Are you listening? Echoing the voices of looked after children about their transition to secondary school

Abstract

Transition to secondary school is a significant childhood event, especially for the most vulnerable children. Many looked after children experience multiple episodes of instability, loss and change which can affect this move. Research shows that school belonging promotes acceptance, inclusion and respect, and impacts positively on school transfer and participation. Asking children for their views on matters that affect them can ease the process and increase their belonging and well-being. This article seeks to echo the voices of 36 children aged 10 to 12 who participated in a therapeutic primary to secondary transition initiative for looked after children. Informed by a participatory action research approach, its focus was to facilitate the child’s voice. Child-friendly, multi-method techniques and activities were used to elicit their views about the transition. Social connections, relationships, feeling safe and belonging within the school environment emerged as key themes. Children specifically highlighted the importance of friendships as a mechanism for supporting their belonging during this time. They also voiced the need for their social connections and belonging to be promoted. This unique intervention provides a framework for facilitating the voices of looked after children and underlines the need for practitioners to listen and understand moves from primary to secondary schools from the child’s perspective.

Keywords

Looked after children’s voices primary to secondary school transition friendships belonging transition intervention

Introduction

Transition to secondary school is a significant childhood event, especially for the most vulnerable (Hebron, 2018; Zeedyk, et al., 2003). Looked after children have an increased risk of vulnerabilities due to the reasons surrounding their admission to local authority care (Dixon, Ward and Blower, 2019). In England, a child is defined as ‘looked after’ or ‘in care’ when they have been in the local authority’s care for over 24 hours (Children Act, 1989, section 22). In other countries such arrangements are referred to as ‘foster care’, ‘alternative care’ or ‘out-of-home care’. Each country’s school system dictates the age of primary to secondary school transfer and regardless of age, this transition usually signals considerable change for the child, such as adjusting to multiple teachers, frequent lesson changes, large student cohorts, new discipline codes and different pastoral systems (Waters, Lester and Cross, 2014). Many will have already experienced multiple episodes of instability, loss and change (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2019) which can impact their school transition (Brewin and Statham, 2011). Negative outcomes associated with this change include reduced school connectedness (O’Brennan and Furlong, 2010), greater anxiety (Hanewald, 2013) and social difficulties (Zeedyk, et al., 2003). However, although it appears that negative outcomes associated with transition are short term for most children (Bloyce and Frederickson, 2012), for many looked after children these times are likely to be more challenging (Brewin and Statham, 2011; Hebron, 2018). Many have experienced multiple traumatic endings, goodbyes and new beginnings; consequently, the losses inherent in changing school often evoke further powerful feelings and emotions (Bombèr, 2007). School belonging, defined as the extent to which a child feels accepted, respected, included and supported by others in the school environment (Goodenow and Grady, 1993), can act as a buffer to protect vulnerable children during transition (Roffey, Boyle and Allen, 2019; Slaten, et al., 2019). A sense of belonging is the foundation of Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of basic human needs and is a requirement for achieving higher level functioning and self-actualisation. Arslan (2019) argues that belonging is central to a child’s mental health and psychosocial adjustment; it is also associated with a broad range of positive academic, health and social outcomes (Roffey, Boyle and Allen, 2019). The Department for Education (2018a) identifies belonging as a protective factor which builds a child’s resilience.

Relationships

There is strong evidence that relationships support children to be resilient during the transition phase, increasing their capacity to navigate the accompanying changes in secondary school (Jindal-Snape, et al., 2019). However, the complex trauma histories and placement instability experienced by many looked after children undermine their attachments, relationships and resilience (Bombèr, 2007). Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England (2018: 2), reports that ‘every day I hear from a child in care who is pinging around the system – pushed from pillar to post’. Nationally, those who experience multiple changes of placement are five times more likely to move schools and three times more likely to move school mid-year, and empirical studies show that they tend to be at increased risk of poor outcomes (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2018; Sebba, et al., 2015). These disruptions make it difficult for looked after children to maintain meaningful and trusting relationships with their friends and key adults (Bombèr and Hughes, 2013; Children’s Commissioner for England, 2017; Sebba and Luke, 2019). Yet like any other child, they just want to build relationships, have friends and enjoy school life. Stable relationships are key for them: they support their resilience, well-being and psychosocial development (Roffey, 2017) and as Bombèr (2011: 6) explains, ‘for looked after children every relationship has the power to confirm or challenge everything that has gone on before’.

