Blog

Pupil Premium allocations and conditions of grant for 2022-2023

The goal of the pupil premium grant(PPG) is to raise the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities to help them reach their potential. The government has just published its Pupil Premium allocations and conditions of grant for 2022-2023… Read more

Posted by on 28th March 2022

Further £16.6m Funding Confirmed for Virtual Schools by Will Quince MP

Last month saw the return of the National Association of Virtual School Heads Conference as an in-person event at London’s Earls Court. It was great to catch up with virtual heads in person after working alongside them remotely for so… Read more

Posted by on 24th March 2022

Where are England’s Children? Safeguarding the most vulnerable children through Attendance monitoring

This week saw the publication of Where are England’s Children? Interim findings from the Children’s Commissioner’s Attendance Audit.   In order to investigate how much Local Authorities (LAs) know about children that are missing education, the Children’s Commissioner’s office… Read more

Posted by on 11th March 2022

Lisa Linscott & Dorset Virtual School: Our Journey with Welfare Call

Lisa Linscott is Virtual School Head and Principal Teacher at Dorset Council.  The Virtual School provides education for children in care (CiC), and also for previously looked after children (PLAC). Its mission is to improve the education and life… Read more

Posted by on 28th February 2022

The use of Pupil Premium Plus to Improve Educational Outcomes for Looked After Children

A recent paper written by Bath Spa University highlighted the variations in how different virtual schools allocate and manage Pupil Premium allocations, and the need to be able to measure and isolate the impact of PP+. As identified in this… Read more

Posted by on 25th February 2022

NAVSH Conference 2022: How to widen the brief without losing the plot

NAVSH conference 2022

We are really looking forward to seeing you all in person at the NAVSH conference on 16th – 17th March 2022 at Earl’s Court, London. This year’s theme is “How to widen the brief without losing the plot” so we’ll… Read more

Posted by on 17th February 2022

Does your Authority issue fines to parents of absent children? New consultation launched by DfE to end postcode lottery in how schools manage avoidable absence.

Does your Authority issue fines to parents of absent children? The issue of pupil attendance data has been talked about a lot over the past couple of weeks as the government has proposed that they are looking to set a… Read more

Posted by on 11th February 2022

New Government Initiative: Support for vulnerable young people in serious violence hotspots

We’re interested to learn of a new government initiative to support young people across England who are most at risk of serious violence or gang exploitation Support for vulnerable young people in serious violence hotspots – GOV.UK   The targeted… Read more

Posted by on 18th January 2022

New funding stream available from the DfE

We’re pleased to hear there that there is a new funding stream/grant available for schools and Virtual Schools which people may not be aware of.   As part of the Department for Education’s (DfE) education recovery plan, the Secretary of… Read more

Posted by on 2nd December 2021

How can we help Virtual School heads get children in care the education they need?

An article caught my eye earlier this month on the challenges of getting children in care the education they need. It goes on to say that Virtual School heads lack the powers they need in the face of “pushback” from… Read more

Posted by on 17th November 2021

Welfare Call accredited for the government G-Cloud 12 framework

We’re happy to announce that we’ve once again been accepted on the latest iteration of the Government certified Digital Marketplace framework, G-Cloud 12.   The G-Cloud framework is an initiative that the Government began in 2012 to provide UK public… Read more

Posted by on 2nd February 2021

Covid-19: business continuity updates

During this outbreak we are communicating directly with our customers daily and issuing regular business continuity updates by email.  You can see the status of our services in the table below: Service Status Extranet Running as usual ePEP Running as… Read more

Posted by on 3rd April 2020

Remembering Francis Holt

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Francis Holt. Francis passed away on the evening of the 23rd January 2020 after suffering from a long-term illness. After exhausting all treatment options he had spent… Read more

Posted by on 12th February 2020

Welfare Call 2019 Annual Forum

Event: London ForumDate: Friday 8th NovemberVenue: Mary Ward House Conference and Exhibition Centre, 5-7 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SNView on map Event: Leeds ForumDate: Friday 22nd NovemberVenue: The Queens Hotel, City Square, Leeds, LS1 1PJView on map WELFARE… Read more

Posted by on 18th September 2019

Welcome to our community! Poole, Wokingham and Aberdeen City join Welfare Call

It’s a new term and we’re happy to welcome some new Local Authorities to our community . . . as well as welcoming back some longer standing customers!   We are pleased to welcome back Birmingham and Islington to our… Read more

Posted by on 17th September 2018

2017 Welfare Call Annual Forum Dates

Welcome back one and all to the start of another school year. Whilst teachers, children and (some) Virtual Schools have enjoyed a well earned rest over the Summer, Welfare Call have been preparing ourselves to monitor the most children we’ve… Read more

Posted by on 17th July 2018

Putting to bed the argument: automatic software vs telephone calling to collect the attendance of children in care

Over the past 13 years, Welfare Call has successfully monitored the attendance of looked after children on behalf of authorities in England & Wales, developing the process and increasing our knowledge along the way! However, whilst our process in collecting… Read more

Posted by on 17th July 2018

Welcome aboard Birmingham!

