Advisory service
The role of the Virtual School Advisory Service
The West Sussex Virtual School Advisory Service champions the educational experiences and outcomes of children and young people who have been cared for by the local authority or the state, who are known to social care (or have been in the past six years) or are living within Kinship Care arrangements.
What we do
We work with education professionals, social care staff, some parents and carers and other professionals to show how a child’s experiences affect their learning. We also help everyone understand the best ways to improve the child’s education.
What we offer
The advice we give depends on which group the child or young person belongs to. You can find more details below, including what each group means.
The Virtual School Advisory Service now also supports children and young people living in any Kinship Care arrangement. We work to improve their education and learning outcomes.
If you are a Kinship Carer or support a child in Kinship Care, contact us to find out more.
Children with a social worker
'Children with a social worker’ is a term used to refer to the cohort of children and young people aged 0–18 who are (or have ever been) assessed as needing intervention from social care for safeguarding and/or welfare reasons, including those who are or have ever been subject to Child in Need Planning or Child Protection Planning.
Children who have achieved permanence
Children have achieved permanence if they were previously looked after (PLAC) by a local authority in England or Wales because they are the subject of an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order; or were adopted from state care outside England and Wales.