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Get fast and tailored advice from a number of specialists, including educational psychologists, or advisory teachers with expertise in a range of needs.

If you already receive support from the ISL team, or want to find out about getting support, contact your area team.

If you want to discuss the Education, Health and Care Plan process, contact your area team.

Here's the process for contacting the 0 - 25 Together Service and finding out if they can support you.

If you're unsure who you need to speak to, you can email us and we'll pass it along to the right team.

Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD)

01442 453 920 every Thursday (term time only) 9.30am - 12pm

Speech, Language, Communication and autism Needs (SLCA)

01442 453 920 every Tuesday and Wednesday (term time only), 1.30pm - 4pm

Neurodiversity Hub

01727 833963 from Monday to Friday 9am - 1pm
email: supporthub@add-vance.org

Early years (0 - 5)

01442 453 920 every Wednesday (term time only) 9am - 12pm and Thurs 1.30pm - 4pm

Physical and neurological impairment team (PNI)

01442 453 920 every Monday (term time only), 1.30pm - 4pm

Education Support for Medical Absence (ESMA)

01442 454 802 (school hours, term time only)
esmaenquiries@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Children and young people's therapy services
(Advice from occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists)
01923 470680 - select Option 3 for the therapy service. Callers then choose to use the service Advice Line (select 1) or to speak to an administrator (select 2).

Or email hct.cyptherapies1@nhs.net.

School Nursing Duty Line

The HCT school nurse duty line is available every weekday and can support you with any concerns you may have about your child or children's physical and emotional wellbeing.

Tel: 0300 123 7572 ( Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm)

We have outlined how you can get in touch with us for any matters relating to the education, health and care plan process. This includes how to contact us depending on the urgency of your query, and what to do next if you don't hear back from us.

If you want to find out if you can be assessed for social care support, call the customer service centre on 0300 123 4043. You will be asked some general questions about you and your family, and this information will be passed along to the service. They will take a look at your information and be in touch with you. Depending on your information, they may decide to assess, or they may provide you with information about support that could help you.

If you have a general query and you don't know who you need to speak to, email us:

SENDIASS

SENDIASS provides an accessible service, signposting where appropriate, and offering impartial information and advice on matters relating to education, health and social care.

They aim to ensure children with SEND and their parents, as well as young people with SEND, are supported and empowered to participate confidently and as fully as possible in all decisions about themselves and to have their voices heard.

If there is disagreement, SENDIASS promote opportunities for early resolution and support parents and young people to work together with the appropriate services to find an agreement and a positive way forward.
Get support from SENDIASS (hertssendiass.org.uk)
Phone 01992 555 847
Email info@hertssendiass.org.uk

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Find all of the different ways you can contact our services and speak to the person you need.

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Overview

This non-statutory guidance intends to support all local authorities, as virtual school heads continue to develop their strategic leadership role in promoting the educational outcomes of:

the cohort of children with a social worker and those who have previously had a social worker who are aged from 0 to 18

the cohort of children in kinship care arrangements

This guidance has been produced with input from the National Association of Virtual School Heads ( NAVSH).

Our ambition is to transform the lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including those with special educational needs and disabilities ( SEND) and in care, and ensure that those who have lost the most from the pandemic can recover and flourish, and that prosperity benefits all.

This guidance has been updated for the 2024 to 2025 academic year to include information on how virtual school heads should consider the needs of kinship children in their work.

Championing kinship care: national kinship care strategy sets out how we will support, empower and champion kinship families. This includes a commitment to invest £3.8 million in 2024 to 2025 to adapt the role of virtual school heads to specifically include championing better outcomes in school attendance, educational attainment and progress of children in kinship care.

Children with a social worker

The review of children in need showed that at least 1.6 million children needed a social worker between 2012 and 2018 - equivalent to one in 10 of all children, or 3 children in every classroom.

The review showed that these children do significantly worse than others at all stages of education, and that poor educational outcomes persist even after social work involvement ends.

The review recognised the crucial role that virtual school heads have in helping education settings and local authorities work together, and made a commitment to explore the capacity needed to extend their leadership to the cohort of children and young people with a social worker.

Virtual school head leadership is vital now more than ever, given the impact the pandemic has had on the learning of all children - none more so than the most vulnerable. For example, in the 2020 to 2021 academic year, children in need lost an average of 4.1 months of learning in secondary school reading compared with 2.4 months for all children.

In September 2021, local authorities began receiving funding to extend the role of virtual school heads to include strategic responsibility for children with a social worker.

Using their expertise and knowledge from working with looked-after and previously looked-after children, virtual school heads have made progress in:

All local authorities are eligible to receive continued grant funding to support virtual school heads in delivering this responsibility.

Department for Education ( DfE) is asking all local authorities to take part in the research programme to help:

improve understanding of the impact of the new duties

identify emerging practices that could help virtual school heads deliver their role

Funding for this strategic leadership role for children with a social worker is confirmed until the end of March 2025.

This extended role does not require virtual school heads to provide direct intervention, help, or support for individual children with a social worker or their families.

This guidance is for:

virtual school heads in local authorities

directors of children's services

local authority officers (including social workers for children and young people, and family support workers)

early years leaders

school and alternative provision leaders, including designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), special educational needs coordinators (SENCos), headteachers, designated teachers, directors and chief executives of multi-academy trusts, and senior mental health leads)

school staff and governing bodies in all maintained schools, academies and free schools

college leaders in all further education (FE) settings, including FE colleges, sixth form colleges, independent training providers and special post-16 institutions

educational psychologists

managers and staff (including DSL and SENCo) in early years childcare settings

Funding for the role extensions

All local authorities are eligible to receive grant funding provided under section 31 of the Education Act 2002 to deliver the extended virtual school head roles.

