Publication of the statistical bulletin ‘Children in Care in Northern Ireland 2015/16’

Date published: 01 September 2017

The Department of Health has today published the ‘Children in Care in Northern Ireland 2015/16 Statistical Bulletin’. This bulletin presents information on children and young people who had been looked after continuously for at least 12 months at 30 September 2016. It details findings from the OC2 collection of information on the educational achievements of these young people at Key Stage Assessments and GCSE. It also includes information on their placement, health assessments, disability and offences and convictions.

Some children in care will excel educationally however, in general, children in care in Northern Ireland continue to underperform compared to the general school population. Although there are many issues that can influence a child’s schooling, it is worth noting that a substantially higher proportion of children in care have special educational needs which may affect the educational attainment gap between them and the general school population.

Key Findings

  • At 30 September 2016, 2,213 children and young people had been looked after continuously for 12 months or longer;
     
  • Of these, almost one fifth (19%) had experienced a placement change during the previous 12 months, which is the lowest number in recent years. When excluding those children whose placement move was placement for adoption, the proportion of children with a placement change was 18%;

Education

The 2015/16 bulletin uses a new source of data for most of the education statistics. This has caused some changes in methodology which means that in some cases, comparisons with previous years cannot be done.
 

  • Having a statement of Special Educational Needs continues to be more prevalent among the looked after children of school age (25%) compared with the general school population (5%);
     
  • In general, looked after children did not perform as well as their peers on Key Stage assessments. Figures for looked after children are based on the proportion of children that were, according to their age, eligible for the Key Stage assessments:
    • The proportion of looked after children attaining Key Stage 1 Level of Progression Level 2 or above in Communication was 78% with 78% achieving the same in Using Maths. The equivalent figures for the general school population were 88% and 88%;
    • For Key Stage 2 assessments, 44% of eligible children attained Level of Progression Level 4 or above in both Communication and in Using Maths. General school population figures were 78% for Communication and 79% for Using Maths;~
       
  • At Key Stage 3, 40% of children eligible to be tested achieved Level of Progression Level 5 or above in Communication and 39% achieved this in Using Maths. The equivalent figures for the general school population were 78% and 79%;

    (The above figures are available in table format on page three of the publication.)

  • Some 98% of looked after children who sat GCSE exams attained at least one GCSE at grades A* to G in year 12, in comparison with 100%* of the general Year 12 school population. Furthermore, 54% of looked after children achieved at least 5 A*-C GCSEs in Year 12 compared with 83% of the general Year 12 school population.

*   Please note that this figure has been rounded, with 0.1% of all pupils achieving no GCSEs at grades A* - G

Notes to editors: 

1. This publication is available online.

2. About the data: The source of the data contained in this release is the Departmental OC2 statistical return, collected from Health and Social Service Trusts.

3. This statistical bulletin was produced by Community Information Branch, DoH.

Further information is available from:

Community Information Branch
Department of Health
Room 11, Annexe 2,
Castle Buildings,
Stormont Belfast BT4 3SP

Tel: (028) 90 522580

Fax: (028) 90 523288

E-mail: cib@health-ni.gov.uk

Internet 

4. Media queries should be directed to DoH Press Office on 028 9052 0567. Out of office hours, contact the duty press officer via pager number 07623 974383  and your call will be returned.

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