All schools must give the highest admissions priority to Children Looked After and all previously Children Looked After, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
Hammersmith and Fulham Virtual School works in partnership with the placement, school, social workers, governors and admissions teams to ensure that children in care are prioritised in the finalising of school placements in schools that are rated as 'Good' or 'Outstanding' by OFSTED.
In the event where a child will need to change an educational placement, the Virtual School will work with all relevant professionals to ensure that a new school place is finalised and there is a smooth transition into the new placement.
School admissions code | GOV.UK
Exclusions and attendance
Absence from school has a serious impact on children. Many care experienced children will already have experienced gaps in their learning and it is therefore essential to maximise attendance for this group. Part of the Virtual School's role is to log, track and monitor the attendance and attainment of a child in care.
To achieve this, the Virtual School work in partnership with Welfare Call to ensure that all attendance and attainment data for Children Looked After is collected on a daily and termly basis.
We hope that all schools would:
- avoid excluding any care experienced child
- engage proactively with parents and carers in supporting the behaviour of pupils with additional needs
- work in partnership with others where there is a concern about the behaviour, or risk of exclusion, of a care experienced child
- work together to arrange alternative provision from the first day following any suspension or exclusion
It is a Virtual School ambition that no care experienced child should be permanently excluded from their educational placement.
School suspensions and permanent exclusions | GOV.UK
For further support please see our training offer for 2024/25