Welfare Call is over the moon to announce that Birmingham’s Virtual School have chosen Welfare Call to support them in the collection of school attendance for their looked after children. Birmingham has the biggest cohort of children in care in… Read more

Posted by on 17th March 2018

Welfare Call shortlisted for a CYP Now Award – Safeguarding Category

The Children & Young People Now Awards have become the gold standard for everyone working with children, young people and families. Now in their twelfth year, these awards provide a great source of pride and recognition for all those who… Read more

Posted by on 17th July 2017

Welfare Call is delighted to announce a new partnership with Capita One B2B Open Exports

For a long time now, Welfare Call has had the ability to provide authorities reports in XML format, which can then be imported manually by our customers into their Capita One systems. Historically, this saved you manually inputting the attendance… Read more

Posted by on 17th June 2017
« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

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    How fantastic! This is really excellent stuff.… Read more

     

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    Fay Blyth, Virtual School Headteacher for Waltham Forest

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    Senior managers feel that the analytics is impressive and are keen to have as many dashboards as possible to show Ofsted for our annual conversation.… Read more

     

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    Helen Bushell, (Previous) Head of Virtual School for Rutland

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    I’m a bit giddy, I love the ePEP dashboards – How clever are you lot! Gosh I love this system.… Read more

     

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    Michaela Blair, PEP Co-ordinator for Oldham

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    I like the dashboards. They are very clear. I also like the jump-to’s and the ability to drill down to individual young people. On the whole really happy. I am looking forward to other attainment-based dashboards – especially one that… Read more

     

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    Calvin Kipling, Virtual School Headteacher for Darlington

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    I’m absolutely loving Analytics and the updates coming through are very helpful.… Read more

     

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    Nickie West-Jarrett, Attendance and Inclusion Officer for Lewisham Virtual School

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    We have worked with Welfare Call for over 3 years, it has transformed the way we work in terms of the way we have been able to utilise our resources and deploying staff differently as they are able to proactively… Read more

     

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    Graeme Ferguson, Virtual School Head, Derby City Council

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    Children in care have positive education experiences. In school, children in care have good attendance and behaviour. Permanent and fixed exclusions for pupils who are in care are low. The virtual school provides good support for schools to produce increasingly… Read more

     

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    London Borough of Merton – Children’s Services Inspection

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    Electronic personal education plans are detailed, focus on the key areas, and include pupil targets and the pupils’ perspectives. A range of extra-curricular activities are available to support and enrich the lives of children in care. The virtual school carefully… Read more

     

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    Rutland County Council – Children’s Services Inspection

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    The virtual school has a clear sense of purpose and direction and makes good use of performance data to target its activity to best effect. As a result, its influence and impact continue to grow. Ninety-six per cent of children… Read more

     

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    London Borough of Harrow – Children’s Services Inspection

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    The rate of children’s attendance at school is rising. Relationships between the virtual school and designated teachers are strong. The personal education plan (PEP) process is well established and comprehensive. Children are making good educational progress.… Read more

     

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    Bedford Borough Council – Children’s Services Focused Visit

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    The virtual school systematically monitors and evaluates the quality of personal education plans (PEPs), and, as a result, the quality of plans is improving. All PEPs have a clear focus on academic progress.… Read more

     

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    Cornwall Council – Children’s Services Inspection

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    Personal education plans (PEPs) provide a sound basis to plan and review the progress children make. Children in care receive effective support from the virtual school staff, who understand their individual needs and act as effective advocates for them. This… Read more

     

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    Swindon Borough Council – Children’s Services Inspection

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    The virtual school provides effective support for the progress and attainment of children in care. The virtual school team has a sound understanding of the progress that children are making. As a result of effective support, many make good progress… Read more

     

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    Worcestershire County Council – Children’s Services Inspection

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    Children and young people make good educational progress in care. Those who do not attend school have prompt access to suitable, good-quality registered alternative provision. Children’s progress is closely reviewed through personal education plans which have well-written targets, and this… Read more

     

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    London Borough of Tower Hamlets – Children’s Services Inspection

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    Welfare Call provides a highly professional and cost competitive service that has enhanced our ability to collect progression and impact information for the majority of learners attending our courses. Welfare Call has made this mammoth task into a much easier… Read more

     

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    Mobin Chothia, Service Development Officer, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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    The role of the Virtual School Head continues to remain a challenging one where the dynamics are as varied as each individual that we work with. Given increasingly limited resources of Local Authorities, it’s also vital that investments are made… Read more

     

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    Kashif Nawaz, Virtual School Head, Bracknell Forest

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    The strong emphasis on ensuring that PEPs are of good quality and completed in a timely way is contributing well to children’s progress.… Read more

     

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    London Borough of Barnet – Children’s Services Inspection

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    Education is actively promoted for children in care and the virtual school is increasingly effective in ensuring that children make good progress and reach their potential. The quality and timeliness of personal education plans have improved significantly. Children benefit from… Read more

     

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    London Borough of Enfield – Children’s Services Inspection

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    Our PEPs are much better quality and are completed on time. Welfare Calls ePEP system has been a massive help towards this. There are a number of Ofsted quotes which are looking slightly dated (given they are from 2017) therefore… Read more

     

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    Kate Harm, Specialist Education Officer for Children in Care, Derby Virtual School

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    We have been using the Welfare Call ePEP for a number of years having previously had a paper based PEP. Over this period we have seen: our timely completion rates for the ePEP improve from 85% to 95% an improved… Read more

     

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    Graeme Ferguson, Virtual School Head, Derby City Council