Funding provides virtual school heads with the additional resource required to take on the strategic leadership role for children with a social worker, and is sufficient to recruit additional team members to support them with these responsibilities.

We have created a funding formula, based on the number of education settings within a local authority, to establish the allocations for each local authority. Local authorities are eligible for baseline funding and those with the greatest number of education settings will receive 'top up' funding to reflect the additional capacity they will need to work with these settings.

The City of London and Isles of Scilly will receive less than the baseline funding due to a much smaller number of education settings in these areas.

The grant determination letter and memorandum of understanding, issued to all local authorities, sets out what each local authority can expect to receive and the conditions by which this funding must be used. This funding is intended to provide virtual schools heads with the additional capacity they require to become the strategic leader that promotes educational outcomes for children with a social worker. Local authorities should not use this funding for any other purpose.

All local authorities need to sign and return the memorandum of understanding to DfE. On receipt of this, DfE will make 3 equal payments to all local authorities for the period covered by the grant determination letter, in:

Local authorities will be asked to submit a brief financial progress report to DfE, prior to the final payment, detailing the actual spend and forecast spend on the virtual school head extended duties up to and including the date of the request. We will set out the details in the DfE memorandum of understanding, which local authorities will need to sign.

Some children with social workers are eligible for pupil premium by virtue of current or past free school meal claims, and education settings will continue to use this funding to improve their attainment. Only looked-after and previously looked-after children are eligible for pupil premium plus.

Defining the cohort of children with a social worker

Virtual school heads are, with agreement and support from their local authority, strategic leaders for the cohort of children who have been assessed as being in need under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and currently have a social worker and those who have previously had a social worker.

'Children with a social worker' refers to this group of children. It includes all children who have been assessed as needing or previously needing a social worker within the past 6 years due to safeguarding or welfare reasons. It includes all children aged 0 to 18 across all education settings subject to a children in need plan or a child protection plan.

Children with a social worker face significant barriers to education as a result of experiences of adversity, most commonly abuse and neglect.

Under part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, all local authorities have duties to children with SEND. Virtual school heads should not duplicate support available to children under existing local authority duties. The remit of the extended virtual school heads role includes children who are disabled and have, or have had, an allocated social worker.

The non-statutory responsibility for promoting the educational outcomes of children with a social worker is in addition to the existing statutory duties for looked-after and previously looked-after children.

The strategic leadership of virtual school heads

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:

What is not in scope for virtual school heads

The virtual school head role for children with a social worker is a strategic leadership responsibility.

Virtual school heads are not expected to:

work directly with individual children and their families - including tracking and monitoring of individual educational progress, providing academic or other interventions

respond to requests from parents or carers to offer advice, intervention and support in relation to individual children with a social worker

take responsibility for children with SEND who do not require or need a social worker, as defined above

Barriers to education for children with a social worker

Based on data taken from the review of children in need, children with a social worker are present in 98% of state schools and face barriers to education due to experiences of adversity, most commonly as a result of domestic abuse, mental ill-health, and substance misuse, with 62% of children needing a social worker having experienced one or more of these.

On average, children with a social worker do worse than their peers at every stage of their education. In 2018, 50% of children who had a social worker in the last 6 years were able to achieve a good level of development in the early years, compared to 72% of children who never had a social worker.

Pupils who had a social worker in the year of their GCSEs were around half as likely to achieve a strong pass in English and maths than their peers, and at the end of key stage 4 were around 3 times less likely to go on to study A levels at age 16, and almost 5 times less likely to enter higher education at age 18.

After age 18 of those who needed a social worker in the year of their GCSEs, 6% were in higher education compared to 27% of those who did not have a social worker; and by age 21, half had still not achieved level 2 qualifications (including GCSEs), compared to 11% of those not in need of a social worker.

Some children with a social worker go on to become looked-after. Of the cohort of children who were looked-after children in 2017 to 2018, 62% had spent some time on a children in need plan in the previous 5 years and 39% had spent some time on a child protection plan.

Attendance has fallen for all pupils since the pandemic with children in need particularly affected. In 2021 to 2022, all social care groups (apart from looked-after children) were over twice as likely to be absent than the overall pupil population. Improving attendance is a priority for both social care and education.

Children with a social worker are around 3 times more likely to be persistently absent from school, and between 2 to 4 times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than their peers. This group are also over 10 times more likely to attend state-funded alternative provision settings than all other pupils.

The review of children in need found that virtual school heads, who can bridge the gap between and support education settings and local authorities, could present opportunities to promote the educational needs of children with a social worker.

Virtual school heads are already raising aspirations and promoting the educational achievement of looked-after children and the cohort of previously looked-after children, through local authority duties which are set out in the Children Act 1989 and the Children and Families Act 2014. Unlike looked-after children, or previously looked-after children, the cohort of children with a social worker who are subject to children in need plans or child protection plans have not had the benefit of a strategic leader that is able to champion the educational needs of their cohort and help them make educational progress.

These experiences can affect children's attendance, learning, behaviour, and wellbeing and, if children cannot access support, they may struggle to reach their full potential. Even after a child no longer has a social worker, poor educational outcomes can persist.

While there is no single cause for the poor educational outcomes for children with a social worker, experiences of adversity can create barriers to good outcomes. Children with a social worker are more likely to have experienced complex family circumstances; some may have been at risk of, or have suffered, physical, emotional, sexual abuse or neglect.

At home, they may have lived in families where there is domestic abuse, mental ill-health, or substance misuse. Outside of the home, they may be at risk of extra-familial harms, such as experiencing criminal or sexual exploitation or serious violence. Data tells us that children with a social worker are much more likely to experience frequent transitions, including moving home or school and experience changes in the professionals that are supporting them and their families.

