GANF scoops Gold Award in supporting vulnerable children and young adults
Caring2Learn is a Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) research project, funded and supported by the Department for Education through their Partners in Practice programme. The aim of the project is to improve outcomes for Lincolnshire’s vulnerable children and young adults.
The LCC want all Lincolnshire education settings to be confident in nurturing vulnerable children and young people so they achieve better than expected progress and they want carers, foster carers and residential care workers, to champion education in the home. All looked after children and young people should feel safe and feel they belong in their home and school. This will provide them with a solid foundation to have the confidence to go on to learn, be aspirational and achieve their full potential.
GANF were initially part of a pilot study which involved staff and researchers from University College London (UCL) to examine this further. This is where GANF Schools began to engage in the Caring2Learn Award.
As part of the project, we identified and shared best practice across the Caring2Learn support network, and also began to make changes and improvements. GANF worked towards a three-tier accreditation scheme, working towards either a Gold, Silver or Bronze award.
The concept of a ‘Caring School’ is divided into four sections which are contained within the Caring Schools Toolkit. These are:
- Ethos and Leadership
- A Child Centred Approach
- Working with Carers
- Working together with other settings, agencies and professionals
GANF have been awarded the Gold Caring2Learn Award. This supports our Ofsted inspections from 2017, identifying both schools as Outstanding respectively. A conference was held at Belton Woods Hotel to celebrate. GANF were one of 24 recognised for their support and dedication to ‘looked after’ children in Lincolnshire.
[Pictured: GANF staff members, Torie Workman and Simon Buckberry]
[Photo courtesy of The Grantham Journal]
