Pupil Engagement Team - Orkney Island Council: Planning the project
This section includes information on the planning process, including roles and responsibilities, governance arrangements and outcomes of the project.
Staff involved includes:
The Community Learning Officer / Pupil Engagement Team (PET) Co-ordinator is part of the Community Learning and Development and Employability (CLDE) Youth Services team, and their role is to co-ordinate and oversee service delivery across both schools. The co-ordinator maintains links to local and national policies and with the community. They ensure the project remains connected to the ‘bigger picture’ and they provide a clear understanding of the expectations and intended outcomes of the project to stakeholders, including school staff and partners.
The Pupil Engagement Workers are line managed by the Community Learning Officer / PET Co-ordinator. Pupil Engagement Workers deliver groupwork and provide one to one support. They create groupwork plans to guide the 12-week delivery model with mid-point review cycles. This staffing makes up the PET who deliver youth work approaches, informed by delivery models used within social care and psychology services. These models help to scaffold their inputs and resources with children, young people and their families. Youth work approaches are becoming embedded in the support offer across both schools.
Staff from both schools are involved. There is one primary school – Papdale Primary School - and one secondary. The headteacher of Papdale Primary School is the key link to the project. Other staff involved include classroom teachers who are consulted in the referral process.
Within the secondary school, key links are made with guidance staff who are the main contacts.
Those involved in the project assess all referrals made to the PET which primarily come from leadership within the school. This ensures appropriate allocation of support and resource for the children, young people and their families.
A key consideration when planning the project was to build the capacity of school staff to increase their knowledge and understanding of the role and purpose of youth work in supporting improved attendance and engagement of children and young people. This was achieved through regular communication with staff and inputs in each setting. This was strengthened through the reporting function to update on the progress and impact of the youth work in schools' approaches.
The primary school's planned outcomes were to improve the wellbeing and engagement of children who scored three points or less on the Leuven Scale. It was acknowledged that achieving these goals required the school to adapt and modify its offer to enhance support for children, young people, and their families. Both schools aimed to reduce lateness and improve attendance among students who were not regularly attending or participating in classes.
The project is managed by the Community Learning Officer/Pupil Engagement Team (PET) Co-ordinator, who also quality assures each referral to the project. Once a request for support has been accepted, the parent(s) will be contacted for their involvement. This will inform any planned support and can be adjusted to meet the needs and expectations of children, young people and their families. They also co-ordinate communication across partners, which is instrumental for Team Around the Child meetings.
SEEMiS is used across sectors to record the attendance of the children and young people. Pastoral notes are used to record communication between services, parents and families, and used by guidance staff and senior leaders in schools. Pupil Engagement Workers directly input to pastoral notes to ensure a shared chronology between the project and the school.
Termly reports are submitted by the Community Learning Officer / PET Co-ordinator, supplemented by an annual summary of progress, to the local authority. There is regular monitoring and tracking of impact to evidence the effectiveness of this model.
