Children and young people supported by the Virtual School are significantly more likely to have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Needs may sometimes be overlooked or support delayed where difficulties are attributed to early experiences, trauma or disrupted education.
The Virtual School works to ensure that SEND needs are identified early, understood clearly and supported effectively, so that education contributes positively to progress, wellbeing, stability and long‑term outcomes.
Who We Support
The Virtual School provides education oversight, guidance and advocacy for children and young people who are:
- Children in Care (CiC)
- Previously Looked After Children (PLAC) (adopted, subject to Special Guardianship Orders or Child Arrangements Orders)
- Children living in kinship care
- Children subject to Special Guardianship Orders (SGO) or Child Arrangements Orders (CAO)
Our role varies depending on a child’s legal status, but our focus remains the same: promoting positive educational experiences and reducing barriers to learning.
Our Role in Supporting SEND
The Virtual School provides leadership, advocacy and assurance to ensure that:
- SEND needs are visible, understood and prioritised
- Schools and settings offer inclusive, high‑quality provision
- Children make progress from their individual starting points, recognising that progress may be uneven or non‑linear
- Education supports stability, wellbeing and future success, wherever children live or attend school
We work alongside schools, SEND services and social care to ensure that plans lead to impact, not just compliance with processes.
Identifying and Responding to SEND
We support early identification of need and challenge delay or drift.
This includes ensuring that:
- Emerging or unmet SEND is recognised early
- Needs are reviewed regularly, particularly when circumstances change
- Appropriate support is put in place without waiting for a diagnosis
We challenge situations where:
- SEND is misunderstood as behaviour
- Support remains informal but ineffective
- Reasonable adjustments are not made
- Children are expected to cope without appropriate provision
Personal Education Plans (PEPs)
High‑quality Personal Education Plans (PEPs) are central to improving outcomes for Children in Care.
We facilitate, monitor and quality‑assure robust PEPs, recorded on ePEP (eGov), ensuring they:
- Clearly reflect identified or emerging SEND
- Set out appropriate support, provision and strategies
- Are reviewed regularly and used to drive measurable impact
We provide effective challenge where:
- A child is not on roll
- Attendance is poor or declining
- Reduced timetables are in place
- Education provision breaks down or becomes unsuitable
Supporting Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
For children with an EHCP, or those undergoing an EHC needs assessment, the Virtual School plays an active role in preventing delay and securing effective provision.
We work closely with SEND caseworkers and senior SEND managers to promote that EHCP processes are timely, robust and child‑focused.
Our role includes:
- Monitoring progress through EHC needs assessments
- Working alongside SEND caseworkers to:
- Share education information and professional insight
- Support timely decision‑making
- Resolve barriers where provision or placement is at risk
- Escalating concerns to senior SEND leaders where:
- Statutory timescales are at risk
- Provision is not being delivered as agreed
- Education provision becomes unsuitable or breaks down
Annual Reviews and Changes in Circumstances
We support and monitor EHCP annual reviews, ensuring that they are:
- Timely and child‑centred
- Focused on progress against outcomes
- Responsive to changes in:
- Care or living arrangements
- School or setting
- Emotional wellbeing or emerging need
Where circumstances change, we work with SEND services to ensure EHCPs are reviewed promptly and continue to reflect current needs.
Ensuring Impact in Practice
Our priority is that EHCPs result in real, delivered provision, not plans that exist only on paper.
We provide professional challenge when:
- Outcomes are unclear, outdated or unambitious
- Agreed provision is not in place
- Responsibilities across education, care and health are unclear
- Systems are working in isolation rather than together
Education Provision and Inclusion
We promote inclusive education and are alert to risks such as:
- Over‑use of alternative or unregistered provision
- Prolonged or inappropriate reduced timetables
- Poor‑quality or outdated EHCPs
- Lack of coordination between education, care and health services
- Suspensions and exclusions are put in place where needs are misunderstood
We encourage reasonable adjustments, trauma‑informed practice and high aspiration, so SEND is never a barrier to inclusion.
Partnership Working and Corporate Parenting
Education is everyone’s responsibility.
We work collaboratively with:
- Schools and designated teachers
- Social workers
- Foster carers, kinship carers and families
- Residential settings
- SEND services, Inclusion, health professionals and commissioning teams
Through partnership working, we promote a strong corporate parenting approach, so that education supports recovery, stability and long‑term success.
Listening to Children and Young People
Children’s voices are central to our work.
We:
- Capture views through PEPs, reviews and ongoing conversations
- Respond promptly to concerns about education, school experience or provision
- Involve young people in decisions about learning, aspirations and future pathways
Children’s lived experiences help shape the support they receive.
Advice, Support and Useful Resources
SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service)
SENDIASS offers confidential, impartial advice and support to:
- Children and young people up to age 25
- Parents and carers
- Practitioners
Website: https://www.sendiassnorthyorkshire.co.uk/
North Yorkshire SEND Local Offer
Information about SEND services and support available locally:
https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/send-local-offer
SEND Code of Practice (0–25 years)
Statutory guidance for SEND support:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
If you have concerns about SEND support for a child supported by the Virtual School, please contact us at:
? virtualschool@northyorks.gov.uk
Our Commitment
The Virtual School plays a central role in supporting children with SEND across Children in Care, Previously Looked After Children and those living in kinship, SGO and CAO arrangements.
In line with national guidance and the Ofsted ILACS framework, we are committed to ambitious, inclusive and responsive education support, working collaboratively to ensure every child is supported to learn, achieve and thrive.
