Championing ‘virtual’ education for children in care
Nationwide representatives from Virtual Schools for children in care and their colleagues came together in Warwickshire last month to look into ways to support looked after children in education.
The special learning event took place at Warwick Racecourse offering an opportunity for local authorities to share good practice to ensure that looked after children across the country get the support they need to achieve their maximum potential at school.
Warwickshire County Council, who hosted the event, is part of the Government’s Virtual School pilot scheme for children and young people in care along with ten other local authorities.
Each ‘virtual’ school has appointed a Virtual Headteacher to act as the young people’s education champion to ensure that they get the support they need to be the best they can be. Warwickshire is one of four authorities that are also piloting the private tutoring scheme, sponsored by HSBC.
Local authorities who are not part of the pilot are also reviewing support packages offered to looked after children and this meeting was an opportunity for them to get together to look at what they are doing and what else they could do.
The learning event had 56 attendees from 35 different authorities. Delegates included Virtual Headteachers as well as colleagues from teams in involved with the education of looked after children from around the country.
Marion Davis, Warwickshire County Council’s Strategic Director for Children, Young People and Families, opened the event, welcoming the delegates and setting the scene for the day’s activities. She said: “Warwickshire is proud to be taking part in this groundbreaking pilot. We relish this opportunity to host an event which will offer us the chance to learn from one another and discuss the best ways to support our young people in care.”
Following the opening address, the group divided to take place in a series of workshops led by the Virtual Headteachers and representatives from national organisations.
There were 15 workshops in total split into four hour-long sessions. Each themed workshop facilitated discussion on topics including, using and managing data, private tuition, personal education allowances, transition to further or higher education, working with carers and the student voice.
Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive with delegates making the most of networking opportunities and coming away with lots of new ideas to implement in their respective areas.
Warwickshire County Councillor Izzi Seccombe, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families said: ”The pilot in Warwickshire is going incredibly well due to the effective partnership working between our Virtual Head, Anne Hawker, the county’s The Education of Looked After Children (TELAC) team, and local schools.
“Since coming into post in January, Anne and the Virtual School with TELAC and colleagues in schools have made a significant difference in raising the attainment of and improving chances for our looked after young people who have received support through the virtual school.
“Feedback from tutors and students has been so positive and everyone involved with the service is overjoyed by what has been achieved so far. We are all looking forward to developing the programme further using some of the ideas gained from this successful learning event.”
The creation of a Virtual School and appointment of a Virtual Headteacher for children in care, is one of a number of initiatives funded by the Government to specifically help raise the attainment and achievement of children in care. Others initiatives include Right2Bcared4 and Staying Put. Right2bcared4 enables young people to stay in care until the age of 18 and was launched in Warwickshire in June, plans to implement Staying Put which offers this right to young people up to age 21 were announced later in the summer.