What is the Virtual School?

PEPs identify the educational needs of children in care and promote and raise expectations and aspirations.

All PEP meetings for Norfolk's children in care in Key Stage 5 are now recorded on an electronic web-based system, hosted by a national company called Welfare Call.

Allocated Social workers / leaving care personal advisors and their team managers will have access to the system. The system will also be available to the Designated Support Person (DSP) at all education and training providers currently attended by Norfolk's children in care. (This includes those outside of Norfolk).

Which CIC will need a PEP in Key Stage 5 and how often should they take place?

All children in care in Years 12 & 13 (aged 16-18) should be invited to attend a PEP meeting once a term. This continues to be the case even when the young person has turned 18. Young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) will still be required to have a PEP on a termly basis with a focus on re-engagement with education or employment and will include the setting of smart targets.

The only exception to this will be if the young person is in full or part time employment with no training.

What are the advantages of having a KS 5 ePEP?

• All age range PEPs will be hosted in one place which will enable users to access a young person's full education history.
• Additional documents, including photos can be uploaded to support the PEP.
• Templates can be easily updated to keep abreast of statutory and local requirements.
• The Designated Support Person (DSP) will be able to access all PEPs relating to young people who are on roll at their school sixth form, college or training centre. If a new student joins them the DSP will have access to their PEP as soon as Welfare Call are notified that they are on roll. (It is essential that the Virtual School are notified promptly of staff changes so the appropriate access can be maintained).
• School sixth forms, colleges and training providers can use the information to evidence how they are supporting their in care learners.
•  PEPs can be evaluated, quality monitored and followed up, and with support and training, improved to reflect smart and ambitious targets and objectives.

What's the process?

NCC Social Workers and Leaving Care Personal Advisors will receive details of how to log on to the secure Welfare Call site and how to create their own secure password. Once on the system staff will be able to access and work on their PEP documentation when it suits them, in advance of the meeting itself. The ePEPs meet all local and national requirements for the secure transfer of confidential student level data. DSP's will have access to the Welfare Call site in the same way as NCC staff.

Access to the electronic PEP

If staff already have access to the Welfare Call ePEP system because they are allocated pupils of statutory school age then they will be able to use this to access KS5 PEP's.

If staff do not already have this access but they are responsible for the completion of the KS5 PEP for specific young people in the care of Norfolk they will receive:

• An email from Welfare Call with NCC's introductory letter and confirmation of their web address - extranet.welfarecall.com - followed by
• A second email from Welfare Call providing them with their user name and initial password (both case sensitive) to access the system. (Please keep the code quoted in these original emails as they may be needed later).

Once the link has been pasted into an internet search and enter has been clicked, staff will be presented with a log in page. They should enter the user name and initial password as provided by Welfare Call.

Don't forget!

• You will have to refresh pages to see any updates you have included.
• Click save as you go along - the system will automatically timeout after 40 minutes. (If you do get logged out, ring Welfare Call Customer Service Team on 01226 716333 who will attempt a recovery of data).

Where the system is colour-coded by text, it is the responsibility of:

• Blue = social worker / leaving care personal advisor
• Red = school
• Purple = both/either

You can either:

• Type straight into the PEP templates at the meeting, or
• You can download/print each page to take to the meeting and then complete on-line as soon as possible after the meeting.

The Virtual School will continue to offer training opportunities to all professionals responsible for the completion of PEP documentation. They will also provide additional support regarding the process when necessary and will develop a collective understanding of what a high quality PEP for KS 5 students looks like.

Details of multi-agency training workshop opportunities are available on the training section of the Virtual School website.

Should you have any general queries regarding the Key Stage 5 ePEP, please contact Norfolk's Virtual School for Children in Care on 01603 222414 or via email at virtual.schools@norfolk.gov.uk.