Pupil Premium Plus

Making the Most of Pupil Premium Plus

April is the month in which Pupil Premium Plus funding is given to schools, local authorities and virtual schools across England. But what is this funding for, and how can it be put to good use?

Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) is allocated to support the educational achievement of looked-after and previously looked-after children, including adopted children. It currently stands at £2410 per year, per eligible child.

While PP for looked-after children is administered by the virtual school in each local authority, the PP+ for previously looked-after children goes directly to schools. Part of the new statutory duties for Designated Teachers for Previously Looked-After Children includes involvement in planning for the use of PP+, and supporting parents and carers to be part of the decision-making process.

There is an important distinction between Pupil Premium, which is designed to overcome the difficulties caused by economic disadvantage, and PP+, which aims to address disadvantages caused by adverse early experiences, time in the care system, and the impact of missed education, trauma and ongoing challenges faced by children who can no longer live with their birth families.

We asked some of our members how PP+ had successfully been used to help their adopted child or children in school.  Here is what they told us:

• Using PP+ to pay for a child’s therapist to come into school and train members of staff so that the school could work as a team with the parents and therapist to meet the child’s complex needs.
• Putting ‘drawing and talking’ in place for an adopted 6-year-old who carries a lot of anxiety because of the difficulties and challenges faced by her older brother.
• Funding a one-to-one learning support assistant which has enabled an adopted child with complex needs to continuing attending his mainstream school while the search for a suitable special school goes on.
• Providing training in attachment and trauma for all school staff.
• Using PP+ to pay for a 5-day summer school programme at a child’s new school to help them with the transition before starting there in year 7.
• Funding a key person to ‘meet and greet’ a child with severe separation anxiety at the start of the school day.
• Providing extra staff support during breakfast club so that the child has an easier transition to the start of the school day.
• Enabling a teenager to participate in extra-curricular sporting activities that boost her self-esteem and increase her sense of inclusion and belonging to the school community.
• Purchasing games and sensory activities that children can use at playtime to support them into structured play and minimise disruption

Early Years Pupil Premium

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is additional funding for early years pre-school settings to improve the education they provide for disadvantaged 3 and 4 year olds including, but not restricted to, those adopted from care.

The funding goes directly to registered early years providers (including pre-schools, nurseries and childminders) that offer children the free education entitlement.

What it pays for?

Funding equates to £302 per child per year (pro-rata for children who access less than the full free early years entitlement) and early years providers can choose how they use the money to improve the quality of provision they offer. For instance, they could:

• Pool the Early Years Pupil Premium to purchase shared services such as an Early Years Graduate or Speech and Language Therapist
• Provide additional training for staff
• Enhance speech and language development initiatives

                         Who is eligible?

Early Years Pupil Premium can be claimed by the early education provider if a child at their setting is accessing free early education and the child is:

• aged 3 or 4 (but not 4 year-olds in reception class at school)
• living in England
• has left care under an adoption order or a special guardianship order or a residence order/child arrangements order

The nursery or pre-school settings will ask parents to self-declare that their child meets the eligibility for the Early Years Pupil Premium. It is not compulsory, but it helps the provider if parents are willing to provide this information. The provider will need to see supporting evidence of the child’s eligibility, usually a copy of the adoption court order (any sensitive information can be obscured).

For further information on childcare support and choices click on the following link www.childcarechoices.gov.uk