Education Service
Compass Fostering is committed to keeping children in schools within their local community. Through our work with the local education authority we provide support for children who find the transition to new situations and environments difficult.
Our supervising social workers will attend meetings at school with you and we have access to qualified teachers and support staff who can work with carers and local authority colleagues to provide packages of support for those young people who are experiencing difficulty in making use of the educational opportunities on offer. Where young people have little or no command of the English language, we have links with specialist agencies who provide intensive education and language courses.
For children who require additional support either in school or outside of school, Compass Fostering will work closely with carers to ensure the child’s needs are met. Educational needs are assessed for all Looked After Children through a Personal Education Plan and foster carers are encouraged by our staff to support the child’s key targets.
Evidence shows that children and young people in foster care are less likely to do well at school. However, children fostered with Compass Fostering achieve higher than average GCSE results and attendance rates. We continually support fostered children and their families with their learning and development.
For some children who are unable to attend school, we can offer ‘experiential education’ to get them back into the swing of learning and back into education.
Rebecca Slayford
Director of Education Services
I have worked within education for the past 20 years.and have a wide variety of experience working with children of all ages in a range of educational settings., including working as a teacher, SENCo and head teacher. I am very privileged to be the Executive Head Teacher of Compass Community. Every day I work with a talented team of qualified education professionals who are passionate about providing effective education provision to ensure children and young people meet their full potential.
We take great pride, not only in the work that we do, but also the academic and emotional accomplishments of the young people we help, and look forward to enabling all of our young people to build self-belief, friendship skills and resilience.
Caroline Stride
Lead Teacher for Group Education Service
I joined Compass in July 2017 having been a qualified secondary teacher for over two decades. Over the course of those years I had the privilege of teaching children Humanities, ICT, Creative Media and Film. As an Assistant Headteacher I worked for a number of years in alternative provision managing a team of teachers alongside responsibility for data and raising standards leadership. My role as Lead Teacher for the Group involves providing advice and guidance to Residential and Fostering colleagues, as well as carers nationally where there might be challenges with 0-16 years education. We also have Experiential Educators (ExEds) and Education Ambassadors (EdAms) who are carers giving additional training to support other carers. I look forward to working alongside you.
Angela Hall
Post 16 Coordinator
I have been a qualified Careers Advisor for over ten years, having worked for the careers service in schools, colleges and outreach provisions with young people in years 10 to 13 and as a Personal Adviser to young people not in education who were facing a variety of issues and barriers to learning. I undertook various roles including Team Leader, managing two teams across Kent, Employer Liaison and Training Provider Lead working with local employers and training providers securing job vacancies and training opportunities for young people. Since 2014 I have worked specifically with looked after children and young people, supporting and advising in all aspects of education but particularly focusing on the transition from year 11 to post 16 education.
My role as Post 16 Education Coordinator involves providing advice and guidance to both residential and fostering colleagues and carers across all regions where there may be challenges with post 16 education, and supporting our Compass Community Schools providing one to one career guidance to our students and the development of our careers programmes.