PAC-UK and Yorkshire & Humber Consortium recently celebrated the end of their year-long educational project with an event held at the Civic Hall in Leeds. The project was focused on improving the educational experiences of adopted children and those who live with special guardians. It was a collaboration that offered intense support for 45 families and schools in 15 authorities across the region, funded by a DfE prospectus grant.
The event was attended by nearly 100 people including adoptive parents, school staff, and adoption and education professionals. During the day, speakers shared their experiences of good practice supporting adopted children and every presenter acknowledged the excellent work of the PAC-UK education team in supporting families, schools and professionals. Nic Haughton, Consortium Manager, said 'education is very much on the agenda for all developing RAAs as part of improving adoption support'.
Naomi Oliver, Deputy Head and Inclusion Lead at Brampton Ellis Primary School, spoke about the importance of ‘changing hearts and minds around behaviour’ while Nicola Doyle, a representative from the DfE said the “pilot project is a massive success.”
In a pre-recorded message for the event, Edward Timpson, Minister of State for Children & Families said: "Yorkshire and the Humber is in many ways a trailblazer. You (PAC-UK and Yorkshire & Humber Consortium) represent what can be achieved through genuine working together and should be rightly proud of what you have achieved and hope that you will continue to build on the spirited success.
“I hope you’ll continue to build on your efforts and achievements, acting as a beacon of innovative practice for other regions to aspire to."
Helen Hoban, PAC-UK Education Service Practice Manager said: “The project has been an innovation in enabling adopted children to feel a real part of the school environment rather than so often being made to feel different. Rebecca Wilkins, PAC-UK Education Service Practice Manager added “We would like to say a huge thank you to all those who attended and showed their support.”
PAC-UK's Education Service offers a range of services to enable schools, parents and guardians and education and social care professionals to meet the needs of permanently placed children.
Visit the Education Service page on the PAC-UK website here and our new Education Resources page here.
