Children Known and Previously Known to Social Care

The Virtual School has a wider strategic role in promoting the education of children and young people who are known, or have previously been known, to social care. This includes children with a social worker, children who have had a social worker in the past, children living in kinship care arrangements, and children who were previously in care. These children may have experienced adversity, trauma or disruption which can affect attendance, learning, relationships, wellbeing and progress in school.

The Virtual School does not replace the responsibilities of schools, settings or social care, but works alongside them to strengthen understanding, improve inclusive practice and help professionals respond earlier when barriers to education emerge. Through advice, guidance, training, data oversight and partnership working, the Virtual School seeks to raise aspiration, promote stability and support better educational outcomes for children whose experiences mean they may need additional understanding and support to thrive.

This definition includes children who have been in the care of a Local Authority and are now the subject of:

An Adoption Order (including those who were adopted from ‘state care’ outside of England or Wales*)

A Special Guardianship Order (SGO)

A Child Arrangement Order (CAO)

*‘State care’ is care provided by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other organisation whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

All children in kinship care, regardless of legal status, will benefit from the Virtual School’s strategic role at a system wide level.

Kinship families with a Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order, regardless of whether children were previously looked after, are able to seek advice and information from the Virtual School, enabling them to navigate the education system and in turn help them to promote educational outcomes for their children.

Advice and guidance is dependent on legal status and therefore Virtual Schools cannot provide information and advice to kinship carers who are in an informal arrangement.

For children with a social worker, including those on a Child in Need or Child Protection Plan, Peterborough Virtual School has a strategic role in helping to promote positive educational outcomes. These children are not in care, so the Virtual School does not hold corporate parenting responsibilities or make decisions about their education. However, we work with schools, social care colleagues and other professionals to strengthen support, improve understanding of children’s experiences, and help ensure that education remains a central part of planning.

Where a child attends a Peterborough educational setting, the Virtual School can offer advice and guidance to professionals around attendance, inclusion, engagement, transitions and barriers to learning. We also use cohort-level information to identify themes, inform training and support earlier conversations where children may be at risk of poorer educational outcomes. Our aim is to work alongside schools and partners so that children on Child in Need or Child Protection Plans are supported to feel safe, included and able to make good progress.

Unlike our Children in Care, Virtual Schools do not have corporate parenting responsibilities for this group of children. Consequently, any advice or guidance can only be given with the agreement of the person(s) who have parental responsibility for the child. They, like all parents, are responsible for overseeing their child's progress in education.

For this cohort, Peterborough Virtual School does not collate data on the attendance and attainment of individual children. However, data is analysed at a cohort level to support thematic commonalities.

Peterborough Virtual School only offer advice and guidance to children attending a Peterborough educational setting. This means that children living in the city, but educated in another local authority, will receive support from that local authority. It also means that we offer support to children in Peterborough settings who may live out of the city. We have close links with our neighbouring Virtual Schools and are able to provide contact details if required.