Child in Need / Child Protection

The Strategic Role of Virtual School Heads to Promote the Education of Children with a Social Worker 

The new responsibilities for virtual school heads gave them a strategic leadership role to champion the educational attendance, attainment and progress of children with a social worker. This means that they should be:

• making visible the disadvantages that children with a social worker can experience, enhancing partnerships between education settings and local authorities, including with children’s social care, to help all agencies hold high aspirations for these children

• promoting practice that supports children’s engagement in education, recognising that attending an education setting is an important factor in helping to keep children safe from harm

• levelling up children’s outcomes to narrow the attainment gap so every child has the opportunity to reach their potential – including helping to ensure that children with a social worker benefit from support to recover educationally from the impact of the pandemic