Listening to looked after children

Children tell us that feeling listened to during the transition process supports them to feel less vulnerable (Coffey, 2013). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states (Article 12): ‘children have the right to express their own views in all matters affecting them’. UK legislation and government guidance (Children Act 1989; Children and Social Work Act 2017) emphasise the importance of seeking their views. The Department for Education (2018b) outlines the statutory obligation for schools to listen to the voices of looked after children. Adults have a responsibility to directly listen to them and understand their experiences from their perspective (Munro, 2001; Selwyn, Magnus and Stuijfzand, 2018). Asking children and young people for their opinion on matters that affect them increases their sense of belonging (Baumeister and Leary, 1995) and promotes their development and feelings of well-being (Riley, 2019). However, while there is growing evidence about the importance of transition and school belonging, there is less research seeking the views of the child (Nind, Boorman and Clarke, 2012; Riley, 2019). Adults need to provide looked after children with more opportunities to have their say and their voices heard (Dixon, Ward and Blower, 2019) as they are the ‘experts’ on their own experiences (Kellett, 2005; Kellett and Ding, 2004; Mauthner, 1997). This article seeks to respond to this need by describing a therapeutic transition initiative for looked after children. One of its purposes was to facilitate the child’s voice and gather children’s views about their move from primary to secondary school.

Background

The Emotional Well-being in Education (EWE) project, which is part of the local authority’s psychology service, developed the Children’s Well-being Transition initiative ‘Listening to looked after children’. It supports the authority’s most vulnerable looked after children by providing additional psychological support to promote their emotional well-being and engagement with education. The team of one specialist senior educational psychologist and three assistant psychologists have specialist training and knowledge about the needs of looked after children and additional training in Theraplay®, art therapy and narrative therapy, combined with experience of working with vulnerable children and their families in the community. The rationale for the initiative emerged from extensive experience working with the local authority’s looked after children with the most complex histories, the recognition of the impact of multiple losses and transitions on their education, and the need for them to have access to universal preventive interventions. It also grew from evidence from our previous research which noted the importance of gathering the views of primary-aged looked after children (Francis, Bennion and Humrich, 2017). Although recognised as an empowering process, there are limited informal opportunities for these children to share their views with professionals as most interactions lean towards the adult’s agenda rather than the child’s ideas (Mannay, et al., 2018; Munro, 2001). The Trafford Youth Cabinet’s (2017) conference, ‘Let’s talk primary emotional health’, provided a framework for listening to primary-aged children which the EWE project adapted to enable looked after children to share their views about their school transition.

The children

All Year 6 pupils (aged 10–12) who were looked after (n = 50) in one English local authority and attending county or city schools were invited to be involved in the initiative, which ran over two academic years (2017–2019). Seventy-two percent of the children (n = 36) participated (16 in 2017–2018 and 20 in 2018–2019) of whom 61% were girls and 39% boys. The diversity of the cohort reflected the multicultural context of the local authority, with 69% White British, 14% White/Black Caribbean/African, 8% Asian, 3% Thai and South African, 3% other dual heritage and 3% Polish. The children came from 32 different primary schools; 11% of them had an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and 42% had an identified Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND) and received SEND support in school. Most of the children went to mainstream primary schools but 11% attended specialist social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) provision. A further 17% had experienced one or more fixed-term exclusions and 89% had experienced one to three school moves, with 11% having four or more and one child seven; 8% of children had a total of 14 school and home moves. The children experienced between one and 10 care placements with an average of four. The length of time each child had been in care ranged from two days to their entire life.

Consent

The initiative followed the British Psychological Society (BPS) (2014) Code of Human Research Ethics and Code of Ethics and Conduct guidelines (2018). Explanatory letters were sent to the adults with parental responsibility for the child and written consent was gained. Schools and foster carers also received information. When consent was not received, schools, social workers and foster carers were contacted to ascertain why. Reasons given included the event date conflicting with end-of-term school trips and residentials, foster carer’s reluctance for the child to participate, schools seeing it as a reward event and not allowing the child to attend as a punishment, the child feeling anxious about taking part and transport difficulties. The aims and purpose of the initiative were explained to the children in an age-appropriate way and they were made aware of how to withdraw their consent at any point. Once assent was gained, the children received formal invitations to the ‘Listening to looked after children’ conference. Ongoing assent was obtained from the children during each phase of the initiative and safeguarding procedures were followed at all times.

