Growing well in Staffordshire

Children's education and development of skills are important for their own wellbeing and for the area as a whole. Learning ensures that children develop the knowledge and understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes that they need for mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing now and in the future. Children with poorer mental health are more likely to have lower educational attainment, and childhood obesity can lead to a range of mental health problems, including increased anxiety, depression and low-self-esteem.

Key headlines:

KS4 education attainment remains a key concern for Staffordshire, with the effects of inequalities on attainment and absence levels widening.
Permanent exclusions (2019/20) remains a key issue - higher than national and second worst amongst similar authorities for all schools.
Local survey reported mental health as a top concern among younger people. Mental health referrals (age 0-18) have increased and above pre-pandemic levels, and since 2017 admissions rates for intentional self-harm in young people have risen.
Excess weight remains a challenge - 1 in 4 reception children are overweight or obese; worse than national and the second highest of similar authorities. However, the picture does improve by year 6.
1 in 3 children are active for less than 30 minutes a day, higher than national.
Growing children’ social care demand with Children in our Care and SEND rates increasing and growing faster than national. Mental health remains a top issue cited in assessments.

Data update

Across Staffordshire educational attainment remains low, while the number of children in our care and with SEND needs is increasing year on year. Similarly, many children are struggling with poor mental health, which has led to an increase in admissions rates for intentional self-harm. Mental health remains a top concern among Staffordshire’s young people.

Research shows that children and young people in receipt of social care are likely to experience poorer outcomes than others.

Up until 2019 the rates of Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan (CPP were increasing, with a peak of 636. However, in 2020 we are seeing rates begin to fall.
Rates for Children in Need have also fallen for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020 (5,645), following a peak in 2018.
Despite the recent fall in numbers, since 2016 rates of both Children in Need and Children in our Care levels have been consistently higher than similar authorities.
In Staffordshire there are currently 1,217 children in our care - a figure that has been increasing and a rate (72 per 10,000) that is growing faster than national (67 per 10,000).
Risk factors identified during children's social care assessments provide an insight into potential vulnerabilities. This helps us to target early intervention and prevention - in Staffordshire the top four factors relate to: mental health, domestic violence and substance misuse (drugs and alcohol).

Special Educational Needs (SEND) support

Staffordshire has a higher than average proportion of children & young people with EHCPs in its maintained schools (4.2% of all pupils) and has the highest rate among similar authorities.
In the last five years EHCP numbers have also increased by two thirds - from 3,631 (2016) to 6,056 (2021) - a similar increase experienced nationally (68%).
In contrast, SEN Support levels (10.3%) are among the lowest of similar authorities and below national.
Evidence suggests children & young people with an EHCP are likely to experience poorer outcomes – just 6% of statemented/EHCP children achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at KS2 (73% non-SEN) and 9% qualified to Level 3 by age 19 (62% non-SEN).
In Staffordshire the majority (98.7%) with SEN Support attend a mainstream school. However, a higher proportion of EHCP children are educated in special schools (40%) and independent special schools (7%) – a higher proportion than national (31% and 5%) and the highest of similar LAs.
This could partially be due to Staffordshire having a higher proportion of special school places. The picture is however changing with the proportion of EHCP children in mainstream education increasing since 2020 – 29.6% now attend a mainstream school compared to 27.3% last year.
Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are the most common primary need for those with EHCPs, both in Staffordshire (26%) and nationally (31%).

Educational attainment

Strong performance in Early Years, with the majority (74%) school ready (2019). Staffordshire remains above national and one of the top performing among similar authorities - currently ranked in the top 25% (31 out of 154).
However, performance falls by year 11, with Staffordshire’s attainment lower than national and the lowest among similar authorities – only 37% achieve a 9-5 pass in English and Maths.
Over half of Staffordshire’s secondary schools are significantly below national for KS4 attainment. In addition, based on school location no district was above national for KS4 attainment.
COVID-19 has significantly impacted education - 27% of residents were worried about the impact of school closures on learning & life chances (Staffordshire COVID-19 Resident Survey)

Inequality in educational outcomes at Early Years Foundation Stage:

Attainment is lower among those vulnerable groups, particularly for pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) or with SEND.
56% of FSM eligible pupils achieve a GLD compared to 74% of all pupils, but this falls to 25% for those with SEN Support and 5% for those pupils with an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP).
This data demonstrates key inequalities in attainment are present for certain vulnerable groups in those early years.
For both early years and KS4, lower attainment is linked to areas facing multiple socio-economic inequalities - Cannock Chase, Newcastle, South Staffs and Tamworth.

