Educating Norfolk
Children and Young People should thrive and reach their potential, regardless of where in the county they are educated. School exclusions are still too high which damages life chances of young people and puts them at greater risk of exploitation. The gaps in achievement between children from families living in hardship and those who are not and between boys and girls is too wide. Children with Special Educational Needs are getting left behind. Opportunities to engage in outdoor learning is limited and not consistently available to all learners. Too many young people cannot access a course they genuinely enjoy at post-16. Norfolk should be at the forefront of ‘green industries’ and the opportunity to develop these skills should be opened up to our young people.
We will
- Reduce school exclusions by at least 50% (compared to 2018/2019 academic year) and ensure that children and parents have access to advocacy
- Invest in outdoor learning which has key role to play in our recovery from the pandemic, allowing children to engage with the natural world and equipping them with the knowledge they will need to tackle the climate crisis. We will protect Holt Hall and Whitlingham as centres of outdoor learning.
- Support the extension of mental health support in schools and work with YABs and Youth Parliament to assess the effectiveness of support provided
- Celebrate the excellent work of the schools who are leading the way with innovative ‘whole school’ approaches to mental health and support the sharing of best practice across the county
- Provide support and challenge to schools and governing bodies with a specific and robust focus on closing attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers and between boys and girls.
- Provide post-16 support through the Youth Service to move into employment and the working world, with additional support for care-experienced young people
- Ensure that participation in education, employment or training by care-experienced young people is at least as high as the best performing county in the eastern region within a year
- Make sure that Norfolk County Council’s contracts are used to ensure that companies provide good quality, well-paid apprenticeships
- Create a broader choice of apprenticeship schemes that lead to real, long-term employment including higher level apprenticeships across all sectors. We will put a special focus on high quality apprenticeships in care and protection of the environment and green technologies and in social care and health
- Lead by example and offer a guaranteed interview for care-experienced young people and those with an Education, Health and Care Plan for apprenticeships provided by the council or our wholly owned companies, and use our influence and the way we contract with businesses to persuade others to do the same
- Prioritise safety around schools with the introduction of a ‘School Streets’ policy to enable parents and communities to apply for traffic free areas around their school at pick-up and drop-off times.
- Support ‘Schools of Sanctuary’ and encourage all Norfolk schools to participate
- Support young people to create a Norfolk-wide anti-bullying strategy and work to ensure that schools participate and commit to addressing bullying and discrimination in schools
- Support Norfolk schools to develop LGBTQ+ education and support for LGBTQ+ young people
- Ensure that we consistently invest in education and around child exploitation to break the cycle and put young peoples safety first, year on year