A History of Virtual Schools

By Paul Singh

We recently learned that a well respected civil servant, Andrew Baxter moves on from his role in the Child in Care and Permanence Division. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Baxter and his colleagues to present the findings of a research project we commissioned Pro Bono Economics to undertake. We discussed the merits of investment in educational interventions and the long term effects from the perspective of the DfE and the Treasury. We debated the merits of extending the research to review pupil level data from the National Pupil Database to better inform commissioning practice. 

I speak on behalf of many Virtual School Heads and for those, who will truly feel Andrew’s absence. It also reminds of the opportunity I had to meet another one of Andrew’s colleagues, Michael Allured MBE who has also moved on. It is fair to say Michael has had an instrumental role in the formulation of policy in regards to promoting the educational outcomes of care experienced children. 

At a meeting with him at the DfE I was able to ask him questions about the history of the Virtual School model and why England arguably leads the world in promoting educational outcomes for our young people in care. Prior to my meeting I had been carrying out some research on visionary leadership within Children’s Social Care.

Through our conversation Michael took me on a journey starting in 1998, where the then Secretary of State for Health, Frank Dobson wrote to every councillor in the country about the new Quality Protects programme. Some of the most powerful parts of this letter was the following:

“For children who are looked after, your council has a legal and moral duty to try to provide the kind of loyal support that any good parents would give to their children….you should do your utmost to make sure that children in public care get a good start in life….”

This coincided with ministers and the government beginning to shine a light on young people in care and began to meaningfully address how to improve outcomes. The Quality Protects programme was a far reaching reform and contained a component for the DfE called Education Protects. 

In the early 2000s, Liverpool piloted the first Virtual School with promising results;  the number of children in care gaining one or more GCSEs rose from 33% to 54% in the first year.

Sadly it was only after the tragedy of Victoria Climbie in 2000 that ministers really felt pressure from the Press to act on what was an avoidable murder. This led to the decision that children in care should be the responsibility of a single government department and not split amongst two. Some argued that the move to the DCSF and away from Health meant that care wouldn’t have a lifelong view.

This finally all evolved into the Virtual School Pilot in 2006 laying down the foundation for the Virtual School model as we know it now. In the next series of blogs we will follow up with other summaries of interviews with Virtual School Heads from the original 2006 pilot and a Children’s services director from the early 2000s. 

At Equal Education we are passionate about improving educational outcomes for children, this research project helps us to understand the historical and policy circumstances and context in which we provide support services. If you’re interested in hearing more or having a chat please get in touch.