When my husband and I were finally approved as foster parents for the 16-18 age bracket, we had a very idealistic view of the support that the teenagers who came to us would need. Nothing prepared us for the stories we would hear, the young people’s own expectations of themselves and the inappropriate behaviour that had become normalised.

I am a headteacher in a state infant school and, though I work in a challenging area with a lot of disadvantage, being a foster mum really showed be the true reality for some of our young people. 

My experience as a foster carer has heavily influenced the way I run our school. While the system’s focus is on the data gap, and although teachers might be able to recite the names of the vulnerable children in our classes, how well do we know them? How deep does the rabbit hole go, and have we investigated and tried enough?

Here are some of the things I now believe should form the basic foundation of our approach to vulnerable children in school.

Find out the child’s history

Vulnerable children often move about, so have a conversation with previous schools, teachers and special educational needs and disabilities coordinators. Don’t rely on the paperwork - ring around; the schools may have a viewpoint that is easier to gain from a discussion. If a child is in foster care, ensure that the carers are involved in the school and talk to them regularly - formally and informally. Sometimes it is the everyday and mundane details that really count: a special interest can be a hook for learning. Children themselves hold the key. What do they think they are good at? What do they want help with? What motivates them and what is their passion?

Plug the gaps

We recently had a child in care, who was meeting the expected standard for her age, join our school in Year 2. When we had a conversation with her previous school, we discovered her attendance in foundation stage and Year 1 was less than 50 per cent. With targeted one-to-one tuition to fill the gaps in her learning, she went on to exceed age-related expectations. It is never too late to do this.

One of my own foster children told me she hadn’t taken her Year 10 mocks, as her parent had told her there was no point because she wouldn’t ever pass her GCSEs. Her maths skills were shocking, so we took it back to basics, doing lots of cooking at home and focusing on basic number skills, such as ordering numbers and practical fractions. With a stable home life, support from the school and tuition funded by our local virtual school, she raised her grade from an E to a C within six months. Going back to basics can be really valuable at secondary.

Build resilience

Sometimes vulnerable students appear as tough as old boots; it is certainly easier to act the fool than the failure. Look beyond this facade and build opportunities to overcome failure. This does not have to be too contrived. Our school has implemented weekly Forest School sessions for all children, giving them opportunities to work together by building dens or identifying trees, and to learn new skills such as whittling and weaving. One of my own foster children has become an avid ice skater and I’ll never forget her telling me: “College is like ice skating: when you fall down, you just have to get back up and try again.”

The writer has decided to remain anonymous to protect the identity of the children. She is a headteacher in Kent

This is an edited version of an article in the 27 April edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s Tes magazine is available at all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here.