Journal

Developments & News

good at activities like sports (48 per cent), or not having the latest phone or games console (48 per cent).

This contrasts with their experience at primary school, where the main reason that young people were bullied was because they were good at something such as playing a music instrument (43 per cent).

Secondary school pupils felt that there was a lot more bullying at secondary school than primary, with the main reason cited for bullying being either too clever or not clever enough (69 per cent), their tastes in music or TV (49 per cent), or for not being good at activities such as sports (44 per cent).

Worrying about fitting in is also a common concern, with over half (53 per cent) of secondary school pupils admitting to lying to make themselves look better to their peers, most commonly about what they do at the weekend (64 per cent).

Common ways that young people are bullied at secondary school include verbal abuse (74 per cent), having their personal belongings stolen (41 per cent), and being physically attacked (35 per cent). Worryingly, a significant amount of bullying appears to be taking place under teachers’ noses in the classroom (74 per cent).

Screen seven-year-olds for mental disorders, academic says

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creening pupils at age seven would mean mental health problems could be diagnosed and treated earlier, an article in the British Medical Journal has argued.

Simon Nicholas Williams, from Cambridge University’s Institute of Public Health, said that three-quarters of adult mental disorders were ‘extensions of juvenile disorders’.

‘If left untreated, these can lead to more serious social and economic problems in adolescence and adulthood, related to crime, unemployment and suicide, for example,’ he wrote.

He estimated such a screening programme for all children aged seven years old would cost less than £18.5 million. Mental health problems currently cost the UK an estimated £105 billion per year.

He further advocated making the screening programme universal, in order to avoid stigmatisation, adding that some disorders are as common in children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds than their poorer counterparts.

Russell Hobby, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said any such scheme would have to be carefully handled. ‘I think we should be checking children for much more than whether they have mastered phonics,’ he said.

‘The evidence suggests that the earlier we start checking people, the better. But schools themselves are not qualified to do this and health professionals would have to be involved.’

Mr Hobby added: ‘We would have to be quite careful about any labels and stigma attached to this. It would have to be done in a sensitive fashion.’

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

Sandwell Early Numeracy Test (SENT) Key Stages 2-3

By Chris Arnold, Phil Bowen, Moira Tallents and Bob Walden Sandwell Inclusion Support

ORDER NOW AND RECEIVE YOUR PACK SOON! PRICE: £139.00 + VAT NOW from Sandwell Inclusion Support Service a NEW version of the DfE approved numeracy assessment Sandwell Early Numeracy Test (SENT) for use with pupils in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 This assessment tool is used with individual pupils, under supervision by a teacher or teaching assistant.

It covers the traditional five elements of: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■

Identification of number Oral counting Value and computation Object counting Language from NC level P6 to 3A.

The materials are suitable for pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3.

The test can be used to identify skills and knowledge in pupils and the results can be expressed as either National Curriculum levels or Age Equivalents within the range of 4 to 11 years.

It is used extensively for children on the SEN code of practice (from 8 - 14) to diagnose underlying difficulties in numeracy, plan individual programmes and monitor progress. It has been extensively researched and the previous version was the standard test for the DfE’s ‘Every Child Can Count’ strategy.

Please send orders to: Imaginative Minds Ltd 309 Scott House, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B9 4AA Tel: 0121 224 7599 or Fax: 0121 224 7598 Email: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk www.teachingtimes.com

Every Child Journal

Developments/reports

Reports Raspal Singh-Chima summarises the surveys, reports and government policy changes you need to brief yourself on in every issue of Every Child Journal.

How active are our children? Findings from the millennium cohort study Half of all UK seven-year-olds do not do enough exercise, with girls far less active than boys, according to this study by the online journal BMJ Open. The paper describes levels of physical activity (PA), sedentary time and adherence to Chief Medical Officers PA guidelines among primary school-aged children across the UK using objective accelerometer-based measurements.

Key messages n Fifty-one per cent of 7-year-old UK children achieve current recommendations for daily PA. This is significantly lower in girls (38 per cent) than in boys (63 per cent). This is also lowest in children living in Northern Ireland. n Half of all UK 7-year-olds are sedentary for 6.4 hours or more each day. n Social and demographic variations in physical (in) activity levels are otherwise smaller. n The levels of activity varied among groups. For example, children of Indian origin and those living in Northern Ireland were among the least physically active with 43 per cent achieving the recommended levels, compared to 53 per cent in Scotland. n A comprehensive policy response is needed to boost PA and decrease sedentary time among all young children to the levels appropriate for good health.

Conclusions n This study highlights social and demographic variation in the UK children’s PA and inactivity. Girls were more sedentary than boys and less active across all intensities of PA. Ethnic differences were observed, with children of Indian origin generally the least active across all outcomes. Bangladeshi children were least likely to achieve recommended levels of PA. n There were no clear socioeconomic gradients in PA levels and adherence to guidelines, although there was a tendency for children whose mothers were never employed or unemployed to be slightly more active than children whose mothers were employed. n Children of lone parents were slightly more active and more likely to meet the MVPA recommendations than those from couple parent families. n There were differences between UK countries with children in Northern Ireland less active and least likely to achieve recommended activity levels than those from other countries. Nevertheless, with the exception of gender, the group differences observed in this study were relatively small and the most striking finding is the low level of activity across all groups. n Contemporary UK children are insufficiently active, implying that effort is needed to boost PA among young people to the level appropriate for good health. This is likely to require population-wide interventions across the range of PA domains. n There are many opportunities to increase PA through sport but also in other areas. The journey to school has been recognised as an important opportunity for increasing total as well as more intense PA. Urban environments are also important for children’s PA, and factors from available green space to perceptions of safety all impact on children’s activity. n The full potential to boost PA will only be realised with a comprehensive policy response that increases time spent in more intense PA and decreases the time spent being sedentary. Investing in this area is a vital component to deliver the Olympic legacy and improve the short and long-term health of our children.

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

Developments/reports

Every Child Journal

Evaluation of children’s centres in England This is the fourth report from the evaluation of children’s centres in England, a 6-year study commissioned by the Department for Education, which aims to provide an in-depth understanding of children’s centre services, including their effectiveness for children and families, and an assessment of their economic cost in relation to different types of services.

The report looks at: n n n n n

The range of activities and services that centres deliver Partnership working methods Leadership and management Evidence-based practice Area profiling of centre ‘reach’.

Key Findings Service delivery The ‘top five’ services mentioned by over 90 per cent of centres were a mixture: ❏ Stay and play for children and parents ❏ Evidence-based parenting programmes ❏ Early learning and childcare ❏ Developing and supporting volunteers ❏ Breastfeeding support.

n

When a comparison was made between the services that were offered in 2011 and those offered in 2012, centres were observed to be shifting towards a more focused and targeted range of services for parents and outreach to homes.

Multi-agency working and integration n Centre managers placed particular importance on just four aspects of service delivery and ethos: ❏ Being able to talk informally to staff like health visitors, midwives, or social workers ❏ Having workers willing to ring up other professionals or services if parents need information or a referral to another service ❏ Workers visiting families at home ❏ The physical accessibility of the centre, for example to wheelchair users. n

n

There were mixed and sometimes unrealistic expectations by staff of what centres could provide. Different professional cultures created tensions especially about the balance between open access and targeted services, and between adult support and child development activities.

It was evident that multi-agency working takes time and commitment to develop, but there were long-standing issues in some areas over data-sharing with health.

Developments/reports

n

Leadership and management n In a comparison of various aspects of leadership, the quality of a centre’s ‘organisation and management’ was rated as lower than other aspects of leadership such as ‘vision and mission’ and ‘staff recruitment’. This is likely to be a consequence of the reconfiguration of centres and the tightening of centre’s funds, together prompting staff redeployment and staff turnover. Centres scoring lower on ‘organisation and management’ were more likely to have had withdrawal of resources and reductions to service within the 2011/2012 financial year. n In centres where managers held higher leadership qualifications (e.g. the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership – NPQICL), key centre staff were more likely to report greater levels of safeguarding and more managerial leadership delegation to the Senior Management Team. Those managers with higher leadership qualifications were also more likely to report higher visions and standards. n The length of time that managers had been in post was associated with two aspects of leadership and management. Those managers who had been in post for between three to five years self-reported the greatest extent of ‘monitoring value for money’ and the most ‘partner agency communication.’ Interestingly, those with longer experience (i.e. over five years) tended to be weaker on those same aspects of leadership and management. n Several aspects of management were noted as better in main-site centres with single-lead centre managers when compared against clusters or complex multi-site setups. The aspects of management that were higher in single-site centres included the ‘training and qualifications of staff’, and a centre’s overall ‘organisation and management’.

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Developments/reports

n

Questionnaires given to managers and key staff showed both positive and negative results. On the one hand, the majority of staff were positive about the ‘vision and purpose’ of children’s centres and believed that users were treated equally and fairly and that families felt safe in the centre. However managers reported more favourable levels of ‘continuing professional development’ and of ‘working with partner agencies’ than did their key staff. Aspirations in these important areas may not have been realised.

n

Centres also reported running a varied range of other programmes: for example, Baby Massage, Every Child a Talker, and the Solihull Approach.

Well evidenced programmes reached a relatively small number of participants (mainly mothers) over the course of a year, compared to other programmes. For example, centre staff estimated that the average number of families reached by the Incredible Years programme was 22 per year, and for Triple P was 23 per year. On the other hand, centre staff reported reaching higher numbers of participants within other programmes such as Baby Massage (average 47) and PEEP (average 104), with one potential explanation being that these are typically open-access and run by centre staff rather than requiring attendance at a fixed set of sessions.

Well-evidenced programmes that are delivered by centres within this Strand 3 sample are known to have a significant impact but it will be difficult to demonstrate this since so few families in each centre were reported by staff as participating in them.

While centres showed some understanding that well-evidenced programmes should be followed ‘in full’, other programmes were rolled out in a more variable manner to ensure that their support fitted the needs of families and were more flexible.

Well-evidenced programmes were implemented with more fidelity than the ‘other’ programmes. Greater fidelity is known to be linked to better outcomes.

Centre staff appeared to struggle with the concept of evidence-based practice. Some gave equal weight to research evidence and personal experience, while others were unsure over the importance of ensuring fidelity versus tailoring programmes to specific need.

n

n n n n

Reach and structure of children’s centres n Preliminary analysis of user postcodes showed that the majority (76 per cent) of the sampled Phase 1 and 2 centres were physically located in the 30 per cent most deprived areas on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children measure (IDACI), and drew the majority of their users (59 per cent) from such areas. A small number of centres (9 per cent) were located in less deprived areas, and drew the majority of their children from similarly less deprived areas. However they also drew nearly a third of their users (30 per cent) from the most deprived areas. n Most users lived very close to their centre. Thirty per cent lived less than 500 metres from their centre, 61 per cent less than 1km away, and 78 per cent less than 1.5km. n Observations by researchers and interviews with staff members showed that the ‘one-stop shop’ model for delivering family and children services was being replaced by complex clustering of centres and satellite sites, with particular services being delivered by particular sites. n Some services were also becoming clustered across several centres, where the provision was available across different sites (either simultaneously or periodically). It is likely that this was for reasons of efficiency, especially when it means that highly trained professionals can offer specialised services across a number of centres. n During fieldwork it became apparent that reorganisation of centre structure and staffing was taking place across a number of centres. In particular, researchers noted a reduction of ‘middle management’ staffing posts in favour of higher level management control over several sites. n Centres appeared to be moving towards the new core purpose (DfE, 2012). Researchers noticed examples of reduced universal services, increased levels of targeted acute social care work, and increased participation in multi-agency teamwork across the local authority.

Zero to eight – Young children and their internet use

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Clear parental guidelines are necessary to protect very young children from the risks of internet use as toddlers and pre-school aged children gain greater access to tablets and smartphones, according to this new report released by EU Kids Online.

The report, prepared at the London School of Economics and Political Science, recommends a number of measures to ensure children under eight years of age can use the internet safely.

These include the development of internet safety education packages for parents, carers and childcare centres, and the integration of default privacy protections on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

‘Zero to eight – Young children and their internet use’ reviews a range of recent studies showing that children across Europe are going online at a younger and younger age, and argues that their lack of technical, critical and social skills may pose a greater risk than for older children. One of the main concerns relates to parents posting pictures and videos of their children online, and the potential effect these postings may have on their children’s digital footprint.

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

Developments/reports

Every Child Journal

Developments/reports

Key findings n Over the last five to six years there has been a substantial increase in internet usage by children under nine years old. This increase is not uniform across countries but seems to follow usage patterns among older age cohorts – in countries where more children overall use the internet, they also go online younger. n The substantial increase in usage by very young children has not yet been matched by research exploring the benefits and risks of their online engagement, so there are many gaps in our knowledge. n Children under nine years old enjoy a variety of online activities, including watching videos, playing games, searching for information, doing their homework and socialising within children’s virtual worlds. The range of activities increases with age. n It has not been established that children under nine years old have the capacity to engage with the internet in a safe and beneficial manner in all circumstances, especially when it comes to this age group socialising online, either within ageappropriate virtual worlds or as under-aged participants in sites intended for teenagers and adults (Facebook, Youtube and so on). n Video sharing sites are popular with children in this age group and are one of the first sites very young children visit. As such, the ease with which children can access inappropriate video content is of concern. n There is an emerging trend for very young children (toddlers and pre-schoolers) to use internet connected devices, especially touch screen tablets and smartphones. This is likely to result in an increasing number of very young children having access to the internet, along with a probable increase in exposure to risks associated with such internet use. n The variety of internet connected devices and apps available today risks compromising the privacy and safety of young children.

Different operating environments complicate the use of security and safety settings on individual devices, and the numerous applications (apps) available for children tend not to disclose the company’s data collection and sharing practices. Nor do they usually provide easy-to-use opt-out options for parents or children. n Children’s digital footprints are now taking shape from very young ages. Some parents are writing blogs, and parents and grandparents regularly post photographs and videos of babies and children. These digital footprints are created for children who are too young to understand or consent (or who may not even be born, if their parents post ultrasound scans). Children’s future ability to find, reclaim or delete material posted by others is uncertain.

Recommendations n The development and promotion of realistic, evidence-based guidelines for parents/carers regarding very young children’s engagement with digital technologies and the internet. Parent education packages should be aimed at specific age groups (0-2, 3-4, 5-8) and outline ways in which parents can maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of their children going online. This should include co-use activities such as reading e-books and video conferencing with relatives, as well as engaging, interactive and safe activities that offer fun, learning moments for young children. n The development and promotion of age-appropriate internet safety education for all age groups – including pre-primary school or nursery/kindergarten settings. This could also acknowledge the benefits for young children of using internetenabled devices and include digital literacy support and the identification of age-appropriate positive contents and services to enhance online activities. n Engagement with device manufacturers, internet service providers and content providers – especially games and video-sharing site developers — to encourage the further development of safety features appropriate to very young users. This may include the classification of content before upload (by content providers or other parties) and the provision of easy-to-use safety functions, alert and blocking functions. n Cross-national research within the EU to establish the rate of internet uptake with children under nine years old and the associated benefits, risks and harm. n The development of appropriate investigative methods so as to include very young children’s own experiences and opinions. n Further updating of the European Evidence Database in order to map all research outcomes regarding very young children’s internet use and to ensure that the available evidence reaches the users of research and those who make recommendations for children’s safe internet activity. n Continued engagement with device designers to encourage the integration of default privacy protections within the design of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices. n Continued engagement with software designers to ensure the provision of greater transparency regarding how data are collected, collated, used and shared via children’s apps, and the provision of straightforward opt-out choices for parents and children within these apps. n Engagement with online service providers to review their user consent policies and responsibilities to ‘take-down’ information in a wide range of circumstances. This includes confidential, risky and erroneous information inadvertently posted by children — as well as parental postings. n Parental education regarding posts, pictures and videos of their children, and the potential effect these postings may have on their children’s digital footprint.

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Every Child Journal

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

Daniel: a brief life Daniel Pelka’s short life ended in March 2012 when he was murdered by his parents. In August this year, they were each sentenced to life in prison. Last month, a serious case review was published, uncovering a series of alarming failures across education, health, police and social care. In the first of two articles, Tim Linehan examines the findings of the review.

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he murder of Daniel Pelka in March 2012 was a horrific and tragic affair. One of three children, he was singled out for cruelty. He was finally killed, aged four, probably by a blow to his head. But the signs of violence had been building up for years. How did they go unrecognised or unacted on for so long?

In Every Child Journal, we have covered a range of safeguarding issues, particularly in regard to schools. We have identified best and worst practice, celebrating the good and learning from failures. We have even highlighted best practice in carrying out serious case reviews.

Yet despite greater awareness about safeguarding in schools these days, Daniel’s Pelka’s death once again asks the question about the rigour of safeguarding procedures in schools.

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

Every Child Journal

Police involvement

“In the case of Daniel Pelka on two occasions the police, who had been called because of violence between the adults, left children with intoxicated parents. Altogether the police were called 26 times between 2007 and 2010.”

Unravelling the long, slow journey a short life can take towards a cruel death leads us to ask how such things can happen. Perhaps it’s because a busy inexperienced policeman doesn’t know the history of a family, or is so used to outbreaks of domestic violence that he or she is inured to its risks. Perhaps he or she doesn’t realise that children, even when they are not the physical victims in domestic violence (which they often are), are nevertheless the emotional victims.

Yet we know so much from research about the links between domestic violence, child neglect and abuse that you wonder why this isn’t a larger part of police training. If domestic violence, one of the most private forms of violence, takes up 20 per cent of all reported crimes, as statistics in some inner city boroughs suggest, what are the real figures?

In the case of Daniel Pelka, on two occasions the police, who had been called because of violence between the adults, left children with intoxicated parents. Altogether, the police were called 26 times between 2007 and 2010. The police reports conclude almost ‘off-handedly’ that the children were ‘none the wiser’ about the violence. Research quoted in the special case review (SCR) tells us that ‘living with domestic abuse is an incredibly frightening experience for children which communicates that violence in normal, acceptable and an effective way of expressing emotions or resolving conflict.’1 If there is any mitigation, the special case review shows that the joint screening processes were under severe pressure. The police had a backlog of 600 cases in Coventry and there were between 3,500 and 4,000 referrals a year between 2008 and 2010. Yet even given these pressures, it seems that there is a serious need to review police policies on domestic violence. As the 4Children report, The enemy within, pointed out, up to 75 per cent of children in some areas are on the child protection register partly as a result of issues relating to domestic violence.

The findings reflect the common experiences that children have of investigations into their experiences of domestic violence, namely that their experiences of the police are negative while those of social workers and school workers are variable.

School involvement In this magazine, we have also profiled innovative initiatives that focus on raising the issue of domestic violence in schools. The programmes help identify children who may be at risk and to help them speak out and manage their own experiences.

As a result of an earlier SCR in Coventry in 2008, a Domestic Abuse Pilot had been set up in local schools in December 2011. This initiative aimed to help promote awareness of domestic violence in schools and to identify children at risk. Progress was reported to Coventry local children’s safeguarding board in July 2012 noting that it had achieved positive outcomes for children in the schools included in the pilot.

Daniel’s school was not aware of the history of domestic violence in his family. The signs of abuse or neglect that the schools observed were of Daniel’s emaciation, his scavenging for food (he ate from bins, stole from children, so much so that the teachers had to lock up the other children’s lunch bags), his bruising and cuts in what was, admittedly, a tragically short stay at the school. Daniel’s class teacher confirmed concerns about Daniel saying he was ‘eating and crying like a baby’. These too should have signalled reasons for a more determined investigation.

However, this small close-knit school had inadequate safeguarding processes in place, resulting in such poor information sharing that no-one was even sure how many separate injuries were recorded. By the time of his death, there were 40 of them marking his skeletal body. On one occasion, the headteacher even asked Anna, Daniel’s sister, to explain a particular injury of Daniel’s but she, caught between the fear of disclosing family crimes and her concern for her brother, answered simply that he had been pushed over by a child.

