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Contact your Single Point Of Contact (SPOC)/SPOC FEH Team Manager (xlsx, 32kb) to discuss children/young people causing concern for help, support and signposting to the respective FEH team or other respective teams in the Education or Children’s Services’ departments
What schools can expect from FEH
SPOC
Each school has been allocated a named single point of contact (SPOC) within the FEH Service.
In early September of each academic year, the SPOC will contact the School Head or other designated representative to agree dates for termly SPOC visits. All schools will receive a termly SPOC visit offering consultation and expertise from a Children’s Social Care setting and access to other early help and community resources. A SPOC/FEH Team Manager will be available to help explore evidence for referrals and clarity of adverse childhood experiences (using the Troubled Families criteria).
A SPOC visit will help schools and the Local Authority review children and young people at risk through poor attendance or exclusion and the services in place for them.
The visit will provide a regular opportunity for schools to review their response to children flagged as persistently absent (PA), and identify cases where the threshold for statutory intervention from the FEH Education Inclusion Team is met. It will also be an opportunity to review the school’s response to any children who may be at risk of permanent exclusion and whether a referral to the FEH service is required to reduce this risk.
Access to the Education Inclusion Team (EIT)
The Education Inclusion Team provides guidance and advice to schools and families on exclusions, penalty notices, managed moves and undertakes statutory functions around school attendance. In conjunction with the core FEH offer, the EIT will provide whole family support and interventions to children and young people at risk of permanent exclusion.
Local Authority reporting measures to the Department of Education
As a Local Authority we report on the following measures:
- parental responsibility measures (eg penalty notices and prosecutions)
- independent review panels
- young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET); this applies to 16 and 17 year olds only
Expectations of schools
Please discuss any concerns you have with the parent/carer at the earliest opportunity and attempt to involve them in the decision making process. When completing the Early Help Referral form, seek consent for the referral and for it to be shared, even in circumstances of non-engagement it is desirable and include, as far as possible, the voice of the child/young person and the parent in the presenting information/referral.
We respectfully remind our school partners of the requirement for head teachers, ‘without delay’, to inform the local authority of all the following:
- any permanent exclusion (including where a fixed-period exclusion is followed by a decision to permanently exclude the pupil)
- any exclusion which would result in the pupil being excluded for a total of more than five school days (or more than ten lunchtimes) in a term
- any exclusion which would result in the pupil missing a public examination or national curriculum test
(DfE, ‘Exclusion from maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England’, 2017)
We're currently consulting on the introduction of new ‘Inclusion Passport’, as a one stop notification for all exclusions and requests for support with managed moves. More information will follow shortly. In the meantime, follow existing procedures and email us your notifications at the earliest possible opportunity. They'll be reviewed by a member of the Education Inclusion Team to assist in ensuring all excluded pupils are screened as soon as possible. Support and intervention will be offered where needed to prevent escalation.
Finally, schools are asked to provide SPOCs at the termly visit of any other exclusions not already notified, as per Section 51A Education Act 2002 and regulations made under that section.
Schools reporting measures to the Department of Education (DfE)
Schools submit their school census data directly to DfE. The DfE do in turn share this data with the Local Authority however this data is lagged. Therefore for a ‘live’ and current picture we do rely on schools working with the Local Authority in order that we can provide timely early intervention and support to children and young people and their families to avoid escalation.
Page last updated: 12 April 2024
