Kent County Council
| Who can help you from 18+ Leaving Care Service | For those turning 18 and becoming a Care Leaver, once they turn 18yrs of age their will be under the 18+ Leaving Care Service and will have an allocated Personal Adviser working with them replacing their Social Worker. The 18+ Leaving Care Service also has a wide range of specialist worker to assist the Personal Adviser and young person with their onward transition.
From the age of 17yrs, a Personal Adviser will be linked to the young person to support the transition year into the 18+ Leaving Care Service working alongside the Social Worker. The 18+ Leaving Care Service now supports young people to the 25yrs of age. Each Local Authority’s Leaving Care Service has to now publish their ‘Care Leaver Local Offer’ outlining how they will support their care leavers. To view Kent County Councils offer to care leavers, please visit the ‘Moving on’ section of Kent Cares Town – https://kentcarestown.lea.kent.sch.uk/moving-on/ |
| For those in year 11 now | For Children in Care in Year 11, they will be supported by their Social Worker, Foster Carer, Independent Reviewing Officer and Virtual School Kent to help explore their key stage 5 options. |
| For those in years 12 and 13 now | The Virtual School Kent Key Stage 5 team will be working closely with the Social Worker and young person to support their onward progression plans into and through Key Stage 5.
Once the young person becomes a Care Leaver, they will then be supported by their Personal Adviser who will continue to work with the educational provider to support the onward progression of the care leaver. |
| PEPs | Personal Education Plans continue into years 12 and 13 and is on the electronic KENT PEP system. For those in Years 12 and 13, the PEP meeting can be held differently to when the young person was in school. It may be through a review meeting at the provider, or it may be an informal PEP. PEPs also need to be recorded for those employed, on an apprenticeship, volunteering or missing. |
| Results Time | As well as the Virtual School Kent staff, the 18+ Leaving Care Service also has Education, Training and Employment Support Officers to offer guidance at results time. |
| Supporting Enrolment | The Personal Adviser can be available to support at enrolment periods during which can be a very busy and confusing time. When the young person knows their enrolment date and times, they need to keep this information safe and ensure they have all required documentation (identification, examination results) to take with them. |
| Induction periods | During the first 6 weeks of the first term, the young person may feel that the programme isn’t quite right for them, or the environment may not be best suited to meet their needs. If this is the case, the young person needs to let someone know as soon as possible to discuss this and consider other options.
Leading up to the October half term, the post 16 provider may set clear criteria that the young person has to meet to be able to stay on the programme after the October half term—it may be to have 100% attendance, to submit key pieces of work, to show commitment and motivation to the programme. If the young person does not meet the set criteria the young person might be asked to leave the provider. It is really important that the young person speaks to their Personal Adviser about their concerns so that options can be discussed. |
| English and Maths | A young person will be required to continue to study English and Maths in post 16 if they haven’t already achieved a grade `4` or above whether they are at school, college or on an apprenticeship. |
| Further Information | The 18+ Leaving Care Service are in the process of recruiting Care Leaver volunteers to support our Accommodation Inspection Scheme. Please contact Kobe (Project Lead) for more information – Kobe-Chinda.Emelonye@kent.gov.uk |
18+ Service
Please see the Kent Cares Town websites Moving On section for more information about the services offered to over-18s.
●An overview
●Money
●Important documents
●Housing
●Your Safety
●Getting Your Voice Heard
●Your Health
●Education, Employment and Training
●Useful Contact Information
●Advocacy
●Next Steps – the newsletter
Under 18 Service
Please see Virtual School Kent for information on the support offered to under-18s.