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Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

Interagency working There are innumerable failings of sharing information in this case, but the key ones are evident in the four assessments that were carried out which resulted eventually in the case being closed. n n n n

“All too often the focus of child protection assessments are on women, and this means that we are asking women to sort out the problem and operate as our agent, rather than including men and asking them to take responsibility for the violence.”

The first initial assessment in April 2008 found that the parents had acknowledged their domestic violence and had implemented strategies to address this.

The second initial assessment in January 2009 found that no further action was needed as Daniel’s mother, Ms Luczak, said she could protect the children.

A core assessment in November 2009 found that Mr Pelka, the male partner, had left the home and the children were safe in Ms Luczak’s care. The case was closed.

The fourth core assessment commenced January 2011, and found that alcohol misuse was no longer thought to be an issue, that the domestic abuse would also cease and that there was a positive interaction between mother and children and the case was closed.

These findings run counter to all the information that had been collected, as well as research findings about the difficulty in changing what appeared to be entrenched circles of violence and drinking. The SCR says: ‘In this case, professionals needed to “think the unthinkable” and to believe and act upon what they saw in front of them, rather than accept parental versions of what was happening at home without robust challenge.’

Social Work involvement Social workers also seem to have seen Ms Luczak as, on the one hand, a victim of domestic violence and on the other hand, a competent woman who could protect her children from the violence of her partners. Both views are partial and obscure the larger picture of a violent, depressed, occasionally suicidal woman. She attended A&E six times in a short period of time, (itself an indicator of serious problems at home), and failed to keep antenatal appointments – another indicator of problems, particularly with a woman who was known to have problems with alcohol.

Ms Luczak was both a victim and perpetrator of violence. Violent relationships sometimes have complex nuances that don’t always lend themselves to a simple victim and perpetrator divide. The assurances from Ms Luczak that the children were safe showed a lack of understanding of the impact of domestic violence on children and a failure to understand that in this case, it constituted a child protection issue. Moreover the special case review quotes research that argues that: ‘All too often, the focus of child protection assessments are on women, and this means that we are asking women to sort out the problem and operate as our agent, rather than including men and asking them to take responsibility for the violence.’2 The report’s conclusion is that the ‘rule of optimism’ appeared to have prevailed in the professional response to Daniel’s fracture and to his other bruises. This appeared to reflect a ‘tendency by social workers and health care workers towards rationalisation and under-responsiveness in situations. In these conditions, workers focus on adult’s strengths, rationalise evidence to the contrary and interpret data in the light of this optimistic view.’3

Health involvement

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Two significant incidents that arose in health settings also demonstrate a failure to tackle violence. The first reflects that good practice is insufficient if information is not subsequently shared. When Ms Luczak was pregnant with Adam, she was hospitalised for a serious urinary infection. Her partner, Adam’s father, Mr Krezolek, lost his temper in hospital and wrenched a drip out of Ms Luczak’s arm and insisted on her discharge. The midwife on this occasion took appropriate action, checking with police about the family

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

Every Child Journal

and discovering the history of violence and Mr Krezolek’s criminal record. A referral to CLYP was made but it wasn’t followed up.

The second example was when Daniel was discovered to have a broken arm. He was three and a half at the time. The explanation given by Ms Luczak was that he had fallen off the settee but Daniel had not appeared to be in pain until the next day when she took him in to hospital. Immediate concerns were raised about the break as the twist was incompatible with a fall and also meant that swelling and pain would be immediately experienced by the child. Guidance explicitly states that: ‘A physician should be suspicious if a child is not brought to the hospital immediately after injury and if there is no relation between the trauma described in the history and apparent injuries.’4 A strategy meeting was held the next day. Professions attending should have known that ‘spiral/oblique fractures [are] the most common humeral fracture type associated with abuse.’5 But when the police took over the investigation, it began to shift towards a belief that the injury was accidental, especially after Daniel’s sister supported her mother’s story. Identifying abuse through analysis of injury alone is difficult. Yet Daniel’s body was covered in bruises which his mother vaguely dismissed as bicycle accidents.

One of the lessons of this case is willingness to believe a series of events and injuries as single, unconnected incidents rather than pointing to evidence of a sustained campaign of cruelty. When Daniel appeared at school, emaciated, stealing and losing weight this should have presented an opportunity to pull these experiences together and investigate more fully the causes of his poor condition.

Looking at the whole picture As the serious case review points out, Daniel’s case was not a classic one of neglect. He alone was singled out for cruelty whereas his sister Anna and younger brother Adam escaped – itself unusual in cases of neglect. Daniel’s clothes, which grew increasingly baggy as he lost weight, were clean and ironed. Although seriously underweight, he was not about to die from malnutrition when the blow to his head killed him.

But the endless serious, drunken violence, the number of times the family moved home, the poverty and debt, the depression, the threats of suicide, the visits to A&E should have told their own story – this was a family that was expressing not one, but almost all classic symptoms of dangerous dysfunctionality. And the impact on children is, unsurprisingly, supported by research: ‘the emotional and psychological damage caused by inconsistency, rejection and verbal abuse that can be experienced by children with alcohol-misusing parents has been highlighted in various studies.’6 The most worrying element of the story is that the children - Anna and Daniel - were never once asked on their own about their experiences. No professional tried sufficiently hard to engage Daniel and enable him to talk about his experiences at home, despite him having visible facial injuries on two or perhaps three occasions at school.

Later in court, it emerged that Anna, Daniel’s elder sister, had tried to protect him.

Her stepfather removed the handles on the door in the room in which Daniel was imprisoned to prevent her from feeding him. She fought with her stepfather to prevent the violence that was meted out against him and to stop him being dunked in a cold bath. Her awareness of the violence and cruelty Daniel suffered was profound. Yet she was also forced by her mother to tell lies about Daniel so that her mother’s stories were substantiated – that he ate compulsively and that he was ‘retarded’ (in fact, he was initially identified as a bright boy). Yet the only time she was interviewed was in front of a friend of her mother’s who acted as a translator, even though Anna, unlike Daniel, spoke good English. Good practice states that ‘Family members or friends should not be used as interpreters, since the majority of domestic and child abuse is perpetrated by family members or adults known to the child.’7 Daniel’s mother who, in her bid to paint a picture of Daniel as a disturbed boy in order to deflect any suspicions of cruelty, told the authorities on more than one occasion that he was smearing his walls at home with his faeces, an act so disturbed that it should have

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Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

“When eventually someone does try to talk to the boy, at school, a teacher from another school who spoke Polish, she simply said that Daniel had failed communicate and it was left at that.”

prompted an appointment and an interview with parents and the child, but nothing was done. When eventually someone did try to talk to the boy, a teacher from another school who spoke Polish, she simply said that Daniel had failed communicate and it was left at that.

Research tells us so much. As we have pointed out in these pages, men in families are often sidelined in child protection. In Daniel’s case, it meant two things – one was that the authorities felt that his mother could control the dangerous men in her lives (ignoring the fact that she was also actively violent towards her son) and it meant that the views of the men which may have yielded information about their own violence (at one stage, the boy’s birth father appears to be acting as a protector to Ms Luczak, despite his own violent past).

The most frightening thing about this story is the lengths that people will go to in order to cover their crimes. This should not be surprising. But Daniel, with little English, was a perfect victim. And the night his parents finally killed him, his mother lifted him from the box room to put him into his beloved sister’s bed, telling her about needing something for the next day and explaining that Anna should pass this on to Daniel in the morning in the morning, priming her to find her brother’s dead body in her bed where they so often slept together.

It’s hard to step back from the melodrama of these violent lives. But moral outrage won’t improve practice. The questions that must be asked are as follows: n

n

n

Why, when we know so much from research about the signs of abuse and violence, do the forces with responsibility to protect children fail to recognise them? In this case, the degree of domestic violence should surely have triggered more concern.

How do we made systems function better to allow an improved picture of the lives of damaged people responsible for young children? Busy, overworked professionals will let some things slips. In this case, it happened to a tragic degree.

Why do we so often fail to take the trouble to listen to children, particularly when all the signs are that their lives are at serious risk?

Tim Linehan is editor of Every Child Journal.

References

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1. Beyond Violence – breaking the cycle of Domestic abuse, Farmer, E and Calen, S – The Centre for Social Justice – July 2012 2. Children living in domestic violence – Towards a framework for assessment and intervention, Calder, C et al 2004 RHS publishing 3. Paragraph 96, “Learning lessons from serious case reviews 2009-2010” Ofsted October 2010.

4. Paediatric Fractures of the Humerus – Caviglia, H, et al – Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, No. 432 pp 49- 56 - 2005 5. Humeral Fractures Without Obvious Aetiologies in Children less than 3 years – When is it Abuse?, Strait, T et al, Pediatrics - Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics - 1995 6. Parental Substance Misuse and Child Welfare – Kroll, B & Taylor, A - 2003 – Jessica Kingsley Publishers 7. Para 10.8, Working Together to Safeguard Children – Dept. for Children, Schools and Families, March 2010

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

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Every Child Journal

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

In the second of our articles on the death of Daniel Pelka, Tim Linehan pulls out the key events which could have resulted in child protection procedures being activated.

2005

Chronicle of a death foretold

Mr Pelka brings his family over to the UK.

2006 November First recorded incident of drink-related domestic violence between Ms Luczak and Mr Pelka almost a year before Daniel is born. Ms Luczak threatens Mr Pelka with a knife. Mr Pelka is cautioned. A report is made on the incident by Coventry’s children’ social care department but not received by the children’s social care department, the Children, Learning and Young People Directorate (CLYP).

2007 March Ms Luczak denies using alcohol during pregnancy at her booking-in appointment.

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15 July Daniel Pelka is born to Ms Luczak and Mr Pelka.

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

December Ms Luczak and Mr Pelka are found drunk and fighting having drunk two bottles of vodka. Ms Luczak apparently threatens her partner with a knife.

Both are released without charge.

Police are called again that month as Ms Luczak and Mr Pelka are ‘intoxicated’, arguing and threatening each other.

2008 January Ms Luczak, who is drunk, attends the A&E department accompanied by the police saying she has taken an overdose because her relationship with Mr Pelka had broken up. She also jumps in front of the ambulance. She says she has no money, job or support, though changes her story when she sobers up. The children are with Mr Pelka at the time of the incident.

13 January Ms Luczak and Mr Pelka are reported as drunk and arguing in the street. Ms Luczak refuses to go home, leaving the two children in the care of Mr Pelka.

A ‘safe and well check’ by the police reported no concerns in respect of their care at this time.

29 January A multi-agency domestic abuse Joint Screening meeting decides that an Initial Assessment be conducted by CLYP. There is no record of this decision in CLYP records or of an Initial Assessment being undertaken.

1 March Ms Luczak and Mr Pelka call the police to say that the other had assaulted them. Mr Pelka is arrested but Ms Luczak refuses to support a prosecution.

The police undertake a ‘safe and well check’ of the children who were said to be asleep upstairs. They are left in the care of Ms Luczak.

31 March Daniel, now eight months, is taken to A&E with a minor laceration over his right eye. Ms Luczak explains she was changing Daniel’s nappy on her lap when he rolled off and hit his head on the corner of a table. No concerns are raised about the incident.

The family moves.

21 May Coventry CLYP closes the case after noting that ‘the parents have acknowledged that a continued

Every Child Journal

pattern of domestic abuse would present a significant risk of harm to the children’, and had ‘implemented strategies to minimise this risk’.

28 May The family moves again.

June Daniel’s older sister, Anna, fails to attend her arranged three year developmental assessment.

17 August Ms Luczak calls the police in hysterics. When they arrive, Ms Luczak is found to be drunk whereas Mr Pelka was sober, calm and compliant.

1 September Ms Luczak is taken to A&E. She claims she has taken an overdose of tablets along with alcohol and is assessed by A&E as suicidal. The doctor contacts CLYP by phone regarding concerns about the children, and they agree to visit. There is no corresponding record by CLYP. 15 September A joint screening meeting decides ‘to contact and monitor’ the case but no specific action is outlined.

9 November Ms Luczak attends a midwife appointment as she is twelve weeks pregnant and it is noted that there is little money in the household, a pending eviction and history of domestic abuse.

19 November Mr Pelka (now separated from Ms Luczak) tells police that Ms Luczak has arrived at his home with the children after an argument with her new partner (Mr A) who had been drinking heavily and had smashed up the home. The police take no further action as the property was owned by Mr A. 24 November Police are called after drunken violence between Ms Luczak and Mr A erupts. The police record makes no reference to Daniel or of his older sister, Anna.

Mr A is arrested on suspicion of assault although he claims that Ms Luczak assaulted him.

13 - 17th December More instances of drunkenness and arguing at the family home reported to the police.

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Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

2009 7 January Neighbours report children crying. Ms Luczak tells police that Mr A has tried to force his way into her home. He is found in the garden carrying a knife.

11 and 17 January Police are called after reports of drunkenness.

29 January A social work assessment is undertaken but concludes that no further action needs to be taken as Ms Luczak can protect the children.

12 February The family moves house again.

16 February Mr A is convicted. The probation assessment of Mr A highlights the risk to children due to the environment of domestic abuse.

8 March Ms Luczak claims she has been assaulted by her ex-partner but refuses to cooperate with the police later. The children, according to the police, are ‘safe and showed no signs of distress whatsoever’.

25 March The police and CLYP agree to hold a strategy meeting following these incidents, but nothing happens in the next six months.

23 April Ms Luczak has a miscarriage.

9 May Ms Luczak tells police that Mr A has attacked her but becomes uncooperative and makes no allegations when they arrive. Both children are present at the time.

1-2 June Fighting is reported. Ms Luczak’s sister calls the police saying that there had been too much drinking in the house and the children were crying.

27July Further domestic abuse incidents take place.

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28 July Ms Luczak calls the police after Mr A returns to the home and smashes a window.

18 September Ms Luczak and Mr A each allege that they have been assaulted by the other. Both are arrested for assault. Ms Luczak was intoxicated at the time. Mr A’s brother goes to the home address to care for the children who police record as appearing ‘fine with no issues’.

October After a series of meetings, it is decided that CLYP will undertake a Core Assessment.

5 November A further domestic violence incident takes place.

6 November A core assessment meeting decides that the children are safe in Ms Luczak’s care.

2010 7 January CLYP close Ms Luczak’s case.

13 January Mr A is convicted of an offence activating his suspended sentence. He is sentenced to one month’s imprisonment.

January - March Anna’s low school attendance is noted on several occasions. The family moves to a new address outside the Coventry area and Anna then changes school.

2 March Ms Luczak calls police after Mr A threatens her.

The police make a referral to the local Children’s Social Care team. A Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference is held in Warwickshire which notes that Mr A had followed Ms Luczak to Nuneaton (from Coventry) and caused criminal damage to her car, and that he is known to carry weapons. The meeting reports that Ms Luczak is to pursue a non-molestation order and the health visitor is to offer support 6 April Ms Luczak reports additional incidents. Mr A is again arrested but ultimately released with insufficient evidence to proceed.

2 May Ms Luczak calls police after a domestic incident with her new partner Mr Krezolek. Children are heard crying in the background. Mr Krezolek is arrested for

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

assault. Ms Luczak refuses to make a statement and he is released without charge.

As the children were present, a referral is made to Children’s Social Care in Bedworth but the case is closed with no concerns having been identified.

July Ms Luczak and the children return to live in the Coventry area.

5 July During a home visit by a health visitor, Daniel is observed as having a bruise to the side of his head.

The explanation given is that he ‘fell over’. No concerns are noted.

20 July At Daniel’s three-year assessment, it is noted that he speaks very little English. During recent health visitor contacts, Ms Lucsak discusses her domestic situation.

21 July Ms Luszak’s GP diagnoses her as depressed and prescribes anti-depressants.

8 August Ms Luczak receives a small knife wound after an argument with Mr Krezolek. She also says she lost consciousness after he strangled her. She says that Mr Krezolek was drunk at the time and that the children witnessed the whole incident. There is no reference in the records to the police checking the welfare of Anna and Daniel, who were aged five years and three years old at this time.

Mr Krezolek is arrested but eventually returns home when no charges are brought against him.

Ms Luczak also claims that he has been viewing indecent images of young teenage girls. The computer is seized but Ms Luczak later withdraws the allegations and the computer is not examined.

Ms Luczak also alleges that Mr Krezolek has raped her ‘many times’, but Ms Luczak later refuses to discuss these rape allegations.

21 August Ms Luczak is in A&E after being involved in a traffic accident as a pedestrian. The hospital report reads ‘drinking +++’.

September Anna starts a new school and settles in well, making new friends.

Every Child Journal

14 November Ms Luczak attends A&E with a lacerated arm which she claims was caused by broken glass falling on her.

27 December A neighbour calls the police after the couple are involved in a drunken fight with the children present. The police record reports that the children are ‘none the wiser’ and did not witness the incident.

No referral is made to CLYP.

2011 6 January Daniels is taken to hospital where it is discovered he has a spiral fracture of the arm as well as multiple bruising. His mother explains the fracture was the result of jumping from the settee and falling onto the floor. She said this happened the previous day and it was not until the following morning that Daniel complained of any pain. The medical examination notes that the fracture would have involved a significant twisting mechanism and that the ‘swelling and pain would have been evident yesterday’.

Anna, who is staying with a friend, is interviewed and she confirms her mother’s account. Although Anna speaks good English, Ms Luczak’s friend is asked to help with translation. Anna says that she is happy in the care of her mother and Mr Krezolek.

7 January The consultant paediatrician says that after further discussion with colleagues, the explanation for the fracture given by Ms Luczak and Mr Krezolek could be plausible.

23 February An assessment is completed concluding that domestic abuse between the couple is resolved, as both adults had ceased drinking due to Ms Luczak’s current pregnancy. The case is closed in May. March The family move again.

8 April The school writes to Ms Luczak because of concerns about Anna’s attendance problems.

26th April Ms Luczak is admitted to A&E after contracting a severe urinary tract infection. She is warned that her unborn child will be at risk if she does not receive

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Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

in-patient treatment. She says she has to be home due to her partner’s job and despite offers of help, she discharges herself. Two days later, the named midwife for safeguarding contacts the police and gains background history of domestic violence, household alcohol use and her partner’s criminal record as well as the fracture sustained by Daniel.

The police explain that CLYP are undertaking a core assessment but when checked by the midwife, it is confirmed that the case is closed and she concludes there are ‘no child protection concerns’.

5 May Ms Luzcak is admitted into hospital with possible kidney stones and remains there for five days, during which time develops a complication. On the 10 May, Mr Krezolek visits and in a rage, demands that Ms Luczak be discharged, pulling the drip out of her arm.

Ms Luczak discharges herself later on that day.

13 July Ms Luczak discloses several incidents of domestic abuse including attempted strangulation to her to a community midwife but says that Mr Krezolek was never violent to the children.

August Baby Adam is born. The midwife shares the family history and past concerns with the CYLP but is told not to make a referral as a lot of information has already been shared.

14 September Daniel starts school with Anna.

7 October Mr Krezolek texts Ms Luczak to lock Daniel in ‘the room’ and not to give him any food after school on that day. This is the first reference to a specific room in the house used to put Daniel in as punishment.

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12 October The school nurse makes a referral to a community paediatrician following a home visit with the school nursing support worker. Ms Luczak says that Daniel is aggressive towards her, has an excessive appetite and is a secretive eater, with speech and language delay and possible learning difficulty. She also reports that Daniel has recently been soiling his bed and smearing faeces but that this had stopped since going to school, where she said he was happy.

Daniel is not seen during this visit. Arrangements are made with Ms Luczak to provide behaviour management support but after two appointments, Ms Luczak disengages.

21 October The first reference to the use of salt in the home (which was forced down Daniel as a punishment for ‘stealing’ food at school) when Ms Luczka asks Mr Krezolek to buy salt ‘as a must’.

