Item 14 - Services for Children, Young People and Families Update Report
West Dunbartonshire Council · 24 June 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 24 June 2026 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: 24 June 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Services for Children, Young People and Families Update Report 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is: a) to inform the Educational Services Committee of progress on support to children, young people and families. 2. Recommendations 2.1 Members of the Educational Services Committee are asked to: a) Note progress on plans to continue developing and improving support to children and families. 3. Background 3.1 West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) is committed to ensuring all children and young people are enabled to progress through Early Learning and School with the support they need. When this support is more or different to what is generally provided for children and young people of the same age, then the child or young person is said to have additional needs. 3.2 The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 lists four interrelated factors which individually or jointly impact on ability to learn: ● Learning Environment ● Family Circumstances ● Disability or Health ● Social or Emotional Factors Additional support may be required throughout a child or young person’s educational journey: others may only require additional support for a short period. ITEM 14
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4. Main Issues 4.1 There are currently 11 781 school pupils in West Dunbartonshire Council. 5470 Pupils have Additional Support Needs (ASN), supported mainly in mainstream schools. Approximately 280 pupils are supported in our specialist settings as they require a more specific learning environment. We also have a small percentage of our children and young people with additional support needs supported by day or residential providers in external placements. These often involve young people separated from their peers and their community and can be expensive in comparison to supporting in-house. These costs have increased significantly over the past few years due to increased salaries and increased charges from partner providers for the range of specialist support offered. This has resulted in budget overspends and it is anticipated that there might be mitigation of these to some extent by the ASN strategy implementation. The trajectory of ASN needs in WDC has increased over time (from 36.9% in 2013 to 46.4% in 2025) and has been supported by the investment in our ASN estate expansion. 4.2 In line with National Guidance, we have a presumption to mainstream and almost all children with additional support needs have them successfully met in mainstream settings. Our ASN Strategy identifies and addresses these issues with a focus on the four pillars of inclusive education in Scotland which are: present, participating, achieving and supported, in order that children meet their full potential. Mainstreaming is the ‘central pillar’ to this approach. Our strategy is successfully upskilling staff and building on consistent approaches to meeting learner needs across all settings, ensuring our legal obligations are being met. 4.3 Enhanced Local Learning Community An enhanced Local Learning Community (LLC) model of support has been established since school session 2024-25. It builds on inclusive practices and support the expectation of a presumption to mainstream schooling for all children. High quality child’s planning, support and professional learning is instrumental in this. A review of professional learning to support staff leading this model was undertaken between February and May 2026 and informed by dialogue with Headteachers, link Educational Psychologists and Officers supporting the schools. All teachers and leaders supporting the ESM were given access to the Social Communication, Emotional regulation and Transactional Support (SCERTS)Training modules. Psychologists provide consultation at a case by case level to support implementation. In addition, Speech and Language Therapists who link with each of the ESM schools for observation and assessment of the children used a SCERTS approach during this assessment and provide consultation and advice for each of the children, guided by the SCERTS framework.
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Across settings, a range of staff have undertaken the following ongoing professional learning, which will continue to be offered next year. This has included and is not exclusive to the following and has varied according to school needs identified: ● SCERTS modules online ● Sensory supports, visuals, social stories and solution-focused conversations ● Class teachers, SLT and learning assistants have taken part in Tanya Tenant training - full day session ● Tanya Tenant Twilight Sessions - deepening understanding of autism, dysregulation, distressed behaviour, sensory processing and executive functioning ● Advanced Safety Interventions, Makaton training and Assistive Technology training ● Boardmaker symbol training Access to the above training is open to all staff in schools operating the model and managed by Headteachers in collaboration with their staff and reflecting needs identified at any given time. As the model progresses through the school, the need for more staff to engage with training will be managed, planned and met by Headteachers in liaison with providers. Analysis of pupil progress has taken place in all establishments, demonstrating that almost all pupils have achieved over 50% of set targets and most between 75% and 100% of targets set. Reviews with parents identified that almost all parents are pleased with and agree their child has made progress. The children supported are benefitting from the language rich social environments of the mainstream setting. This model will be expanded for session 2026-2027 to include our Lady Of Lorretto Primary School which will support 5 pupils. A further 3 pupils will be supported in St Mary’s. Appendix 1 Case Studies Enhanced Support Model 4.4 Supporting Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP) in West Dunbartonshire Our continuing commitment to our Corporate Parenting responsibilities, drives our aims to reduce gaps and improve attendance, attainment and engagement for care experienced learners. To do this we are providing bespoke and targeted 1-1 support to improve outcomes in Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing. This support is managed and led by a Principal teacher and class teacher aligned to the Collaborative Support Service and managed via a programme of Bids and support allocations. The team work in collaboration with Y-Sort-it who support our children and young people in the community via the Care Connections programme.
