Lewisham Virtual School employ a specialist high intervention officers to support the education of young people who have been identified as vulnerable to issues such as CSE. They work with a range of agencies to improve the life opportunities of young people in this cohort.
The services they offer include:
- Attending a mainstream/educational provision during the day which minimises the risk of CSE whilst they are in attendance
- Ensuring that they are engaging with the relevant agencies to support them in making them aware of the risks to themselves/how to safeguard
- Referring them to CAMHS or to do direct work with our specialist CAMHS team
- Mentoring YP directly to build self esteem/engagement in education/minimise poor attendance/raise aspirations/ build a consistent and frequent relationship with them to access and share information between agencies that enables us to safeguard the YP from identified risk
- Placing tutors to support YP who are struggling to access the curriculum due to significant CSE events which are creating barriers to learning
- Informing schools of issues and raising awareness of positive discrimination for these YP
- Giving schools tools to support, liaising with designated teachers and support staff to work on strategies for YP at risk of CSE and the issues that can arise due to this
- Consistently bridging between social care, carers and schools to ensure the educational needs are met where the YP may be absconding/ moving placement/ SW, school or carer and circumstances change often