The Virtual School isn’t like your average school, it isn’t made of bricks and doesn’t have classrooms… it’s more of an office that makes sure young people in care get a good education and any support they may need. The people who work for the Virtual School work with all schools where children from York attend, but have an office to bring everything together. This means that if you live out of York, the Virtual School still makes sure you get a good education and the right support with your education.
There are lots of things that the Virtual School are in charge of such as checking your Personal Education Plan and how Pupil Premium Plus for children in care is spent and getting you additional support.
What is a designated teacher?
A designated teacher is a particular teacher in school whose job it is to make sure you get a good education and the right support. They may be someone you know well or someone you just see occasionally.
It may be that you choose to speak to a different member of staff and that’s fine, they will keep your designated teacher informed about how you are doing. If you don’t know who your designated teacher is, you should speak to your form tutor.
What is a Personal Education Plan (PEP)?
Your PEP is there to help you:
- Have your say about your education
- Tell us what you want to do at school and how you’re getting on
- Agree what support, if any, you may need to make sure you achieve what you want.
As part of your PEP, your teacher, carer and social worker can work with you to make a plan of action and set targets you’d like to achieve in school. You can also speak up if you’re finding things hard and see extra help would be useful. Your PEP gets reviewed once a term.
What is Pupil Premium Plus?
Pupil Premium Plus is money from the government to support children and young people in care with their education and improve your educational outcomes. Pupil Premium can provide you with pastoral support and additional after-school or lunch time classes for core subjects. In some circumstances Pupil Premium can be used to provide revision books, additional tuition, aspiration raising activities or technology that will improve your ability to engage with your education.
You should talk about how you think your Pupil Premium should be spent at your PEP meeting. If you have a particular idea about what it should be spend it on you should say why and how it would help you with your education. If you’re not happy with what your Pupil Premium is being used for, you can speak to your designated teacher.
