Pupil Premium Plus is a government grant to support and promote the education of children and young people in care. Each year, Pupil Premium Plus is allocated to Sutton Virtual School for each Sutton Child Looked After of school age to the value of £2345 to support their education.
Sutton Virtual School makes £600 of PP+ available for Children Looked After of statutory school age at each termly PEP for schools to use to support their learning needs. Schools are able to make requests to the Virtual School Headteacher for additional PP+ funding at the PEP meeting where a need is identified.
A school will receive a direct payment of £2345 each year for each Previously Looked After Child. It is up to schools how they choose to spend this grant and further guidance can be found on the Pupil Premium pages of the DfE website.
Frequently asked questions:
We are often asked whether Children Looked After can claim Free School Meal funding, given that they are in receipt of Pupil Premium Plus funding. The answer to this is no. Local Authorities provide the funding for school meals to the foster carer and therefore the expectation is that this funding is used to pay for school meals and therefore further funding is not provided.
Pupil Premium Toolkit
This Pupil Premium Plus Toolkit illustrates some examples of how PP+ can be used by schools to effectively support a Child Looked After.
The table below is only a summary of ideas for how PP+ funding can be used. For more information on the latest research based findings, please go to Teaching and Learning Toolkit | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
| Uses of Pupil Premium Plus funding | Example |
|---|---|
| Academic attainment | Providing one to one tuition Providing additional TA support Training key adults to be trauma and attachment aware in their practice Introducing phonics programme to schoolg Meta-cognition and self regulation Funding for SALT |
| Transition planning | Funding visits to higher or further education centres Funding an adult to take a year 6 student to visit new school and teachers Funding a key adult to spend time with a Year 2 student familiarising them to the change of environment ready for KS2 Funding a 'meet and greet' person when a child is in a new setting/classroom or other point of change |
| Wider achievement and extra-curricular learning outside the classroom | Supporting the cost of after school clubs Funding school enrichment activities Supporting the cost of trips and visits Supporting the cost of materials or equipment for high quality HW completion Providing home reading materials to extend learning beyond the classroom |
| Attendance and inclusion | Funding strategies to reduce anxiety - therapist - ESLA training for staff - Putting ‘drawing and talking’ in place - Funding staff to teach beyond classroom where attendance stopped - Funding time for regular meet and greets with key staff member throughout the day Funding to create a therapeutic safe space in school |
| Social, emotional and mental health | Funding staff training around mental health support Funding counselling provision Funding EP Funding social and emotional learning programme (targeted for greater impact) Funding mentoring support Funding extra-curricular activities |