Who is NAVSH?
The National Association of Virtual School Heads is a charity set up and run by a Board of Virtual School Heads to improve educational outcomes for looked after children by working with partners and commissioning research to ensure that the educational needs of looked after and previously looked after children are better understood.
Our charitable aims are:
- Advance education for the public benefit in the care and education of looked after and previously looked after children and care leavers by the undertaking of research for the public benefit and the dissemination of the useful results thereof.
- To promote the care and education of looked after children, previously looked after children and care leavers in particular, but not exclusively by, the provision of education and training for those employed in provision of care for looked after children.
The National Association of Virtual School Heads exists to improve educational outcomes for looked after children by working with partners and commissioning research to ensure that the educational needs of looked after children are better understood.
What is a Virtual School Head?
The role of the Virtual School Headteacher became a statutory role for local authorities across England at the direction of Edward Timpson the Children's Minister in 2013.
The role was created to champion the education of all children looked after within the local authority and to address the considerably lower educational performance of children in care compared to their peers.
Since that time, the development of the Virtual School (the headteacher and related staff) has grown and the model has been adopted in other countries such as Australia.
No two Virtual Schools are identical - the number of young people in care and the local authority context are variables that affect the number of staff employed and the roles they hold.
All local authorities in England are required to have a Virtual School Head.