Resources for children and young people

The Virtual School doesn’t exist as a real building, but we are here to work with you, your school, your carers and your social workers to make sure you receive the best education possible and develop skills and knowledge for a successful future. We want to help solve any problems you’re having at school and support the adults in your life too, so that they can help you to do your best.

We organise lots of participation events, activities and trips in the school holidays. These are great fun but also help you to learn or improve some of your skills. They are a good way to try something new, get some certificates to add to your CV or make friends with other children in care.

We will met with your school and you to talk about how you’re doing at school, and to make sure we can offer extra support if and when you need it.

You may already have some ideas about what you want to do when you leave education. Whatever that is, we will help you to realise your goals and achieve it.

What we will do:

Make sure you know who your Virtual School Teacher is and how to contact them
Make sure you have a school place and access to education
Make sure you go to the best school for you
Always try to make sure you do not have to change school in Years 6 or 11, except in exceptional circumstances
Make sure you have a PEP (Personal Education Plan) meeting three times a year
Make sure the Pupil Premium is used to help improve your learning
Make sure you are given the right sort of advice on careers or further education
Encourage and support your Post-16 learning
Support your carer and social worker to take an active role in your education
Encourage you to have hobbies and attend out of school activities

Primary

Learning resources

All subjects

Top Marks
What: Whiteboard resources, presentations, activities, work sheets and games.
To find the resources, click whiteboard resources at the top search bar then click your subject and key stage and go from there! The site also offers some educational games for primary students.

Primary Resources
What: Whiteboard resources, presentations, activities, flash cards, work sheets, lesson plans and target templates.
This site offers a tremendous wealth of free resources on almost all topics and subjects on the primary curriculum ready to download straight to your computer.

BBC Bitesize Education
What: Learner/curriculum guides, revision notes and online tests.
With segregated topics, key stages and exam boards, BBC Bitesize will tailor the information it gives you depending on the exam board you are using to give you the best suited information, tasks and tests.

BBC Primary School
The BBC’s primary school website is an ideal learning resource for children ages 4-11 years old. What’s great about this website is that it breaks down the curriculum topic by topic, offering a variety of different ways to learn about them. From languages and literacy to history and PSHE- this site really does cover everything!

Maths

Maths Chase
What: Games - mathematics times tables
Maths Chase is a completely free site where you can quickly test your times tables, and is a fun way to learn times tables

Mathematics Games
What: Mathematics Games
Looking for some maths games to play? This site offers some fantastic free mathematics games for primary students with a focus on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, sequences, number bonds, Venn diagrams and time.

Resource Bank
What: Primary maths resources

Science

Explorify
What: Science whiteboard resources and activities
A primary teachers favourite and most used resource sites, this site offers 5 step activities for a range of different science topics. Most topics come with either a video or picture exercise.

English and literacy

Resource Bank
Primary literacy resources

The Literacy Trust
The Literacy Trust offers a range of literacy resources for primary and early years, some of which are free, including downloadable resources that use the latest trends to promote literacy.

The Centre for Primary Literacy
he Centre for Primary Literacy has created a number of free teaching materials aimed at helping to raise the achievement and attainment of children in literacy in an effective and sustainable way. They include reading and writing scales and teaching sequences.

The Betjeman Poetry Prize
he Betjeman Poetry Prize is a competition for children aged 10-13. The website will help children to create their entries with several free resources including ‘Easy steps to edit a poem’ and a lesson plan for Key Stage 1 and 2 using ‘A bay in Anglesey’ by John Betjeman.

The Wimpy Kid
he Wimpy Kid club wWebsite features some fun, focused and curriculum linked resources for teachers. Teach your monster to read Games for reception and Year 1 that make learning to read fun.

Participation and enrichment

Participation

Enrichment

Secondary

Learning resources

Maths

Teach It Maths
What: Maths, English, science, geography, history and languages whiteboard resources, presentations, activities and lessons plans.
Offering a tremendous wealth of resources covering most topics across the curriculum this site is not to be missed. You do have to register an account on the website in order to download the free resources, but it is free to do so.

NRich Maths 
NRich Maths project is created by Cambridge University and features Maths resources to enrich learning, including games and activities.

Participation and enrichment

Participation

Enrichment

Care leavers

Advice and guidance

Mental health

Kooth
Online mental well-being community. Free, safe and anonymous support.

BECOME
The charity BECOME have just set up a new helpline for care leavers looking for help and advice.

Sexual orientation & gender identity

Here are some general sites for all young people who think they might be lesbian, gay, bisexual or are questioning their sexual orientation, and/or who think they might be trans, non-binary or are questioning their gender identity.

Stonewall Youth
Stonewall Youth website, with helpful advice and information. If you need to talk to someone, you can also call the Stonewall information service on 08000 50 20 20

The Proud Trust
The Proud Trust are a charity who support LGBT+ youth. They have lots of help and advice for young people on their website.

Advice for trans and gender-diverse people

If you are questioning your gender identity, you might also want to look at these sites.

Mindline Trans+
Mindline Trans+ is a UK-wide helpline run by and for trans, non-binary, gender-diverse and gender-fluid people. They offer a confidential and non-judgemental listening service – just call 0300 330 5468 (Monday & Friday, 8pm-midnight). The service is also available for friends and families of trans+ people in need of support and advice. Calls are occasionally answered by cisgender allies.

Gendered Intelligence
Gendered Intelligence run projects for young people who identify as trans. Their Knowledge is Power resource is a great place to start educating yourself about trans people and trans issues. They also have information for parents and families, as well as for adults who work with young people (such as teachers and youth workers)

Sexual health

If you feel you are ready to be sexually active, sex education at school might not have provided you with much information about LGBT+ sex. Here are some good places to find information so you can stay safe.

The LGBT Foundation
The LGBT Foundation have lots of advice on lots of different topics. This is the main section of their website dedicated to sexual health, but further info is available throughout the site.

The Terrence Higgins Trust
The Terrence Higgins Trust have a section of their website dedicated to advising LGBT+ people about sex and sexual health.

Get It - Metro Sexual Health
Run by the charity, Metro, this site allows you to order free condoms and gives advice about sex and relationships. It isn’t specific to LGBT+ people but offers some good advice.