23 October Mr Krezolek texts Ms Luczak to ask her to remove Daniel’s door handle to prevent Anna from opening the door for him.

15 and 29 November Ms Luczak cancels and fails to attend appointments with the paediatrician.

November The school talk to Ms Luczak about Daniel’s continued obsession with food and that he is taking food from other children’s lunch boxes and taking fruit from the ‘fruit corner’ in the classroom.

December The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) makes a home visit when Ms Luczak claims the children are not well enough to attend school, an assessment the EWO disagrees with.

Ms Luczak receives a letter from the school as Daniel’s attendance has fallen to below 64 per cent.

2012 January The deputy headteacher speaks to Ms Luczak about Daniel’s food obsession. Later evidence given at trial by school staff spoke of how Daniel ‘looked for food everywhere’ and that he ‘would eat whatever he could get his hands on’. On some occasions, he took food from bins and tried to eat discarded food. He also tried to eat beans being planted in soil and raw jelly taken from a sandpit.

February 2012 In the months leading up to February, Daniel is seen at school with facial injuries. A lack of appropriate recording of injuries within the school makes it unclear what injuries were seen and when. But the reports include the following: n

n n

four spot bruises down the neck from the ear to the shoulder – seen by the class teacher and recorded in the concerns book (for the reception class) fresh blue/black bruises on the eyes and a scratch across the nose severe mark on his nose, (almost like a dent), a black eye and ‘blood spots on his face’, seen by one of the teaching assistants

Safeguarding: Daniel Pelka

n n n

a bruise to the centre of the forehead – seen by a teaching assistant a large bump on the left hand side of his forehead about the size of a two pence piece a graze to the top/front of his forehead – seen by the headteacher who ascertained what had happened from Anna who said that her brother had been pushed over by another child outside of school.

Daniel was asked by a teaching assistants about how two of the injuries were caused, but he just looked down and would not say anything. None of these injuries were referred to CLYP or the police.

25 January Deputy head contacts a local GP about Daniel’s eating, and the GP advises that she should ask Ms Luczak to bring Daniel into the surgery Late January Ms Luczak briefs Anna to tell people who may ask that Daniel eats more than her and that he was retarded. Ms Luczak texts Mr Krezolek to say that Daniel was temporarily unconscious because she had nearly drowned him and that he was now in bed.

8 February The school writes a letter ‘to whom it may concern’ expressing concerns about Daniel’s eating and saying that the school had to manage this by locking food away. Concern is also expressed that he is, despite this, losing weight. The letter is given to Ms Luczak to take to her appointment with the community paediatrician.

9 February A letter of congratulations is sent to Ms Luczak because Anna and Daniel have both improved their school attendance.

10 February The paediatrician is given the letter composed by the school. The paediatrician takes a detailed history from the mother that Daniel has an excessive appetite, steals food from lunch boxes and eats from roadside bins. She says he also smears faeces over his bedroom. His relationship with his siblings and his peers is, according to his mother, poor with limited interaction and aggression towards his siblings. The paediatrician records that there is ‘no wasting but looks thin’. In other respects, Daniel has a normal physical examination with no presenting concerns. It’s noted though, that Daniel

Every Child Journal

wets himself at the beginning of the appointment.

The paediatrician does not hear Daniel speak any recognisable words.

16 February Tests show that Daniel is low on iron and zinc. His sodium levels are normal but at the top end of the range.

28 February The paediatrician unsuccessfully attempts to contact Ms Luczak to explain the results, and so writes to the GP to request that iron syrup, zinc tablets and vitamin drops be prescribed over the next six months.

1 March Daniel is seen to take a piece of half eaten fruit from a bin at school and is prevented from eating it.

2 March Daniel has an unauthorised absence from school.

The school make a telephone call to the home but there’s no reply.

2 March The computer at Daniel’s home is used to seek information on salt poisoning and of a child not responding. Later in the afternoon a text is sent from Ms Luczak to Mr Krezolek saying that ‘he’ll get over it’ and that there is no point in calling an ambulance because it would ‘cause proper problems’.

3 March Daniel is admitted to hospital at 3.28 a.m. after having suffered a cardiac arrest and cannot be resuscitated. He is pronounced dead at 3.50 a.m.

6th March At his post mortem, Daniel is 10.7 kg (dehydrated weight) but the cause of death is a head injury, ‘almost certainly the result of a direct blow to the head’. Daniel is grossly malnourished and dehydrated with bruising over his body for which no natural cause can be identified. (A total of forty injuries are noted). None of the medication prescribed by the paediatrician three weeks earlier has been used – only one prescription has been obtained but not used while another has not even been collected.

9th March Ms Luczak and Mr Krezolek are charged with Daniel’s murder.

They were each convicted and sentenced to life in August 2013.

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Every Child Journal

Families

Family break-up can cause intense distress to children as their world is turned upside down. Lisa Parkinson shows how mediation can help couples focus on their offspring and ease the period of transition to a new way of life.

Making separation work for children I 24

n England and Wales in 2011, over 100,000 children under 16 experienced their parents’ divorce. Many more children experienced their parents’ separation, since nearly half of all births now take place outside marriage or civil partnership. When parents separate, children are likely to be extremely distressed, with the level and duration of their distress affected by a number of factors. A review of over two hundred research studies found that when separated parents co-operate over their children and support them, most children adjust to the changes in their lives and resume their normal course of development.1 However, parental conflict before, during and after separation is associated with behavioural problems for children, and the financial hardship that often

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

Families

Every Child Journal

accompanies separation can have an impact on educational achievement. The quality of the child’s relationship with each parent, prior to separation as well as afterwards, and the parents’ relationship and communication with each other, are major influences in the child’s adjustment.2 30 per cent of non-resident fathers are likely to lose contact with their children within two years of separation.3

What does family mediation offer?

Family mediation is defined as ‘a process in which those involved in family breakdown, whether or not they are a couple or other family members, appoint an impartial third person to assist them to communicate better with one another and reach their own agreed and informed decisions concerning some, or all, of the issues relating to separation, divorce, children, finance or property, by negotiation’.4 Separation and divorce involve major upheaval and adjustments in many areas - emotional, psychological, economic, legal and social. Some parents stop speaking to each other; others continue to argue and fight. Parent-child relationships need to be supported and sustained at the very time that parents are struggling with the pain and anger of ending their own relationship. One parent may be left to look after the children alone, possibly needing to move home. The challenges for parents can be overwhelming. They may be too angry with each other and too preoccupied with their own worries to be able to focus on their children’s needs and feelings. Mediation needs to start at the earliest possible stage, if possible before or during separation, to prevent loss of contact and intense distress for children who may imagine that a loved parent has forgotten them. Mediation helps separated parents and family members, such as grandparents seeking contact with grandchildren, to resolve issues and reach agreed decisions. It offers an alternative to lengthy and costly court proceedings.

Solicitors, judges, other professionals and helping agencies can refer clients to mediation. Parents can also self-refer, without consulting lawyers.

Mediation is short-term unlike counselling and therapy which may be long term. An initial information meeting is offered to each parent separately, to explain mediation and other sources of help and to consider ways forward. If both parents (or participants) accept mediation, meetings can be arranged quickly to help contain a family crisis or may be spaced at intervals over several months, according to need.

Some parents return a year or more later to renegotiate arrangements for children, because their situation has changed. Some mediation services have a contract with the Legal Aid Agency to provide legally aided information meetings and mediation for those eligible. Mediation is completely free of charge for those with evidence of relevant benefits or low resources.

Domestic abuse and child protection Before mediation can begin, a careful assessment must be undertaken with each parent (or participant) separately, to establish whether mediation is suitable in the circumstances and whether both parents are willing to take part. Where there is a history of domestic abuse, child protection issues and/or risks to a child or adult, mediation would normally be unsuitable, although in some situations mediators may offer ‘shuttle mediation’, meeting with each parent alone (or accompanied by another relative for support), without the two parents meeting face to face. The main

“Where there is a history of domestic abuse, child protection issues and/or risks to a child or adult, mediation would normally be unsuitable, although in some situations mediators may offer ‘shuttle mediation.”

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Families

emphasis, however, is on facilitating direct communication between parents who need to be able to talk to each other as their children grow up. There may be power imbalances which mediators need to recognise and manage to prevent one parent bullying or dominating the other. Moreover, power and control can shift during the process of mediation as information is shared, new options explored or children’s needs and feelings are discussed. And new dynamics can emerge as the conversation moves on from who is to blame for past wrongs to how to manage the future.

Mediation is a structured process in which each participant needs to feel safe and listened to, with conflict contained and managed sensitively. Even when conflict is high or entrenched, it may be possible to reach interim or partial solutions that pave the way for further agreement, step by step.

The main principles of family mediation

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1. Voluntary participation. Parents can be required by law and directed by the judge to consider mediation, but they cannot be ordered to take part. Mediation is voluntary and can end at any stage. The mediator must assess that mediation is suitable in the circumstances and can terminate it if no progress can be made.

2. Personal safety and security. Mediators must take steps to ensure that participants take part without fear or risk of violence or other harm.

3. Respect for individuals and cultural diversity. Participants should be treated with respect and encouraged to treat each other similarly. Cultural values and differences should be acknowledged and respected.

4. Impartiality. Mediators must remain impartial at all times and not take sides. They must not have any personal or professional stake in the outcome.

5. Confidentiality. Mediation discussions and documents are confidential, except where a child or adult is, or may be, at risk of significant harm. In such cases, the mediator must immediately notify the appropriate child protection agency and/or the police.

6. Empowerment. Participants are assisted to reach their own, well-considered decisions, with or without agreement being reached. Mediators do not give advice and do not direct decisions.

7. Focus on children’s needs and interests. Mediators encourage participants to consider the needs and interests of their children and whether a child or young person should have a say in arrangements, possibly meeting on their own with the mediator or other suitably qualified professional. Child-inclusive mediation can be structured in different ways. Mediators must have additional training to be accredited for child consultation and child-inclusive mediation.

8. A legally privileged process. Mediation may conclude with a memorandum of understanding, a written summary drawn up by the mediator of arrangements worked out in mediation. Participants may need legal advice before formalising agreements and may need a consent order from the Court. The memorandum and the content of mediation discussions are not reportable to the court, unless both parties agree to waive their privilege or where, in exceptional circumstances, the court overrides the privilege attached to mediation.

9. Mediator competence. Family mediators need cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills in family law, family systems and child development, communication and negotiation skills. Most mediators are either qualified and experienced family lawyers or counsellors or social workers and must have completed nationally recognised mediation training, followed by practical training with supervision, continuing professional development and assessment of professional competence.

Families

Every Child Journal

The role of the mediator Family mediators need to understand the complex and shifting networks of relationships and attachments within dramatically - often traumatically - changing family structures.

Childcare is often problematic for parents in stable relationships struggling to manage family and work commitments between them. Some couples co-parent amicably after they separate, but others battle over parenting rights and wrongs and the time the children spend with each parent. The child’s contact with other family members and involvement of new partners on either side may lead to further dispute. Family mediation provides a forum in which parents can consider their children’s feelings and needs, as well as their own.

With the help of one or sometimes two mediators (often, but not always, male-female mediators) parents are helped to work out parenting and financial arrangements that are acceptable to all concerned.

Good practice in family mediation involves helping separating parents to:

“Family mediation provides a forum in which parents can consider their children’s feelings and needs, as well as their own.”

be aware, or more aware, of what each child is feeling and needing; focus on each child’s individual needs, according to age and stage of development, personality, attachments and other factors; n maintain co-operation and reduce conflict over children; n accept each other’s continuing role in the children’s lives; consider areas of parental responsibility and how these can be shared or entrusted to one parent; work out arrangements that free children from conflicts of loyalty and other pressures; agree child support payments and commitment to supporting children financially; plan when and how to talk with children and explain new arrangements to them; consider whether each child or young person should be invited to meet with the mediator or child counsellor, to have an opportunity to express their views, feelings and suggestions, without being given responsibility for decisions. n n

n n n n n

Why do so few separating parents go to mediation?

Mediation is not easy. It’s the sort of thing you might think other people ought to do but which you might hesitate to do yourself if you’re caught up in an acrimonious separation.

There are also high expectations that separating couples should work together on complex issues. For example, it would not be reasonable to expect a couple experiencing bereavement to negotiate difficult financial matters, whereas separating parents are expected to work out arrangements for children, financial and property matters and maybe divorce itself. There are expectations of reasonableness, when reason may be swamped by misery and anger, especially for those who did not want to separate.

Sometimes, restoring communication enables couples to stay or get back together but very often separation or divorce is unavoidable. Many parents fear losing their children and their home while lone parents may fall into poverty. Multiple losses at every level can threaten an individual’s sense of identity and even their will to survive. Resistance may become entrenched, as conflict escalates from one issue to another often engulfing children who may be used as weapons or pawns. Mediators face great challenges in seeking to help both parents equally, to prevent the gap between them becoming unbridgeable. In encouraging parents to shift from battling ex-partners to co-operative parents, mediators seek not only to resolve specific issues but, very importantly, to facilitate positive communications and relationships. Taking part in mediation is not easy.

However, skilled and experienced mediators can help parents to manage the crises of separation and navigate their way forwards.

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Families

Case study: Dave and Sally Dave and Sally came to mediation three months after Dave had left Sally, saying he did not want to continue their marriage and did not want to go to counselling.

They were referred by their solicitors, because Dave was intending to go to court, complaining that Sally was stopping him from seeing the children, Zack aged 5 and Ruby aged 3. In mediation Sally explained she was having huge problems managing Zack. She felt Dave had abandoned her and the children. Zack’s behaviour had deteriorated and he was getting into trouble at school. Dave said this must be her fault, as he had no trouble with Zack himself. Sally was at her wits’ end, saying the only discipline that worked with Zack was to stop him seeing his dad or telling him his dad would not give him treats. But Dave took no notice and when Zack came home with sweets as usual he was more disruptive than ever. The mediation focused on helping Dave and Sally to understand how Zack and Ruby needed them to work together as parents, agreeing regular times they would spend with their dad, including some one-to-one time. The parents also agreed what they would explain to the children and how they would back each other up. At a subsequent meeting, Sally reported that Zack’s behaviour had greatly improved and that they had enjoyed some family outings.

Names and details have been changed to protect identities

Case study2: Alan and Kate Alan sought mediation because he was on the verge of seeking a residence order for his 14-year old stepdaughter, Kate. Kate lived with her mother, Ruth, and two younger sisters. Alan and Ruth had divorced two years previously and Alan had remarried. Ruth had recently moved to live nearer her sister and this had entailed a change of school for the girls. Kate was close to Alan and told him she was very miserable and did not like her new school. She wanted to come to live with him and his new partner, Sue. Ruth and Alan agreed that Kate should be invited to meet with the mediator on her own, to talk things through. When Kate came, she was very unhappy and torn about what to do, fearing her mother and sisters would reject her if she opted to live with Alan and Sue. Some longer weekends were agreed and Kate was offered a follow-up meeting some weeks later. At the second meeting, Kate was much more cheerful. She said she had settled at school and made new friends. She wanted to remain with her mum and sisters, as long as she could spend substantial time with Alan and Sue. Both parents were relieved that she was happier and court proceedings were avoided.

Names and details have been changed to protect identities

Low awareness of mediation

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One of the main reasons for low demand for mediation is the continuing lack of public and professional awareness of the help available. Government policy is to promote mediation but when legal aid was withdrawn on 1 April 2013 for nearly all family law matters, the Government failed to make it clear that legal aid is still available for mediation with accredited mediators. As individuals on low incomes can no longer get legal aid to go to court (except in certain circumstances, such as some domestic violence cases), solicitors are no longer required to refer legal aid clients to an information and assessment meeting with a mediator. Referrals to mediation have dropped sharply since April. Although

Families

Every Child Journal

applicants to the family court are expected to have attended a mediation information meeting before applying to the court, this is just an expectation and many courts do not enquire whether mediation has been considered. The Children and Families Bill, due to come into force in 2014, will make attendance at a mediation information and assessment meeting a pre-requisite for applicants (again, with exceptions), but the requirement does not apply to the second party. The second party may be hard to reach and may not respond to the offer of an information meeting. If the government were really committed to putting children at the heart of the family justice system, the requirement to attend an information meeting with a mediator, to understand options and consider possible ways forward, should apply to both parents, not just one of them.

How to locate an accredited family mediator Local family mediation services can be found on www.familymediationhelpline. co.uk by filling in a postcode. In contacting their nearest service, enquirers should ask whether legal aid is available for mediation and whether there is a mediator accredited by the Family Mediation Council in direct child consultation, as these mediators offer specialist experience, knowledge and skills even where children are not directly involved. National associations, such as the Family Mediators Association, have websites showing mediators’ location and qualifications www.thefma.co.uk.

Resolution, the family lawyers’ association, lists lawyer mediators www.resolution.co.uk.

Mediation is not therapy, but it can have therapeutic effects. In practical and emotional terms it can open doors that are unlikely to be opened through acrimonious court

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Families

proceedings. The stress of marital breakdown and separation can cause parental relationships to break down, with unresolved conflict transferred to issues around the children. Mediation helps parents to focus on children’s needs and communicate more easily. Parents who agree arrangements for their children do not need a judge to make decisions for them. ‘Existing legal interventions have limited capacity to facilitate contact or reverse a downward spiral in contact relationships … Resources should be redirected towards more creative work on improving parental relationships.’5 Mediating parents are much more likely than litigating parents to report that ‘mediation helped them end the marriage amicably, reduce conflict, maintain good relations with their ex-spouse and feel less bitter and resentful after divorce.’6

Further information: www.nationalfamilydrweek.org.uk promotes Family Dispute Resolution embed week and family mediation and takes place in the last week in November. www.findmediation.co.uk is a site set up to help people looking to find a local service. www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk is a Government web app but provides no signposting from parenting after separation or conflict.

The Ministry of Justice is intending to publish an up-to-date database of family mediators accredited by the Family Mediation Council in the near future.

Lisa Parkinson is a family mediator, consultant and trainer and a co-founder and Vice-President of the Family Mediators Association (FMA). She is a member of the Family Justice Council’s Dispute Resolution Sub-committee. The 2nd edition of her book Family Mediation – Appropriate Dispute Resolution in a new family justice system was published by Family Law in 2011.

References

30

1. B. Rodgers and J. Prior Divorce and separation: the outcomes for children (1998) Joseph Rowntree Foundation Findings no 6108 www.jrf.org.uk 2. J. Hawthorne et al. Supporting children through family change (2003 Joseph Rowntree Foundation Findings no 323 www.jrf.org.uk 3. L. Trinder et al. Making contact: how parents and children negotiate and experience contact after divorce (2002) Joseph Rowntree Foundation Findings no 092 www.jrf.org.uk 4. FMC Code of Practice 2010 www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk 5. P. McCarthy and J. Walker, The longer-term impact of family mediation (1996) Joseph Rowntree Foundation Findings no 103 www.jrf.org.uk at p.1.

6. J. Hunt, Parental Perspectives on the Family Justice System in England and Wales: a review of research (Family Justice Council and Nuffield Foundation 2010), at p. 122.

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

Assessing Maths and Phonics Skills Reception – KS2 GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDED Understanding the numeracy strengths and weaknesses of your children

The Sandwell Early Numeracy Test – Revised (SENT-R) Price: £125 + vat

SENT-R enables practitioners to assess children’s ability with numbers.

Designed for use with children from ages 4 years – 7 years 11 months, it explores five strands of basic numeracy skills: identification, oral counting, value, object counting and language, and provides a baseline of a pupil’s number skills. It is particularly useful in helping to identify targets for pupils who are having difficulties with numeracy up to Key Stage Two. The two parallel tests allow for the monitoring of progress every three months and there is an online marking tool for easy analysis. SENT-R is easy to administer and enjoyable for the children.

