Every Child Included: Insights and Strategies for Virtual School Leaders

Both events will cover the same content. You can see the agenda items and Electives/workshops in the details below.

WELFARE CALL FORUM

 

 

Overview

The Welfare Call Forums are a platform where clients come together to discover and share innovative ideas that transform the monitoring of vulnerable children.

Welfare Call’s exclusive, invitation-only client conference will bring together a diverse range of professionals, from Virtual School headteachers to data managers, education consultants, and performance managers from Local Authorities. This event will offer a blend of thought-provoking presentations and insightful discussions, supporting professional development by equipping attendees with valuable knowledge on the evolving role and expectations of Virtual Schools.

Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how Welfare Call’s systems and services can support them in navigating the changing landscape of education and social care. The conference will also offer interactive workshops, networking opportunities, and expert insights on how Virtual Schools can adapt and thrive in this shifting environment, while ensuring vulnerable children receive the support they need.

 

Guest Speaker Confirmed!

We’re very pleased to welcome Dr Paul Shuttleworth, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Kingston University London, as our guest speaker this year.

A leading voice in kinship care, Dr Shuttleworth’s research and work dives deep into the lived realities of children raised by relatives or family friends and shines a light on the unique challenges they face. He calls for a shift away from seeing kinship care through a narrow cost-saving lens and urges recognition of its complexity, resilience, and potential.

Here’s where Virtual Schools come into focus: At the heart of Dr Shuttleworth’s session we will be looking at the crucial role of Virtual Schools in overseeing and supporting children in kinship care. Dr Shuttleworth will explore how they can act as a powerful bridge between education, social services, and families – ensuring that no child falls through the cracks. He will also address how collaborative partnerships with local authorities and other agencies are essential in driving meaningful, lasting outcomes for these vulnerable children.

His work challenges us all to reimagine systems of care through the lens of empathy, equity, and evidence-based practice and places children’s voices at the centre. Through innovative and inclusive methods, he ensures that policy and practice are informed not just about children, but by them.

 

 

ELECTIVES/WORKSHOPS

The same content will be covered in the AM and PM sessions

1. End-of-Year Annual Reporting Guidance for Virtual Schools and Local Authorities using Welfare Calls Services

Synopsis: As Virtual Schools and Local Authorities prepare for their end-of-year reporting, this workshop offers essential guidance on how to effectively leverage Welfare Calls services to ensure accurate, thorough, and timely reporting across all key areas.

This collaborative session will focus on Welfare Call’s core services: Attendance and Attainment Monitoring, Electronic Personal Education Plans (ePEP), and Data Analytics building on, and adding to, our guidance supplement already published. Attendees will gain valuable insights into how these services align with the data cycle, ensuring that key data points are harvested, analysed, and reported correctly.

Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of where to locate essential data to meet local authority and regulatory standards for their end-of-year reporting.

 

Meet the Contributors

Led by Sue Nield, Business Intelligence & Data Analyst and James Brown, Product Manager at Welfare Call, the session will walk attendees through best practices for structuring and extracting their data, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to present key metrics clearly and confidently to senior leaders, elected members, and Ofsted. There will also be time for questions and discussion, allowing participants to share their own approaches and gain peer insight into how others are preparing for year-end reporting.

 

 

2. Navigating the Future of Education: ePEP Strategies for Virtual Schools and Local Authorities

Synopsis: In this engaging one-hour session, we will delve into the critical role that ePEP (electronic Personal Education Plans) play for Virtual Schools. The session will feature a panel discussion with Virtual School Headteachers, who will discuss real-world successes, challenges, and effective strategies for ensuring the creation and maintenance of high-quality PEP documents.

Additionally, the session will offer an exclusive showcase of Welfare Call’s ePEP system, demonstrating its latest features and advancements. Attendees will gain a first hand look at our new user-friendly UX/UI designs, along with a detailed exploration of how the system supports the tracking and management of PEPs.

 

Meet the Contributors

The ePEP Strategies elective will bring together Virtual School leaders and practitioners to explore how high-quality, consistent Personal Education Plans can drive better planning, oversight, and outcomes for children in care.

Led by Andy Kerr, Product Manager at Welfare Call, the session will highlight a wide range of perspectives from strategic leads to operational practitioners, all working to improve the effectiveness of PEP processes across their settings.

 

York Forum – Friday 20 June

• Lynn Girvan, Deputy Virtual Head, Manchester

• Carolyn Derbyshire, Deputy Virtual Head, Manchester

• Tom Gamble, Virtual School Lead Advocate, Sheffield

• Adele Cairns, Project Support Officer, Wakefield

• Graeme Ferguson, Virtual School Head, Derby

• Anita Swales, Virtual School Head, Sunderland

 

London Forum – Friday 27 June

• Jane Johnson, Virtual School Head, Manchester

• John Husslebee, Virtual School Lead for CWSW, Manchester

• Julie Steward, PEP Manager, Norfolk

• Jo Smark Richards, Virtual School Head, Dorset

• Liz Stanbridge, Data Business & Development Officer, Surrey

• Gemma Meiklejohn, Virtual School Head, Swindon

• Andrew Martin, Virtual School Head, Ealing

 

This session is built around peer learning and real-world examples. Contributors will share how they are improving consistency, streamlining processes, and using Welfare Call’s ePEP system to ensure plans are not just compliant, but meaningful and impactful.

 

 

3. Effective Strategies for Monitoring Children in Need (CIN) and Children on Child Protection Plans (CP): Leveraging Welfare Call Services and Best Practices from Virtual Schools

Synopsis: This workshop is designed to provide Virtual Schools with practical strategies for monitoring and supporting Children in Need (CIN) and those on Child Protection Plans (CP). These vulnerable children require consistent, tailored interventions to ensure their safety, wellbeing, and educational progress. Drawing on best practice models from Virtual Schools, this session will explore how to effectively track and monitor these children using a multi-agency approach and the reporting mechanisms that Welfare Call offers.

Through this workshop, participants will learn how to build a comprehensive monitoring and reporting system that ensures CIN and CP children are given the appropriate support, guidance and interventions where needed. This session will provide key insights from Virtual School leaders on how they overcame specific challenges related to the monitoring of CIN and CP children and how Welfare Calls service help complement their approach.

 

Meet the Contributors

Our CIN/CP Monitoring elective brings together Virtual School professionals from across the country to share how they are supporting Children in Need and those on Child Protection Plans through multi-agency working, data-led decision-making, and practical intervention strategies.

Led by Matthew Mann, Head of Business Development at Welfare Call, this session will highlight the challenges and successes experienced by Virtual Schools working to strengthen visibility, collaboration, and impact for some of the most vulnerable children.

 

York Forum – Friday 20 June

• Victoria Banks, Virtual School Head, Middlesbrough

• Melanie Stubbs, Virtual School Head, Durham

 

London Forum – Friday 27 June

• Keeley White, Virtual School Head, Norfolk

• Katie Bray, Virtual School Head Extended Duties, North Somerset

• Alison Self, Assistant Virtual School Head, Merton

 

Each contributor will share real-world insight into how their teams are using Welfare Call’s systems and cross-agency collaboration to improve tracking, reporting and, ultimately, outcomes for CIN and CP cohorts.

This is a valuable opportunity to hear from peers tackling the same challenges and to take away ideas you can apply in your own local context.

 

Booking Form

 

EXHIBITORS

---

---

---