Despite the challenges that children with a social worker face, with the right support, the aspirations of these children can be raised, and they can go on to achieve more than their peers. It is crucial that those supporting children with a social worker have the vision, awareness, and the right tools to enable these children and young people to achieve their best and ensure there is equal access to education opportunities.

As strategic leaders for children with a social worker, virtual school heads should work to create a culture of high aspirations across both education and social care that helps to ensure children with a social worker make educational progress and reach their potential no matter their starting point.

Virtual school heads should bring greater awareness to the disadvantage that this cohort of children can experience, promote engagement in education and help to narrow the attainment gap. They will advocate for and model a strengths-based approach to supporting children and promoting their educational outcomes.

Local authorities should ensure they continue to make effective use of the funding provided to their virtual school head as they embed this strategic leadership role.

Local authorities should consider the additional capacity virtual schools need to work with a variety of education settings and social care partners, to champion children with a social worker and should recruit staff with the right knowledge and skills.

Virtual school heads should work closely with their director of children's services to understand the needs of the cohort in their local authority and how best to improve their educational outcomes.

There will be no single model for delivering improved outcomes and virtual school heads may want to consider how to make use of peer support, including through NAVSH as they share learning and develop good practice.

Activities for all virtual school heads

Virtual school heads should take note of the review of children in need, including the findings on how to improve children's outcomes. Although virtual school heads will adopt a flexible leadership approach to meet the needs of their local area, there are some activities which are critical for all, including:

enhancing partnerships between education settings and the local authority so agencies can work together in a child focused manner

identifying the needs of the cohort and addressing barriers to poor educational outcomes to ensure pupils make educational progress

offering advice and support to key professionals such as social workers, DSLs, designated teachers, and school leaders to help children make progress, including through increasing their confidence in using evidence-based interventions

Enhance partnerships between education settings and social care

Effective support for children with a social worker needs education settings and local authorities to work together.

Leaders of all agencies can play a crucial role in establishing a culture where every child is able to make progress. Education settings and local authorities will have different responsibilities but establishing shared priorities can help to drive change for children.

Principal social workers play an important role in working with local partnerships to put the right support in place for this cohort of children to attend school. Virtual school heads and principal social workers need to work together to promote the importance of attending school and champion attendance.

To support effective partnerships, virtual school heads should establish strong relationships with education settings and social care. This will raise awareness and expertise of schools to meet the needs of children with social workers in their local authority, and of social workers to advocate effectively for children with social workers in all educational settings. Where a child is educated in another local authority, the virtual school head should work with that authority to ensure awareness and expertise match that of their own local authority.

Virtual school heads should develop an expectation that all leaders and professionals supporting children with a social worker should hold high aspirations for this cohort of children, regardless of the child's background or stage of learning.

They should also clarify their role to education settings and social care services, communicating their offer of advice and support to teams. Virtual school heads should promote the concept that education settings are a safe and protective space for all children with social workers. They should work with social care professionals to communicate the need for, and benefits of, including education in all plans aimed at protecting the child.

Virtual school heads should consider how to bring together education and local authority leaders to develop goals and set direction for improving children's outcomes most effectively. These goals should take account of other local strategic priorities, for example, meeting opportunity area objectives or working with violence reduction units to tackle serious violence.

They should be involved in developing local authority messaging to schools on the barriers the cohort faces, the virtual school offer of support for the cohort, up to date information on best practice, and the importance of all professionals working with children and families in a coordinated and transparent manner (where possible) to minimise disruption to the child's education.
Example: local authority partnership working with education settings
In this local authority, the virtual school head and assistant director of education selected 7 lead practitioners for the education of children with social workers, including:

The virtual school head wanted to set a clear 'gold standard', so that lead practitioners would demonstrate best practice for children with social workers.

The leads are part of a forum that the virtual school uses to train the trainers in the aims, priorities, and style of training that they then deliver across all the schools.

All schools in the local authority have a named person, usually the designated safeguarding lead, who is the lead for children with social workers. This person receives up-to-date information regarding children with social workers, training and support through the DSL forum, and half termly round-up emails. If they are new to the post, they are invited to bespoke training led by the virtual school head.

Schools that are particularly effective and provide good quality support for children with social workers are used to support those that may need to develop their practice.

The virtual school conference, attended by school staff and social workers, included training sessions and workshops explaining the extended role. The virtual school psychologist ran training sessions at the conference about mental health, support, and advice on what affects children with social workers.

Data and information sharing

Sharing information is important for promoting the welfare and educational outcomes of children with a social worker. All parties working with these children should recognise the importance of information sharing and adopt effective procedures to enable this.

Information sharing should be timely and effective. It should be easily applied to everyday decision-making. Virtual school heads need to work with schools to support the:

accurate identification of children in need

recording of information, including attendance data

As strategic leaders, virtual school heads should have access to necessary data which enables them to maintain effective oversight of the progress of children with a social worker under their care, regardless of where they are educated. This may include, but not limited to, data on:

attendance

attainment

exclusions or persistent absence

safeguarding

Virtual school heads should use this information to develop and implement targeted cohort-level interventions to:

All interested parties - be that a virtual school head, school, trust, multi-academy trust, or another local authority where a child attends for their education - should consider statutory guidance when requesting or providing access to data on children with a social worker.
Example: sharing data and information
In this local authority, an integrated dashboard was being developed to provide 'live' recording of all children with a social worker, including:

locality

entry into children in need or child protection plans

data on attendance, suspensions and exclusions

Use of the dashboard had been limited following the pandemic, but it had provided an oversight at a cohort level, which was previously unavailable and not managed by the virtual school.

Previous use of data was linked to each professional area (for example, SEND, social care) and provided siloed knowledge. The strategy of recording admissions to 'local schools', with only a few children with social workers outside their local authority, made access to data less problematic.

A data manager worked across children's services and closely with the virtual school to provide analytical and performance support.

