Supporting looked after children in mainstream secondary schools in the UK
Written by: Luke Donnelly
7 min read
Dr Luke Donnelly, Head of Year, Pinner High School, UK
Through no fault of their own, looked after children often face additional challenges as they move through childhood and adolescence, both in and out of school. To support this, government policy outlines the statutory responsibilities of various provisions, including the ‘designated teacher for looked after and previously looked after children’ and the Virtual School (DfE, 2018). However, rather than simply considering the additional provisions that are put in place to support looked after children, it is important for educators and school leaders to consider how their overall approach to pastoral care meets the needs of this group of young people.
In 2017, I was asked to conduct a focus group with some Year 8 boys, and I can still vividly remember one of the comments: “There is no point being nice to the teachers because our favourite ones are always the ones who leave”. The reason why this comment resonated with me s
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