When an email request titled: ‘Just a Little Favour’ popped into my inbox, I responded with a ‘yes’ immediately. The email was from Leo Engers, the Primary Advisor for the Essex Virtual School, whom I had been working with for over a year. I felt very privileged to be asked to be a keynote speaker at the Virtual School Conference at Colchester Football Stadium.
For those unfamiliar with the Essex Virtual School, it is the organisation responsible for ensuring all children in care and those with an allocated social worker receive the support they need to succeed whilst attending an Essex school.
As the Vine Schools Trust Safeguarding and Wellbeing leader, it is part of my role to ensure that this group of vulnerable, yet resilient and talented, children in our organisation get the best possible provision. Therefore, forging effective partnerships is key to delivering this and undertaking the pilot project as a MAT has been pivotal to improving our practice.
The idea of the pilot project is a simple one. The Virtual School provides support and resources through a named leader who then drives improvements across the Trust. Using the single point of contact with a Trust Lead means that all communications can have one voice and they are also key decision-makers who can affect change.
So, what have we achieved so far? Firstly, highlighting our vulnerable groups through reporting and data systems has been effective in raising the awareness of the children in our care and ensured that leaders have a renewed focus on their provision.
Currently, we have 35 children in care, most of those are under the Essex Virtual School, 25 children who have previously been in care and 41 children with an allocated social worker. We have ensured new policies and procedures underpin our inclusive approach and set out clear expectations for staff and families alike. Most importantly at grassroots level, provision has improved for individual children through staff training, new resources and better access to funding.
At the conference, I shared our Vine Schools Trust journey and was very proud of Terri Fitter one of our designated teachers at Southminster, who accompanied me to share the impact of the project for a child in care. Following our input, we listened to several speakers including Mark Ridell (MBE) national advisor to the DFE and Fatima Whitbread (MBE) an Olympic Javelin champion, who herself was in care in Essex as a child. We even managed to get a photo together!
It was an inspirational day where the key message was how we can all make a difference to someone every single day, so they go on to build a better future for themselves and truly empower them to flourish.