Using a participatory approach to elicit the voice of the child

Listening to the voices of looked after children was central to the initiative and the methods and techniques chosen were selected to facilitate this. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach informed each phase of the initiative (see Figure 1). Montero (2000) suggests that a PAR framework actively includes the children affected by the problem, thus enabling a fluid connection between research and action. Moreover, it minimises negative effects for the child while facilitating the exploration of the issues from the child’s perspective, and so produces more meaningful results (Institute of Development Studies, 2009; Kleine, Pearson and Poveda, 2016).

Figure 1.

The Children’s Well-being Transition initiative model.

Gathering the children’s views

Child-friendly multi-method techniques and activities were used to support the children to share their views about transition (see Table 1). Lambert and colleagues (2013) argue that children need informal creative methods as these facilitate free and natural discussion from the child’s unique perspective. The EWE team developed a mixture of vignettes stimulus material, pictorial prompt cards and narrative participatory activities to elicit the child’s voice throughout the initiative. Studies by Barter and Renold (2010), Golding (2014) and Thomas and colleagues (1999) successfully used similar techniques with looked after children to support their participation and capture their voices. As part of the therapeutic session with the child, the psychologist told the vignette story of Sam the Sheep transitioning to a new school for bears. Vignettes can support children to focus on a topic, often prompting rich, nuanced responses from them (Hughes and Huby, 2004; Jenkins, et al., 2010; Kandemir and Budd, 2018). The Sam the Sheep story acted as a useful ice breaker, forming part of the rapport and relationship building with the child. The psychologist then asked the child four questions in relation to their views about moving to secondary school. Two were about Sam the Sheep: ‘What would make Sam feel worried/isolated?’ and ‘What would make Sam feel safe and like Sam belongs?’. The other two related directly to themselves: ‘What would make you feel worried/isolated?’ and ‘What would make you feel safe and like you belong?’. The child could choose to record their own responses on a pre-prepared activity sheet having been reassured that spelling and grammar were unimportant. For children with additional needs or those who preferred not to fill in the activity sheet themselves, the psychologist transcribed their responses verbatim.

Table 1.

Initiative overview: Are you listening? The voices of looked after children.

Phase 1:	A psychologist visited the child in their primary school and the child received an individual session lasting between 45 to 60 minutes. The child’s views about transition were gathered using several child-friendly techniques.
Phase 2:	The child attended the ‘Listening to LAC’ conference. The child’s views about transition including anxieties, hopes and aspirations were gathered throughout the day using a range of child-friendly techniques. The children also experienced a range of therapeutic, resilience-building workshops during the six-hour event. Eight Year 7 looked after children aged 12 to 13 years attended to share their experiences of transition.
Phase 3:	50% (n = 18) of the children received follow-up visits from a psychologist after 10 weeks in their respective secondary school when their views about transition and sense of belonging were revisited. The individual session lasted between 45 and 60 minutes.

Key adults’ support

While this was not a primary aim of the initiative, a small sample of the children’s key adults’ views were gathered. Parents and carers play an important supportive role during the primary to secondary transition (Coffey, 2013; Mizelle and Irvin, 2000). A convenience sample (n = 8) comprised of two secondary-school-based looked after children mentors and six foster carers (three males, five females) attended a Year 6 Virtual School Team (VST) transition information event. The VST is a specialist team within the local authority whose statutory duty is to promote the educational achievement of their current and former looked after young people (Department for Education, 2018b). Using a focus group, the key adults were asked, ‘What would your child need to feel safe and supported in their new school?’ The adults recorded their responses on a pre-prepared pictorial activity sheet and then had the opportunity to share their views with the group.

Findings

The qualitative data collected during the initiative provided rich data, reflecting the voices of the children involved. Interpretation of this material comprised thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006; Miles and Huberman, 1994) and three key themes were identified: the children’s perceptions of social connections and relationships; feeling safe; and their sense of belonging to the school and school life. In addition, the information from the key adults highlighted another theme: basic needs and nurture. Tables 2 to 5 present the frequency of each theme, with examples of the children’s views in their own words prior to and following transition.

