Minutes:
The Head of Children’s Social Care welcomed Mason to the Corporate Parenting Panel meeting. She informed the Committee that she had been proud of the effort Mason made to attend her recent meeting with representatives of the Children in Care Council and she thanked him for his valuable contribution to the meeting.
The Head of the Virtual School, Melanie Stubbs, spoke of her attendance at a recent Children in Care Council meeting which took place just before GCSE exams were about to start. At the meeting, the young person discussed how exam anxiety was triggering negative feelings about events in their past. Unfortunately, the following week, the young person was given a two day suspension. Upon arrival at the Inclusion Unit, the young person told staff that they felt they had let Melanie down. The member of staff at the Inclusion Unit reassured the young person that was not the case. A Teams call was arranged between the Head of the Virtual School and the young person, at which the Head of the Virtual School and the young person discussed the situation and they agreed a way forward which included a phone call with the Head of the Virtual school after each exam, to talk about how the exam had gone. The Head of the Virtual School spoke of how proud and encouraged she was that they were both invested in getting the best outcomes for the young person. The Chair requested the Head of the Virtual School to ask if the young person would agree to share their progress with the Panel, after their exams.
Members also shared some of their proud moments. Councillor Varty commended the practitioners involved in the Fostering Panel for all their hard work during an extremely busy period.
Councillor Hunt paid tribute to a social worker who had shown great compassion and care in a matter that she had been involved in. The Head of Children’s Social Care agreed to ensure the comments were fedback to the relevant officers.
The Head of the Virtual School confirmed that ‘Good Luck’ cards had been sent to pupils taking their SATs and GCSE exams.