Shropshire Virtual School Promoting the education of children with a social worker

Children with a social worker (CWSW)

From September 2021, virtual schools have become strategic leaders for the cohort of children who are, or have ever been, assessed as needing a social worker at any time due to safeguarding and/or welfare reasons, which includes all those subject to a Child in Need plan or a Child Protection Plan. This includes children aged from 0 to 18 in all education settings.

We will be:

• Championing CSW and raising awareness of their needs
  
• Promoting good practice & raising aspirations for these learners
  
• Developing productive relationships to enhance their achievements and outcomes
  

The CIN review identified for the first time that:

• These children are present in 98% of state schools
  
• Six million children needed a social worker between 2012 and 2018, equivalent to one in ten children or three in every classroom.
  
• They face barriers to education due to experiences of adversity, most commonly as a result of domestic abuse, mental ill-health, and substance misuse
  
• 62% of children needing a social worker having experienced one or more of these
  
• 50% of children who had a social worker in the last six 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
  
• Students at the end of Key Stage 4 were around three times less likely to go on to study A levels at age 16
  
• Most were five 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 didn't have a social worker; and by age 21 half had still not achieved level 2 qualifications (which include GCSEs), compared to 11% of those not in need of a social worker

Shropshire Virtual School role

• Offer advice regarding your cohort of children with a social worker
  
• Offer advice and signpost schools and educational settings to additional services and ensure that you receive the support required to support your cohort of children with a social worker
  
• Offer training opportunities to develop schools and educational settings understanding around attachment, trauma, restorative practice, and emotion coaching

Advice and guidance for education provisions 

Every child deserves the chance to fulfil their potential and achieve the best educational outcomes possible, whatever their background, whatever their path. Yet adversity in childhood diminishes that chance, putting at a disadvantage those who have needed children’s social care to provide them with help and protection.   They can therefore have similar adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to those children currently in care and previously looked after children.

Children with a social worker need to be in school or educational setting. Regularly attending is vital for children’s progress, for their wellbeing and for their wider development. For children with a social worker, it also offers them a protective factor – at its best, offering a safe space to access support, ensuring that children are visible to and supported by professionals, and helping children to make educational progress.

Advice and guidance for social workers

We're available to talk directly to social workers and advise them on any aspect of education. We'll support social workers with the necessary knowledge and understanding of educational issues to enable them to challenge and work with schools effectively. We're unable to attend CIN or CP meetings, or work directly with children and families. We'll be able to support with advice and information on:

• Attendance
  
• Exclusions
  
• Reduced timetable
  
• SEN process
  
• Attainment
  
• Strategies that can be used to support
  
• Signposting to services and organisations that support this cohort of children

For more information, please visit our training webpage. 

For further information and to speak to a member of the team, please email either lindsay.armstrong@shropshire.gov.uk or alice.evans.education@shropshire.gov.uk. Alternatively for any queries on attendance for children with a social worker, please contact amy.foulger@shropshire.gov.uk.