During the pandemic, data on children with social workers stood out as having the lowest attainment and attendance, and highest rates of exclusion. This was a cohort that had previously received much less attention than looked-after children.

The dashboard raised awareness at a senior, strategic level, of an increasingly large, vulnerable cohort. It allowed the virtual school to take ownership of a cohort, rather than just individuals.

Identify the cohort's needs and address barriers to education

Children with a social worker may face multiple barriers to education because of their complex circumstances. These will have been further compounded by the pandemic and related restrictions.

Even though the initial impact of the pandemic has subsided, and restrictions have ended, a significant detrimental influence on all children's learning, particularly that of the most vulnerable, remains.

To effectively identify the needs of children with a social worker and ensure they can access interventions that make a difference to their education, virtual school heads should use data and analysis to understand and monitor the cohort's needs. This should include making links to local strategic priorities, for example:

attendance

suspension, and permanent exclusion rates

overlaps with other kinds of disadvantage such as free school meal (FSM) eligibility and SEND rates

Virtual school heads should share knowledge and expertise to strengthen how education settings and social care understand the impact of adversity on learning and educational outcomes of children.

They should promote professional practice for education settings and local authorities which:

Attendance

Regularly attending school or college is vital for all children's educational progress, for their wellbeing and for their wider development.

The term college includes sixth form colleges, general FE colleges, independent training providers, designated institutions, and special post-16 institutions.

We know that pupils with higher overall absence tend to do less well in their GCSEs and are also more likely to not be in education, employment, or training ( NEET) once they turn 16.

Since the pandemic, children with a social worker continue to have the highest levels of absence compared to all other groups of children, including persistent and severe absence.

Non-attendance can cause significant pressures for families already under strain. For children with a social worker, attending school is often also a protective factor, offering a safe space when home is not. Identifying low attendance and understanding the possible underlying reasons for that is important.

Virtual school heads have an important role to play in understanding and improving the attendance of children with a social worker. They may want to provide support, guidance and challenge to school leaders, DSLs and designated teachers to:

Virtual school heads may also want to consider working closely with local authorities to develop a whole system approach with social care colleagues to support the attendance of children in need.

Virtual school heads may want to refer to the guidance on improving school attendance, which provides support to schools and local authorities.
Example: improving attendance
In this virtual school, attendance issues had been addressed through:

their use of data

increased multi-agency working

ongoing training

parental engagement projects - for example, art-based activity day, shared-reading and story-telling workshops

Effective communication and sharing of data between agencies have been vital to addressing issues of attendance and raising awareness of this cohort's needs.

Further work included creating an attendance monitoring tool in collaboration with independent reviewing officers, social workers and DSLs, for all children with social workers. The tool is a school level survey to build an informed picture of school experience for individual pupils, including:

patterns of attendance

levels of engagement

A rating system allowed tailored, school level interventions to support the most vulnerable groups of children with social workers. The attendance tool has been shared with the children's social care service with a view to inform children in need and child protection planning meetings.

The findings from the attendance tool informed the decision to commission a link education welfare officer for the virtual school team to develop strategies for different groups of low-attending pupils.

Parental engagement projects were organised to promote attendance, especially for the hardest to reach pupils in secondary schools.

Mental health and wellbeing

Children with a social worker are more likely to experience social, emotional, and mental health issues than their peers. Social, emotional, and mental health is one of the 4 broad areas identified in the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years.

For example, they may struggle with:

executive functioning skills

forming trusting relationships

social skills

managing strong feelings, for example shame, sadness, anxiety, and anger

sensory processing difficulties

coping with transitions and change

According to children in need of help and protection: final data and analysis, almost two-thirds of children assessed as in need had at least one of the following recorded in their assessments:

For many children, mental health and wellbeing will have been affected by the pandemic due to:

The NHS report on Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020 found that the proportion of children and young people with probable mental health disorders increased from 1 in 9 in 2017 to 1 in 6 in July 2020.

As such, virtual school heads should work with their local authority lead for mental health who is responsible for linking with education settings, to ensure any mental health training provided includes:

the value of a graduated approach, as in the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years, to assessing, understanding, and meeting the social, emotional, and mental health needs of children and young people with a social worker

how to identify signs of potential mental health issues for children with a social worker and how to access further assessment and support where necessary

understanding the impact of issues that children with a social worker can experience and that settings are able to offer targeted support to meet the needs of these children

how to recognise the value of engaging the child's voice in the process of identification and support

Example: incorporating the voice of the child into virtual school ways of working
At a NAVSH conference, a care leaver spoke about their educational experiences, what was helpful and the support they had received from an advocate. This influenced one virtual school to consider how the advocacy support offered to looked-after children through a charity should be extended to children with social workers.

The local authority extended its commissioning of this charity who currently work with looked-after children and children with SEND, to provide an online tutor to support children with social workers to develop confidence and a voice, so that they can give their views to others who represent them, or directly contribute themselves.

The virtual school has highlighted this support to the social workers and DSLs to encourage referrals to this service, so that the voices of children with social workers can be heard and advocated for in children in need and child protection plan meetings.

Where children with social workers do not attend the meetings, the advocacy service is helping to get their views and experiences represented, which enhances longer-term capacity and sustainability of children with social workers to speak up.

Virtual school heads may also want to work with individual school senior mental health leads, where the role exists, to ensure children with a social worker are factored into the school's strategy on mental health and wellbeing.

The senior mental health lead is responsible for:

Senior mental health leads are present in most schools and colleges. Senior mental health lead training grant funding is available to support all eligible state-funded schools and colleges to access by 2025.

Lost learning - continuing recovery programmes following the pandemic

For some families, issues such as domestic violence, mental health or substance misuse may have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and increased the barriers to learning that children with a social worker experience.

