The Virtual School Handbook 1 NAVSH – Virtual School Handbook v2018-09 Contents What is the Virtual School Handbook for? ............................................................................................. 8 Audience ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Underpinning Statutory Framework ..................................................................................................... 10 National Association of Virtual School Heads (NAVSH) ........................................................................ 10 The Role of the Virtual School Head (VSH) ........................................................................................... 11 Key operational areas for Virtual School Heads ............................................................................... 11 Newly appointed Virtual School Heads............................................................................................. 11 1. Who is on the roll of the Virtual School? ...................................................................................... 12 a) Age range of children on roll ..................................................................................................... 13 b) Legal status of children on roll .................................................................................................. 13 c) Child-level personal information .............................................................................................. 13 d) Virtual School cohort profile ..................................................................................................... 14 2. Where do children on the Virtual School roll live and go to school? ........................................... 14 a) Care placement ......................................................................................................................... 14 b) Virtual school cohort care placement profile ........................................................................... 15 c) Education Placement ................................................................................................................ 15 i) Principles underlying education placement choice .............................................................. 15 ii) Education placement details ................................................................................................. 16 iii) Curriculum responsibility ...................................................................................................... 16 d) Virtual school cohort education placement profile .................................................................. 17 e) Placement decisions.................................................................................................................. 17 i) Emergency care placements ................................................................................................. 18 ii) Out of Area Notifications ...................................................................................................... 18 iii) Belonging regulations as they apply to looked after children .............................................. 19 f) School Admissions – securing appropriate education .............................................................. 19 g) Boarding schemes ..................................................................................................................... 21 3. How are children on the Virtual School roll doing? ...................................................................... 21 a) End of key stage data ................................................................................................................ 22 i) National Consortium for Examination Results (NCER) – NEXUS NOVA-CLA) ........................ 22 ii) Statistical First Release (SFR) ................................................................................................ 23 iii) Local Authority Information Tool (LAIT) ............................................................................... 23 2 NAVSH – Virtual School Handbook v2018-09 iv) The Virtual School’s own data .............................................................................................. 23 b) Aspirational ‘Target Grades’ ..................................................................................................... 23 c) Attainment and Progress .......................................................................................................... 24 i) Primary phase – tracking without levels ............................................................................... 24 ii) Secondary phase – Key Stage 3 ............................................................................................. 25 iii) Secondary phase – Key Stage 4 ............................................................................................. 25 iv) Children with SEND ............................................................................................................... 25 v) Post-16 education, employment or training ......................................................................... 25 d) Attendance ................................................................................................................................ 26 e) Exclusion ................................................................................................................................... 27 i) 6th day/1st day provision ........................................................................................................ 28 ii) Permanent Exclusion............................................................................................................. 28 f) Special educational needs and disability .................................................................................. 28 g) Emotional health & well-being ................................................................................................. 29 h) Virtual school performance profile ........................................................................................... 30 i) Qualitative measures ................................................................................................................ 31 4. What will the VSH do to improve attainment and progress? ....................................................... 31 a) Partnership working – the team around the child .................................................................... 31 i) Senior School Leaders and School Governors ....................................................................... 31 ii) The Designated Teacher for Looked After Children .............................................................. 32 iii) The child’s Social Worker ...................................................................................................... 33 iv) The child’s Foster Carer......................................................................................................... 34 v) Independent Fostering Agencies .......................................................................................... 34 vi) The Supervising Social Worker .............................................................................................. 35 vii) The child’s Kinship Carer ................................................................................................... 35 viii) The child’s Residential Carer ............................................................................................. 35 ix) The Independent Reviewing Officer ..................................................................................... 36 b) Partnership working – the broader network ............................................................................ 36 i) Local Headteacher Groups .................................................................................................... 36 ii) Commissioning services ........................................................................................................ 37 iii) SEN and Educational Psychology Services ............................................................................ 38 iv) Alternative and Vocational Learning Providers .................................................................... 38 v) Early Years and post-16 providers ........................................................................................ 38 vi) Youth Offending Teams/Youth Justice Providers ................................................................. 38 c) Risk and protective factors ....................................................................................................... 40 3 NAVSH – Virtual School Handbook v2018-09 d) Pupil Premium Plus for looked after children, PP+ ................................................................... 40 i) Working with the Finance Team ........................................................................................... 40 ii) Use of Pupil Premium Plus .................................................................................................... 41 iii) VSH Strategy for Pupil Premium Plus ...................................................................................