UK Department for Education publishes outcomes for children looked after by local authorities
The Department for Education has today (26 March) published the latest national information on outcomes for children looked after by local authorities in England.
The statistics provide information at national and local authority level on educational attainment, special educational needs, absence from school, exclusions from school, and, published for the first time, destinations from school, for all children in England who were looked after continuously for at least 12 months on 31 March 2019.
For instance, in 2018, 0.05% of looked after children were permanently excluded from school, which is lower than the rate for all children (0.10%). The rate of looked after children permanently excluded dropped in 2018 and is the lowest it has been in the six year period from 2013 to 2018.
The statistics also showed that looked after children achieve slightly better than children in need at key stage 2, with 37% of looked after children reaching the expected standard in the headline measure reading, writing and maths. However, attainment for looked after children is much lower than for non-looked after children across all subjects.
Information on educational attainment (at key stage 2 and key stage 4) of previously looked after children who left care through an adoption, special guardianship order (SGO) or child arrangements order (CAO) are due to be published in May 2020.