In May 2016 the Economic and Social Research Council provided the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE) with funding to build on the findings and recommendations from the Looked after children and education – LACE project, and get these messages out to diverse audiences. The project, ‘Improving the educational experiences and attainment of looked after children and young people’ involved a series of events, workshops, consultations, and the development of a range of multimodal materials.

Project Outputs

CASCADE worked with The Fostering Network to develop the Greater Expectations magazine for foster carers.

CASCADE also worked with Voices from Care Cymru, the Care Forum Wales Looked After Children Network and the creative industries. Consultations with care experienced children and young people and a poetry competition for those in care and care leavers led to the development of these key #messagestoschools presented in an educational charter, an animated film, a music video and a series of posters. In September 2017, these outputs were posted to 1,631 schools in Wales and featured in a Twitter campaign. More information about this project and a range of related materials are also available via ExChange: Care and Education.


Academic Staff

ResearcherDawn Mannay
ResearcherEleanor Staples
ResearcherSophie Hallett
ResearcherLouise Roberts
ResearcherAlyson Rees
ResearcherRhiannon Evans
ResearcherDarren Andrews
Related publicationsMannay, D.et al. 2017. The consequences of being labelled ‘looked-after’: Exploring the educational experiences of looked-after children and young people in Wales. British Educational Research Journal 43(4), pp. 683-699.