Images in the test book are engaging and relate to tasks in every day activities. Any member of the school staff who has some basic training can use the tests.

Recommended by the DES and the Every Child Counts programme, the revised version of the Sandwell Early Numeracy Test is proving hugely popular as schools try to lift their maths teaching in the light of tougher new Ofsted assessment-for-learning and teaching quality requirements.

Every Child Counts describes the Sandwell Early Numeracy Test as an ‘Essential Teacher Resource’ to be used as a standardised baseline test to establish children’s levels of numeracy at the start and end of their programme, and to monitor children’s progress throughout. The assessment is now used in schools in most local authorities.

CONCEPTS

It is essential that pupils understand the language used to talk about phonological awareness before trying to address any difficulties highlighted by testing.

Same/Different

Are your children ready to read?

Assessing phonological skills

The Sandwell Phonological Awareness Readiness for Reading Kit (SPARRK) Price: £150.00 + vat Phonics is the main way of teaching reading to Reception,Year 1 and Year 2 children. But the starting point is how phonologically aware are your children? If they are not, they will struggle with putting sounds and letters together and their reading readiness will be adversely affected.

The SPARRK assesses: ■ Concepts (Linguist concepts associated with phonological awareness) ■ Syllable ■ Rhyme ■ Beginnings ■ Middles ■ Blending and segmenting It can be used as a diagnostic tool with individual/groups of children who are experiencing difficulties with phonic acquisition/reading and spelling. It can also be used as a screening tool within the Early Years in order to identify children who might require early intervention before they embark on formal phonics teaching.

Pupils need to be able to recognise pictures and symbols that are the same and different. This forms the basis of an ability to recognise same and different letters and words.

SPARRK provides an Excel data recording spreadsheet for data collection, that has been specifically designed to provide an overview of the phonological awareness skills of individuals, groups and whole classes of children. This can be used to identify which skills are established, identify potential groupings for intervention work and measure progress over time.

Activity

Source

Section

Publisher/Source

Concepts in Pictures

CIP11

Black Sheep Press

SALLEY

Methods: 34 35 37 38 42 45 48

Imaginative Minds

Matching Skills Sherston Skill Builders

Sherston Software

Observation Skills

Sherston Skill Builders

Sherston Software

Sorting Skills

Sherston Skill Builders

Sherston Software

Long/Short

The ability to distinguish long and short sounds, especially vowel sounds, is a prerequisite of reading and spelling.

c-v-c

(Short PHONEME FRAMES

(Individual or

small group activity)

and to demonstrate in half vertically. or small groups Cut each card blending. individual pupils segmenting and Use these with of phoneme teach the principles vocabulary is expected picture ensure that the activity Before starting understood and and ‘end’ are known. to the sounds ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ concepts of each card and Ensure that if this is the the boxes on be related to ‘medial’ and ‘final’ that they can ly, use ‘initial’, (Alternative within a word. familiar vocabulary.)

SUGGESTED

Concepts in Pictures

vowels)

ACTIVITIES

Activity 1 phoneme by (middle or end) or third) For beginners: principle of beginningcounter in first (second adult. ce • Establish is spoken by to indicate/pla getting pupil or final) phoneme indicate initial (medial phoneme then box when the to identify required asking pupil • Extend by as above.

Activity 2 have 3 counters. down on table. and face Each pupil should name the picture of picture cards up the top card, Place the pile turns to pick • Pupils take as each under each box. the box above place a counter counter into pushes each • Pupil then activity is completed. phoneme is identified. be repeated as the word should • The whole activity through the should be guided to repeat. and get pupil difficulty they If pupils have model the activity If necessary step. step by

Black Sheep Press

CIP9 Methods: 28 29 30 32 36 41 43 47 49

SALLEY

Imaginative Minds

Silly/Sensible

This concept is introduced so that pupils will be able to apply existing skills to unfamiliar (i.e. nonsense) words

Name

2

Item number

SALLEY

Methods: 39 40 44 46

DateImaginative

1 Concepts Expected response

Question

Minds

Correct?

MEDIAL VOW

Where next?

(cvc/short

Long/short 1a 1b 2 eg 2a

Show me the long pencil.

Show me the short socks.

Is this sound long or short?

2b 2c 2d 2e

3a

Show me the silly picture.

Show me the sensible picture.

Same/different 4a 4b

Which dogs are the same?

Which cars are different?

5 eg

Are these sounds the same or different?

5a

Are these sounds the same or different?

5b 5c 5d 5e

p

mmmmmm

Silly/sensible 3b

vowels)

(2 - 6 players

+ caller)

EL BINGO

Before starting the game Ensure that ensure that concepts expected of ‘vowels’ understoo picture and d. Decide which vocabular ‘medial or middle vocabulary is known. consisten letter or t in its use. y will be used phoneme’ to play the are game and Activity 1 be For beginners , game could to be used be preceded are sorted by a matching into sets identified k short activity where by the players . cards and medial vowel phonemes ffffff long Activity 2 Each player ssshhh long needs a baseboard One player and 6 counters. is designate d as the • The caller has the cards caller. phoneme of each card. and turns them over • If any saying the player has medial a picture medial phoneme, on their baseboard they can • The game containing place a counter continues Name over the picture.the same • When

this happens until one player has

covered all they call

“BINGO” their pictures.

and the game Activity 3

is over.

As Activity

2 except:

• The caller m–d differentItem

numbe • The playersnames each picture

r as the card have to work Date k - k same is turned the same over. medial phoneme. out whether they 1 Quest have a picture Show f – t different ion containing me who’s Activity 4 at the 2 eg As p - l different beginn Activity 2 (Point Expec ing of except: to and ted the line.

• What name respon s - sh different CorreThe caller turns over else begins each pictur se ct • The the picture players have 2a with /d/? e.) duck, fish. duck, without naming ? to identify o-o same picture on Is it duck car, dog, bag, fox. it.

What the medial egg else begins phoneme – car?

Wher • Each playertheir card containing Fish Duck and cover Is it duck begins the same (or one chosen e next?

2b with /f/? begins with any one elepha medial with /d/. and say the nt, egg, – dog? /f/. common medial by the caller) should phoneme.

What house Is it duck else begins , giraff name both phoneme.

- egg? pictures with /e/? e Elepha 2c sun, moon, nt begins mouse What with /e/. fox else begins , sock Sun 2d with /s/? begins web, whale, with /s/. fox, What egg else beginsfly Web with /w/?begins with 2e parrot /w/. , What duck, pencil sock else begins , ship 3 eg with /p/?Parrot begins Mat begins with /p/. with What whale else begins /m/.

3a with /m/?

Tiger begins What with pencil else begins /t/.

3b with /t/?

Shoes begins What with /sh/. monke else begins y with /sh/?

3c Octop us begins What teeth else beginswith /o/.

3d with /o/?.

Car begins with What shop else begins/c/. with /c/?

3e Zoo begins with What orange else begins/z/. with /z/? cap

Listen to this sound – ssssss. It’s a long sound. Listen to this sound – t. It’s a short sound.

Is this sound long or short? - g short short long

4 Beg inni

ngs

zebra

SPARRK also provides ready to make games and activities and signposts to other commercially produced materials in the “Where Next” pack. This provides practitioners with ideas and teaching suggestions to implement if difficulties have been identified by the assessment. SPARRK also links directly to the SALLEY programme (Structured Activities for Language and Learning in the Early Years) a well researched programme that can be delivered as a Wave 1 programme during the Foundation Stage, but also as a Wave 2 and/or 3 intervention by selecting specific activities.

Order Hotline: Tel: 0121 224 7599 or Fax: 0121 224 7598

Email: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk www.teachingtimes.com

Every Child Journal

Parenting

Faith in the family Parenting programmes are all the rage at the moment. But why do they fail to take into account the cultural reality of life in Britain today? Kathleen Roche-Nagi describes a new approach to parenting support aiming to help Muslim families.

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he idea for establishing Approachable Parenting stemmed from the fact that many Muslim families were experiencing problems with their children and didn’t know where to get the help and support they required. Such behavioural problems in young children can be associated with a range of problems later in life.

Research tells us that parenting interventions should be tailored in such a way as to respect and not undermine the cultural values, aspirations, traditions and needs of different minority ethnic groups. However, the majority of parenting interventions have been developed within mainly white and middle class populations and therefore may lead to less successful outcomes with other sociocultural groups.

Parenting

“The Five Pillars of Parenting programme is written by Muslim clinical psychologists and parenting experts who understand how parenting concepts can fit and be presented within an Islamic framework.”

Copyright of Approachable Parenting

Every Child Journal

Approachable Parenting is a social enterprise set up to provide parenting courses and parent-coaching to Muslim families. It also delivers accredited training for trainers to deliver the ‘Five Pillars of Parenting’ programmes to parents, (Bump to three years, and four to eleven years).

Prior to developing the Five Pillars of Parenting programme, it was important to research what the issues were within Muslim families in the UK. Interviews and questionnaires with families were completed by parents attending Madressas (extracurricular language/religious schools), weekend schools and social gatherings. From this it was concluded that Muslim families wanted support with parenting issues that was consistent with their religion. A comprehensive review conducted in 20041 found that programmes which do not take into account cultural factors risk poor engagement and the drop-out of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) parents. Previous research had also identified the main barriers to participation as issues of language, fear of stigmatisation, and lack of culturally compatible programming, including differences in child-rearing practices and values.

The five pillars of parenting The Five Pillars of Parenting programme is written by Muslim clinical psychologists and parenting experts who understand how parenting concepts can fit and be presented within an Islamic framework and delivered effectively to the parents.

Approachable Parenting also understands the importance of creating a safe environment where parents can explore problems and where they can be taught knowledge and skills to develop their parenting techniques and their relationships within the family. The programme is delivered to groups over eight weekly sessions and learning methods include didactic teaching, role-play and practitioner and video demonstration. Teaching and learning is based on behavioural, social learning and family systems theories which enhances the skills and knowledge of the parents. A crèche and interpretation facilities allow parents to be fully committed to the learning process. The work has a direct influence on developing the characteristics of the family, hence having a positive impact on the family structure.

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Parenting

The Five Pillars are addressed simultaneously over the eight weeks, and are: n n n n n

Character – Identifying the importance of having good character, morals, personality and behaviour.

Knowledge – Learning new skills and strategies and acting on this knowledge.

Action – Putting learning into practice to achieve results.

Steadfast – Dedicated to overcoming difficulties. Parents may doubt themselves as they experience resistance to the new techniques.

Positive relationships – Stronger family bonding, improved parenting and families initiating meaningful and permanent positive relationships.

The Five Pillars of Parenting integrates evidencebased psychological models within an Islamic framework consistent with parental attitudes, forming a basis for motivation for change within parenting. The programme uses examples from Quran (the holy book of Muslims), Hadith (the sayings of Prophet Mohammed) and the Sunnah (the traditions and practices of Prophet Mohammed).

Islamic concepts such as thankfulness and repentance (tawba) are coupled with psychological principles, while prophetic examples such as the importance of play and interaction with others are also included.

In addition, the programme includes taught skills which have been found to be linked to effectiveness in parent training programmes such as teaching positive parent-child interaction and communication, specific ways to deal with difficult behaviour (e.g. thinking time) and the ability to practice these during the group sessions via role play and home tasks.

The eight-week programme is split into the following sessions: Session 1: Philosophy of the programme, Group rules, Goal setting.

Session 2: Qualities of a parent, Responsibilities of a parent, Attending to your child (communicating effectively).

Session 3: Thankfulness (how and when to praise), Behaviour charts (how to use them successfully).

Session 4: Importance of play and quality time, Parenting styles and rules and boundaries.

Session 5: Dealing with difficult behaviour, Five step tool-kit.

Session 6: Child development, Wider parenting –extended family influences, how to be consistent.

Session 7: Life coaching skills (how to make SMART [Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound] goals and use the GROW model [Goals, Reality, Options, Will]), Managing stress positively.

Session 8: Revising the programme (by playing the Five Pillars of Parenting game), reviewing goals, certificates and celebration.

Some Islamic Content included in the programme When compiling the programme, efforts were made to explore and reference Quranic and Prophetic examples, such as: n

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‘Allah (God) is kind, He loves kindness in all affairs.’ (Hadith) ‘He is not one of us who has no compassion for our little ones.’ (Hadith)

Parenting

n

n

n

n

n

“Some non-Muslim practitioners wondered why Muslim families required a specific programme.”

Every Child Journal

‘When he (Prophet Mohammed) addressed a person he turned his whole body towards that person’ (i.e. his face and chest and not a side glance, denoting pride) (Hadith). This signifies the importance of body language and how Muslims should communicate with others.

We also discuss other Islamic concepts include Adab, having good manners or conducting oneself in the correct way and Akhlaq having good character and how you interact with others – ‘And verily, you (O Mohammed) are on an exalted (standard of) character.’ (Quran 68: 4) When considering thankfulness (praise) and penalty, we remind parents that the recommended ratio is 4:1, however this concept is mirrored in Islam in how Allah rewards good versus evil – ‘Whoever comes with a goodness, for him there will be ten (goodnesses) like it, and whoever comes with an evil, he will not be recompensed except with the like of it.’ (Quran 6:160).

Within the session on family rules and boundaries, the concept of Shura – asking for consultation is introduced. This is a value in Islam and often Prophet Mohammed would seek consultation from his companions.

There are many references in the Quran on parenting and raising the family which are used within the programme. In the Surah (Chapter) of Luqman there are many explicit examples, one of which is: ‘And bear with patience whatever befalls you.

Verily, these are some of the important commandments ordered by Allah (God) with no exemption.’ (Quran 31: 17)

Why the five pillars?

There was some concern expressed by other parenting organisations regarding a programme for a minority religion in the UK. Some non-Muslim practitioners wondered why Muslim families required a specific programme. However, the same organisations admitted that engaging with the Muslim community was very difficult. The Policy Research Bureau2 concluded that there needs to be an awareness and respect for different models of parenting that arise within different cultures, and the need to tailor programmes accordingly, while at the same time recognising the commonalities of parenting within different cultures. They stated that further research is needed regarding what constitutes a ‘culturally sensitive programme’.

Although the developers of the programme felt positive and confident of their abilities, they also had some concerns : n n n

Would the parents be honest and open about their difficulties, or would they be cautious of being judged and fearful about social services?

Would the parents be open to learning and implementing new strategies to generate positive changes in their families?

How to ensure that Muslims could identify with its Islamic components from all the schools of thought including whether they were Sunni/Shia, practicing or nonpracticing.

The results of the initial (as well as subsequent) courses were very positive, both for the trainers and the families who attended. This was evidenced from the qualitative and quantitative evidence gathered. Parents also demonstrated their motivation and commitment by attending every week even during adverse weather conditions.

Some of the positive outcomes of the courses for the parents were: n n

Their willingness to participate – giving sincere feedback each week on home-tasks, regarding things that went well and things that didn’t go so well.

Appreciating the relevance of the programme – putting what they learned into a context that made sense to them was very powerful. Many acknowledged that they only attended due to the Islamic elements and its significance.

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n

n

Consequences of personal development – some of the mothers were growing in confidence week by week and were confident to seek help if they were suffering from depression and other issues affecting them.

Influence on school attendance and education – understanding the importance of their children’s education and becoming more engaged with their school. Arriving on time to begin the school day with children prepared and in a better frame of mind to be involved in the classroom activities. Some parents used this opportunity to practice their English in a safe environment.

Evidence The Five Pillars of Parenting programme has a track record of good outcomes and a considerable body of research to support this. The programme and our evidence have been evaluated by the National Academy of Parenting Research (NAPR), King’s College London, and it is also part of the Commissioning Toolkit. The programme can be found on the Department for Education website, alongside other programmes which have all been independently evaluated using an evidence-based approach to show that they work. The Commissioning Toolkit is a searchable database of parenting interventions designed to provide information and guidance for commissioners. The training course for teachers/ tutors provides them with an National Open College Network (NOCN) qualification in Prepare to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS). We also abide by the National Occupational Standards for work with parents.

Outcomes and monitoring in our development and delivery of the programme is imperative. Statistical analysis was carried out to investigate changes in child outcomes and parenting style. The questionnaires used in the evaluation were Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Parenting Scale to investigate child adjustment and parenting style respectively. Questionnaires were given in the first and last sessions.

The results below demonstrate the success of the programme which was delivered at a Children Centre in Birmingham, completed in June 2013. The graphs below demonstrate these results of the 12 parents who successfully completed the programme.

Red = Clinical/Severe range Orange = Borderline Green = Normal

Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire - total score

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This questionnaire measured emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/ inattention, peer relationship problems and pro-social behaviour of the child. It demonstrated that parents who were in the normal range increased from 21 per cent to 72 per cent, signifying the importance of early intervention and parenting education such as the Five Pillars of Parenting. The clinical range decreased from 36 per cent to 21 per

Parenting

Every Child Journal

cent due to parents implementing the techniques learnt, while further one-to-one parent coaching and support was offered to these families in addition and some were referred to other specialised organisations.

Parenting styles questionnaire also demonstrated changes over this same period.

This scale measures dysfunctional discipline practices in parents of young children. Three stable factors of dysfunctional discipline styles were identified: (1) Laxness, (2) Over reactivity, and (3) Verbosity. The results below demonstrate an increase in the normal range and a decrease in the severe or clinical range in all three areas as reported by parents.

Parent self-analysis

Decreased Confidence as a parent has

Stayed the same

Increased

12%

88%

How positive I feel about my parenting role has The number of strategies I can use as a parent have

100% 12%

88%

Confidence in parenting in a wider context has

100%

How positive I feel within myself has

100%

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Parents evaluations on their child

Child’s difficult behaviour has

Decreased

Stayed the same

86%

14%

Child’s positive behaviour has

Increased 100%

Child’s relationships with siblings has

43%

57%

Child’s relationship with the wider family has

25%

75%

The results above show that this course has had a positive impact on the parents’ lives.

The parents were able to identify their parenting strategies and improve them according to their needs. This has increased their confidence and therefore resulted in better parenting. They are able to better manage their children, as the results show that 86 per cent of parents have seen a decrease in difficult behaviour from their child. From the above data, 100 per cent now report that they feel positive about themselves as a parent, with 88 per cent feeling that they have learnt a number of strategies which they can now use to support them in their parenting role.

What parents said: n n n n

‘I learnt how to handle children in different situations.’

‘I am more aware of the strategies in dealing with difficult behaviour and feel more confident in dealing with it.’

‘I was able to link examples from my faith to the techniques I learnt.’

‘I benefitted from the practical advice applicable to day-to-day parenting and how to deal with difficult situations.’

Impact on teaching

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It has been reported by classroom teachers that children whose parents have attended the programme arrive at school on time and in a better frame of mind, not causing trouble or disturbing the other children. This allows for a better classroom environment where children can learn and achieve better outcomes.

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Teachers’ comments included: ‘The child is forming much better relationships with their peers.’

‘Improved behaviour in and out of the class.’

‘Pays more attention.’

‘Calmed down.’

‘Completes homework as there is now help at home from parents.’

‘Comes in happy and wanting to learn.’

‘The course was a great success for our parents. It offers guidance and support to our more vulnerable families.’

n n n n n n n

What Children Said: n n n n

‘I get more help with my homework and I do more around the house.’

‘Helped to improve mum’s English, she talks to us in English more now.’

‘It was nice for mum and dad to have some help.’

‘Mum tells me off when I am naughty.’

Case Study 1: Mother of three children ‘I am a Birmingham mother of three children and attended the course with my husband to ensure that we both understood the techniques and principles to agree a common approach. We are now both more consistent in our approach and more confident in our parenting.

‘The Islamic content of the programme enabled us both to refer to our religion for answers to our issues. I believe that the Islamic principles and teachings have helped to focus us, as well as bringing us closer together.

‘My husband has often had the approach, ‘do as I say’ to the children and he would easily get angry. Now we are better role models and remembering Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) as our role model, he controls his anger.

