Darren Martindale

Darren Martindale (BA, PGCE, MA) is a Service Manager for Vulnerable Learners for City of Wolverhampton Council, which includes the role of Virtual School Head for Looked after Children (LAC) as well as strategic leadership of inclusion, attendance and elective home education.
He has 18 years of experience in this area of work, having spent several years as a secondary teacher beforehand. As a virtual head and former Chair of the West Midlands Network of Virtual School Heads, he has worked with Ofsted on raising their awareness of the needs of LAC and disadvantaged pupils, and written contributions to DfE statutory guidance in this area. Darren also writes regularly on inclusion for education publications such as SecEd, Headteacher Update and TES, as well as authoring training courses for publishers such as Anspear.
In recognition of his support for the inclusion agenda both locally and nationally, he was recognised as an ‘Outstanding City Ambassador’ by the City of Wolverhampton Council in 2018.