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Derbyshire's Virtual School aims to enhance the life opportunities for children in care by supporting their education and enabling them to achieve the best they can.

We do this by:

  • providing children in care with advice, guidance and support to enable each young person to reach their full potential
  • tracking and monitoring attendance, exclusions and progress
  • providing specific training for schools, designated teachers and carers
  • challenging schools and educational settings to raise attainment of looked after children
  • providing educational advice and guidance to young people and their carers
  • recognising and celebrating achievement
  • providing advice and guidance on future pathways
  • encouraging the participation of our children and young people in out of school experiences to raise self esteem
  • ensuring all children in care receive their core mainstream offer of education, providing access to educational resources and offering support with studies
  • providing personalised support packages to young people, to support behaviour and social development
  • providing a designated education support officer for every young person
  • working in partnership with others to support the educational needs of individual pupils
  • providing access to IT support, tuition or tailored services to promote achievement and success
  • working with schools to ensure Pupil Premium Plus is used effectively to narrow the gap

Find out more about the virtual school or contact our virtual headteacher, email: virtualschool@derbyshire.gov.uk or tel: 01629 538028.

Personal Education Plans (PEP) and Pupil Premium Plus

It is a statutory requirement that all children in care (0 –18) accessing education provision require a PEP to be undertaken three times a year. 

Information about the Derbyshire virtual school online electronic PEP system and the Pupil premium plus policy for children in care 2022-2023 can be found on the Derbyshire County Council website.

Children in care information and resources for schools:

The Adoptables' Schools Toolkit 

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