‘During this programme, we learnt practical skills and we put them into practice at home which enabled us to grow as a family – we were calmer and the children were better behaved. I appreciated having everything backed by Quran or Hadith, as this has really helped us to think abour our approach, modify our ways and create a happy home.’ (F.B, Muath Trust )

* Case Study 2: Father ‘I am a father and I attended the Five Pillars of Parenting programme at my children’s school. I learnt a lot from this course about how to raise my children and I especially liked the Islamic references, which made me think more about how I deal with my children and how to be a better Muslim dad.

‘It was because of the Islamic links that I considered attending in the first place. We now sit as a family a lot and discuss things and I am listening better to my children - we are a better Muslim family. I think more parents should attend this programme’. (R.K. Wyndcliffe School)

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Building an integrated programme for Muslim families The next step is to measure the programme’s social return on investment, the results of which can demonstrate the savings to communities and services. Approachable Parenting will also be offering training to professionals to become accredited trainers and will be looking to expand on the amount of programmes we can deliver. The aim is to develop materials, books and programmes as well as train professionals from different backgrounds and with foreign language skills to deliver the Five Pillars of Parenting programme across the UK. From this, the programme aims to build links with different communities and empower them to integrate into society and refer families to appropriate organisations to access more specialised support and medical help if they require.

Finally, it aims to liaise between schools and families to improve attendance and educational attainment and to develop a website which will allow parenting problems to be answered promptly online by experts.

Kathleen Roche-Nagi is Managing Director at Approachable Parenting CIC. For more information, please go to Approachable Parenting on LinkedIn/Facebook and Twitter @5PillarsParent.

References Gibbs, J., Underdown, A., Stevens, M., Newbery, J. and Liabo, K. Group-based parenting programmes can reduce behaviour problems of children aged 3-12 years. What Works for Children group Evidence Nugget April 2003 Kazdin AE.Premature termination from treatment among children referred for anti-social behaviour. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1990;31 (3):415-425 Hollingworth,S., Osgood,J. Parenting Support: Literature Review and Evidence http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/pdf/parenting_ literature_review.pdf Katz,I., La Placa,V., Hunter, S., Barriers to inclusion and successful engagement of parents in mainstream services. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/barriers-inclusion-parents.pdf Page, J., Whitting, G., Mclean, C., Engaging Effectively with Black and Minority Ethnic Parents in Children’s and Parental Services http://ethnos.co.uk/DCSF-Engaging%20effectively%20with%20BME%20parents.pdf Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire http://www.sdqinfo.org/ The Parenting scale Questionnaire http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pas/5/2/137/ The National Academy for Parenting Research (NAPR) http://www.parentingresearch.org.uk/ The Department of Education, Find a parenting programme http://www.commissioningtoolkit.org/ UK Awarding organisation, Educational qualifications (NOCN) http://www.nocn.org.uk

Notes

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1. BarlowJ. Systematic Review of the effectiveness of Parent-Training Programmes in Improving Behaviour Problems in Children aged 3-10years. Oxford: Health Services Research Unit:1999 2. Moran,P., Ghate,D., van der Merwe, A. What Works in Parenting Support? A Review of the International Evidence, Policy Research Bureau http://www.prb.org.uk/wwiparenting/RR574.pdf

Vol 3.6 n www.teachingtimes.com

This book includes a broad selection of exciting and enjoyable poems that can be used to develop enthusiasm for poetry, reading and writing. For ease of use each poem is specifically linked to both a ‘Key Objective’ and accompanying ‘Teachers’ Notes’.

All of the poems in this book have been used successfully in school workshops with 4-8 year olds. Most are written by Alan Peat, but the collection also includes poems by Wes McGee and Andrew Taylor.

A broad range of poetry styles is included, and related ‘language play’ activities are discussed.

This book is a companion volume to the popular Teaching Poetry with 7-12 Year Olds.

Teaching

POETRY with 4-8 year olds

Price: £17.99 each For postage and packing add: £5.00 UK - £12.00 Overseas

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This pack has been specifically developed to link poems with key objectives and a wealth of practical teaching ideas.

• Each poem is accompanied by ‘teachers’ notes’.

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explicitly linking each poem to one or more of the objectives.

It includes both suggestions for using the poem with either a whole class or a group, and extension activities.

All the poems in the book have been used in school workshops with 7-12 year old children children.

The poems cover a variety of forms including rhyming and non-rhyming verse, Haiku, expanding/contracting poems, shape poems, rap and free verse.

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Imaginative Minds, 309 Scott House, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B9 4AA www.teachingtimes.co.uk

Every Child Journal

Conditions: mental health

Can nature nurture?

What are the healing powers of nature? Research is increasingly telling us that exploring the natural world can improve wellbeing. Can it also help schools tackle children’s mental health problems? Carl Dutton and Jaya Chandna think so.

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“The work that has been carried out to date has resulted in improved behaviour and attendance in schools.”

hroughout history we’ve seen culture appropriating nature for its own ends. The romantic tradition uses nature as a focal point for discovery and reflection, and indeed, recent research appears to support this notion. As Ambra Pedretti Burls, from the Centre of Sustainable Healthcare said: “Nature is a living co-educator and functions as a co-therapist.” If this is the case, what can nature offer children who have had disturbing and damaging experiences?

The use of nature and in particular garden spaces offers an unscripted space for young people to investigate. Free from the judgemental interactions that troubled young people often perceive as directed against them, it offers a space where they can have the chance and opportunity to explore, discover, do, create, and just be. In using nature as our cotherapist we are able to tap into an environment that allows us to use nature’s life patterns to explore the direct consequences of what we do or don’t do in it.

It can also allow us to become more aware of the effect our actions or inaction have, our relationship with the wider world and how we manage those relationships. And while mental health problems are often characterised by the noises of internal voices, uncertainties, tension and fear, nature can also offering as a space for quiet and peaceful reflection and relaxation.

Estimates vary, but research suggests that 20 per cent of children have a mental health problem in any given year, and about 10 per cent at any one time.

The Haven Project has been working with children and young people over the last five years using horticulture as a therapeutic medium to aid those who have been identified with emotional and behavioural problems.

An important part of the work carried out by the Haven Project is early identification of problems that young people have, with results showing that the work that has been carried out to date has resulted in improved behaviour and attendance in schools.

Moreover, many children retain their interest in horticulture and nature, and have continued to take care of the plants after the group has finished.

But how can horticulture be used as therapy for children and young people in schools?

This article outlines an approach that has been developed in Liverpool, the lessons

Autumn Collection for a Bug Hotel.

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learned from early practice and the benefits of therapeutic activity outside, in the natural environment. We also look at how teachers and support staff can use outside spaces as the therapeutic medium to explore emotions and relationships.

Roots The Haven Project is a school-based therapy service in Liverpool which over the last five years has used outside horticulture spaces as a place to help young people who have emotional and behavioural problems explore these areas safely, with the plants, ground, and seasons as the backdrop to the intervention.

The development of the intervention has been a collaboration between the Haven Project, Sowing Success, and the schools who have allowed the team to work in this way over the last five years.

Initially, the project started as an intervention for asylum/refugee seeking children to use the land as a way to heal the trauma of war and conflict, with its roots in the work of the Natural Healing Project set up by Freedom from Torture (formerly The Medical Foundation), but was soon adapted for the use with children in schools.

The intervention initially started as a three-part therapy with Psychodrama, Art, and Horticulture and was called The Life Group - named by the young people who felt the project was about their lives. The project ran weekly with sessions often weaving the three therapies together in a complementary way. Sessions would often start with a psychodrama warm-up to the themes identified by the young people and move on to a session focusing on creating art to use in the garden space, and using horticulture to explore connections. The sessions would prompt questions for the young people about themselves and the situation they found themselves in, encouraging them to react to their environment such as - “how do I react to something new, novel, or familiar?” - and to find a place to interact with others in the garden space.

Psychodrama warm up A psychodrama warm up might include simple games such as fruit salad. In this game, players sit in a circle. One person is in the middle of the group but has no seat. Every member of the surrounding group is given the name of a fruit. The middle player identifies a fruit and calls out its name loudly to the rest of the players. Those who are part of that group then swap places, with the person in the middle attempting to snatch a seat. Alternatively, the middle player can shout ‘fruit salad’ at which point everyone changes places. The player left without a seat carries the game on. This warms the group up, gets them moving, and is fun.

This might then lead to a small action-based drama based on a theme they have already looked at prior to going out into the garden – for example, what they imagine might be in the garden and how might they want the garden to be. This discussion allows children to imaginatively explore what might take place and encourage the young people to speak in the role of a plant, insect, stone, etc as if they were it for a moment. They can explore a dialogue in roles of plant, shadow, insect, etc, to discover what each needs in the space or how the other relates to them.

Art as therapy Art can be used to enhance the sessions by allowing the young people to create plant hangings when a theme might require it. In one group, the children had all suffered from a family member dying recently and during the session they wanted a way of marking the loss. As a group they decided on hanging a comment/picture on a plant they had planted to remember the person they had lost. Each young person shared their piece of art or writing with each other in the larger group which allowed time to reflect on the loss and also make connections with others who had similar feelings.

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Following reviews of the work done with the children and young people, we developed the use of horticulture as a standalone intervention in a number of schools although the use of art and psychodrama has been used at different moments.

Horticulture as therapy We all know that being outside in the garden, in a wood, in a park, or climbing a hillside or any other natural environment can lift our spirits, make us feel good, give a sense of achievement, be a place to reflect, and challenge us. Horticulture in its own way can also offer us these opportunities but with a skilled and supportive person can offer us much more in terms of relationship with the external environment of the classroom and also with fellow pupils The benefits of horticulture therapy have been highlighted by many in different areas in the use of horticulture and near nature. In their book The Healing Fields , Sonja Linden and Jenny Grut make reference to the importance of environmental psychology which is concerned with understanding people’s responses to both natural and built environments, where ‘natural’ can be broadly interpreted as describing the presence of vegetation. They also highlight studies which have shown that being in nature gives city-dwellers and people subject to high levels of change a feeling of continuity and dependability.

In William Bird’s interesting report for the RSPB Natural Thinking, he states, “by disconnecting from our natural environment, we have become strangers to the natural world – our own world.” This has challenged our sense of identity and in some more subtle ways has had a significant affect on our mental health.

In the work done with the children and young people we have seen both through their interactions with the garden and through the journals which they are encouraged to keep how, at the outset, they often complain about the garden and being outside – “it’s muddy, it’s horrible, and it’s too cold” - before becoming ever more connected with the garden. And with it their relationships with others develop. “I like being outside, I have taken care of the plants, I like getting my hands dirty.”

Keeping the journals has had the additional benefit of helping us as therapists understand what being outside with others and taking care of the space has meant to the young people.

At one school, the learning mentor reported that the children would come back to continue to write in the journals and ask to check on the plants.

In particular, he noted that one boy’s literacy had

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increased and he felt it was linked to the keeping of the journal. His confidence had also improved because he enjoyed being outdoors and was doing something that gave him satisfaction.

How does your garden grow?

The horticultural intervention begins by identifying which individual pupils are to participate and also what land is to be used. Identifying the pupils to take part depends on the focus of the group, so in previous years the Haven Project has had groups working with Asylum and Refugee children, mixed groups of Asylum, Refugee, and Looked After Children, children who have lost someone significant, and a group with those identified as suffering emotional and behavioural issues.

The important factor in all of this is to have pupils who have a commonality or theme that can be shared and understood between them. This helps bring the group together in thinking and feeling about the same kind of story and experience.

The children and young people involved have the opportunity to meet and discuss with the team what is involved and how we will work together. This allows them to make a choice about attendance as the intervention is voluntary.

The other aspects when considering setting up a horticulture therapy group of any sort is finding a piece of land which you have sole access to, which is protected, and which is accessible. This is really important because the space used needs to be a place that feels secure and safe- just like any therapy space, it should have a place to be active, a place to be quiet/reflective, and a place to be a group working together.

The initial phase of the group is like any meeting up which includes getting to know each other and the surrounding space, exploring its parameters, making discoveries, and planning what to do next.

We usually highlight a number of things to consider when using the horticulture space which include: n n n n n n n

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Feel free to explore and discover in the space.

Think about what you want to do and how you want to do it.

Be mindful of others in the group and also the wider community if on site.

If you are unsure of your discovery, share it with us and we can look together – sometimes it is better to do these things in a group or pairs.

When using tools, follow the instructions of the leader about safe use.

You can just watch and observe in the space – being in the space can be as important as doing in the space.

Some plants can sting and prick you.

Once the children and young people have seen the space, we encourage them to write down what they might want to do in the space in a journal we give them to record their thoughts, ideas and plans. It’s also important for them to note how they are feeling in the space, about themselves, and also their relationships with others.

Things that can be noted by the therapist might be how the group works together on a particular task, who chooses to work on their own, anyone who gets isolated by the group, and any areas of conflict over the space and how this is negotiated and worked out.

The garden space can represent many aspects of our life. For example, weeds can be seen as problems/issues to be sorted out, light and shade areas could be about mood, insects and creepy crawlies could represent new discoveries and anxious thoughts, and growing seeds could be potential and new growth.

The possibilities are endless in respect of form and meaning which includes the season you might be in as well as the weather you might be working in. All offer the chance to explore the inner and outer worlds that the children and young people inhabit and gives us the chance to see the world in the way they do and try to understand it through their eyes.

Each session starts with a brief check in or warm up to the space and to each other.

It is a time to check where the young people are with their emotions, relationships,

Conditions: mental health

Every Child Journal

and generally how they feel about being in the garden space. Our task as the leaders/ therapists is to listen out and reflect back what we think we have heard and check that we have understood what they are wanting, either as individuals or as a group. We also bring with us seeds, plants, horticulture magazines to help develop ideas the young people have about the space. This might also include an array of tools to use on the ground and with the plants with careful instruction and supervision for safe use.

Ahmed’s Story Ahmed is a 13-year-old boy who arrived in the United Kingdom as an asylum seeker along with his elder brother and father.

His mother was killed and sister kidnapped. He had experienced problems with socialising with his peers and also would often become distressed and upset in class, which resulted in his peers picking on him.

During the group sessions he initially would work only on his own, cutting and chopping down dogwood branches. It appeared he was both angry and isolated but also protecting himself from being picked on.

As the sessions progressed, he gradually moved closer to the rest of the group and then the other group members invited him into a space whereby they were digging up a difficult root to get out. They needed another member to help and asked Ahmed to pull with them to get it out. Ahmed was tentative but helped the others to pull it out. It gave them all a great feeling of success and also brought Ahmed in from his isolated position. After this they began working much more together, Ahmed’s anger reduced, and he became friends with another boy who had also lost his mother in a conflict in Africa.

A new discovery, a strange creature, or something to be thrown away?

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Non-directive space The work in the garden space though is non-directive allowing the young people to develop their own ideas at their own pace. This is important because it is through this freedom that expression of thought and feeling can have its place in the garden.

It is better to discover something for yourself than to be told what to do. Many stories have unfolded by the young people which have included aspects of the garden space which have become monsters from the deep, a journey to the centre of the earth, a mound of mud changed to a castle on a hill, and a tree dressed for remembrance of a loved one passed away.

The discoveries are often shared in the moment or at a later date depending on the groups need or an individual who wants the rest of the group to hear what has happened.

The horticultural space then can offer professionals working with children many opportunities to reflect on what has been done, created, discovered, and felt in the natural environment.

Young people who have used the space have commented on how it allows them to feel relaxed, free and chilled, to grow stuff, work with others and get to know them better, to feel calmer, and enjoy eating the produce Final comment goes to the young person who dug up a piece of stone, “I don’t know what it is but I think it is worth keeping. It might be a dinosaur tooth. I will take it to my teacher to show her what I have found.” As the therapist working with this young lad, I could see his enthusiasm for his discovery and his wonder of what it could potentially be and was glad that I was there to share it with him.

Carl Dutton is a Psychodrama Psychotherapist, Mental Health Practitioner and coordinator at Haven of Greenspace Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust/ University of Liverpool Honorary Research Fellow, Jaya Chandna is Research Assistant at the University of Liverpool.

Contact carl.dutton@alderhay.nhs.uk

A group work manual for practitioners by Berni Stringer & Madan Mall Based on solution focused brief therapy, this manual presents a range of exercises, which can be photocopied for use with groups or individuals. The exercises help children to explore their own knowledge and perception of their difficulties and emphasise their ability to do something about it. Sessions cover everything from setting up a group, establishing ground rules and assessing individual needs, to recording progress and celebrating success.

L Tried and tested exercises developed over recent years L Highlights specific problems whilst offering practical solutions L Encourages children to become aware of the effects of their actions, thoughts and behaviour L Designed to be used by those with no prior knowledge of the technique

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Moving towards inclusion Children with severe disabilities are often the most marginalised in society. Yet child-focused programmes that concentrate on promoting independence can yield excellent results, say Di Rickard and Michael Sutoris.

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he Children and Families Bill (2013) is the latest in a line of policy initiatives setting out expectations for how disabled children and their families should be informed about and involved in decision-making regarding the provision of services to meet their needs. It aims to put children’s and families’ aspirations at the heart of service delivery through personcentred planning and by improving co-operation between the various services that support children with disabilities, in particular local authorities and health services.

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The spirit of these reforms was anticipated in the Royal Borough of Greenwich when therapists from the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (formally Greenwich Teaching PCT), education staff from two special schools – Willow Dene and Charlton Park Academy – got together to consider how best to promote independence and social inclusion for young people with significant physical disabilities. They decided to approach the MOVE Partnership to provide an integrated family-centred service that would allow the young people to have as many opportunities as possible to practise the movement skills they needed for everyday life, rather than being reliant on ‘treatment’.

The MOVE Partnership is a UK-based charity working with local authorities, schools and organisations to improve the mobility skills of children and adults, who have disabilities and/or complex needs, in order to achieve maximum independence in sitting, standing and walking through the MOVE Programme.

The MOVE programme

“An important aspect of the programme is that the goal is, if possible, always stated in the child’s own words.”

The programme provides a means of delivering the joined up services which form the core of recent government directives. It has been developed to meet the protocols, government recommendations and cultural and legislative needs of multi-agency disability services across Europe using a method of meeting the needs of those people with complex physical disabilities who have not learned to sit, stand, walk or transfer spontaneously by the age-appropriate stage of development, or for those who have lost those skills. It can be used for all age-groups and in pre-school, special or mainstream schools, residential or leisure settings.

MOVE provides a multi-agency common language in which to describe and analyse a young person’s abilities and agree on an age-appropriate approach to working with them towards their own or their family’s personal goals. The entire focus is on the personal goals of the child, with clear achievable outcomes to maintain the motivation of the whole multi-agency team including the child and their family. An important aspect of the programme is that the goal is, if possible, always stated in the child’s own words.

The goal setting process is driven by the child and the family at the initial assessment meeting, which also involves the Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and/or Teaching Assistant at the school, together with health care professionals, including the child’s designated therapist.

Philosophy

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The central philosophy of the MOVE Programme is that movement is the foundation of learning and necessary for the development of body image, spatial concepts, understanding of the environment, as a method of communication and for making choices.

The aim of the programme is therefore, through collaborative team working, to offer these movement opportunities at the ageappropriate stage in real-life situations to children with disabilities and so open up the world around them. Every activity throughout the child’s day is utilised as a learning opportunity and it is this increase in regular, real-life practice that facilitates the child’s independent abilities, confidence and self-esteem.

The programme is not prescriptive, and nor is it a therapy technique. It does not come into conflict with any other therapy or learning approaches but provides a structure which sets out to draw together good practice by encouraging collaborative working at all levels, giving equal worth to the input, knowledge and skills of every team member.

No child is seen as having too severe a disability to be included.

Through identifying and being able to record small improvements,

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progress is possible beyond the point where the child appears to have reached a plateau.

