Starting Well - Adverse Childhood Experiences

Introduction

A child is defined as being in need if:

• They are unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving, or maintaining a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for them of services by a local authority.
• Their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without the provision of such services.
• They are disabled (Sec.17/10 Children Act 1989).

Under the legal framework a Child in Need is identified in one of three categories:

• Child In Need of Protection - will be on a Child Protection Plan
• Looked After Child – will be in the care of the local authority
• Section 17 Children in Need – does not meet the threshold for either of the above, but requires support / intervention to reduce the risk of needs getting worse.

Early Intervention is very important to reduce the risk of children needing a higher level of statutory intervention.

Children in Need

A child in need is defined under the Children Act 1989 as a child who is unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable level of health or development, or whose health and development is likely to be significantly or further impaired, without the provision of services; or a child who is disabled (The Children Act, 1989).

There has been an increase in the number of children in need with the rate per 10,000 population increasing from 660.0 in 2017 to 680.8 in 2018.  This is still significantly higher than the national figure of 341.0.

The primary need at assessment for children in need in Hartlepool is abuse/neglect (50.4%) which is also the case nationally (53.2%).  We have started to collect more detailed information around the abuse/neglect category which will allow greater analysis of the underlying factors within this category.

Within Hartlepool, boys are more likely to be children in need.  In 2018 54.4% were in need compared to 43.8% that are girls.  The same can be said nationally where 53.1% are boys and 45.1% are girls.

There has been an increase in the number of children in need that have Autism/Aspergers, from 45.3% in 2017 to 46.3% in 2018.  This is well above the national figure of 33.7%. This may be due to improvements in detection rather than an increase in the number of cases, and must be monitored closely on an ongoing basis.

In Hartlepool, the majority of children in need fall in the 10-15 age band (33.6%) closely followed by the 5-9 age band (26.2%).  This is replicated nationally were 31.7% fall into the 10-15 age band and 24.1% fall into the 5-9 age band.

In Hartlepool, the primary need for children in need across all age bands is abuse or neglect closely followed by child’s disability or illness and family dysfunction.

In Hartlepool, the majority of children are in need for 2 years or more (34.6%).  Likewise, nationally, the majority are in need for 2 years or more (30.6%) followed by those that are in need for 3 months or less (26.8%).

Over half of the children in need in Hartlepool have no identified SEN (53.6%) compared to 54.3% nationally.  25.8% have SEN support and 20.6% have a statement of SEN or and EHC plan.  Nationally 24.8% have SEN support and 21% have a statement of SEN or EHC plan.

2018 Attainment Results

Foundation Stage: of those children that were children in need, 43.2% achieved ‘Good Level of Development’ by the end of the foundation stage compared to 69.4% of all pupils in Hartlepool and 71.5% of all pupils nationally. This highlights that by the end of the Foundation Stage the attainment gap between children in need and their peers is 26.2% and children in need are required to make greater than average progress in order to narrow the gap.

Phonics Screening Year 1: of those children that were in need, 57.7% met the expected standard compared to 82% for all Hartlepool pupils and 82% for all pupils nationally.

Key Stage 1: of those children that were in need, 50% achieved the expected standard in Reading compared to 75% for all Hartlepool pupils and 75% for all pupils nationally; 42% in Writing compared to 72% for all Hartlepool pupils and 70% for all pupils nationally; and 50% in Maths compared to 77% for all Hartlepool pupils and 76% for all pupils nationally.

Key Stage 2: those children that were in need, 42% achieved the expected standard in Writing compared to 82% for all pupils in Hartlepool schools and 48% of children in need nationally; 47% in Maths compared to 78% for all pupils in Hartlepool schools and 46% of children in need nationally; 42% in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar compared to 79% for all pupils in Hartlepool schools and 48% of children in need nationally; 47% in Reading compared to 76% for all pupils in Hartlepool schools and 48% of children in need nationally.

Key Stage 4: of those children that were in need, 12.8% achieved grade 4 or above in English & Maths compared to 60.4% for all Hartlepool pupils and 18.8% for children in need nationally.  Of those children that were in need, 4.3% achieved grade 5 or above in English & Maths compared to 37.8% for all Hartlepool pupils and 9.3% for children in need nationally.

Attainment 8 and Progress 8 are two performance measures introduced in 2006 that look at the achievements of the pupils and the quality of the school. Attainment 8 looks at pupil’s achievement across 8 qualifications, not just English and mathematics, and assigns a score based on each of the 8 grades achieved. Progress 8 looks at how pupils performed in their attainment 8 compared to how they are expected to perform based on their key stage 2 results. Pupils are rated against the average national attainment 8 performance of those in the same key stage 2 attainment group, resulting in a positive or negative score, where each full number is the equivalent of achieving 1 full grade above or below what was expected.

The attainment 8 score for children in need in Hartlepool was 14.3 compared to 42.3 for all pupils in Hartlepool schools and 19.0 for children in need nationally. The progress 8 score, which looks at how pupils performed in their attainment 8 compared to how they are expected to perform based on their key stage 2 results, for children in need in Hartlepool was -1.70 compared to -0.47 for all pupils in Hartlepool schools and -1.45 for children in need nationally.

Current services

Future

• Creation of integrated teams with Health, specifically trained in mental health, domestic abuse, substance misuse as part of an early intervention approach.
• Review and develop commissioned services to ensure links are embedded into locality teams.
• Re-commission Council’s Domestic Violence contract with focus on needs of children and young people.
• Whole workforce training in relation to reducing impact of domestic violence on children and young people as part of an early identification and intervention model via the Better Childhood in Hartlepool approach.
• Improve the mental health of vulnerable children and young people through enhanced integration and redevelopment of services and the emotional wellbeing offer via the Local Transformation Plan.
• Develop and support an integrated family support and early intervention programme for 0-2 year olds that stimulates early child development via the Hartlepool Education Commission work.

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