School governors and the Virtual School

School governors have a duty and responsibility to make sure that their school keeps the education of children in care as a high priority and that an experienced teacher is appointed as a Designated Teacher for children looked after within their school.

The governing body must make sure that:

  • the Designated Teacher has appropriate training
  • they get an annual report from the Designated Teacher
  • they, and school leadership team, act on any issues raised within the report
  • resources are allocated to match priorities for children looked after
  • they review how children looked after are performing compared with their peers
  • they know the numbers of children in the school who are in care
  • the school has considered including raising the attainment of children looked after in the school improvement plan

Governors and the Designated Teacher

The governing body should make sure that the Designated Teacher is:

  • a member of the teaching staff with appropriate seniority, professional experience and status
  • able to provide leadership, training, information and advice to others
  • able to influence decisions about the teaching and learning needs of children looked after

Where the Designated Teacher is not a member of the senior leadership team, a member of the team should be designated as a champion of children in care issues to work closely with the Designated Teacher.

Governing bodies and the school leadership team should also make sure that the Designated Teacher role contributes to the deeper understanding of everyone in the school who is likely to be involved in supporting children in care.

Admissions

The governing body should make sure that children looked after are at the top of the over-subscription criteria.

Pupil progress

The governing body should make sure the school has an overview of the educational needs and progress of children looked after.

The governing body should make sure that school policies have been reviewed from the point of view of children looked after.

Supporting professional development

The governing body should make sure that:

  • the Designated Teacher has the opportunity to attend training offered by the local authority for designated teachers
  • there is a clear policy on professional development for all staff in contact with children looked after and other vulnerable children

Continuous monitoring

School governors should know:

  • the name of the Designated Teacher
  • what safeguards the school has in place for sharing sensitive information about individual children looked after with relevant staff members
  • what the procedure is for liaising with carers, residential children’s homes and social services to make sure that the school has relevant information about a child’s care history
  • how the child’s achievements are effectively communicated to the carer

Personal Education Plans

The governing body should put procedures in place to make sure all children looked after have up-to-date Personal Education Plans.