In Greenwich, the MOVE Programme was initially piloted with young people in the two Special Schools – Willow Dene and Charlton Park Academy. As the benefits became clear, it was decided to make the programme more widely available across the borough. This resulted in the development of a three-year agreement between The MOVE Partnership, the Royal Borough of Greenwich and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. A whole system change was developed with the parents at the centre of integrated frontline delivery which is guided by integrated processes, strategy and governance.

The aim of this agreement was to make the MOVE Programme universally available to relevant young people across Greenwich, irrespective of location. Five senior practitioners have now qualified as MOVE Trainers enabling them to train others within their workplaces and across the borough.

Creating a self-sustaining service Implementation of the borough-wide service involved bringing staff from all agencies together for rolling programme training days, initially run by development officers with therapeutic and educational experience in special education. This ensured a universal understanding of the ethos and practical implementation of the programme with more in-depth knowledge of recording techniques for senior practitioners, whose responsibilities include the co-ordination of the programme within their centre.

Support from The MOVE Partnership, together with local mentoring from experienced staff, has been fundamental to the successful implementation of the programme and necessary cultural changes in practice. Dedicated support staff (including a project manager and two assistants, supported by a senior therapist) were employed to aid the extension of the programme beyond the special schools for the duration of the agreement.

In this way, the programme is moving towards selfsustainability within Greenwich, ensuring an increasing consistency of approach across sites. Good practice is spreading beyond classroom and therapy staff to others involved with the young people – including swimming coaches, transport staff and meal supervisors.

As part of the quality assurance programme, both Charlton Park Academy and Willow Dene School have achieved the MOVE Quality Mark and are now both Centres of Excellence. This has enabled them to offer outreach assistance to mainstream schools. A subsequent aim is to identify more potential centres of excellence within the mainstream sector, providing specialist knowledge and resources for Greenwich schools. Already, nine mainstream schools are actively involved in the programme.

Cultural change It is clear that the nature of this cultural change takes time to adopt. The special schools have been working with MOVE for approximately five years, and their experience demonstrates how the principle can be adopted by a few members of staff who, with the right support, can develop it into a complete approach for the whole school.

Through the structure that the assessment and monitoring system provides, the special schools are beginning to demonstrate clear links between this model of working

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and functional, everyday life benefits for children. There is now a clear commitment to the model among staff across education and health, motivated directly by the progress that they are seeing.

Research by MOVE in 2011 across 14 settings where the programme was running found that 44 per cent of participants had improved their skills, 53 per cent were working toward the next motor milestone or were maintaining skills, and two per cent had lost skills due to medical/surgical events.

In a survey of professionals operating the programme, 94 per cent agreed with the statement that the programme had given the participant more control over their body, 70 per cent said it had increased the participant’s decision making, and 100 per cent agreed that the programme had improved the quality of life for the individual.

Impact For children participating in the MOVE Programme, movement is central to their daily lives. Everyone working with them is aware of each child’s individual goals and their relevance to that child’s development.

Professionals now work towards the child’s and the family’s goals rather than setting their own aims, so therapy programmes are increasingly incorporated into the child’s day rather than being treated as an add-on. This helps break down perceived boundaries between teaching and therapy and enables a true multi-disciplinary approach to physical development. Whereas therapy may have been more commonplace outside the classroom, sessions now only take place outside the child’s usual environment if there is a very specialised need (for example, the need for privacy or special equipment).

Staff now have higher expectations and are more confident in stretching the child’s physical abilities. There are numerous examples of children on the programme who have learned functional weight-bearing beyond the normally accepted age - something that has had a profound effect on their daily life and that of their family. Different disciplines have a clearer idea of each other’s roles and parents seem more aware of what the school is trying to achieve. In Willow Dene and Charlton Park, there is no longer the assumption that as a child grows older and bigger they will automatically become less mobile and therefore more reliant on being hoisted for transfers or being a permanent powered wheelchair user. This reflects another core aim, ‘the maintenance of weight-bearing into adulthood.’

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Opportunities for independence While the main aims are increasing levels of inclusion and offering greater opportunities for children to become more independent, other benefits include more efficient communication skills, improved access to the school curriculum, greater social interaction with others, greater participation in activities and reduced behavioural difficulties. Early evidence is indicating a very high correlation between participation in the programme and enhanced development in overall cognition and learning.

The Greenwich programme is going from strength to strength. Greenwich has already established itself as a MOVE Borough of Excellence and is keen to use its experience to encourage other areas to develop family centred integrated services.

Increased links are being built between special and mainstream schools and parents report that it has made a real difference to the quality of life for not only their children but also their whole families.

Feedback from Willow Dene parents “MOVE has given our son the chance to do some things for himself instead of being strapped into a chair. I’ve seen a DVD of my son sitting at a table working with other children in class. He looked like a different child, so grown up. I felt so proud.”

“It means so much to see our daughter actually playing and throwing her toys – she looks at things and purposely reaches out to grab things. Since being on the MOVE Programme, she is becoming stronger, more alert and interested in life.”

“The programme has made my family outings so much easier. My daughter is so pleased with herself when she manages to walk on her own.”

“My daughter is able to sit with her sister and they play together; it’s lovely to see her playing with toys and taking an interest in what her sister is doing, being able to walk across the room to different activities is something we never thought we would see.”

The Foster Carer of a student at Charlton Park Academy tells her story Amina (not her real name) joined Charlton Park Academy in 2008. Amina wanted to be able to transfer in and out of her wheelchair without using a sling and be able to get up a set of steps onto a trampoline by sitting and pushing up. Within six months of joining the school, Amina was able to transfer from her wheelchair with adult support, an achievement which made her extremely proud and increased her sense of personal dignity as she no longer required hoisting. She was also able to push herself up a whole flight of stairs.

Amina is a resident of Charlton Park Academy’s boarding unit and her carers help her into her walker in the mornings so that she can walk up to class. As a result of using the programme, Amina has been able to use a walker both around school and to access the local community. She has also been able to use a tricycle due to the increased muscle strength in her legs. Amina is also able to sit on a standard class chair with her friends during lessons, meaning that she is sitting at the same height as them, rather than up in her wheelchair.

The impact has been life-changing for Amina. To be able to get up stairs without the need for a hoist has meant she is able to live with a foster family rather than in a children’s home. Amina can now access many community activities such as swimming and the cinema as she can do assisted transfers and does not need a hoist. This enables her to have life experiences and dignity which will give her an amazing start in life.

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How MOVE has changed lives at Willow Dene School At Willow Dene there are 33 children on the MOVE programmes working towards their own goals. All our children have made progress on the programme. Of these: n n n n

25 per cent have achieved one of their goals.

23 per cent achieved two of their goals.

50 per cent achieved four goals.

One child has achieved five goals.

Children have acquired skills that have had a positive impact on their lives.

One child acquired head control and so could be fed orally for the first time aged five, she is able to make choices by looking at the thing she wants and make eye contact with her family – her parents are thrilled. She is now working on her sitting balance and bringing her hands into the middle to operate a switch.

T wanted to travel on the school bus sitting on a seat like everyone else, not at the back in his wheelchair. He had to learn to stand for a few seconds, step backwards and sit without support. It took a lot of practise and many opportunities in school but T now travels on the bus like all the other kids! His Dad said it’s like winning the lottery.

Many children have learnt to stand holding onto a rail, making personal care and changing easier, reducing lifting and giving the child more dignity and independence.

Social skills have developed too – children are able to sit together, not separated by equipment, and they are communicating more.

Being able to move opens up the world. Our children are happier, more confident and eager to learn. They are growing in strength, stamina, have more energy, and there are fewer behaviour issues.

Children are also suffering fewer chest infections and having fewer days off school due to illness.

Lin Wright, MOVE Co-ordinator, Willow Dene

Horn Park Primary School Our journey with the MOVE programme started in 2011 when we had our first multi-agency meeting. John (not his real name) was asked what his goals would be. Although only seven years old, he acted like the chairman of a committee and was very clear with his answer – to be able to walk like everyone else in school and to be able to play football! Needless to say, some adults had difficulty holding back the tears.

By the end of the meeting, we were all clear about what his current skill levels were and what skills he needed to be able to work towards his seemingly impossible goal. From then on, John and his teaching assistants have worked on the targets developed by his therapists throughout the school day.

John has progressed from being in his wheelchair to walking with his Kaye walker and becoming very confident with his tripods. He has now reached a point where he can independently walk up and downstairs while holding onto the stair rail and can walk the length of the school corridor without adult support, Kaye walker or tripods. At a recent sports event, John refused to use his wheelchair and coped throughout the whole event.

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His mother describes how John is now moving around the house with increasing independence. This tremendous progress has only taken six months to achieve. Apart from the benefits in increased mobility, he has become more independent, has

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increased self-esteem and has shown great determination towards achieving his ultimate goal.

John’s success has been as a result of team work – the therapists who come into school to set up his programmes, the teaching assistants who deliver them, his mother who has reinforced his targets at home and the dedicated team members who have supported us and made the journey more realistic and manageable.

Our school hosted the first MOVE party which was a great success. It was lovely to see the parents sharing their experiences and for the children to talk and play with one another. We hope this is a way forward in bringing families together and creating a network of people to call upon.

Liz Nash – Special Needs Coordinator, Horn Park Primary School Horn Park is now working towards attaining the MOVE Quality Mark.

What are the challenges in establishing MOVE in mainstream school?

Experience at Horn Park has shown how important it is to plan ahead to ensure that MOVE is incorporated as much as possible into the timetable of a regular school day. It is also important to ensure that all staff in school have a good working awareness of the programme.

The only really big difficulty was concern around national curriculum coverage as a lot of the initial work took place outside of the classroom and meant that parts of some lessons were missed. In addition, it meant that transitions took a lot longer.

We now simply allow John an extra five minutes to transition around school. This means he loses some of his playtime, but it is a small price to pay for being able to use the stairs several times a day!

Michelle Bernard – Head teacher, Horn Park Primary School

Di Rickard is Director of Development and Training at The MOVE Partnership and Michael Sutoris is Principal Educational Psychologist at the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

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View point

The impact of addiction With academic success beckoning and a glittering future ahead for her son, Maggie Swann was entitled to feel that nothing could go wrong. And then she discovered his skunk habit. Here she tells the story.

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leven GCSE passes, with 4 A’s and 2 A*’s - we couldn’t believe it! We were all on cloud nine with dreams of a wonderful future for my son. He’d been seriously working hard for the previous 12 months, but the constant nagging and pushing to do homework and revise had paid dividends and he’d finally got the exams under his belt.

But my how things were to change! The following year my son’s mood yo-yoed from amenable and submissive to violent and aggressive. The triggers for the anger were minor and came from nowhere, but the effect was destructive both physically and mentally. He’d storm out of the house in a rage only to return in a few hours time, all calm and collected.

One day he’d be fresh-faced and healthy, the next grey and sickly.

A further 12 months went by and the date of A-level results was looming. The atmosphere around my son was one of gloom, the date etched in his mind as D-day, when it would all be over. Nothing mattered after that date because there was no future after

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that date. In his opinion, he was going to fail, he was worthless, everybody hated him, there was no point living.

A knock on the door I was a nervous wreck as the exam results day approached. I felt sure that everything would be stable until the results came out, but I really couldn’t bank on anything after that. It was terrifying! My son was seriously depressed, he was paranoid and he meant every word he said. A couple of years earlier, two of his school friends had taken their own lives, so within their peer group, the threat of suicide was very real.

Suddenly one evening, everything began to make sense. It was quite late when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to two policemen who announced that my son had been arrested for possession of cannabis. As the conversation progressed, I found out that my son and his friends had actually been smoking cannabis since they were 13 years old. Even on their way home from school!

The frightening thing was that I’d had no idea at all. Even though I’d been away to university in my younger days and considered myself quite streetwise, I didn’t have any personal experience with drugs and didn’t know the warning signs. Also, I was at a disadvantage as I’d always told my son to be honest with me and never to tell lies.

What I didn’t know was that drug abusers lie constantly to hide the addiction and they carry no remorse whatsoever. They don’t even think it’s wrong.

School silence During the next few terrifying months, we were thrown into a legal minefield to try and get my son’s case dealt with fairly. As more and more facts emerged, I was horrified to find out that teachers at his school were aware of the problem well before I was. I did find it strange to have received numerous calls from the pastoral care tutor to check up on my son, asking why he’d missed a class or where his homework assignment was. They asked me how he was generally, whether he was having problems at home or in his relationships with certain girls at the school. But they never once told me that he was involved with drugs, or that his car had been searched on school premises and a small amount of cannabis had been found.

If I’d had that information, I could have intervened and nipped the problem in the bud before it escalated. But I didn’t find out until a further 18 months down the line, by which time he was heavily addicted to smoking cannabis and in a lot of legal trouble.

If I’d known earlier, I could have dealt with the matter at home. Or I could have supported the school or visa-versa. I’m not blaming the school for my son becoming involved with drugs - that was a decision my son and his friends made at the tender age of 13. I’m not accusing them of turning a blind eye to the warning signs, after all I missed those for a very long time because I didn’t know what to look for. However, I am very unhappy that once the school did become aware of the issue, they didn’t call me in to explain the situation, so I could be on red alert. I’m sure the school thought they had my son’s interests at heart, or maybe they didn’t want to risk the chance of adverse publicity if the incident hit the press, but from a parent’s point of view, they were totally wrong. By keeping the incident quiet, and letting it go by without recriminations, my son (and his friends) went on smoking cannabis for many more months.

“I did find it strange to have received numerous calls from the pastoral care tutor to check up on my son, asking why he’d missed a class or where his homework assignment was.”

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Thinking back, the school’s pastoral care teacher could have just dropped the word ‘drugs’ or ‘cannabis’ into the conversation and I might well have picked up on it. The issue wasn’t part of my life so it would never have entered my head without a prompt. I just assumed that my son had remained true to the values we’d taught him when he was younger, and would never touch drugs of any type. I didn’t know he’d moved the goalposts.

The school could have arranged an evening talk on the topic of recreational drugs, and sent out an open invitation to parents. I would have gone along. They could have sent a letter home referring generally to drugs in the local area. I would have read it. They could have put a paragraph or two in the school’s newsletter, or in the local paper, explaining their zero-tolerance policy. I would have read that too. They could have done lots of things to sow the seed in the minds of parents, but they did nothing.

My view now is that regular education on the topic of drugs should be compulsory for teachers, parents and children. Everybody needs to be aware of the dangers that are engulfing the younger generation. How many more accidental overdoses, suicides and violent deaths are needed before the issue of teenage drug abuse gets the attention it deserves?

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No Quick Fix According to the latest report on drug addiction from The Centre for Social Justice, No Quick Fix , around 80 per cent of the cannabis used in the UK is the ‘skunk’ variety which is six times more potent than the cannabis that was used in the 1960s. The report states how this variety of cannabis is causing increasing damage to young people, affecting brain development, especially with young people with pre-existing mental health problems.

Numerous studies are emerging which report on the adverse effects of skunk on mental health, and confirm that the cost of cannabis use to society is enormous as more and more young people seek treatment for mental health problems.

Added to the list of mainstream illegal drugs in use amongst schoolchildren in the UK, it is estimated that at least one new drug enters the country every week. Many of these new drugs are so-called ‘legal highs’, which are freely available on the high street in ‘head shops’ or on the internet. It literally is child’s play to get hold of drugs in the UK, with little or no legislation to block the distribution channels.

Schoolchildren are being exposed to these drugs constantly and many are experimenting without fully understanding the possible effect on their health or their future. They need better education about the effects and dangers of drugs, and they need to understand that help is available if they need it. Although the government heavily promotes the ‘Talk to FRANK’ initiative, which gives information and advice to young people, the programme is considered by many in the industry to have major flaws.

According to the ‘No Quick Fix’ report, only one in ten children would consider calling the FRANK helpline, and the majority of schools only cover the topic of drugs, alcohol and tobacco once in a school year. This is not enough – children, parents and teachers need educating about the myriad drugs which are prevalent in our society and need a constant reminder of the possible consequences, both from a health and legal point of view.

I understand the issue of student confidentiality, and that there is currently no requirement legally for the school to disclose the information to the police or to parents, but surely morally and for the sake of the child’s future, there should be a policy of informing the people who will have to deal with the issue long after the child leaves school? Parents can do so much to help, but they need to know there is a problem.

In my case, I just thought I had a very unruly teenager. He’d been a model child up until his mid teens, so I was sure it was just a phase of growing up. I didn’t notice any drug paraphernalia, or odd smells around the house that lingered well after his friends had left until my son was 18. The problem with a child being 18 is that, in the eyes of the law, they are legally an adult, and have to deal with the problem alone.

Custody

“Once the child reaches 18, they are an adult in their own right and must suffer the consequences.”

When my son was taken into custody, I was told nothing except that he’d been arrested.

I couldn’t find out any facts from the local police force, or from the county constabulary.

Once the child reaches 18, they are an adult in their own right and must suffer the consequences.

My son was thrown in at the deep end. After being told he’d be interviewed within an hour, he was held in a cell for 16 hours without food, drink or sleep. He was then questioned by a policewoman, who took him under her wing and befriended him, until her colleagues felt they had enough evidence to prosecute. Armed with his mobile phone containing messages which related to cannabis, they cautioned him, stating that he would be charged formally in a few days time. They then let him out on the streets, with no money and no phone, so he had to walk home – a distance of quite a few miles. He didn’t know he should have asked for a solicitor to be present, he didn’t know that they would keep him that long without sustenance, he didn’t know that we would have been kept completely in the dark about what was happening.

When I finally got my son back, he was pale, emotionally drained, confused and worryingly depressed.

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By the time all this happened, my son had left school, so the educational establishments could wipe their hands of him. He wasn’t their concern any more, the drug issue wasn’t theirs to deal with, they could pretend it didn’t happen and concentrate on the next intake of students. I wasn’t given that luxury – I had months of stress and worry trying to keep my son alive and trying to ensure that everything was done to minimise the consequences for his future.

“The cannabis use amongst my son’s circle of friends had led to paranoia, suicidal thoughts, knife crime and gang violence.”

Counselling By far the most effective action we took was to get a counsellor involved as soon as we could. Not only did the counsellor slowly but surely get my son back on track by weekly confidential intervention meetings, intermittent drug tests and ad-hoc phone calls and texts, but he provided invaluable support for me as I struggled to deal with my son, a volatile and violent drug abuser. I was completely out of my depth, not knowing what to expect next.

The cannabis use amongst my son’s circle of friends had led to paranoia, suicidal thoughts, knife crime and gang violence. There was an increased police presence around the neighbourhood and my son was regularly ‘stopped and searched’ for signs of drugs.

This could happen any time, day or night, while he was walking alone, out socially with friends, or driving in his car. The police never found anything, but that wasn’t the motive – they just wanted to keep the pressure on him until the court case was heard.

Cannabis, like other illegal drugs, affects people in different ways. For some, smoking a joint or sharing a bong is just a relaxing recreational pastime. For others however, the drug is a catalyst for personality changes of epic proportions. Many seem to think of cannabis as a weaker drug that isn’t as dangerous as heroin or cocaine. Decades ago this may have been the case, however the ‘skunk’ variation in circulation today is lethal and is proven to be the cause of increased psychotic behaviour, suicide, knife crime and gang violence. It is a very serious problem that needs addressing.

Lack of awareness

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I believe that school teachers, and parents, need more of an understanding of the effects of drugs. They need to know the warning signs – the distinctive smell, the secrecy, the paranoia, the depression, the complete disregard for anything and anybody. Not all children react in the same way. Some become relaxed and lethargic after using drugs, but some become volatile, aggressive, and very dangerous. Adults with a duty of care, whether in the home or in the school, need to be educated properly so that a mutual support system can emerge to protect these vulnerable young people.

