Despite intense and increasing risk and challenge  -including going missing from care on a daily basis – John* has positively engaged in the care and educational support at Wings Cumbria – reducing his missing episodes by 100%

Supporting a young person at the beginning of the care journey can be challenging – for the young person themselves, for their family and for those around them.

John* recently became a looked after young person and came to Wings School Cumbria. He was struggling to cope with being separated from his family and was experiencing social, emotional, behavioural and cognitive difficulties. He had experienced neglect and emotional damage.

Having become disengaged with staff at his previous home, John was putting himself at risk and was going missing from care on a daily basis. His placement served notice and the professionals working with him needed to find a suitable home for John to be cared for, and attend school.

John had been refusing to attend school and when he did attend was experiencing behavioural difficulties. There was a risk of escalating negative behaviour, including criminal.

The Wings School Cumbria offer of care and education support in one place provided a positive option for his professional team, offering a place where he could find stability, calm and consistency in a supportive community environment.

In the short time John has been at Wings, he has made significant progress. His team has seen a 100% reduction in missing from care episodes and this has had a massive impact on stopping any escalation of criminal behaviour as well as safeguarding John from potential child sexual exploitation risks.

John enjoys coming to school each day, he contributes to lessons, works hard and really wants to achieve. He is on target to reach his expected levels for 11/12 subjects with effort grades for every subject all ‘as expected’ or ‘above expected’, as well as being one of the top school points scorers for attitude and behaviour.

He attends college three days per week to study in his favourite field and has received recognition for his fantastic work and contribution to the class. He is able to better regulate his emotions and reduce the use of inappropriate language.

During his time at Wings, John has built up fantastic, trusting relationships with staff and has also developed appropriate friendships with his peers both in school and in his home. He has enjoyed and maintained positive family contact too.

A  true team player, John’s contribution to school in sports and other areas is clear to see, as is his pride in his progress and achievements so far. Most importantly John now has high expectations for himself in the future – everyone at Wings is extremely proud of the progress he has made.