Inequality in educational outcomes at Key Stage 4:

At Key Stage 4:

In addition to geographical variation, there is inequality present among the same vulnerable groups for KS4 attainment, with attainment for both FSM eligible pupils and SEND pupils below national.
15% of FSM eligible pupils achieve a 9-5 pass in English and Maths compared to 37% of all pupils, this is the same for those with SEN Support and as low as 3% for those with an EHCP.

Excess weight in children

1 in 4 (25%) reception children are overweight or obese (excess weight) – worse than England and the second highest of similar authorities. However, by year 6 prevalence (34%) is lower than national.
Activity levels remain a challenge with 1 in 3 children active for less than 30 minutes a day, higher than national (March 2020).
East Staffordshire and Newcastle are key areas of focus with higher than average prevalence for both obesity and excess weight.
Localities with the highest levels of excess weight for both reception children and year 6 include: Cannock East, Horninglow, Glascote, Holditch & Chesterton and Kidsgrove & Ravenscliffe.

Mental health in children

Referrals

Annual Staffordshire CAMHS referrals reported by Staffordshire’s local trusts have increased year-on-year from around 6,400 in 2015/16 to 10,500 in 2019/20. Anecdotally providers are continuing to report increases, with the picture worsening as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published data supports this assumption, with mental health referrals (age 0-18) increasing for all Staffordshire CCGs - all of which are now above pre-pandemic levels.

Mental health in young people - admissions

Mental health is a top concern (24%) among Staffordshire’s young people (aged 11-18, Make Your Mark Survey 2020). It is also the most common factor in Children's Social Care assessments – half of assessments cited this as a factor (2020/21).
Overall mental health hospital admissions in children (85.5 per 100,000) remains similar to national. However, there were 695 self-harm admissions to hospital in 2019/20 (age 10-24).
Rates also rising since 2017 and higher than national - up to 493 per 100,000 in 2019/20, from 425 per 100,000 in 2017/18. More recent unpublished data does show a fall in admissions, similar to national, however this likely to be attributed to the impact of COVID-19.
Local survey research also verifies that COVID-19 has had a significant impact on children's mental health - 61% of under 35's were worried about their mental wellbeing, compared to 25% aged 65+ (Staffordshire COVID-19 Resident Survey).

Public absence levels and exclusions

Other than illness, absence may be symptomatic of a range of issues related to school and/or home and can be an early indicator of issues.

Positively, overall pupil absence (2018/19) remains below national, but is increasing – one to monitor as a key factor present in households requiring support from children’s social care.
Pupil absence remains higher at secondary phase (5.4%) than primary (3.8%).
Cannock Chase has higher than average absence levels for both primary and secondary phase and Tamworth and Newcastle is above national for just secondary phase.
Overall absence levels were higher among FSM eligible pupils and children who had SEN support or an EHCP - a pattern seen nationally.
Historically absence levels have always been higher for vulnerable groups, therefore COVID will not be the only factor to impact this.

Pupil exclusions

Permanent exclusions (2019/20) remains a key issue - higher than national for all schools and ranks poorly against similar authorities; 2nd worst for all schools.
Addressing the root cause is key. Persistent disruptive behaviour being the most common reason for exclusion, and therefore likely to be symptomatic of underlying unmet needs.
Note: Data for the 2019/20 academic year includes the start of the COVID-19 pandemic where comparisons to previous years should be treated with caution.
Staffordshire continues to record a higher than average proportion of permanent exclusions among vulnerable groups, such as pupils eligible for FSM and those with SEND.
In 2019/20, 47 pupils were FSM eligible (0.31%), 35 pupils (0.29%) with SEN Support and 10 pupils with EHCPs (0.25%) were permanently excluded.

Staffordshire as a place to live

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