Table 2.

The child’s anxieties and worries prior to transition to secondary school.

Theme	Frequency	Examples of the child’s voice
Social connections/ relationships	34	‘not many of my friends are going to the same school’ (M) ‘moving from here to there and none of my friends are going there’ (F) ‘I will be separated from some of my friends’ (F) ‘none of my friends are going’ (M) ‘other people might have other friends and they might find someone else and leave me out and not help me’ (M) ‘all my friends I have got now might not want to know me anymore’ (F) ‘everyone would find some people and I won’t have anyone’ (F) ‘[worried about feeling] sad, scared, frightened’ [no friends] (F) ‘I’m not going to make any friends and I will be lonely’ (F)
Feeling safe/ belonging	23	‘not knowing where everything is’ (F) ‘I will get lost’ (F) ‘if no one likes me, or hate(s) me’ (F) ‘I’m worried in case I get bullied’ (F) ‘people might bully me’ (F) ‘my enemies are going there’ (F) ‘[that] people shout at me’ (F) ‘[what if…] I don’t like it’ (M)
School life	12	‘new subjects, new rules, new teachers’ (F) ‘the work is going to be harder’ (M) ‘homework every day’ (M) ‘isolation room’ (F) ‘the new activities because I’ve been told I have to do sports’ (F) ‘detention’ (F)
	4	‘nothing; I’m looking forward to seeing my brother’ (M)

Table 3.

The children’s anxieties and worries following transition to secondary school.

Theme	Frequency	Example of the child’s voice
Social connections/ relationships	10	‘not sure who I would go to in school, but foster carer sorts everything’ (F) ‘I wouldn’t find new friends and now I have’ (M) ‘it [CWC] helped get rid of some of my nerves because I met different people’ (F) ‘worse than I thought; I thought I would have more friends’ (F) ‘people [adults] saying things that don’t happen’ (M)
	9	‘nothing really’ (M & F)
Feeling safe/ belonging	9	‘no, wasn’t prepared for it being big or finding all the classrooms; but just have to deal with it when you get here’ (M) ‘not now … was worried I would get lost’ (F) ‘not scared anymore’, knowing my way around school makes me feel better’ (F) ‘it’s like they don’t accept you for who you are’ (M) ‘bullying, worried it might happen’ (F) ‘sometimes I get bullied’ (F) ‘big kids… [they’re] very tall’ (M)
School life	3	‘people acting cleverer than me in class’ (F) ‘homework’ (M)

Table 4.

Prior to transition: What would make you feel like you belong in your new school?.

Theme	Frequency	Example of the child’s voice
Social connections/ relationships	40	‘loads of my friends going to the same school as me’ (M) ‘to get to know someone before I move to that school’ (F) ‘knowing that I’ll get to make some new friends’ (F) ‘seeing [my] sister’ (M) ‘if my mum was there’ (F) ‘I would make new friends and play with my old friends’ (M) ‘she [staff member] is helping me make a friend’ (F) ‘see if there is anyone else that is alone and make friends with them’ (F) ‘having/making friends’ (M)
Feeling safe/ belonging	17	‘if I get worried about something then they [teachers] say I am safe; people would say, “You’re safe”’ (F) ‘teachers to make me feel safe’ (M) ‘if I know my way around, so I feel comfortable’ (F)‘meeting the teachers, seeing the classroom’ (M) ‘I will be safe because all of these years I had a bad time; now I am starting a new chapter. I am actually pretty excited because I will get to know new people’ (F) ‘gardening, Art (clubs/extra-curricular activities) help me to belong’ (F) ‘if I know I can have help and I know someone is there to help me like in PE’ (F) ‘joining in and having fun’ (M) ‘extra help with my learning, my feelings, my Maths and English’ (F) ‘having a tour of the school’ (M)
School life	2	getting into a routine (M)

Table 5.

After transition: Do you feel like you belong in your new school?

