Virtual school heads are tasked with overseeing the education of looked-after children - the most vulnerable pupils of all, according to ministers.

This week the National Association of Virtual School Heads (NAVSH) holds its annual conference, at which children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi and children’s commissioner Anne Longfield are due to speak.

What are the main issues facing virtual school heads? Here’s what you need to know:

Who are virtual school heads?

Virtual school heads promote the educational achievement of the children who are looked after by the local authority they work for.

They also manage pupil premium plus funding, which is an extra payment that schools receive for each looked-after child, and previously looked-after child, on their roll. 

Sounds like a tough job - do they feel supported?

Some would say no. Despite having their roles expanded last year under the Children and Social Work Act 2017, virtual heads say their budgets are tightening in line with the financial pressures felt across local government.

Some headteachers fear these cuts have put the whole role of the VSH - and the education of the children they work with - in jeopardy. 

Does that mean schools and virtual heads have a difficult relationship?

In many parts of the country, VSHs and headteachers say they work well together to help looked-after children overcome barriers.

However, in other areas, relationships are strained. Schools North East - a group of headteachers - recently criticised the “bureaucracy” created by VSHs, and said most have “no experience of senior school leadership roles”. 

NAVSH hit back, saying schools needed to be more transparent about how they were spending Pupil Premium Plus money.

But in some rural and coastal areas, headteachers are at loggerheads with VSHs over whether their school should have to accept particular pupils.

Why would a school refuse to accept a looked-after child?

Headteachers in deprived parts of Kent argue that too many children are being moved to their areas from London, due to a shortage of foster carers in the capital.

They say their areas are notorious for gang activity, which places these children, who are already vulnerable, at high risk of being dragged into drugs and sexual exploitation.

But VSHs say that children are even more vulnerable if they find themselves waiting months for a school place.

As Tes has highlighted, some pupils are being left without a full-time school place for nearly a year after having in-year applications rejected.

And there are also concerns that some schools simply don’t want to take on children who may affect their position in league tables - a charge that headteachers have strongly denied.

But aren’t looked-after children supposed to be prioritised in school admissions?

Yes, but local authorities have no power to force academies to accept pupils in-year.

And some headteachers have blocked attempts by the Department for Education to compel them to accept pupils, for the reasons above.

What’s being done about this?

At a recent Commons Education Select Committee meeting, MPs discussed the delays faced by looked-after children applying to schools during the academic year, referring to Tes’ findings.

Mr Zahawi, who was appearing before the committee, said he was looking “very seriously” at the “education availability for looked-after children and their attainment”.