Where these risk factors are the reasons for the involvement of social care services, and additional pressures created by the pandemic are present, this is likely to have impacted the stability of the home environment and parents' capacity to support home learning. This will have particularly impacted those children with a social worker who did not attend school during periods of restricted attendance.

DfE directly funded schools in 2022 to 2023, to embed tutoring into children's education where they need extra support to progress. Given the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on children with social workers, virtual school heads should work with education settings to ensure these children are able to access:
Example: including educational targets in children in need or child protection plans
A virtual school head set up a working group of:

social worker team managers

social worker advanced practitioners

early support and safeguarding social workers

The group pulled together what they felt social workers might need to know about the education of children with social workers.

The virtual school lead for children with social workers talked to social workers and their managers - who had no previous relationship with the virtual school - about the new duties, education, and the role of the virtual school.

These discussions emphasised the importance of:

stating clear educational targets in the children in need and child protection plans

familiarising themselves with names and contact details of the designated teachers in the schools of children with social workers

ensuring that these designated teachers attend children in need and child protection planning meetings

The director of children's services reaffirmed the importance of a clear education focus in the children in need and child protection plans. When managers in social care undertake quality assurance where they look at children in need or child protection plans or any other assessments, the virtual school head will be involved to see whether the focus and clarity of information about education has improved.

Schools play a pivotal role in supporting the plans, alongside social workers, as teachers see the children every day for many years and can share information. Some schools had better relationships with the children than the social workers can establish and were more able to hear the children's views.

The high number of children with social workers who have SEND prompted the social workers to request training on:

SEND provision

what social worker support ought to be in an education, health and care plan

As the SEND team provided this training, it led to increased contact between social workers and the SEND team about children with a social worker.

Elective home education

Elective home education is when a parent chooses not to send their child to school full-time, but assumes responsibility for making sure their child receives a full-time education in a location other than school . Some electively home educated children may never attend school, in other cases a child may be removed from their school's roll for elective home education.

Most parents' decision to home educate is made with their child's best education and wellbeing at heart. However, this is not the case for all, and home education can mean some children are less visible to the services that are there to keep them safe and supported.

When a family lets the local authority know of their intention to home educate, we recommend that local authorities, schools, and other professionals such as social workers work together to coordinate a meeting with parents or carers where possible. This is to ensure the parents or carers have considered what is in the best interests of each individual child. This is particularly pertinent if a child has SEND or has a social worker. For more information, virtual school heads should refer to guidance on elective home education.

Working with pupils and students with special educational needs and disabilities

A significant proportion of children with a social worker may also be identified as having special educational needs or may be disabled ( SEND). These needs can increase a child's vulnerability and increase the pressure on the family due to additional care demands.

Under the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years, education settings have a duty to meet the educational needs of children with SEND. Where children have a social worker, settings can be supported by sharing information which will:

It is vital that aspirations for children with SEND are high. Professionals should not make assumptions about a child's ability to progress and achieve solely because they are identified as having SEND.

For children who have SEND and are in need of the care and protection of a social worker, it can be challenging to identify those needs for which special educational provision is necessary, and those resulting from adverse experiences in the home and outside the home. Attendance at an education setting which provides stability, good quality pastoral support and effective SEND support is both protective for the child and the best way to promote achievement and enable them to fulfil their potential.

Virtual school heads should work strategically with the local authority head of SEND and, where appropriate, with school leaders and SENCos, to ensure that education settings adopt a graduated approach to assessing, understanding, and meeting the special educational needs of children and young people with a social worker.

Advise and support professionals

A diverse range of agencies and professionals may be involved in the lives of children with social workers. For a child who is currently in receipt of children's social care support and is subject to a children in need or child protection plan, social workers will play a critical role in supporting children and their families.

The virtual school's relationships with education settings and other universal services will be essential in supporting children to reach their potential, sharing their knowledge and experience to improve cultures and practices to promote the learning of these children.

Virtual school heads are not being asked to work with individual children with a social worker. Replicating existing professional relationships and support would be counterproductive and burdensome to children and their families, as well as resource intensive for the local authority.

Instead, as strategic leaders, virtual school heads will be best placed to offer advice and information to professionals who are providing direct support to these children.

In offering advice and information to support the outcomes and progress of children with a social worker, virtual school heads should identify and establish links with professionals to help them to understand the role they have in improving outcomes for these children. This includes professionals such as:

social workers

headteachers

governors

senior mental health leads

other local authority officers, including designated social care officers (DSCOs) for SEND

Virtual school heads should provide advice on evidence-based interventions that can address barriers to learning, such as those highlighted in what works in education for children who have had social workers.

Virtual school heads should also engage with research organisations to help develop good practice and build a strong evidence base for what works to improve outcomes of children with social workers.

They should support education settings and social care to be creative and thoughtful in building relationships with children and families, including taking account of children's wishes and feelings when understanding how to meet their needs.

Pupil premium

Pupil premium guidance encourages education settings to design their pupil premium strategy to meet the needs of eligible pupils and others who may benefit from extra support, such as children with a social worker.

While senior leaders and pupil premium lead teachers are free to choose how best to arrange support, pupil premium strategies should focus on well-evidenced practice such as that published in the Education Endowment Foundation's (EEF) guide to the pupil premium.

Virtual school heads may want to take account of analysis of the EEF 's toolkit in what works in education for children who have had social workers, which identified the projects that show the greatest signs of potential for children with a social worker.
Case study: Camden Virtual School
Launched as part of DfE's children's social care innovation programme, Camden Virtual School has been piloting a model of support to promote the education of children subject to children in need and child protection plans since 2017.

The virtual school has been able to make connections in local provision, helping partner agencies understand what support is available to children and families. The virtual school head has offered advice to schools and children's social workers, to help them understand what children might need to engage in education. This advice has taken account of children's experiences such as domestic abuse, neglect, and substance misuse.

