Newcastle Virtual School

The Newcastle Virtual School supports the education of Newcastle children that are in the care of the council.  We provide support and challenge to schools that our children attend, we track attendance and progress and provide targeted interventions so that each child can achieve their goals and educational outcomes.

We aim to increase inclusion, reduce exclusion and disengagement and improve the educational experience and outcomes for all our children.

The Virtual School provides the following:

• a dedicated Education Achievement Worker (EAW) for each child, who takes the lead on ensuring the Personal Education Plan (PEP) reflects the child’s true needs and wishes
• a bespoke service to support young people in educational settings
• additional learning experiences, such as Teenagers to Work for Year 10/11
• support with school moves
• advice and guidance on educational pathways, working  with the Connexions and Leaving Care teams to reduce the chances of looked after children (LAC) becoming not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET)
• training, advice and guidance to schools, social workers and foster carers on educational issues
• educational resources such as the Letterbox reading programme and Bookbuzz
• working in partnership with local universities on programmes, such as Choices Together, to increase the progression rate to Higher Education for LAC