The nervous wait for National Star students

11 hours ago

Steve KnibbsGloucestershire

News image — Billy is hoping to go into supported living when he leaves National Star College

BBC A person wearing a light-coloured jacket stands outdoors in front of dense green fir trees, holding their hands raised as if they are clapping. — Billy is hoping to go into supported living when he leaves National Star College

Students who are about to leave the National Star College in Gloucestershire have started having conversations with their local authorities over funding for their futures.

The BBC is following six students at the college which provides specialist further education for people with disabilities, as they prepare to move to the next stage of their lives.

Billy and his family, who are from Worcestershire, had to go to two tribunals to get his place at National Star which affected his confidence at the time.

His mum, Jeanette, said: "Two years afterwards he was still worried coming back from holidays saying 'am I going to be allowed to go back to college' and we just want to avoid that at all costs.'"

The families are holding their review meetings online with social care teams from their local authorities and staff from National Star.

It is an opportunity to review the progress they have made in their development and education but crucially, to put the case to the councils about future provision.

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Two people sit at a kitchen counter looking at a laptop, with papers and glasses of water nearby. The room has bright patterned décor, large windows and several plants on the windowsill. — Billy's parents say the meeting with their local authority was very "positive"

Billy's parents want him to go into supported living where he can thrive but they want to ensure they make a collective decision over where that might be.

"We don't want any decisions made without us being there about where and who he's going to live with, we don't think he's got capacity to do that," Jeanette told the meeting.

Worcestershire County Council appointed a social worker for Billy, who he has worked with before, and at the meeting promised to look at a range of options for places and suggested one in Malvern for the family to look at.

After a tough time getting Billy's place at National Star, his parents said this time around the meeting was extremely positive.

"We're really happy now that he's got a social worker," said his father Rich.

"That was kind of really our main concern, that he hadn't got one. But we've got the social worker that we wanted as well, which was really positive for us."

Two people stand together in a park, with autumn trees and open green space in the background. One wears a patterned blue and green jacket with a scarf, while the other wears a black top with a pink heart design. — Caroline said the meeting was nerve-wracking as it was deciding Sophie's future

This is a huge moment for students like Billy as they leave National Star, a college where they have had several years of support, education and development.

The college works with young people with learning and physical disabilities to help them become as independent as possible when they leave. It helps them to learn the skills to take on work where they can and play an active role in society.

It is also about preparing them to leave and working with the councils on making sure their needs are met.

It is not a quick process and councils have the challenge of balancing the needs of the students as well as the pressure on their already stretched Adult Social Care budgets, which is the biggest pot that they spend.

In Gloucestershire, Sophie and her mum Caroline are having their review meeting.

Sophie has been at National Star for four years and they are asking for the council to fund her to go back for three days a week with two days working in the community.

Caroline says it is extremely nerve-wracking: "It's so scary being in there because literally everything you're saying in that next hour is Sophie's future. Do I get it right? Have I got it wrong? Have I said enough?"

The news was positive. "I think the meeting went amazingly," Sophie said.

Sophie and Billy will still be supported under their Education Health Care Plans (EHCP) which run until they are aged 25. One of the other main points of the reviews is to make sure they still fit with what the students need.

Giumis Carrino, a personal learning coordinator at National Star College said: "Sophie's met the outcomes for now, it was our job to rewrite new ones directly in line with what she's aiming to do in the future and that's what we've put across today.

"The last thing we want for a young person like Sophie is to have nothing and that's the bleak reality that can happen if this legwork doesn't go in before."

So for now it is a waiting game as decisions are made about what happens next to the students we're following.

Where do they live, who pays, how will they be supported?

It is a decision where choices are fewer and more complex but crucial to get right as for many of them what happens next will shape the rest of their lives.