The training and coaching that Camden Virtual School has been able to provide social workers has helped them ensure that children and families are offered clear and accurate information about education. Social workers are confident to reach out to the virtual school head and their team for support and there is a strong culture of promoting children's education through social care.

We know that children who grow up in kinship care have better outcomes than children who grow up in other types of non-parental care. However, their outcomes fall behind those children with no social worker involvement.

This information is taken from outcomes for children looked after by local authorities: 31 March 2016.

The remit of virtual school heads already includes kinship children:

The 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.

Adaptation of the strategic role

The strategic role adaptation does not require direct intervention with kinship children and their carers, but this system-wide 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 disadvantage 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 DSL, and other learning support services such as those for children with SEND.

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.

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 ( VCS) organisations that work with kinship families.

This could include working with education settings to strengthen how they address barriers to educational progress for kinship children.

Expanding 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.

Research and emerging practice

Virtual schools will be invited to participate in research commissioned by DfE to capture emerging practice and contribute to the development of a strong evidence base for how they can effectively promote the educational outcomes of children with social workers and impact of the new duties to date.

DfE will ask all local authorities to share data and information about how their virtual school head has been supporting children with a social worker and what funding has been used for that support. This is set out in the grant determination letter and the memorandum of understanding issued to all local authorities. This information will be shared with the independent evaluation partner.

In addition, some local authorities, including virtual school heads, their teams, and partner agencies, will be invited to take part in focussed interviews to build detailed case studies. This will inform our understanding of what helps virtual school heads to be most effective in supporting children with a social worker, and help ensure virtual school heads can learn from each other.

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Promoting the education of children with a social worker and children in kinship care arrangements: virtual school head role extension

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This non-statutory guidance intends to support all local authorities, as virtual school heads continue to develop their strategic leadership role in promoting the educational outcomes of: the cohort of children with a social worker and those who have previously had a social worker who are aged from 0 to 18 the cohort of children in kinship care arrangements This guidance has been produced with input from the National Association of Virtual School Heads ( NAVSH).

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Working together to safeguard children 2026

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Working together to safeguard children 2026

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Working together to safeguard children 2026: summary of changes

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We have clarified that the guidance applies to all children, including:

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Children's Wellbeing & School Bill - Summary

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Children's Wellbeing & School Bill - Summary

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Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive

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Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive

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DfE guidance: Mental health & attendance 

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DfE guidance: Mental health & attendance 

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Extended Duty briefing paper Spring Term 25

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Education support plan template that could be used to monitor the educational progress of CIN/CP/PLA children

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Support Groups in Hertfordshire | ADD-vance, The ADHD & Autism Trust

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Bookable evening appointments available with the ADD-vance Neurodiversity Support Hub

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Working Together to Improve Attendance DfE

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Working Together to Improve Attendance DfE

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Children Missing Education referral form

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Please take the time to complete our survey. Your feedback is important.

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special educational needs and disabilities

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The Local Offer lets parents and young people know what special educational needs and disabilities services are available in Hertfordshire, and who can access them.

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Reintegration support is available for children in Year 8 and below that have recently returned to school after a period of being a Child Missing Education. Use this form to refer to the service for support.

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Upcoming events and training | Virtual School

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Find and book onto Virtual School events. Including training, briefings, designated teacher conferences and forums.

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Attachment aware & Trauma informed Toolkit

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Attachment aware & Trauma informed Toolkit

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An overview of conferences, online learning and training offers from HFL (Formerly Herts for Learning).

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An annual conference programme with high profile national online events for teachers, leaders and practitioners in all educational phases.

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Promoting progress of children with a social worker FINAL

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A SEF tool that governors can use to perform a deep dive into CwSW. This is to be used alongside the Governor Toolkit

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An information document for governors. This is to be used alongside the IGP tool to support key lines of enquiry relating to educational outcomes for CwSW

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SEND Specialist Advice and Support (SEND SAS) is part of Children's Services in Hertfordshire County Council. We work throughout Hertfordshire to support children and young people (0-25) with special educational needs and disabilities, their families and schools or settings.

As part of our area SEND Improvement journey, we are continuously reviewing our service offers in response to the needs of our most vulnerable Children and Young People, their families and school/settings.

Our team of specialist advisory teachers have additional qualifications and/or expertise in their field and are supported by a team of skilled in their area practitioners. Specialist advisory teachers support the following areas of special educational needs and disabilities:

SEND SAS provides specialist advice, guidance, modelling of strategies and interventions. We also provide a range of training to support the development of classroom strategies and targeted intervention to ensure children and young people have access to learning within their school/setting. Our offer of support includes advice about enabling environments for children and young people with a sensory and/or physical disability to ensure their access and inclusion.

In addition to home visits for our babies and toddlers, we provide specialist groups to support our Early Years children and their parents/carers. The groups are for children with a sensory need.

We have a strong commitment to supporting the wider work of Hertfordshire County Council's strategic developments, including Local Partnership working with stakeholders to improve outcomes for our children and young people.

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SEND Specialist Advice and Support (SEND SAS)

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SEND Specialist Advice and Support (SEND SAS) is part of Children's Services in Hertfordshire County Council. We work throughout Hertfordshire to support children and young people (0-25) with special educational needs and disabilities, their families and schools or settings.

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SENDIASS - Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service

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In this blog post we tell you about SALI (the SEND Advice Line for Inclusions) - a new early advice line, targeted primarily at SENCOs, to help them meet the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) as early as possible, in the most appropriate way.

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Speech, Language, Communication and Autism Team (SLCA)

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The speech, language, communication and autism team supports children and young people who have difficulties communicating and interacting with others in Hertfordshire.