Theme	Frequency	Example of the child’s voice
Feeling safe/belonging	17	‘yeah’ / ‘Sometimes’ (M & F) ‘yes, but it is a bigger change than I thought’ (M) ‘yeah, I just feel safe’ (F) ‘yeah… I feel like I fit in’ (F) ‘other children make me feel like I belong’ ‘I do because when I’m angry someone comforts me. It makes me feel safe’ (F) ‘I thought it wouldn’t be a safe place but now it is. Teachers make it feel safe’ (M) ‘teachers in corridors even in lessons time. All the teachers have walkie talkies for when something goes wrong’ (F) ‘settled because I know where to go and what to do’ (F) ‘not scared any more; knowing my way around school makes me feel better’ (F) ‘sometimes they [students] get angry [which] makes me feel unsafe… things happening around me’ (M) ‘I thought it wouldn’t be this big and I wouldn’t have to walk to the top floor to get to my locker’ (F)
Social connections/ relationships	12	‘we know how to cheer each other up and we agreed to always talk to each other if something is bothering us’ (F) ‘teachers – I know they are there for me if I needed them’ (M) ‘the teachers and friends make me feel like home’ (F) ‘seven new friends. I didn’t know anyone when I started … came from primary school on my own’ (F) ‘my worries have changed; I have met new people and that is a good thing’ (M) ‘yep, having my friends around me – both old and new’ (M) ‘I’ve got a best friend, [she’s] like a sister; she gets me and understands what I’ve been through because I’ve explained it’ (F)
School life	0

Feedback from the children’s key adults

Figure 2 presents the themes identified by the key adults including the frequency of each theme.

Figure 2.

Pie chart showing adult’s responses to ‘What supports your child to feel like they belong?’.

Discussion

The Children’s Well-being Transition initiative ‘Listening to the voices of looked after children’ provided a platform for children to express their views about school transition and in response to the need for adults to further support looked after children to share their voices (Dixon, Ward and Blower, 2019), a special effort was made to ensure that all the children, including those with complex special educational needs, were included. The children’s views that emerged will now be discussed.

Social connections and relationships matter

Prior to the transition to secondary school, concerns about the impending disruption to the child’s social connections and relationships was the most frequently reported concern. Potential loss of friendships was an overwhelming part of the children’s pre-transition narrative. Brewin and Statham (2011) found that an absence of friends was often associated with difficult transitions. Several children were moving to their new secondary school alone, with no others from their primary school and were naturally worried about this, but it was also a salient issue for those moving with peers. Several children expressed fears linked to abandonment and rejection by current friends, with one child anxious that ‘all my friends I have got now might not want to know me anymore’. These worries about anticipated loss evoked strong feelings for the children, as they prepared for the most difficult change of their school career. The children described feeling scared, down, frightened, and a sense of sadness and loneliness. Many of these emotions echo feelings reported in other studies of looked after children moving school; they too described feeling scared and lonely, sometimes causing anxiety and depression, magnifying and exacerbating any feelings of insecurity and uncertainty which they already have (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2019). While recognising that not all moves for looked after children lead to poor outcomes, the impact of multiple changes is amplified for many by virtue of their previous experiences, and these can impact negatively on their schooling and affect their relationships with peers and staff (Pecora, 2012; Phillips, 2007).

Following transition to secondary school, several children reported that they had formed new social connections. Topping (2011) suggests that making new connections, forming relationships and establishing a sense of place are crucial parts of the transition process. The conference event increased the children’s awareness of other looked after young people with similar worries and anxieties about transition. Post transition, several children recalled how valuable and reassuring this knowledge was; for example, it reassured them that other looked after children from the conference would also be attending their secondary school. Research with looked after children shows that friendships offer opportunities for close and supportive relationships and can make positive contributions to their lives (Anderton, 2009). A study with a wider population of 10- to 11-year-olds identified their friends as an important part of life, the children likening friendships to having ‘an extra parachute to unfold when your own is not opening’: in good times they are your security but in times of trouble they act as a safety net (Kostenius and Ohrling, 2008: 29). Likewise, the children described the importance of their social connections and the positive feelings they evoked: ‘Yep, having my friends around me – both old and new’ is reassuring. For others, friendships provided a source of emotional support, as one child explained, ‘I’ve got a best friend, [she’s] like a sister; she gets me and understands what I’ve been through because I’ve explained it.’ Coffey (2013) argues that friendships can alleviate many of the challenges involved in secondary school transition, with Moses and Villodas (2017) arguing that peer relationships act as a protective factor and promoter of belonging for vulnerable children with complex trauma histories.