A few months ago I was asked to give a brief talk to some young prisoners. The organisers wanted me to give a parent’s point of view, as the mother of a drug user. It was one of the most nerve-wracking but also one of the most inspiring things I have ever done as the feedback was tremendous. In the lunch break, some of the prisoners came to talk to me. A couple said I reminded them of their mum – that they used to find it really easy to hide the drug use from their family because they didn’t know what to look for. A few said they used to smoke cannabis at school and the teachers didn’t even realise. They’d hide the cannabis in the yard and smoke it at lunchtime, or on their way home.

What was sad was that many of the prisoners reminded me of my own son. Many were good lads, with genuine feelings, who had got involved with drugs when they were too young to fully appreciate the consequences. They’d been sentenced for drug related

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crime, dealing and violence and many had decades to go before they would be released to really begin the life they should be living. My son was lucky – he got counselling help in the nick of time which pulled him out of the depression and paranoia. He went through the legal system, to Crown Court level, and was given a second chance by a judge who understood and appreciated the problem of childhood drug-use and could see potential for my son if he got clean.

We managed to get my son onto a university course which gave him a focus for his future. Although the court case was pending, the support we received from the university tutors was tremendous. Instead of hiding their head in the sand and ignoring the issue of drugs, they tackled it head on and had a robust policy for supporting students as they overcome their addiction. As a parent, I was under no illusion that he would have it easy, but it was evident that the tutors had his best interests at heart and would help where they could. Their investment is paying off and he is now in his final year of a degree course, which will hopefully reflect well on the university when he completes his studies.

I will always be eternally grateful to everybody who supported my son, but I understand that many aren’t as fortunate and will end up in prison or in a coffin when they could have been saved by early intervention. My story is extreme, but it is not by any means unique. The problem is growing through ignorance and apathy – it needs addressing with knowledge and understanding.

Maggie Swann is a mother and author of Get Real Mum, everybody smokes cannabis, a true story written to bring the issue of teenage drug use out into the open.

References www.12steprehab.co.uk – help with addiction issues, tailored to the individual. For more information contact Mike Murphy on 07740 099335 or through the website.

‘No Quick Fix’ – Exposing the depth of Britain’s drug and alcohol problem: The Centre for Social Justice.

Learning Without Limits 1 using art to develop critical and creative thinking

By Tony Hurlin Price: £65.00 plus VAT Includes whole school licence so you can put it on your virtual learning environment

How to challenge and involve pupils of all abilities by teaching the key skills of critical and creative thinking through paintings, pictures and prints.

The materials in this pack will help all teachers to: • Recognise the value of building a repertoire of techniques, to teach thinking through looking at examples of important art • Learn and understand the core principles of critical and creative thinking and how to apply these in all lessons • Explore 6 techniques in detail and learn how to apply these to lessons they have already planned • Refine and adapt the techniques to meet the needs of specific groups of pupils including able learners • Develop confidence in talking and learning at deeper levels of meaning with all pupils

This pack uses thinking and interpretion skills as part of critical skills development at KS2 and as a practical application for the principals of the Intelligent Learning Learning Without Limits 1 Programme. It can be integrated with the Intelligent has been created through Learning Programme or used on its own. looking at the practical experiences of teachers It includes a teacher’s handbook, CD-ROM with seeking to foster critical and powerpoint presentation and seven A4 laminated creative thinking abilities in all their pupils. reproductions of paintings discussed in the handbook.

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Education/Research

Turning the tables Research is something that’s done to people in care, right? Not in this case. Kristen Liabo looks at what happens when care leavers take control of the research agenda.

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n 2008, I approached a group of young people looked after by Islington Council to identify a topic for a review of research on looked-after children. Through a series of discussion meetings, the group decided to focus on how formal education for looked-after children could be improved. The young people chose to focus on education because, they argued, education is the underpinning factor that determines everything else – if you have an education you get a job, having a job gives you money, having money helps you take care of your health. The group decided to review research evaluations of programmes aimed at supporting looked-after children to stay in school and improve their attainment.1

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Starting school and staying in school is one thing, enjoying and excelling in formal education quite another. Current education policies emphasise academic success at school. Some might say that this pushes enjoyment and participation in own learning down on the prioritisation list. What the focus on achievement does highlight, is that the standardised educational outcomes for looked-after children in England are poor compared to the general population. Figures for 2012 show that 15 per cent of lookedafter children gained five or more A*-C GCSEs (including English and maths) compared with 36 per cent of those with free school meals, and 59 per cent of all pupils (including those looked after and those on free school meals).2 The group of care leavers working on the review had mixed experiences of school – some had dropped out before doing their GCSEs, some had gone on to study at university. Some had benefitted from an increased focus on education for lookedafter children whereas others had suffered from the lack of it. Historically, education for looked-after children had been a low priority, but increasingly during the 1990s and 2000s, more emphasis was put on this, and some young people in the group had themselves experienced encouragement in the form of higher education grants, and placements lasting longer when they continued onto college. At population level, there have been some minor percentage changes in terms of educational achievement for looked-after children, but as the figures show, the gap between those in and those out of care remains.

Reasons for low achievement amongst the care population have been identified in the care system, which has not prioritised education. Care home environments may lack books, educational materials or an appropriate study area.3 Low expectations have been identified, resulting in looked-after children not receiving the support they need.4 Pre-care experiences of abuse and neglect also impact negatively on school attainment.5 As argued by the young people conducting this review, looked-after children will be at a disadvantage because of their family circumstances, which can result in them moving homes and school more often than other children. Our focus was therefore on how looked-after children can be supported to overcome this, and to participate in shaping their own life trajectories.

“Reasons for low achievement amongst the care population have been identified in the care system, which has not prioritised education.

Care home environments may lack books, educational materials or an appropriate study area”

Doing a research review Having decided to conduct a review on education, the young people wanted this to focus on children aged ten to 15 in mainstream schools who had been placed by the authorities to live outside of their family setting. The age limit was set because it encompassed the transition from primary to secondary school.

Young people were involved in all stages of the review, and the group spent quite a lot of time deciding which studies to include. Due to time limitations, we agreed to only consider studies which focused on attainment or attendance, and those which had looked at the attendance and achievement numbers of looked-after children before and after they received the education support programme.

We found 11 relevant studies. From the researcher’s perspective, these studies were not of optimal quality. It is well-known that there are particular difficulties associated with researching looked-after children – this is a highly mobile population and tracing individuals is difficult with placement moves, changes in their legal status, inadequate or incomplete local authority data management systems, and problems with access to data.

The results of the studies must therefore be read with caution.

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Findings from the review The young people organised the 11 studies into six groups of programmes, based on the services described: 1) Strategic interventions6 2) Pilot of interventions initiated by targeted money7 3) Residential school8 4) Community project9 5) Reading encouragement10 6) Tutoring.11 We were disappointed to find that none of these emerged as being particularly effective in improving looked-after children’s educational results. However, three studies appeared more popular and successful than others. These were: n n n

Strategic interventions Targeted spending of money Reading interventions

We would also like to highlight that tutoring is something which is provided to many children living with their own families. From an equal opportunities point of view, tutoring should therefore be available in a non-stigmatising way to looked-after children. Tutoring has been found to be popular12 and also an effective strategy for improving reading and maths skills in children aged five to 14.

Strategic interventions

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Strategic interventions were those applied at an organisational level to change policy and practice to support an improvement in looked-after children’s educational outcomes.

Strategic interventions aimed to strengthen the relationship and communication between education and social care services, and focused on changing organisational practice rather than providing direct support, although some included initiatives that worked directly with children and young people. While many local authorities will now have initiated such changes in the wake of Care Matters, we were interested to see the results of formal evaluations of such initiatives.

There were three studies within this category – one UK pilot implemented in three local authorities,13 one evaluation of the Virtual School Heads pilot12 and one US evaluation of having an educational specialist to advise social workers on educational problems.14 Overall, evaluations did not identify any clear trends in school attendance and attainment as a result of these programmes, but collaboration between different departments improved. The Taking Care of Education evaluation found that looked-after children’s emotional well-being and self-esteem improved after 18 months of the programme.

The Virtual School Head pilot found that one in three looked-after children were more concerned with their placement or school move than with educational progress and this anxiety was not reflected in the adults’ responses. Many adults seemed unaware of looked-after children’s needs, views and behaviours. The Taking Care of Education study

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found that like other children, those in care appreciate special rewards and extra support, but they do not like this to happen in a way that singles them out as being looked-after.

These points resounded with the experiences of the young people who conducted this review and who objected to being pulled out of class to talk to workers about their education plan.

Spending of targeted money We found one Scottish evaluation of 18 authorities who were given money to improve the education for their looked-after children.7 These small-scale projects provided direct support (e.g. tutoring, mentoring, nurture groups, book parcels), personal education planning, transition support (between primary and secondary school), staff development, and provision of technological support (e.g. computers, internet access).

This study found that the attainment in the children improved. The authors concluded that individualised and flexible approaches were most successful, and that the projects were valued by carers and families, as well as young people. An important problem for these projects was finding qualified staff. A lot of work went into establishing relationships between projects, social workers, education departments and schools, and the projects were worried about what would happen to these relationships after the end of the pilot period. So while this indicates that intensive and targeted support can work well, it shows that it takes a long time to get collaborative working off the ground and that long-term funding is needed.

Reading encouragement Two UK studies evaluated programmes that encouraged looked-after children to read more. The Letterbox Club sent monthly parcels in the post to looked-after children, containing books, maths games and stationery.15 The evaluation of this found some indications that children improved their reading during this time. Another programme, Reading Rich, worked directly with residential care homes to improve their reading environment, and initiated activities to encourage reading and writing, including writers in residence and book gifts.10 Young people and staff said that the writers’ residencies were very popular and carers’ awareness of literacy as an out-of school activity improved.

These programmes provided support activities to the more in-depth work described earlier. Some of the young people who conducted this review had also experienced similar initiatives and appreciated them, especially when they created opportunities for reading with their carers.

Discussion Our review was focused on current policy targets for children’s education in general – attainment and attendance. We acknowledge that there are lots of nuances to educational experiences which will be overlooked with this narrow focus. We do believe that it was important to consider whether there is any evidence which social workers and teachers can use to try and improve looked-after children’s education in line with existing policies.

This review has done that. We now call for more nuanced studies which evaluate both how a programme is appreciated (or not) by young people, and how it impacts on their school records.

The programmes identified by this review were developed in response to the system’s failure to provide adequate education. This is likely to be a result of research findings which have highlighted both the achievement gap and lack of an education focus in the care system.16 One aim for the system is to ensure that it at least provides appropriate educational support to looked-after children. As corporate parents, local authorities should provide the same level of care as biological parents.

With the Care Matters white paper in 2007, and the introduction of the Virtual School Head, the care system should be better placed for monitoring looked-after children in school, and to identify and target those at risk of dropping out. New programmes

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now need to consider how to integrate services so that they address both educational challenges and emotional trauma resulting from pre-care experiences. The experiences of the young people involved in doing this review is that care leavers at college or university need better help during personal crisis, or at times of poor health, when they are more likely to drop out.

There is also a need for discussion on what kinds of changes we expect from these initiatives. The studies we found used a very wide range of different measures to evaluate their programmes – study behaviour, attitudes, sense of belonging in school, future expectations, GCSE results, perception of attendance, days excluded, number of dropouts, test results, missing more than 25 days. The young people conducting this review discussed which outcomes they felt were the most important, and agreed that enjoyment and regular attendance go hand in hand and are more important than exam results. None of the studies we found had asked children and young people, carers, or professionals working with them what their desired outcomes would be.

The issue of outcomes is potentially contentious, and perhaps especially so in education. Higher education may be seen as a primarily middle class value, and some professionals may see attitude and motivation as more achievable than changes in attainment. A young person who gets expelled frequently may change his behaviour in ways that are not caught by the measuring tools used. We need evaluations which take this into account. Also needed is a discussion about realistic expectations for children who have experienced long-term abuse or neglect, without lowering opportunities for lookedafter children who would like to pursue an academic route.

In some studies, stakeholders appeared to have different understandings of what the programme was meant to achieve. This illustrates that words mean different things to different groups, and that the notions of population, intervention or outcome can differ significantly between those delivering the programme, those commissioning it, and those in charge of the evaluation.17 This particularly plays out in policy evaluations of initiatives commissioned by central government departments, where the intervention is designed centrally, but with scope for local interpretation. The gap between intended outcomes and service delivery and what actually happens becomes evident in the evaluation, which may also contain elements that are at odds with the priorities of the practitioners.

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The lack of good quality outcome evaluations of interventions to improve looked-after children’s educational outcomes reflects a wider lack of evidence for this population, for which there are several possible explanations. First, there is a long-standing scepticism in UK social work towards effectiveness research as practitioners think this goes against the core values in social work, which are about individual approaches, support and relationships, and not something that can be standardised within a single approach. Partly for these reasons, paradigm wars have been rife in social care research, resulting in a lack of consensus on what should count as evidence. Second, there is a lack of theoretical grounding in UK social work research, partly as a result of its close collaboration with government departments.

Only one of the studies included in this review had involved looked-after children and young people in the planning of programmes, and none had done so in the programme evaluation. One school in Reading Rich invited two students to choose the selection of books provided to other children, and this was a very positive experience for the young people.10 The authors of this review argue that involving children, young people, carers and social workers in designing programmes is likely to clarify main concerns and also to align expectations of those at the receiving end of programmes with those who design them.

Conclusion This review of education support for looked-after children found that strategic initiatives that pull social work and education departments closer in collaboration are a good start for making a better formal education for looked-after children. Targeted sums of money can be beneficial but setting up pilot projects and running them requires a lot of dedication and hard work, and long-term funding is therefore needed to follow-up on successful initiatives. There appears to be little consensus on what kind of school-related outcomes we want for looked-after children, and while important changes to the system should now be in place, there is need for further collaboration across education, health and social work to consider how to design support which addresses children’s experiences of neglect and abuse alongside their placement and educational support requirements.

Kristen Liabo is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Education.

References 1. Liabo, K., Gray, K., & Mulcahy, D. (2013). A systematic review of interventions to support looked-after children in school. Child & Family Social Work, 18, 341-353.

2. Department for Education. (2012). Outcomes for children looked after by local authorities in England: 31 March 2012 Statistics: looked-after children. Department for Education. (2013). GCSE and equivalent attainment by pupil characteristics in England: 2011 to 2012 Statistics: GCSEs (Key stage 4): Department for Education.

3. Hatton, A., & Marsh, J. (2007). Enhancing the reading of looked-after children and young people. In B. E. & M. J. (Eds.), Literacy and social inclusion: closing the gap. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.

4. Jackson, S., & Cameron, C. (2012). Leaving care: Looking ahead and aiming higher. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 1107-1114.

5. Berridge, D. (2007). Theory and explanation in child welfare: education and looked-after children. Child & Family Social Work, 12, 1-10.

12. Berridge, D., Henry, L., Jackson, S., & Turney, D. (2009). Looked after and learning: Ev aluation of the Virtual School Head pilot. London: Department for Education, Schools and Families; 13. Harker, R., Dobel-Ober, D., Berridge, D., & Sinclair, R. (2004). Taking care of education: An evaluation of the education of looked-after children.

London: National Children’s Bureau; 14. Zetlin, A., Weinberg, L., & Kimm, C. (2004). Improving education outcomes for children in foster care: intervention by an education liaison.

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 9, 421-429.

15. Griffiths, R., Comber, C., & Dymoke, S. (2009). The Letterbox Club 2007 to 2009: Final evaluation report. London: Booktrust.

16. Winter, K. (2006). Widening our knowledge concerning young looked-after children: The case for research using sociological models of childhood. Child & Family Social Work, 11, 55-64.

17. Hawe, P. (1994). Capturing the meaning of community in community intervention evaluation: some contributions from community psychology.

Health Promotion International, 9, 199-210.

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The Poverty Trap?

Children living in persistent poverty are at higher risk of poor educational, health, housing and crime outcomes than temporarily poor children. NFER’s Kerry Martin and Julie Nelson identify factors and interventions that help persistently poor children achieve a positive outcome in adulthood.

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here is a deep-seated concern about the increasingly entrenched nature of poverty in some communities. Given the severe implications for children growing up in persistent poverty, there is a need to understand more about what can be done to alleviate or mitigate this negative experience.

Sometimes though, the phrases to describe persistent poverty can become so overused that they are taken for granted and become unquestioned or even misleading. What, for example, does the phrase ‘breaking the cycle of deprivation’ mean? There is a well understood link between child poverty and adult wealth, health and wellbeing – children are rarely poor if they do not live within a poor family. But is it inevitable that poverty perpetuates itself from one generation to the next? And, if so, what is the mechanism by which this occurs?

At the heart of the government’s Child Poverty Strategy is a ‘new

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approach’ to tackling child poverty, which focuses on adults taking personal responsibility for their circumstances. The strategy is based on a premise that poverty is behavioural and that parents with a ‘culture’ of welfare dependency pass these traits on to their children, so that poverty becomes ‘intergenerational’. As Iain Duncan Smith states: “We want to break the cycle of deprivation too often passed from one generation to another.”

But can poverty really be ‘passed’ from one generation to the next? While there is a considerable body of research showing that poverty can span a ‘life course’ (that is, that children born into poverty are statistically more likely than those who are not to become poor adults), the authors of these studies do not typically term this phenomenon ‘intergenerational poverty’. This is because life-course poverty describes how poverty affects one individual over a long period of time, rather than whether, how, or why poverty might be ‘passed’ from one individual to another.

The term intergenerational poverty assumes that the nuclear family has a large impact on a child’s developing behaviour and dispositions, although in many instances, children learn and are influenced by a much wider range of individuals. There is little good evidence showing that parental actions (such as being employed) have strong causal effects on their children’s long-term economic success. Additionally, research shows that poor parents often have high aspirations for their children, and that their children often have high aspirations for themselves. What often happens is that a variety of structural barriers and inequalities prevent the realisation of these aspirations in practice. It is our view that intergenerational poverty is a flawed concept and instead feel it is more appropriate to adopt the term ‘persistent poverty’ which does not come with a value label.

There are many ways in which poverty is experienced and characterised: chronic, severe, persistent, recurrent, transient, or experienced throughout both childhood and adulthood. There is a need for policy makers to appreciate that the experiences of poverty can vary widely, as can the causes and, inevitably therefore, the solutions. There is clear evidence that the life outcomes of those experiencing chronic or persistent poverty in their youth are considerably worse than of those experiencing recurrent or transient poverty. Given the severe implications for children growing up in persistent poverty, there is a need to understand more about what can be done to alleviate or mitigate this negative experience.

Factors that support positive outcomes for poor children In our recent review of UK and international literature of what works in supporting children and young people to overcome persistent poverty, we found that much evidence focuses on the enabling factors that lift people out of poverty or offer protection from poverty. Given that these often mirror the situations and events that trigger and increase the risks of entering poverty, some of the findings relate to risk factors that if addressed, are likely to be effective in overcoming long-term poverty in the future. ’Enabling’ factors vary according to whether poverty is viewed as a cause of societal problems (as in the intergenerational poverty philosophy), or as a symptom of structural inequality (poor local employment opportunity, for example). The debate over the primacy of structure or agency is apparent. While there are external factors that can influence or limit the choices and opportunities available for families living in, or at risk of, persistent poverty, there are also internal factors and the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make free choices.

The role of structures Most of the research refers to the importance of fiscal approaches to reducing poverty and maximising income. The suggestions include social protection for families (for example, harmonising the working tax credits and benefit systems, and ongoing deployment of youth targeted income transfers such as ‘hardship funds’). There is a note of caution however, given the trade-off between providing generous assistance to the poor and

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improving incentives for people to work and provide for themselves. Other financial factors relate to the need to reduce the complexity of the benefits system to ensure that those living in, or on the margins of poverty, are receiving all the benefits to which they are entitled. There are also arguments for increases in the National Minimum Wage as well as support for community economic development initiatives such as local credit unions.

A range of environmental factors can also impact upon the alleviation of persistent poverty. A wealth of evidence points to the importance of reducing joblessness and increasing earnings among families.

