How virtual school heads should promote the education outcomes of kinship children
We know that children who grow up in kinship care often have better outcomes than children who grow up in other types of non-parental care. However, overall their outcomes often fall behind those children with no social worker involvement.
The remit of virtual school heads already includes kinship children:
- who are looked-after
- who meet the definition of previously looked-after
- with a social worker
The National Kinship Strategy adapted the role of virtual school heads to specifically include championing the attendance, attainment and progress of children in kinship care. Virtual school heads should bring greater focus and visibility to the distinct needs of children in kinship care within their existing non-statutory responsibilities.
The adaptation of the role does not require direct intervention with kinship children and their carers. However, this approach has the potential to benefit children in all types of kinship placements, including those in informal arrangements.
There are activities that the adapted virtual school head strategic role should include:
Raising awareness of the needs and disadvantages of children in different types of kinship care arrangements
This could include ensuring that the unique experiences and different kinds of kinship arrangements are visible in existing training for schools, including for the roles of designated teacher and designated safeguarding lead, and other learning support services such as those for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
It could also include influencing the education system to have a kinship friendly culture, as well as working with education settings to identify the distinct needs of children in kinship arrangements.
Promoting practice that supports attendance and engagement of kinship children in education
This could include facilitating partnerships between, and within, education settings, local authority children’s social care including any designated kinship teams, and voluntary and community sector organisations that work with kinship families.
Promoting practice that improves the educational attainment of children in kinship care
This could include working with education settings to strengthen how they address barriers to educational progress for kinship children.
Expanding the provision of advice and information
In addition to adapting the strategic role, as part of their non-statutory function, virtual school heads should expand the provision of advice and information, on request, to all kinship carers with special guardianship orders and child arrangement orders, regardless of whether their child was previously looked-after by the local authority.
This will mean that more kinship carers will have access to information and advice from virtual school heads on areas such as behaviour management, exclusions, and admissions. It will be an important step in helping more kinship carers to navigate the education system, in turn helping them to advocate for the educational achievement of their children.
In line with the existing provision of information and advice for previously looked-after children, this may include:
- providing advice and information to frequently asked questions online
- providing advice to individual kinship carers of children who are subject to special guardianship orders or child arrangement orders, and schools where they have a query and permission has been given
- advising schools on how they can support all children subject to special guardianship orders and child arrangement orders to improve behaviour to help avoid exclusion becoming necessary
Virtual school heads are not expected to provide information and advice to kinship carers with informal arrangements. The eligibility of pupil premium plus remains limited to looked-after children and previously looked-after children.
Stable Homes, Built on Love enabled me, alongide the National Association of Virtual School Heads, to work closely with the Department for Education and the charity Kinship, to extend their duties to further champion the needs of kinship families.
Whilst adapting the strategic role doesn't mean that we will be intervening directly with every individual kinship family, taking a system-wide approach and working in partnership with organisations like the Coram Group and Kinship, locally and nationally, holds the potential to increase awareness and understanding of the journey for children living in supportive kinship families in positive ways.
Jancis Andrew, Head of the Virtual School for Looked After and Previously Looked After Children, Leeds City Council