Nevertheless, while some children had made friends, for others this was proving more difficult. Several reported feeling anxious about their lack of social relationships and one child stated, ‘it’s worse than I thought; I thought I would have more friends’. Given their complex histories, looked after children may need additional support to develop their social skills, especially at vulnerable points in their life (Bombèr, 2007) and Wood and Selwyn (2017) provide evidence that looked after children value support with making and maintaining their friendships. Key adults also echoed this view, stating that schools should support this group to build connections with other students and develop friendships. They suggested that school staff could provide better support by ‘understanding looked after children more… forming connections and seek[ing] to build strong relationships with them’. Evidence shows that when looked after children have opportunities to form positive relationships with staff, these can act as a model for future relationships (Bombèr, 2011). These findings emphasise the need to focus on helping schools to understand how to promote looked after children’s social connections and relationships with peers and key adults as these increase children's sense of belonging (Midgen, et al., 2019).

Feeling safe and belonging

The concept of belonging was the second most frequently expressed theme reported by the children. Maslow (1943) states that to reach self-actualisation, all basic needs have to be met, including a sense of belonging. The key adults reiterated this and described the child’s need for warmth, safety, love and respect – to be treated the same as other children and not singled out as a child in care. Schools can provide a secure base for looked after children by offering safety, containment, predictability and routine (Bombèr, 2011).

Prior to transition, most children worried about a lack of belonging to their new school, describing strong feelings associated with rejection, bullying and abandonment: ‘What if no one likes me, or hate(s) me?’ These strong emotions may have evoked feelings of previous losses. The children explained how in addition to friends, having siblings and familiar people in school also provided them with a sense of belonging. They identified the importance of having ‘teachers to make [them] feel safe’, with one child explaining: ‘If I get worried about something, then they say I am safe; people would say “You’re safe.”.’ A few children described looking forward to moving on from primary school and finding safety in their new school: ‘I will be safe because all of these years I had a bad time now, I am starting a new chapter. I am actually pretty excited because I will get to know new people.’ Another shared a similar view that secondary school would offer new opportunities to ‘belong’ and form connections through taking part in school clubs and extra-curricular activities.

Following transition, there was evidence of the children’s strengths and their capacity to deal with difficult situations. Many reported that they did not have any worries and had started to build connections with peers, teachers and key adults; others described feeling safe and like they belonged. They often recognised their own resilience in overcoming the challenges of moving school. One child reported: ‘I’m not scared anymore, knowing my way around the school makes me feel better.’ Others felt that key adults in school increased their sense of belonging by providing support and safety: ‘I do feel like I belong because when I’m angry someone comforts me; it makes me feel safe.’ The children’s key adults also described how they thought school staff could promote their child’s belonging and inclusion: ‘Teachers should reassure looked after children that they are safe in school, listen to them and be available to help.’ Most of the children identified social connections as a mechanism for achieving these goals. This supports the evidence that school belonging can support children to feel safe through their school relationships, promoting their feelings of security, safety and acceptance (Cragg and Kelly, 2018).

Conversely, for some children anxieties about the school environment and the fear of bullying remained post transition: ‘I don’t get bullied, but I am still worried it might happen.’ A few described the difficulty of finding acceptance among their peers. A survey of over 2000 looked after children found that they are more likely to experience bullying than children in the general population, their comments highlighting how ‘being in care made them “different” and being different often made them the target of bullies’ (Wood and Selwyn, 2017: 27). Other children described feeling unsafe and vulnerable; one girl shared how she felt that staff did not take bullying seriously: ‘They ask you if you are alright in front of the bullies and I don’t want to say the truth … I don’t think the teachers do anything.’

A benefit of the initiative model is to provide children with access to additional EWE project psychological support if required. This included further assessments, interventions, consultations with key adults in school, the VST, social care or appropriate referrals and signposting. The duration of the transition model facilitated relationship building between the child and psychologist. The adult was therefore better able to understand transition from the child’s perspective which, in turn, helped the psychologist to be a better advocate for the child (Francis, Bennion and Humrich, 2017; Shaw, 2019). Issues identified by the child such as bullying, school life or relationship difficulties were immediately followed up. In one instance, the social worker and the psychologist jointly supported a looked after child experiencing bullying and the EWE team worked directly with the school to resolve the issue.

