Education Welfare Officer - who? what? why?

[onebatmother]

Hello

Can anyone explain to me what the Education Welfare Officer does?

I am trying to help a child whom I think has been wrongly removed from the roll at my DS's school - the EWO was involved at the mother's request while the child still had a place, but has since closed the case (because the child has been removed from the roll...)

I'm trying to write letters to head, LA etc, but I need to know what this person's responsibilities are, and where their remit ends.. Part of my appeal argument is that this child has been failed by the various agencies who should be there to support him.

Thank you, thank you, to anyone who can help..

[gothicmama]

EWO

what they do if you are concerned about the child;s wellbeing contact social services

[Hulababy]

What is an Education Welfare Officer (EWO)?

An EWO is an LA officer whose aim is to make sure that every child has equal access to education provision and to ensure that parents meet their parental responsibility under various Education Acts.

What happens if my child's school refers my child to Education Welfare?

The Education Welfare Officer will arrange an appointment to meet with you
When the Education Welfare Officer meets with you they will ascertain the reason for your child's absence, will consider your views on the situation and may devise a plan to assist you in getting your child back to school, to address the difficulties and secure attendance

For your child's sake, you should co-operate with the Education Welfare Officer to make sure your child overcomes his or her attendance problems and receives an appropriate education.

If you do not do everything you can to co-operate with the Education Welfare Officer and the School, the Attendance and Behaviour Service, on behalf of Kent County Council, may consider the use of legal proceedings.

To find out more about the role of your Education Welfare Officer you can download the following document.

The role of your Education Welfare Officer

[gothicmama]

oops forgot comma
what they do ,
if you are concerned about the child;s wellbeing contact social services

[onebatmother]

thank you, both.

Do you think that they should have closed the case if the boy was temporarily removed from the roll by his mother (school was informed, but only verbally, by the mother that she had been advised by the police to leave her residence due to DV problems)
the boy was temporarily enrolled at a school attended by his mother's close family.

[onebatmother]

Sorry, in a rush and not being clear. The mother went to stay with her family, and her son was temporarily enrolled at another school in another area. Our school was informed that he was being temporarily removed from the role on the advice of the police following a DV incident.

[onebatmother]

thanks cat - that's what I thought. As far as his mother is concerned, both original school and temporary new shcool knew that this was temporary, although she only verbally informed the school of this fact, and didn't speak personally to the EWO.

But she is absolutely certain that she had no written communication from the school that her son was about to be taken off-roll.

And surely the EWO can't just close the case because the child has gone AWOL? isn't that the point that she should be getting more involved?

[gigglewitch]

hi again. this only attracted me because i was an ewo when i first left teaching



EWO responsibilities are a tad wierd, yes they involve school attendance issues and the social stuff behind these,(mainly child carers and those staying off school because they're looking after younger siblings, plus the ones they call "disaffected" which covers a multitude and don't let me get on my soapbox over these labels) but if a child is known to be attending a school in another area, then they are no longer considered a concern IYSWIM. In this case it is entirely inappropriate, but if your EWO is contacted and informed of the situation, then they should take

[gigglewitch]

erm, dunno why that posted...
i was in the middle of saying that they should take some action to support the child and family.

[onebatmother]

you mean if I contact the EWO on the mother's behalf then s/he should re-open the case?

And does EWO really have no responsibility if the child is temporarily attending elsewhere?

Also - and I'm freakin' sorry for all the freakin' questions - is it actually possible to enrol a child temporarily at his cousin's school? or does his mother just think that that's what she did?

I\ve just been looking back through all your brill posts on my initial thread and scattering the lingo through the letter I'm writing - having finally had a detailed convo with his mother today.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

The EWO generally has responsibilities for certain schools. That's how it works here anyway. So if the child was on roll at another school the case should have been handed over and not closed I would have thought.

I think there probably has been confusion over the 'temporary' move and the school don't have to hold the place. However as the move was in difficult circumstances you would have thought they would.

[HonoriaGlossop]

Was just about to say what Saggars has said - EWO's are allocated to a certain 'patch' rather than to individual children.

If there are on-going concerns I would have thought it would be good to talk to an EWO who is attached to the school where the child is NOW even if that is temporary, and they may well deal with the case - in which case they'd have to find out what happened before/liaise with the previous EWO

Good luck!

[onebatmother]

yup saggar, it's a ludicrous bugger-up.

It's v poss that the case has been handed over to the new school.

But I'm hopeful that the fact that there's been no written communication from the school might weigh heavily in this lovely boy's favour.

BUT WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIM??

Bloody hell, this is making me so cross.

[gigglewitch]

glad you got to talk to her at last.
TBH this is where the "cavalry" falls off its horse and has its feet in the air cos I haven't got a clue about temporary anything educational. I have never come across it - the nearest thing being having traveller children in the school, and they stayed for anything up to a year at a time, and I wasn't involved as they did attend reasonably regularly. I do wonder (and that's all it is) whether the whole thing is a blardy great misunderstanding and has different perceptions all over it- the child's 'proper' school thought x, the mum thought Y, other 'temp' school thought flippin HIJ&K...
IMO the ones who can really resolve the thing are the Head of the child's original school, and if that fails, then the big bods at the LEA. The social worker should have some clout, but whether they can swing anything to do with school places is doubtful.
May have already asked, but how old is he? wondering if Sure Start or anyone in the scene?

[gigglewitch]

btw yes as the others say, EWO's round our way are based in a high school and work in that and all the feeder primaries, it is totally geographical. The ewo's from all of the borough's schools meet every few weeks and pass stuff around if any children that are already being worked with are changing schools. Obv this not the case here - but the "geography" is quite a long way isn't it?

[edam]

Saw your other threads on this, whole thing is clearly a huge balls up. Shame no-one in officialdom is taking any responsibility yet.

I thought there were legally binding admissions criteria that put children with a defined need to be in school at the top? So surely that should also apply to keeping a child in their ruddy school!

Have you tried contacting the mother's MP? They can often bang heads together.

[onebatmother]

oh everyone, thank you
I have now got a letter from his mother saying that everyone can talk to me, so tomorrow I will try calling the head and working out what the school think went on, exactly.

Honoria, prob is he's not in school anywhere now, so no-one is actually bloody responsible bcs he doesn't actually have a SW, only an EWO, who has now closed the case..

Am working up an excruciatingly complex letter, and desperately trying to simplify, might well post it here for your thoughts if that's okay..

GAAAAAh! And really, buggeration, if I find this difficult with all my bloody advantages, then wtf is going on? What about everyboyd else?

[gigglewitch]

is this any use? the summary is halfway down on another link

[gigglewitch]

get this...
The removal of a child's name from the school roll is now governed by the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1751), together with guidance, in force from September 2006.
...
AT A GLANCE...

The new regulations extend the circumstances in which schools must inform their LA that a pupil's name is to be deleted from the admission register, so that systems to prevent children going missing from education and to ensure well-being can operate as early as possible where there is cause for concern.

The new regulations allow for pupils to be registered more easily at more than one school ? this is now more common as it gives pupils access to subjects and services not available at their main school.

if you want all of it, go see here

[onebatmother]

oh that's bloody good, I've included that in the letter now. thank you giggle, very much.

but just tell me where the summary is on that link to school admissions, I couldn't find it..

Can i show you the letter? (in about six months time when it's finally completed)

[gigglewitch]

OOPS @ summary - it's Secondary schools and therefore of no use to you.

[onebatmother]

no worries my dear. bloody grateful for any guiding hand tbh.