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Statutory school exclusions - Advice Line

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The Education Support for Medical Absence (ESMA) team is a teaching service for students who are unable to attend school for medical reasons.

We help pupils continue their education around their needs and work towards getting them back into school life as soon as possible.

Who do we support?

We support:

pupils of statutory school age (5 - 16 years old) who have medical evidence that they are unable to attend school

pupils who are Hertfordshire residents with medical evidence for non-attendance

a pupil who is pregnant from 29 weeks, or young mothers whose physical or mental health issues are affecting attendance.

What can I expect from the service?

We work with schools and students to offer additional support alongside the education provided by schools in the core subjects (English, Maths and Science). We aim to support your child in going back into school, as soon as they are well enough to do so.

ESMA Teaching Service uses a variety of tools to support students including:

written advice and guidance on reasonable adjustments in school

virtual or face-to-face guidance meeting(s) on reasonable adjustments in school

the use of a telepresence robot (this device sits on the student's desk and through an app they can see, hear and speak through it)

Live online teaching via Acorn Digital Learning (the number of hours will depend on your child's health needs)

live online group teaching by an ESMA Teacher (the number of hours will depend on your child's health needs)

face-to-face group teaching by an ESMA Teacher at one of our teaching bases (the number of hours will depend on your child's health needs)

education support by the ESMA Teaching Assistant

ESMA Teaching Service Advice Line

01442 454802
email: ESMAEnquiries@hertfordshire.gov.uk
How to refer

Referrals are made by the schools via the Hertfordshire Service Request form, along with the ISL baseline information form, to the relevant ISL area email address on the form. The referral should include:

Signed parental consent

Copy of school reduced timetable, in line with HCC guidance on reduced timetables

Copy of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle

Copy of the current treatment plan and the named medical contact

For pupils receiving additional funding (through either EHCP or Local High Needs Funding and/or Pupil Premium Grant) the school should state in the re-integration plan how this funding is being used

What happens after the referral is submitted?

We discuss referrals on a weekly basis, and inform the school of our decision within 5 days.

Once support has been identified, the ESMA Teaching Service will attend a planning meeting with pupil, family, school and health professionals.

Your child will have a Holistic Support Plan - a plan of support agreed with family, school, health and ESMA. As part of the plan, your child's progress will be discussed and targets and next steps will be identified. Regular reviews of the Holistic Support Plan are held during the period of support with pupil, family, school and health professionals.

Independent organisations who can help

We work with many support agencies in Hertfordshire, including School Health, Families First, specialist nurses and the Services for Young People's 'Support You' Programme.

If you would like to seek some support yourself, there are some organisations you can try.

Provide impartial and confidential information, advice and support to parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Free and independent legally based information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

A website which offers support for both young people and parents on issues of mental health in Hertfordshire.

A 10 week programme for young people aged 13 - 17 who are beginning to show very early signs of distress due to anxiety or low mood who are not receiving support elsewhere.

Page was last updated on: 16/10/2023 16:59:41

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Hertfordshire's Education Support for Medical Absence (ESMA) team supports schools that have children who are unable to attend for medical reasons.

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Children and young people’s sensory processing service

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The service is being launched in a phased rollout. As of July 2024, we are offering the universal level service for Parents/Carers and schools and the Targeted offer for Parents. We are also offering specialist level of support. Following we will launch a targeted offer for schools, and children and young people.

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All children, regardless of their circumstances, are entitled to an efficient, full-time education which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have.

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Instead of registering and sending your child to school, you can choose to educate your child at home. This is known as elective home education (EHE). There's information on this page to help you decide whether home education is right for you and your child, and what steps you need to take if you decide to take responsibility for their education and home educate.

Department for Education (DfE) has guidance on Elective Home Education

Is home educating right for me?

Parents and carers must make sure that their child gets a full-time education from the start of term following their 5th birthday and until the end of the academic year in which they have their 16th birthday.

Some parents and carers take a carefully considered decision to home educate their child before they reach school age. Others will start school and decide later that this isn't right or working for their child and choose to home educate instead.

There is no finite list which details all of the reasons parents and carers elect to home educate. It may be that you choose to home school for philosophical or cultural beliefs, or that you feel you could offer a more suitable education at home that supports your child's learning or individual needs. You may opt to home educate on a short or long-term basis, depending on the individual circumstances of the child and family. The approaches to home education also vary from one family to another and often reflect specific values.

You can home educate your child or young person whether they have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) or not.

Flexi-Schooling

You may wish to discuss with school 'flexi-schooling' arrangements, where your child remains registered at school whilst parent/carers take responsibility to provide education at home for agreed times of the week. Any request must be in the interest of your child and you will need to get agreement from your school for this. It is important to remember that Headteachers are not obliged to say yes, so this may not be possible.

If flexi-schooling is agreed with the school, your child will follow the National Curriculum whilst at school.

Things to consider about home educating

Home education is a big commitment, and it's important to consider how you'll develop your child's knowledge, understanding and skills appropriate to their age and abilities. It's also important to consider any costs involved, and whether you'll be able to provide enough social opportunities for your child to mix with others.

What needs to be taught

What you teach must be suitable to your child's age, ability and aptitude and needs they may have.

As a parent or carer, you don't need to have any formal teaching qualifications to home educate. You may wish to teach your child yourself, employ a tutor, or teach in groups with other home educated children. If you decide to employ a tutor, it is advisable to check their qualifications and ask to see their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate.

You won't have to follow the National Curriculum or stick to school hours. Your child's education should be challenging enough that they are able to make progress, and should ultimately prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

Although it's not compulsory to follow the National Curriculum, some parents find it useful to use as a framework for their own teaching. If you intend for your child to go back to school at some point, it's also a good idea to cover similar work to make the transition smoother.

