Pupil Premium Advice for parents and carers

PP+ is the additional funding which school receive to support cared for children on their role. In Tameside this is £600 per cared for child each half term. Part of the role of the Virtual School and College is to support schools in ensuring that their use of pupil premium plus is effective and appropriate.

Pupil Premium Plus is awarded to schools upon completion of a satisfactory PEP document, which outlines how the funding will be spent and what impact it will have. Schools are obliged to demonstrate that their use of the funding will help to bridge any gaps in attainment and accelerate progress of that individual child. The aim is to make sure that cared for children are not disadvantaged by their circumstances and that the costs of interventions does not prevent a school from implementing strategies which would help a cared for child realise their potential. The pupil premium plus should be used to go above and beyond the schools normal offer to its students. However, in the first instance, it should always be used to address any gaps between targets and academic performance.

We trust our schools to make the best use of pupil premium as they know the academic strengths and difficulties of the children in their care the best, however, there may be times when the virtual school are not able to award funding for a particular initiative. This would usually be the case if a school is unable to demonstrate how the initiative will have impact and how it will affect the cared for child’s outcomes.

If you have suggestions for school about how you think the pupil premium plus funding could be used to support your child, discuss it with your child’s school at their PEP meeting.

Some examples of how pupil premium funding may be spent are:
 

• To purchase learning resources including electronic devices for a cared for child to complete work at home.
• To fund 1:1 tuition in subjects where there are identified weaknesses.
• To fund emotional wellbeing support where this has been identified as a barrier to learning.
• To fund music lessons or contribute towards a musical instrument.
• To pay for specialist intervention in literacy or maths.

The list is endless and we are willing to consider anything, provided there is evidence of need and impact which can be directly linked to educational outcomes.