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 colleagues, some parents and carers and the wider professional network to raise awareness of the impact of a child or young person’s lived experiences on their ability to engage in learning, and most importantly to understand how best to improve their educational outcomes.
What we offer
The level of information and advice that we can offer depends on which cohort the child or young person is in.
Further information is available below, including definitions of each cohort.
From September 2024, the Virtual School Advisory Service remit has expanded to include championing the educational experiences and outcomes of children and young people who are living within any Kinship Care arrangement.
We are currently finalising the information regarding our support to this cohort, so please do get in touch with us if you would like 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.