Relational Approaches to support School Belonging and Attendance.
VSK are excited to announce the publication of its KCC’s Relational Approaches to support School Belonging and Attendance guide and toolkit. It is designed to work in line with the other initiatives to improve school attendance within Kent, with input from Education Psychologists, KPAS (Kent PRU and Attendance Service), Well-being leads, schools and, most importantly, the young people themselves.
The guide and toolkit discuss reasons behind school attendance issues, why schools are so pivotal in supporting our most vulnerable young people and how relationships are key to supporting the young person and their families in feeling safe and part of any school community. The tool kits are underpinned by relational approaches, which effectively means the importance of responsive, person-centred approaches when working with children and young people to promote their connections with school. It looks at the importance of working with other professionals supporting the families and how relational approaches and proactive partnership working can have a positive impact on school attendance.
As well as the strategic work we do, working alongside other teams and agencies to highlight the needs of our cohorts and support them to achieve their education potential, we also offer advice to support individual educational settings and individual children.
Phone Consultations
If you would like to arrange a phone consultation with the VSKAT regarding your children living in kinship arrangements, previously looked after children or children with a social worker cohorts (or individual with parental consent), then please complete the Initial Contact Form
Solution Focused Consultations (SFC) with VSKAT, Education Psychologist and Education Provision.
We hold regular school solution-focused consultations for education provisions and social workers (if applicable) to discuss individual children (with parental consent). Unfortunately, we are unable to invite families along to these discussions.
In these consultations, we will help to think in a solution-focused and trauma-informed way about the young person's needs and what the next steps may be in supporting them to overcome any barriers to learning. Following an initial consultation with our team, if issues are not resolved, we will invite the education setting (and social worker if applicable) to the next available Solution Focused Consultation. We will send the education setting a Solution Focused Consultation Form for them and the parents/carers to fill in (including obtaining consent to discuss their child). The education setting is responsible for feeding back to parents and Kinship carers following the discussion along with any outcomes or next steps.
Nurture – Boxall Profile
We would always recommend that a school undertakes a Boxall Profile (or similar) to assess a child or young person’s social, emotional and behavioural development.
Virtual School Kent have the expertise and knowledge to advise schools on trauma informed practices and interventions that can help. If a child has other areas of need or support/interventions from Adoption, Kinship or Social Services Teams, we can incorporate this into the suggested support around social, emotional or behavioural development; for example, looking at sensory interventions that can also support the Boxall Profiles areas of need.
If as a school, you do not use Boxall Profiles (or similar), VSKAT would be able to conduct the assessment on your behalf (with parental consent). School would remain responsible for the assessment and would hold the information within the child’s school records. Where a school uses Boxall Profiles, we could advise on the analysis of the assessment if asked. VSKAT would not keep the Boxall Profile Assessment data on the child’s KCC recording system - but would make note of when the assessment took place.