Education offer to Gateshead Looked After Children

Gateshead Council (the Council) is in the process of considering developing with the market a “Bespoke Education Offer to LAC Children for up to initially 20 young people being returned to Gateshead from Out of Area Independent Residential Children Homes to our newly developed “Inhouse offer”, or to our Young People who are LAC / or Children in Need that might be excluded from School, who may or may not have an
• Education Health and Care Plan,
• have suffered Adverse Childhood experience including trauma,
• with social emotional or mental health needs
• May/ May not have emerging or diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder or Traits.
• May be socially isolated or have significant mental health conditions that does not allow them to access class based / structured education or perform successfully in large classes.
The young people’s needs range from/ but are not exclusively
• Attachment and relationship issues
• Emerging or diagnosed mental health and/ or learning disabilities, including Autism and Autistic traits
• Have been subjected to physical and mental health abuse or trauma
• May have some sensory processing issues
• Substance misuse
• Use of weapons
• May have been involved in/ with the criminal justice system
• Have been previously excluded from school – on permanent or temporary exclusions
• Experience or threats of Self-Harm
• Physical or verbal aggression
• Not had boundaries set, so may have difficulties regulating emotions and difficulties with trust and relationships.
The young people will be aged 11-18 years and are anticipated to need to be educated to Key Stage 3,4 or 5 but may also need a more tailored “Alternate Education” arrangement, which might be a mix of class and non-class-based support. With the key focus being to support young people if appropriate to move successfully back into main stream within Gateshead, or make the best of their education potential, with transition into training, post 16 education or work.
As part of this process the Council is conducting a Market Engagement Exercise to establish the level of interest in this opportunity, to gather information and improve our understanding of the market.
Suppliers are invited to consider the inquiries detailed within this Market Engagement Questionnaire and complete the questionnaire in Section Two.
Suppliers are also invited to attend a Market Engagement Event on Friday 27th March 2020, where we will give an overview of how the proposed proposal may operate and what interested Contractors will need to do to participate in the process.
This proposal is for Gateshead Council to offer the use of a suitable education facility, building and maintenance on a lease hold arrangement, with options to consider buy back of up to 20 individualised education placements covering either 52/ 38 weeks or Day placements on this site.
We would be interested in interest from Ofsted Registered Special Schools, or Ofsted Registered Main stream providers or providers of Alternate Education, or a collaboration across these arrangements.
The site being proposed would accommodate two separate units, as its currently a “primary school site”, but we would be interested in any proposal on alternate site that you might offer, so long as it is suitable for educating young people and has adequate external space.
Please note: this Market Engagement Questionnaire is for information only to assess the reaction of the market and inform the future procurement process to ensure it is more focused and efficient. Written responses to this Market Engagement Questionnaire will not be evaluated, scored or included in the assessment of any tenders submitted in any future procurement process.
There is no commercial advantage or disadvantage to your organisation as a result of being involved in this Market Engagement Exercise, however, responses to this Market Engagement Questionnaire are highly valued and will assist the Council in determining the most appropriate approach to the market and in creating a procurement process (if considered appropriate) which is well-framed, focused, feasible and likely to be of interest to the market.
The Council will consider all information supplied in response to this Market Engagement Exercise, however it cannot commit to using all the information and suggestions received to inform any future procurement.