Attainment, Wellbeing and Engagement Team 

How do learners get AWE team support, and can I self-refer to the AWE team?

Most learners come to the AWE team after a school has made a referral to the Council’s Social and Emotional and Mental Health Panel (SEMHP).

Before a school applies to the SEMHP for support and advice, they need to ask the child’s parents / carers for their consent to do so. AWE is one of the possible ways the Local Authority can offer extra support.

Sometimes, AWE learners will already be known to the Inclusion Team and be receiving support via ‘Out Of School Tuition’ (OOST) and the AWE team may form part of their bespoke pastoral support plan (PSP) to help support them back to a fuller and broader learning offer in a phased and gradual way. 

Other learners may already be known to the AWE team because they are ‘Electively Home Educated’ (EHE) and have learning or support needs which the Council can facilitate in some way such as through the Welsh Government Grant.

How long will the AWE team work with learners for?

THE AWE team work on a short-term basis and will invite the learner and their parents / carers to an initial Pastoral Support Plan (PSP) meeting to plan what the learning plan will look like. There will be regular reviews of this plan.

Parent / carers and learners all have a part to play in these meetings and plans. Some learners will have a short-term assessment offer and some learners may have learning support remotely / online, in the wellbeing hub or in school.

The aim is always to ensure that all Vale learners access a suitable full-time education that meets their needs as soon as they are able to but for each learner how this looks will be different as the plan will be based on their needs.  SEMHP panel will also be updated as to ongoing support and progress made and may decide to alter or end the AWE involvement.

How will the AWE team assess the support and know if we are making a difference?

All AWE learners will have bespoke personal areas of need and support. These will be set out in the PSP and will initially be based on what schools have told us you need help with, or what we understand the support areas are.

Learners will be encouraged to self-set their own goals for the AWE work and will use ways of measuring their progress in any area such as STAR or distance travelled assessment measures. For wellbeing we also use TIS motional, SELFIE and PERMA measures depending on the need and information we are given initially. 

We use these initial markers to help us know if things are getting better and we are offering the right support.Where will the learning and support sessions take place? may be online or face to face either in school , in the home or at the Wellbeing Hub which is based out of the Inspired Learners building at 161 Holton Road, Barry CF63 4HP