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Update on Support Intervention Period November 25 - March 26 ● 43 bids received for CE pupils across 22 primary and secondary settings ● Allocated targeted intervention from to 30 pupils across 18 schools. ● 15 young people continuing weekly 1-1 support sessions and access to group activities from Care Connections. This includes 9 pupils receiving support from both. Impact of targeted support for Care Experienced learners is: Attendance from cohorts November 2025 - March 2026 Collaborative Support Service Supported ● 54% of pupils attendance remained between 90% and 100% ● 25% of pupils attendance increased by an average of 14% ● 21% of pupils attendance decreased by an average of 12% Care Connections Service Supported ● 40% of pupils attendance remained between 87% and 100% ● 40% of pupils attendance increased by average of 9.5% ● 20% of pupils attendance decreased by an average of 42% Care Connections (Jan- March) ● 57% of pupils attendance remained between 90% and 100% ● 29% of pupils attendance increased by average of 4% ● 14% of pupils attendance decreased by average of 3% Engagement Data from Pre and Post Participation Scales completed in collaboration with pupil’s Class Teacher help identify pupil’s strengths and areas for development in relation to engagement and Health and Wellbeing: ● 70% of pupils showed an average increase in pointage of 8% with an increase in scores ranging from 2% to 22%. Attainment & Engagement- Planned Targeted Outcomes ● 71% of planned outcomes were achieved by the end of the intervention period. ● Good progress evidenced against 20% of planned outcomes. ● Limited progress made against 9% of planned outcomes New Intervention Period March-June 2026 ● 26 bids from 14 primary schools and 7 bids from 2 secondary schools ● 30 pupils allocated support from Collaborative Support Service ● 22 young people continuing support from Care Connections
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Keeping the Promise Award We continue to develop year 3 of the rollout of Keeping the Promise Award Programme via our Train the Trainer approach, with aims to: ● Reframe the narrative for care experienced children and young people to reduce the stigma. ● Support professional knowledge and understanding of the language surrounding the term ‘care experience’. ● Develop a shared understanding of our roles as educators and corporate parents in keeping the promise to children and young people. ● Work collaboratively to improve attendance, attainment and engagement for care experienced learners To date, 25 establishments across Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Specialist settings have achieved We Promise Award at establishment level and 12 additional establishments are currently engaging with the programme with a staff lead having gained initial I Promise certification. Impact is: ● 95% of staff who have completed the evaluations shared that as a result of the training, they have a greater understanding of the Promise and how they can meet the needs of CECYP in their settings. ● Attendance of care experienced pupils across all schools increased from 83.6% in 2023-2024 to 85.5% in 2024-2025. ● Attainment - ACEL data from 2023 to 2025 shows attainment gaps in reading reducing from 23% in 2023 to 16% in 2025, gaps in writing from 32% to 16% and gaps in numeracy reducing from 26% to 22%. 4.5 The Attendance Quality Improvement Programme in West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire Educational Services has engaged in a quality improvement project focussing on school attendance, supported by Education Scotland. It is still in a pilot stage with a longer-term aim of developing the learning to support wider and longer term improvements in attendance and engagement. Background School attendance has continued to be a critical priority, locally and nationally, as the Scottish education system continues to address the longitudinal impacts of the pandemic. Prior to 2019, national attendance rates in Scotland remained stable at approximately 93%. Following the pandemic, national averages saw a significant decline, reaching a low of 90.2% in 2022/23. While recent 2024/25 data indicate a marginal recovery to 91.0%, attendance has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
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West Dunbartonshire also saw a decline in attendance rates following the pandemic and while there has been significant progress in addressing this, attendance rates remain below 2018-19 levels. Appendix 2 School Pupil Attendance Report The National Programme Education Scotland developed the National Attendance Quality Improvement programme (QIP) to support schools and local authorities to improve attendance. Schools learn to apply quality improvement methods to design, test and evaluate small, data-informed changes. The programme combines in- person and online learning and follows six stages: 1. Create the conditions for change 2. Understand the system through data and stakeholder engagement 3. Set improvement aims 4. Test and refine changes 5. Implement successful approaches 6. Share learning Three national cohorts have run to date, with West Dunbartonshire (WDC) participating in all. The programme in WDC Eight primary schools took part in cohorts 1 and 2, and two secondary schools are currently in cohort 3. Each school identified two leads (senior leader plus another staff member). Leads attended sessions and received ongoing support from Children’s Services and an Education Scotland attainment advisor, including help with data analysis, engagement, and measuring impact. A strong focus on detailed data analysis and meaningful engagement with pupils and families has been central. This has ensured that tailored interventions reflect lived experiences. Schools tested changes using run charts, adapting approaches based on impact. Successes have been shared across learning communities. The programme has improved attendance for individual pupils (see case studies) and participating schools: ● have a clearer understanding of attendance data and priority groups ● recognise the importance of engaging pupils and families ● can use quality improvement tools effectively ● understand the need for both universal and targeted approaches Learning has been shared locally, with further sharing planned.