School life

A small number of children referred to worries associated with the organisational aspects of school life prior to transition; anxieties included adapting to new teachers and subject areas, different school expectations and homework as well as new rules and discipline codes. Some children were worried about the secondary school behaviour and punishment policies – anxieties related to the ‘detention’ and the ‘isolation room’ may have evoked feelings associated with their past trauma histories. Following transition, the children rarely mentioned school life, suggesting that for most their anxieties had subsided. For a few children ongoing worries about homework and feeling ‘not as clever as other students’ persisted. It is possible that by the time the children received their follow-up visit in secondary school, they had adapted to their new timetables and felt less anxious about secondary school expectations (Brewin and Statham, 2011).

Our findings reveal that although the transition needs of looked after children are not too dissimilar to those of all children, listening directly to their voices illustrates how their need for social relationships, safety and belonging are more intense due to the complexities of their past and present situations. The children emphasised the importance of social relationships and belonging in their lives; some described how ‘other children make me feel like I belong’ and ‘teachers and friends make me feel like home’, promoting feelings of acceptance, safety and being cared for in their new school. For many of the children, school was often one of the most consistent aspects of their lives, therefore a strong sense of belonging there can compensate for a lack of belonging in other areas of their lives (Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Firth and Fletcher, 2001).

Informing practice

Looked after children’s views about transition and how best to support them are an invaluable resource for practitioners in social care and education, as they provide a mechanism to inform and improve service delivery (Ashton, 2008; Mannay, et al., 2018). The children’s voices call for a systemic approach to resolving their transition concerns. One key issue identified is the need for schools to promote a sense of belonging for the whole school community, including the most vulnerable. Secondly, while acknowledging that most looked after children have experienced difficult starts in life, they do not necessarily want to be defined by their ‘looked after’ label (Mannay, et al., 2018). Practitioners should prioritise these children’s friendships, social connections and belonging during the transition phase rather than defining their needs solely as ‘a within child’ problem. Thirdly, practitioners need to ensure that children’s views inform their practice. Otherwise, what purpose do voices serve if no one is listening (Alexandra, 2015; Greig, Hobbs and Roffey, 2014)? The following recommendations for practitioners are in response to the children’s voices.

Prior to transition, social workers should consider the school catchment area of existing and established friendships when making secondary school applications for the child. The local authority should similarly ensure that looked after children are prioritised for Year 7 secondary school placements, and school catchment area boundaries should be flexible and supportive of the needs of this population. Alongside this, social workers need to work actively with the child to prepare them for transition, supporting with any anxieties, helping him or her to understand the grieving process associated with severed friendships and helping them to develop positive coping strategies and problem-solving skills. This ending and new beginning should form part of the child’s memory box with photographs and mementos. Developing a narrative with the child about loss of friends and familiar adults not only supports them to process this loss but it also helps them to learn that not all endings are negative.

Social workers and foster carers should work jointly to facilitate ‘staying in touch with friends’, including transport arrangements to visit friends where required. Foster carers often play a significant role in supporting their child’s friendships during their time at primary school. This must continue during the school holidays through face-to-face contact, inviting friends into their home, or via the safe use of technology and social media (Simpson, 2020). Supporting and maintaining friendships helps to develop the child’s social skills, which will be invaluable for building new relationships at secondary school. Foster carers are in an excellent position to listen to the child’s everyday anxieties, supporting the young person and providing a safe, secure and predictable base during the transition phase. Similarly, many carers regularly support their child’s extra-curricular hobbies and interests (Gilligan, 2007; Munford and Sanders, 2016). Following transition, carers need to positively encourage their child to consider pursuing their interests at secondary school, for instance, through joining teams and clubs or participating in trips and extra-curricular activities.

