Northern Ireland

Stormont event celebrates improved GCSEs for children in care

Angela, a care leaver with director Kathleen Toner and former director Kate Lewis
Angela, a care leaver with director Kathleen Toner and former director Kate Lewis Angela, a care leaver with director Kathleen Toner and former director Kate Lewis

THE improving educational achievements of young people in foster care have been celebrated at an event in Stormont.

The celebration marked the tenth birthday of Fostering Achievement, a scheme which offers practical support to foster families to help pupils reach their potential and improve outcomes.

The Fostering Network, which delivers Fostering Achievement, reported that 66 per cent of those who received GCSE tuition through the scheme received five A*-C grades.

Commissioned by the Health and Social Care Board, the scheme works with foster carers and kinship foster carers as primary educators.

A significant element of the programme is ensuring those carers have the support and resources they need to support young people.

In the past year, Fostering Achievement has helped 1,431 looked after young people, providing tuition, driving lessons and extra-curricular activities including drama classes and sports coaching.

Over the 10 years of the programme, almost 14,000 young people and more than 9,200 foster carers have been supported.

Kathleen Toner, director of The Fostering Network Northern Ireland, said: "Research shows that improving educational outcomes of looked after children contributes significantly to improving their future opportunities.

"That is why we are so proud of the impact of the Fostering Achievement scheme on thousands of fostered children in Northern Ireland. It is a truly visionary programme which is one of a kind in the UK."

Angela (20) one of the young people who has benefited, said Fostering Achievement had helped her in many aspects of her life.

"Through its support I have got the grades I need in school, made new friends and increased in confidence. I am hoping to go to university to study youth work and wouldn't be where I am today without Fostering Achievement," she said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has published a statistical bulletin summarising information on care leavers in the north in 2016.

The statistics revealed that about two thirds (67 per cent) of care leavers aged 16-18 had GCSEs or other qualifications. The proportion obtaining five GCSEs (A*-C) or higher was 21 per cent, which remains substantially lower than for school leavers as a whole (81 per cent).

In addition, the figures showed that care leavers continue to have a higher proportion of young people coping with disability (15 per cent) than the general population (6). In terms of education, higher proportions of care leavers had a statement of educational need (20 percent) compared with the general school population (5).