The rationale for this is twofold. Non-employed families are typically the most economically disadvantaged and increasing their employment will assist those who are among the poorest in society.

Furthermore, an increase in employment among the population is likely to be a pre-requisite for public and political support for more effective redistribution of benefits to the poor. Other factors include supporting families’ transition into work and ongoing retention in employment, including offering flexible working, support with the costs of childcare and access to transport.

There is also evidence that the duration of poverty experienced by children is affected by the health status of their parents. A focus on preventing ill health and the descent into the long-term poverty that can be caused by it, is essential to avoid passing on poor nutrition and health. This includes the need to maintain universal free health care and to foster child health and nutrition. There is also need to improve the accessibility and quality of all universal public services to people living on low incomes and to minimise the stigma associated with receiving support. This includes, for example, access to early years’ interventions such as children’s centres, and access to leisure, social and cultural activities for families living in poverty.

Overview of structural factors identified as offering protection from persistent poverty

Financial factors n

n n n n n n

Increases and reforms to social protection (e.g. child benefit, working tax credit and non-contributory pensions) Maximising efficiency of benefit delivery (e.g. one stop shops, unified benefit systems) Support for additional costs associated with employment (e.g. childcare, clothes, transport) Welfare rights and advocacy work (e.g. benefit takeup campaigns) Increases in national minimum wage/paying a ‘living wage’ Reforms to charging and debt recovery procedures Community economic development initiatives (e.g. local exchange and trading schemes and credit unions)

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Environmental factors n n n n n n n n n n n

Reducing joblessness and increasing earnings among families Equal work opportunities and tackling discrimination in the work place Promoting flexible working Available, affordable, high-quality childcare Affordable housing and local amenities Access to transport Access to health care support Access to wider services (e.g. children’s centres) Access to leisure, social and cultural activities (free at the point of use) Multi-agency partnerships to ensure a coordinated and integrated approach to support Community involvement in decision-making and service delivery

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Although much evidence highlights the structural nature of persistent poverty, and resultant structural solutions to it, we should not overlook the role that individual agency can play in mitigating its worst effect

Individual and family-level enablers In contrast to the findings on structural influences on poverty, we found a limited evidence base relating to individual or ‘internal’ enabling factors.

Some argue that resilience is a useful concept for examining the ways in which individuals are able to overcome the negative impacts of poverty and prevent its persistence within families. Specific enablers associated with resilience can manifest themselves in individuals as traits, strengths, competencies, values and self-perceptions.

To this end, strategies which employ mentors, courses activities and counselling have been found to be effective with some individuals and/or families.

Aside from the issue of resilience, education is certainly an important factor in protecting individuals from persistent poverty. Educational protection can be achieved (at the practice level) through school-based and whole-family measures to reduce barriers to learning. Strategies to support and maintain disadvantaged young people’s engagement with education and learning have been widely introduced at the policy and practice levels.

However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies assessing the longer-term impacts of such interventions and it is currently unclear whether or not a child is less likely to go on to experience persistent poverty in the long term after receiving such support.

Overview of Individual/family-level factors identified as offering protection from persistent poverty

Individual/family-level factors n n n n

Resilience and coping strategies present within individuals and families Raised aspirations and family/individual capacity to deal with adversity Changed perceptions and value systems relating to norms of (benefit) entitlement High levels of engagement with children’s education (supportive home learning environment)

Practice-level factors n

n n n n

n

Supporting the educational attainment of parents and children (e.g. through conditional cash transfers, family literacy programmes) Creating school cohorts with a varying mix of advantaged/ disadvantaged pupils Reducing early school drop-out Delivering personalised support through key workers and ‘trusted’ individuals Family and social service assistance aimed at proactively addressing parent’s employment, educational and selfsufficiency needs Delivering services in a localised way (through drop-in centres etc.)

Escaping persistent poverty - what balance of approaches is needed?

We have spoken on the one hand about structural enablers, and on the other about factors that facilitate resilience against poverty at the individual/family level. In reality, of course there is a significant interplay between the two. For example, educational achievement, which is considered to be an important factor in protecting individuals from persistent poverty, can be influenced by structural factors (such as the school curriculum), and by individual factors (such as pupil competencies and levels of family support).

This suggests that the policy response to persistent poverty must be multidimensional, focusing on income supports, combined with measures that support employment, education and accessibility of services such as childcare and health. It is, however, difficult to assess the precise balance of factors that will lead to the best outcomes. A factor is likely to have most impact where it operates both internally and

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externally. For example, in the case of employment, individuals require the willingness to work and the appropriate skills to do so, whilst at the same time, there needs to be sufficient employment opportunity alongside other enablers such as transport and childcare facilities.

Moreover, timing is pivotal and early intervention is key. Strategies that successfully intervene early can have a cumulative effect in terms of later success. It is likely that specific interventions tailored to the needs of individual families, within the context of an overall policy approach to removing structural inequality, will have the greatest benefit.

Overcoming persistent poverty: key messages for practice Inevitably, the work of practitioners working with children and families tends to focus on building individual/family resilience. And there is much evidence to suggest that building family capacity to cope with adversity can be an important protector against some of the worse effects of persistent poverty. It is important to recognise that family capacity building is not a ‘cure’ for poverty in its own right (unless income levels are simultaneously raised), but rather a means of mitigating some of its worse effects.

Raising individual and family resilience also has the potential to help individuals develop the personal strength to change their personal circumstances in future (although evidence is mixed as to the impact that this can have on persistent poverty). It is also noteworthy that there is disagreement over the extent to which resilience can be learned or acquired. Resilience tends to be very context specific. Therefore, what works in one situation will not necessarily transfer to another. In spite of these caveats, we have identified the following factors, which can assist in the development of resilience, particularly among children and young people:

Factors that can build resilience n n n n n

A mentor or sponsor with the ability to recognise potential and to provide active support for goal realisation.

Study courses and/or counselling focused on coping skills.

Opportunities for children and young people to experience opportunities beyond their normal experience (such as college trips or higher education scholarships).

Practical help for children and young people with applications for grants or funding.

Other practice-level approaches with the capacity to make a difference to the persistence of poverty including those related to raising educational achievement and reducing barriers to learning. A range of school-based and whole-family measures are identified in the literature.

Evidence points most strongly to the successes of intensive education programmes working with small numbers of children and families most in need. But additionally, there is evidence of universal approaches that can make a difference to the achievement of poor children. It is important to remember that not all children living in poverty will require the intensive support reserved for families in need of, for example, parenting interventions.

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Evidence-based interventions at the school level that can make a difference to the outcomes of persistently poor children include:

School-based interventions n

n

n

Ensuring that children are educated in mixed cohorts of socially advantaged and disadvantaged, and mixed ability children. This is likely to become more of a challenge as the education system becomes more autonomous, and as schools gain a greater level of control over admissions criteria, for example.

Ensuring that the curriculum is accessible for all (both in terms of subject content and teaching and learning style). In England and Wales, the current moves towards a more academically-focused education and examinations system means that schools will need to remain aware of, and responsive to, the needs of their less advantaged students.

Ensuring that all the costs of education are covered so that poor children do not get left behind or miss out on opportunities to engage in the full educational experience.

Whole-family measures including early interventions such as those provided by children’s centres, which encourage parents to take an active role in their child’s education and to offer positive parenting and home-learning environments, can have important benefits for children’s achievement. There are still uncertainties around the mechanisms by which poverty and disadvantage can potentially hinder positive parenting, and it is very important to recognise that one does not necessarily lead to the other. It is also something of a ‘leap’ to state that improvements in parenting will impact on long-term poverty reduction.

Indeed, few evaluations have been undertaken to explore such impacts or the mechanisms by which they might be achieved. Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest that involving parents in their children’s education is an important step in the right direction towards closing the gap between poor and affluent children’s achievement. Reductions in this gap may, in turn, provide some children with the opportunity to achieve and to ‘buck the trend’ of their childhood poverty in later life.

Conclusions There is a range of structural, individual and practice-level factors that can enable families to escape from, or mitigate the worst effects of, persistent poverty. These factors operate at different levels and will need to be taken forward by a range of stakeholders. There must be an integrated approach so that priorities are understood and acted upon at government levels, and implemented effectively by practitioners, with adequate and appropriate resources.

It is in the interest of policy makers to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that link successful family intervention strategies and outcomes to the ultimate alleviation of persistent poverty. Additionally, there is still work to be done to determine the exact combination of factors (structural, individual and practice-level) that have optimum effect in overcoming poverty in a range of differing circumstances.

Critically, it seems that policy must adopt a dual focus on the removal of structural obstacles to equality and on capacity building among families and individuals. Interventions are likely to have the greatest effect when they tackle external obstacles and nurture internal resilience simultaneously.

Kerry Martin and Julie Nelson are researchers at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). This article is based on their recent review of what works in supporting children and young people to overcome persistent poverty, for the Office of the First Minister/Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland.

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Conditions

The drugs don’t work The use of prescription drugs for children’s behavioural problems is spiraling out of control, says Dave Traxson. But, he argues, a powerful campaign against the excessive use of psychotropic drugs and over-diagnosis of behavioural problems is gathering pace.

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ur children are our collective messengers to a future that we will neither see nor inhabit. What messages do we, as a progressive society, want to transmit to future generations about the way we have chosen to treat children with behavioural differences today?

Our society – in the form of an increasing number of Members of Parliament, Professional Bodies, plus a growing number of concerned professionals and parents – is now asking questions of the government and the psychiatry establishment about this critical issue and raising concerns about our agreed collective responsibility to safeguard children from the rapidly growing risk of harm from prescribed psychotropic drugs.

I posed the question in the introduction of this article at the end of a recent debate in a committee room of the House of Commons, aimed at drawing parliamentary and public attention to this area of the increased medication of children to control their complex emotional and behavioural needs. The meeting was the culmination of two years of

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intense national awareness-raising by concerned psychologists about the growth in the use of these mind-altering and potentially toxic drugs on school-aged children in the UK. This campaign – an effective but loose alliance between the Association of Educational Psychologists, the divisions of Educational and Child Psychology and Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Psychological Society, professors of psychology and individual psychologists, like myself, along with representatives from psychiatry – has achieved considerable progress by mobilising professionals and their associations to lobby MPs and by writing articles such as this in a range of publications. Holding this debate with prominent American and British representatives of Psychiatry and Psychology in Parliament in June was a major step and has added considerably to the public and professional debate since.

The campaign has now successfully challenged the rationale of some of the more dubiously diagnosed disorders for childhood behavioural difficulties – now rebranded as disorders – which once would have definitely fallen within the normal range of societal expectations for children.

The role of schools Clearly, schools provide an interface between children and society and as such they have a pivotal role in safeguarding young people from the documented problems of a mental health system which is unduly focused on diagnosing the supposed ‘mental illnesses’ which are proliferating. It is not easy for schools, but their pastoral care teams in particular need to be aware of the pseudoscientific diagnostic and classificatory systems which are in common use in Britain and the dangers that poses to children in their care.

This is a view shared by the British Psychological Society in its recent submission to the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) international consultation. The APA publishes the influential DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical) manuals, and the BPS paper was entitled ‘The Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis’ (2012). The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) current guidance is that psychological interventions should preferably be used first and that psychotropic drugs should only be used initially in severe cases of Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorders (ADHD). This sadly is far from the case in the actual paediatric practice on the ground across the country where psychotropic drugs are still too readily prescribed.

But the increase is being noted and more and more schools are now questioning the wisdom of classifying increasing percentages of their intakes with questionable disorders requiring psychotropic medication.

Pastoral care staff are asking questions of the prescribing doctors to clarify why drugs are required when the children concerned have often not shown specific patterns of behaviour which the unsatisfactory checklists require in a school setting. Often medics accept parental responses to certain checklists and do not contact schools to verify that the behavioral patterns exist beyond the family setting as well, as good practice requires. One survey showed that doctors had checked children’s behaviour with their schools in less than half the cases in which drugs were prescribed. The findings are backed by anecdotal reports from chartered psychologists belonging to the Health Professions Council.

“Pastoral care staff are asking questions of the prescribing doctors to clarify why drugs are required when the children concerned have often not shown specific patterns of behaviour which the unsatisfactory checklists require in a school setting.”

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Conditions

This mounting pressure has prompted the Department of Health to collect for the first time comprehensive data about the prescription of psychotropic medications to children by psychiatrists and some paediatricians. The problem is exacerbated by the recently published and influential diagnostic and statistical manual DSM-5 classificatory system (May 2013) which identifies more childhood conditions than ever before.

As a result of these developments, an estimated three quarters of a million individual prescriptions will be issued to children for psycho-stimulant medication such as Ritalin alone, this year. This represents a near four hundred fold increase over the last twenty years. In 1991, only 2,000 prescriptions were issued. Clearly, children have not become 400 times more problematic in that time – indeed some social commentators would argue that children in the 21st century are more emotionally literate and have a wider range of coping strategies than previous generations. So one has to conclude this response to children’s complex needs is a function of society and business drivers of profitability and advertising. We urgently need to reflect on this before it does physical and psychological harm to broad swathes of future generations of young people.

The psychiatrist’s bible

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There is great concern that this newly republished and enlarged manual, DSM-5, known as ‘the psychiatrist’s bible,’ has pathologised an ever larger number of previously normal range patterns of behaviour. For example, what some would call normal shyness has been relabelled as Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), common mood swings have become Juvenile Bipolar Disorder (JBPD), typical temper tantrums have been reclassified as Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) and a natural grief reaction to losing a close family member has become Temporary Grief Syndrome (TGS). The latter scandalously removes the ‘bereavement exclusion’ which previously blocked anti-depressants being used for two months after the loss of a loved one. This risky step has been criticised by many medical bodies including the Lancet journal. Doctors are now allowed to medicate children and adults alike from a fortnight after their traumatic loss with antidepressants which in the early stages of treatment have been shown by research to regularly increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.

This has lead to successful class actions in the courts in the US citing the harm done to young people. In the US, each of the plethora of conditions has a four figure code without which the prescribing doctor and psychiatrist do not get paid by the Insurance Company scrutinising the claim form. We are not an insurance-based health system in the UK and therefore do not need these codes here and the stigmatising labels that are a consequence.

I view the trend towards mass medication of children with mind altering and potentially toxic drugs and ‘drug cocktails’ as a form of psycho-economic imperialism.

By that I mean that young peoples’ developing minds are being colonised, using biochemicals, for huge commercial profit and in effect, increased social control. This has

Conditions

Every Child Journal

resulted from carefully constructed ‘business plans’ in boardrooms which some years ago saw the population of children in the western world as a great market expansion opportunity. The pharmaceutical companies have reaped the huge financial rewards of this rich and very bitter harvest ever since. The scale of this toxic harvest is indicated by a number of class actions taken out by parents in the US which have resulted in out-of-court settlements of several billion dollars, one for not releasing the research evidence that would have indicated the potential level of serious physical harm that had indeed resulted.

As Ben Goldacre author of Bad Pharma (2012) states, these multi-national pharmaceutical companies are prepared to ‘cherry pick’ from research data and discount studies that are unfavourable to their longer term financial interests. This is not a conspiracy theory but a current profit-driven international business project which risks short-term physical harm such as major sleep disturbance or neuro-muscular irregularities such as tardive dyskenesia (uncontrollable and sometimes irreversible muscular spasms) in children with the potential for long-term psychological dependency. As Baroness Susan Greenfield, the ex-director of the Royal Society has stated, the use of psychotropic drugs will result in young people who will end up returning to the repeated pattern of using psychopharmaceutical interventions whenever they face a problem in life, thereby continuing this very profitable vicious cycle of pharmaceutical dependency.

International use of psychotropic drugs Patterns of prescribed psychotropic drug usage vary dramatically between cultures and countries. In Italy, where prescribing psycho-stimulants for children has been restricted since 2006, the drugs are used by only 0.13 per cent of children. In the US, eight per cent of the total school population are on psycho-stimulants alone and as many as 20 per cent on one or more drug including anti-psychotics and anti-depressants. The range in the UK of 1.5 to two percent is thankfully closer to our European neighbours than our transatlantic cousins but is rising. France also has lower rate of 0.5 per cent because psychotherapy or increased engagement in sport is preferred as a viable alternative to using psychotropic drugs. Some Scandinavian countries are also well below a one per cent level of the school population prescription rate. For example, Sweden is at 0.15 per cent because of its commitment to intensive psychological interventions.1 My belief is that we in Britain belong to a more progressive and less aggressively intrusive medical tradition to Canada and the US, with a stronger leaning towards socially constructed explanations of behaviour ‘disorders’. In the UK and Europe, we also value individual differences even if some of those behaviours are challenging to us. This theory is supported, in my view, by the fact that American psychiatrists are still using Electro Convulsive Therapy regularly with adolescents who are unresponsive to antidepressants while the use of this contentious approach has significantly reduced or even been restricted in some countries here in Europe and Scandinavia.

Many psychologists working with children have started using the ‘ethical legitimacy’ afforded to them by the ‘Duties of Registrants,’(2009) of the Health Professions Council, to better safeguard children on their caseload. This usually involves making a phone call to the prescribing medic and sharing concerns about the pattern of behaviours in various settings and how this may not comply with published guidelines or to clarify information about the side effects of the drug or their interactions with other drugs in the drug cocktail.

It is interesting that in most cases, medical colleagues thank the psychologist concerned for sharing the information and usually make some appropriate adjustment to the prescribing schedule. This has been particularly true in relation to cases where children under the age of six were prescribed psycho-stimulants or antipsychotics – a practice that runs against the advice of the NICE.

“Many psychologists working with children have started using the ‘ethical legitimacy’ afforded to them by the Duties of Registrants”

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Safeguarding a generation

“We psychologists are not saying that drugs should never be prescribed and on occasions, we have seen the benefits of selective use.”

Professional bodies of educational and clinical psychologists are united in their concerns about the diagnostic schedules, like DSM-5, which they feel lack the necessary scientific validity and are not fit for the purpose of 21st century holistic assessment.

Many case studies illustrating the dangers to children involved could be shared but a typical example is a thirteen year old boy who was already on maximum dosage levels of a psychostimulant and high levels of an antipsychotic drug. His mother asked for him to be put on an anti-depressant to deal with his low mood. In this and a few other reported cases, such changes were made without seeing the child concerned, which is against General Medical Council (GMC) regulations.

Others involve psycho-stimulants being regularly given to children with high levels of anxiety which again is against NICE guidelines on ADHD. We psychologists are not saying that drugs should never be prescribed and on occasions, we have seen the benefits of selective use. We do though urge the government to ensure that the well-researched NICE guidelines should be followed, particularly by prescribing doctors, and that psychostimulants should never be used with under fives and should also not be given to a child whose primary presenting problem is anxiety.

Surely when our precious NHS is under threat from swinging cuts, the time is right to review practices which are expensive and fundamentally flawed. More and more psychologists in Britain have principled concerns about labelling a still developing child in such a pejorative way and the harm done to them by the internal attributions of abnormality that may well result. Rather than a within child biomedical explanation of the difficulties experienced, they prefer a more holistic and socially contextualised hypothesis that includes a range of the complex web of interacting factors that usually explain challenging behaviour.

A variation of the old maxim holds true – for every child’s complex presenting behavioural pattern there is a simple and easy explanation or solution which is invariably not good enough. Let us move as a society from a ‘quick fix’ mindset to one with a more interactionist perspective that leaves the child better placed to use their personal power and confidence to make better choices in a life over which they have more control.

Dave Traxson is a Chartered Educational Psychologist. (traxsondave@gmail.com) For more information on the campaign outlined in this article, visit copeyp.blogspot.co.uk (Challenging Overprescription by Professionals in Education for Young People).

References 78

1. Comparison of Psychotropic Medication in Youth (2008) by K.Jahnsen et al on BioMed Central Website and “Opening the White Boxes,” (2009)by L.Aafgard et al.Wiley.London.

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