Children in care are among the most vulnerable in our society. Too often they face significant challenges that can make success harder to achieve. Yet we also know how transformative the right support can be. When schools and colleges get it right, children in care can thrive and reach their potential.
That’s why our renewed education inspection framework puts inclusion front and centre. Inspectors specifically evaluate how well schools and colleges support children known to social care in every part of the inspection toolkit.
To deepen our understanding of how mainstream schools and colleges are supporting the learning and wellbeing of children in care, in spring and summer 2025, the research team visited providers and spoke with children in care about their experiences at school and college. The researchers also spoke with senior leadership teams, school and college staff, parents, carers, social workers and representatives from virtual schools.
We wanted to understand their views about the support schools and colleges provided and how it helped children in care to have positive experiences in education, as well as helping them to make progress. We also spoke with school and college staff, and professionals and carers, to understand their perspectives.
In this blog, we highlight the key themes that emerged – areas that school and college leaders may find especially valuable to reflect on as they continue working to improve outcomes for children in care.
What the research found
While every child’s experience is unique, several consistent themes emerged from our research.
Schools and colleges that took time to understand each child’s circumstances and strengths, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, were able to put the right support in place at the right time.
Many providers prioritised emotional and social well-being. Children told us how important it was to have safe spaces and trusted adults they could turn to when things felt overwhelming.
Learning interventions aligned with individual needs, such as one-to-one tutoring and small group teaching, helped children in care to make progress. High-quality personal education plans (PEPs) with tailored targets had a significant impact for learners.
Effective communication, both within schools and colleges and with partners like carers, social workers and virtual schools, was essential to timely and effective support. This helped ensure everyone involved in the child’s life understood their needs and could respond quickly when things changed.
Careful planning for transitions, whether moving within or between schools, into further education or between care placements, were important to help learners successfully navigate moves.
Support was most effective when staff were well trained to understand the needs of care experienced children. Leaders who invested in specialist professional development, particularly in understanding the needs of care-experienced children, were better equipped to create supportive environments.
The full findings can be found in our report: How schools and colleges support the academic and personal progress of children in care.
Why this matters
Children in care often told us that school or college is the most stable part of their lives. When they have access to trusted adults, tailored help with their learning, and emotional support, they can flourish.
‘I feel mainly just the staff they do everything to help. And if you got any problems, no matter if it’s at home or at school or it’s anything like that, I feel you can go straight to them and just talk about it and they’ll help with it.’
Secondary school learner
Our renewed education framework ensures that these factors are considered carefully during inspection, so that every child, whatever their circumstances, has the best possible chance to succeed. This is about more than compliance. It’s about ensuring inspections reflect the lived experiences of children and hold providers to account for the quality and consistency of support they offer.
We encourage school and college leaders to read our report and to reflect on how they support children known to social care. Many children in care already benefit from great support and we would like to see this more widely so that being in care does not mean being left behind.