DfE publishes information on the outcomes for looked after children

Outcomes cover education, health, offending and substance misuse

For the second year the Department for Education has published information on the outcomes for looked after children – on this occasion as at 31 March 2011. Outcomes reported include education, health, offending and substance misuse.

For the first time this year the release includes information to show performance against the new Impact Indicator for attainment gaps for looked after children. This indicator includes a change to the definition previously used to monitor the attainment of looked after children and covers children who have been continuously looked after for at least 6 months – those who would be eligible for the pupil premium payment.

Also included are comparisons between the new definitions used this year and those previously used which cover children continuously looked after for 12 months.

Of the children looked after continuously for 6 months during the year ending 31 March 2011:

At Key Stage 1, 65 per cent achieved the expected level in reading and 71 per cent achieved the expected level in mathematics compared with 63 per cent and 68 per cent in 2010 for each subject respectively.
At Key Stage 2, 53 per cent achieved the expected level in English and 52 per cent achieved the expected level in mathematics compared with 51 per cent and 50 per cent in 2010 for each subject respectively.
At Key Stage 4, 13.2 per cent achieved the 5+ A*-C at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics compared with 12.0 per cent in 2010.

Of the children looked after continuously for 12 months at 31 March 2011:

7.3 per cent of those aged between 10 and 17 years had been convicted or subject to a final warning or reprimand during the year.
4.3 per cent were identified as having a substance misuse problem during the year.
79.0 per cent were up to date in their immunisations.
82.4 per cent had their teeth checked by a dentist within the last 12 months.
70.5 per cent of children who completed National Curriculum year 11 during the 2009/10 school year were in full time education at 30 September 2010 and 17.5 per cent were unemployed.

This release introduces two new Impact Indicators for looked after children:

The Impact Indicator for Key Stage 2 is the attainment gap between looked after children and non-looked after children achieving level 2 in both English and mathematics. The attainment gap Impact Indicator is 31 percentage points, a narrowing of 2 percentage points compared with the gap in 2010.
The Impact Indicator for Key Stage 4 is the attainment gap between looked after children and non-looked after children achieving 'The Basics' - grade A* to C in GCSE or equivalent English and mathematics. The attainment gap Impact Indicator is 44.7 percentage points, a widening of 3.9 percentage points compared with the attainment gap in 2010.

The Department is currently awaiting comparison data for all children from the Ministry of Justice and Connexions survey and will add this to the release when it becomes available.

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