We recognise that choosing a school can be quite a daunting process for all the family. Each local authority has a school admissions department, and they are responsible for ensuring your child gets a school place. 

Since September 2013, Children Looked After (CLA) and children who left care on an adoption order, special guardianship order or child arrangements order (formerly residence order) have the highest priority within school admissions.

When selecting a school, it is important to visit all prospective schools and meet with the designated teacher for PLAC.

In consultations with experienced adoptive parents, PAC-UK have identified some key questions for parents and schools to consider, not all the questions will be relevant for every child. It's unlikely that any school will be doing all of these, look for flexible schools who are willing to listen and learn and are proactive about developing support to meet each child's needs.

For more advice on choosing a school for PLAC, see:

• Permanently Placed Children: Key Questions for Secondary Schools
• PAC-UK: Adoption & Permanency: Advice, Support, Counselling and Training

Recommendations 

Some recommendations when choosing a school are: 

1. before you meet with any members of staff, look at the prospective school’s website and read the policies, including policies on inclusion, behaviour and wellbeing
2. arrange a visit: school websites, inspection reports and the views of other parents you trust can all be great starting points, but there is really no substitute for visiting the school yourself, talking to members of staff, and experiencing the atmosphere
3. a good, collaborative working relationship between professionals and parents will be vital and this begins even before your child starts at the school. As you arrange meetings and tours, look for signs that the school takes those relationships seriously. How easy was it to set up the meetings you needed? Were key members of staff able to make themselves available to talk to you?
4. introductions with the schools designated teacher for PLAC. This is a statutory role in every state school and should be an important point of contact throughout your child’s time at the school

The following resources include questions which will support with conversations when visiting prospective schools: 

• Key questions for primary school visits (PDF)
  Key questions for secondary school visits (PDF)

We recognise that transition and change can be very daunting for children and young people previously in care. Most schools have transition arrangements in place to support the move. This will usually include opportunities in the summer term for the child to spend time at the middle or secondary school and have additional visits to get to know other students and be introduced to key members of staff. 

Before tackling transition, we must acknowledge the central role and importance of saying goodbye.

It is important for all our children to help them manage the ending of their school and nursery experiences and to help them say goodbye to key adults and peers.

This should include explicitly acknowledging and celebrating the child’s achievements and successes.

Transitions for PLAC and Children Looked After (CLA) need to be managed very carefully even for those children who seem, on the face of it, to be taking things in their stride, to ensure that children can make a success of the next phase of their education.

You can find more information on goodbyes and transitions by visiting this resource by PAC.UK: Goodbyes-and-Transitions (PDF)

If you feel further support is needed, speak to the child’s first or primary school about how they can help and contact the middle or secondary school to explain your concerns and they will support to make the transition as smooth as possible.

The DfE takes the view that many PLAC will have experienced trauma and attachment in their early experiences. Many children and young people may have entered care due to abuse or neglect. These needs do not change overnight, and they do not stop being vulnerable just because they are in a loving home.

Evidence shows that early life experiences can have a lasting effect emotionally, socially and academically. 

School curriculum

If you feel your child may be affected by particular aspects of the school curriculum, it may be useful at the beginning of each academic year to talk to the class teacher, SEN Co-ordinator, pastoral lead or Head of Year to discuss any potentially difficult areas of the curriculum.

Some common areas that adopters highlight include topic work on families, family trees, WW2 evacuation, writing personal biographies, and any subject that includes an element of grief or loss. The Inclusion Plan document would allow for exploration of any potential triggers and this document can be passed to new teachers and updated at each transition point.

CATCH is an online support platform that provides accessible tools to inform and empower families supporting children who have experienced early life trauma and are now under: Adoption, Special Guardianship Order or child Arrangements Order.

This is applicable to parents and carers with children attending schools or settings in Worcestershire.

CATCH provides:

• extensive collection of webinars - webinars hosted by subject experts can be attended live or watched later on the Hub at a time that suits you
• eLearning courses to expand your knowledge - eLearning courses exploring attachment and trauma in children, the principles of PACE and intercountry and transracial adoption
• wide range of tailored resources - regular new content on topical issues and themes, including video and audio interviews of personal experiences
• podcasts and audio interviews - listen on the go as adopters, carers and professionals share their experiences and top tips
• private forums and peer-to-peer webchat - exclusive, anonymous forums for adopters and special guardians and a private one-to-one webchat service for adopters

Topics include:

• ethnicity and identity
• education
• behaviour and parenting
• attachment and trauma
• additional needs

Workshops

Our upcoming workshop will demonstrate how you can make use of CATCH’s services.

Date: Tuesday 25 February 2025
Time: 7:00pm to 8:00pm
To book onto the workshop, please contact: virtualschool@worcestershire.gov.uk 

If you do not have a CATCH membership and would like to be a member, please contact: jbusby@worcestershire.gov.uk