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Next steps ● Evaluate the programme’s longer-term impact and potential for wider rollout ● Develop a toolkit and professional learning to spread effective practice ● Maintain a strong focus on attendance in school improvement plans Appendix 3: School Improvement Attendance Case Studies 4.6 The Collaborative Support Service (CSS) The CSS team is a centrally managed team of teaching and support staff who work across the Council to support children with additional support needs, help build capacity in schools and deliver professional support and learning to school staff. They collaborate with schools to agree targeted supports and plans for identified individual or groups of children and work with the school to support these. This team consists of: ● 3.6 teachers ● 9 Grade 5 Learning Assistants Support is allocated via a Bidding system twice per year and the activity overview for session ’25-’26 is as follows: ● Total bids: 168 (86 in Nov 25; 82 in March 26) ● Pupils referred: 402 (309 boys, 93 girls) ● Pupils supported: 302 (234 boys, 68 girls) Schools involved: 59 ● Dumbarton: 33 ● Clydebank: 26 Demand for CSS support remained high across both periods, with 168 bids covering 402 pupils. Around 75% of referred pupils received support, demonstrating strong capacity and effective deployment. There was a consistent gender pattern, with significantly more boys referred and supported. Engagement was broad, with 59 schools accessing support, indicating strong reach across both Dumbarton and Clydebank. Impact ● 98% (111 pupils) showed progress on collaborative plan targets ● 2% (2 pupils) showed no progress
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Target Outcomes ● 47% of targets fully achieved ● 46% showed clear progress ● 93% of targets demonstrated progress ● 7% showed no progress (targets under review) Targeted interventions have had a strong positive impact, with nearly all pupils showing progress and 93% of outcomes achieved or progressing. 4.7 Access to School Counselling Across West Dunbartonshire, pupils aged 12 and older have access to schools counselling as needed. This includes, in person, online, individual and group support and is offered from a range of providers to ensure there is support every day and all day to those looking for help. This dovetails with wider community planning supports for Mental Health and Wellbeing and broader wellbeing work taking place in schools, such as Mental Health First Aiders and Distress Brief Intervention training. The report at App.4 sets out the broader range of children and young people’s mental health supports and information on the wide range of reasons that children and young people have reported for using counselling services and the ways in which they have been supported by accessing school counselling services. Appendix 4 Children and Young People’s Mental Health Report April 2025 – March 2026 5. People Implications 5.1 There are no people implications as a direct result of this report. However, it should be noted that in line with the recommendations in the ASN Review we must ensure we have a well-trained, high-quality workforce who are equipped to support the range of needs and rights of our children and young people. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 The projected additional funding required for the learning estate expansion has been approved and planned for in current and future budgets. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 If the Council is unable to ensure appropriate support to children and young people, we will not be meeting their needs under the terms of the Children and Young People Act 2014 (Equalities Act 2010). 7.2 If the Council is unable to ensure appropriate support for all children, young people and staff this could result in reputational damage.
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8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 As noted in the previously produced Equalities Impact Assessment, the ASN strategy and subsequent supports and guidance developed will enhance the quality of the service provided to all children, young people and staff and therefore can be seen to have a positive impact in terms of the equalities. 9. Consultation 9.1 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted in relation to the content of this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 This report reflects the Council’s aspiration to reduce inequalities for the people of West Dunbartonshire. Gillian Hamilton Chief Education Officer 1 June 2026 ____________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Claire Cusick, Senior Education Officer Services for Children and Young People E-mail: claire.cusick@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Wards Affected: All Wards Appendices: Appendix 1 - Case Studies Enhanced Support Model Appendix 2 - School Pupil Attendance Report Appendix 3 - School Improvement Attendance Case Studies Appendix 4 - Children and Young People’s Mental Health Report April 2025 – March 2026
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