As we have seen, primary and secondary schools play a vital role in promoting the child’s sense of belonging (Jindal-Snape, et al., 2019). The promotion of school belonging for looked after children should be part of a wider whole school relational approach that promotes an emotionally safe physical environment where all forms of bullying are taken seriously by staff (Department for Education, 2018c; Roffey, Boyle and Allen, 2019). Relational school environments support looked after children to feel safe, cared for, supported by staff and included by friends (Baker, et al., 2019). Relational interventions should be embedded within the school as part of a whole school approach. Research shows that systemic approaches increase the effectiveness of interventions for all children (Demkowicz and Humphrey, 2019; Weare, 2015). School transition programmes should promote looked after children’s relationships with key adults and their peers, and targeted interventions should reflect an understanding of their worries and anxieties about making and keeping friends (Bombèr, 2007). Schools can also promote the child’s sense of belonging by supporting participation in lunchtime and after-school extra-curricular activities, which can provide excellent opportunities for making and establishing new friendships (Jindal-Snape, et al., 2019; Midgen, et al., 2019).

Psychology services should consider adapting the cost-effective transition intervention model to meet the needs of looked after children in their area. The EWE project team listen to, understand and advocate on behalf of looked after children; other services should integrate similar specialisms within their service (Francis, et al., 2017). Educational psychologists are well placed to support schools to prioritise relationships and belonging for looked after children, providing training and guidance on the use of belonging screening tools, developing resources and interventions to enhance school belonging and facilitating staff training and workshops.

The children’s voices have informed several areas of practice. Officers from the local VST now ask detailed questions about the child’s friendships and peer relationships during the child’s Personal Educational Plan (PEP) meetings and raise any transition concerns where appropriate. Local authorities could develop similar practices as part of their PEP process. Collaboration between the EWE project team and the VST promotes relational consistency and stability for the child through staff participation in events such as the VST Year 6 transition residential and an enrichment programme of sports events, theatre trips and Aim Higher events. Secondary school looked after children mentors work closely with local primary schools, the VST and the EWE project to support the child. The mentor’s relationship starts during Year 6 and is maintained throughout the child’s time at secondary school. The EWE team are trialling the use of a belongingness screening tool to track the child’s transition from primary to secondary school, developing targeted resources and training workshops for schools and foster carers and supporting the child for 12 months or longer where required.

Limitations and future exploration

The children’s voices provide important evidence to inform one local authority about the transition needs of looked after children from their perspective, especially in relation to their social connections and sense of belonging. These findings are specific to this Year 6 cohort which may limit its generalisation to wider populations and across different local authorities. Funding constraints may affect replication of the therapeutic interventions model. Time constraints were a further limitation, as it was only possible to elicit the views of 50% of the cohort following transition. Future research should focus on replicating the initiative across other local authorities using a control group or other cohorts, for example, adopted children or asylum seekers who may have different perceptions of their primary to secondary school transition. While gender was not a specific focus of the initiative, consideration of the different needs of girls and boys during transition may warrant further investigation. The feasibility of adapting this initiative to support care leavers transition to post 16 could also be explored.

Conclusion

The children’s voices support the need for schools to promote belonging and highlight how important social relationships are to looked after children. The children often voiced the value of social connections, key adults to keep them safe and familiarity with their environment. They specifically emphasised the significance of friendships as a tool for supporting their transition, belonging and well-being. The children’s key adults also stressed the importance of social relationships as a mechanism for supporting their child during the transition phase. The initiative sought to promote the child’s voice focusing on their transition and their sense of belonging, which in turn supports their mental health and well-being. It developed the child’s awareness of other looked after children experiencing similar worries and concerns about transition, and the opportunity to hear about their experiences helped to make their own move feel less daunting.

The Children’s Well-being Transition initiative illuminates an innovative model of delivering educational psychology services. It provides a universal preventive offer for looked after children that incorporates early intervention and ongoing support for those who need it. Professionals have a responsibility to listen to looked after children and take their views, wishes and feelings into account. The initiative provided a platform for them to have a voice, demonstrating how child friendly techniques and activities can support their participation and promote their empowerment. It positively contributed to the child’s transition journey, highlighting the importance of relationships for looked after children and the need for key adults to listen and hear their voices. The children have told us what support they need for their move from primary to secondary school. The challenge is for professionals to echo the children’s voices and translate it into action.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Yvonne J Francis is a Specialist Senior Educational Psychologist with Leicester City Council.

Laura Rowland is an Assistant Psychologist with Leicester City Psychology Service, Emotional Well-being in Education Project.

Sarah Humrich is an Assistant Psychologist with Leicester City Psychology Service, Emotional Well-being in Education Project.

Sally Taylor is an Assistant Psychologist with Leicester City Psychology Service, Emotional Well-being in Education Project.

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