Costs

By electing to home educate, you will be financially responsible for the education of your child and will not receive any funding from the Local Authority. It's important you consider the full cost implications of elective home education and whether this approach is appropriate to the child and family.

There are lots of free online resources and libraries for example that could be used. There may be other costs to consider such as the cost of resources which should be factored into home educating, alongside any costs that may be incurred if they wish to sit public examinations.

Examinations

Your child does not have to sit examinations, however, if you wish them to do so you will have to fund the cost of the exams. You'll need to find a school or centre that will allow your child to sit the examination, but you'll have the flexibility to choose the examination board most suited to your child. The major examination boards for GCSEs/IGCSEs are Edexel, AQA and OCR.

Your child's social life

You should consider your child's social development as part of their education. There are many opportunities for socialisation for home educated children and this may be with people of any age. You may have extended family or friends who are also home educating that you could join on visits to museums, galleries, theatres or other places of interest. In addition, your child could socialise with other children through a particular sport or hobby by joining a club or taking part in events.

If your child has special educational needs

If you have a child with SEND, and their needs are one of the reasons you are considering home educating, visit our Local Offer home educating page.

Where can I go for support?

Many home educating families find support, inspiration and encouragement from their local home educating community. You could check online for support groups in your area, and you may find that there's lots of information, resources, ideas and help from fellow home educating parents.

There are also independent organisations who can help with support and advice:

Services for young people

Services for Young People forms part of our service that aims to provide information and advice, guidance and support, and personal development opportunities for all 13-19 year olds (up to 25 years for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities).

We share the names, addresses and contact details of young people who are electively home educated with Services for Young People to ensure they can be offered support from the service. For information please go to: www.servicesforyoungpeople.org or you can email sfyp@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Supporting your child's emotional wellbeing and mental health

Our Local Offer team have a collection of resources and support organisations who can help support your child's emotional wellbeing and mental health, whether they have additional needs, or not.

School Health and Immunisation

School health and immunisation team offers school-aged children their eligible vaccinations. Age groups vary each year. Elective home educated children are entitled to these vaccinations, which are not available at GP surgeries routinely. We will share contact details of EHE children with the school health and immunisation teams so parents/carers have the opportunity to be sent information about relevant immunisation programmes which otherwise are communicated via schools.

I want to home educate - what next?

If your child has never been to school

If your child has never attended a school before (i.e. they've not started primary school) you don't have to seek permission or notify anyone of your intention to home educate, but we would encourage you to do so. It does help though that you notify us so that you can gain access to any support available.

This form is only to be completed by you if your child has never been registered at a school in Hertfordshire:

If your child attends a mainstream school

If you would like to deregister your child from a mainstream school you don't need specific permission. We would suggest that you arrange a meeting with the Headteacher to discuss why you are considering home education. You should write a letter to your school's Headteacher notifying them of your decision and request that your child is de-registered from their school roll.

Once your school has received this, they will remove your child from the school register and inform us of your decision.

It would be advisable to send your letter via registered/signed delivery or hand it in yourself so that you know your Headteacher has definitely received it. You should also ask that the school writes back to confirm that your child has been removed from the register and the council informed.

If your child attends a special school

If your child is registered at a special school, it's the same process of writing a letter to your Headteacher and SEND Officer informing them of your intention to home educate your child. Before the school removes your child from the register however, we (the council) will need to give consent.

I've decided to home educate

This form is to be completed at the start of your home education journey only.

This form is to be completed annually, once you are established in your home education journey.

Elective Home Education (EHE)

We can help if you require further information or are considering educating your child at home. We believe that home education can be a positive approach to education with many successful outcomes. As a Local Authority we are looking to work positively with parents and carers to ensure that both the statutory duties for parent/carers and the local authority can be met.

We will work to provide initial support and advice on the requirements of home education either through telephone, home visit or enquiry form.

Annual reviews to ensure that you are still happy with your current arrangements, that the progression and the education you continue to provide for your child is still suitable for their age, ability and aptitude.

Where education is not meeting your child's needs, we offer advice and guidance to help you improve the learning and if required, help you look at other options.

We can signpost to additional support services where needed.

If following advice and guidance it appears that the education is not suitable, we may try to work with you to find a school place.

If a parent/carer then fails to enrol their child at a school of their choice, the local authority will be forced to refer to the Children Missing Education Officer for a School Attendance Order to be issued.

Contact us

If you have any further questions you can contact us to speak to a member of Elective Home Education:

Call: 0300 123 4043

Email: EHE@hertfordshire.gov.uk

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Information about educating your child at home.

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Exams, whether SATs, GCSEs, A Levels or even internal exams, are a daunting thing for anyone! It can feel like climbing a mountain...

Emotions are natural reactions triggered by events in our lives. Sometimes, we might not even realise we're feeling them.

Managing feelings of anger can feel like having a monster inside of you! It can lead you to do or say things that you later regret, hurting

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The Sandbox | Digital Mental Health Service

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The Sandbox is an award winning digital mental health service for Children and Young People

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Access support, advice and guidance for CwSW via our Education Hub team.

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Hertfordshire SENDIASS is an impartial Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS).

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Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment.

Details

This guidance applies to all schools and colleges and is for:

headteachers, teachers and staff

governing bodies, proprietors and management committees

It sets out the legal duties you must follow to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18 in schools and colleges.

All school and college staff should read part 1 of this guidance. Part 1 of the guidance is also available as a standalone document.

Statutory guidance sets out what schools must do to comply with the law.

Where the guidance states schools and colleges should do something, you should follow this unless you have a good reason not to.

'Regulated activity in relation to children: scope' describes work that a barred person must not do. We have also published guidance on disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006.

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Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment.

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Social workers and other practitioners: attendance considerations

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School attendance should be integral to all child in need and child protection planning. The children’s social care national framework sets out how practitioners should: