New head appointed to run Brighton and Hove Virtual School

A new head teacher has been appointed to run the Brighton and Hove Virtual School which caters for children in care and adopted children.

Mark Storey will take up the post in early August on a salary advertised as being between £55,000 and £60,000 a year.

Mr Storey, who graduated from Sheffield University with a physics degree 13 years ago, joins from Warrington where he was head of the Virtual School for Vulnerable Children.

He was appointed after being interviewed last week and replaces interim head Mary Hinton at the school which opened in 2010.

His boss, Pinaki Ghoshal, also previously worked in Warrington where he was the assistant director for children and young people’s services.

Mr Ghoshal joined Brighton and Hove City Council in July last year as director of children and young people’s services.

One of his key tasks is to help children in care and who are fostered or adopted to do better at school.

In a report last year the virtual school was responsible for 286 such children who were of school age. The council was then acting as corporate parent to 478 children in total.

On Monday 19 May a conference is taking place at the Amex Community Stadium – the home of Brighton and Hove Albion.

It offers “a multi-agency perspective on improving educational outcomes for children in care”.

The promotional blurb said: “Children in care deserve the same opportunity as every other child to do well in education but they often face greater challenges.

“This conference aims to bring together leaders and practitioners who can make a difference.

“The purpose of the day is to share research and best practice from across a range of professional disciplines.”

The main speaker is a former Sussex University academic Judy Sebba.

Professor Sebba is director of the Rees Centre for Research on Fostering and Education at the Oxford University.

She moved to Oxford in April 2012 from Sussex where she was director of research and knowledge exchange in the School of Education and Social Work.

Her background is in research in special educational needs, inclusion, professional development and improving the quality and use of research.