Spending the Pupil Premium Plus
How can the Pupil Premium Plus be used in schools?
Pupil Premium Plus funding is paid directly to the school for previously looked-after children whereas for children looked-after, funding comes to the school via the virtual school.
Statutory guidance explains that PPP should not be ring-fenced for individual children, unless there is only one eligible child in the school. In all other cases, funding may be combined to provide maximum impact for all eligible children within each school to address the wider needs of all children in receipt of Pupil Premium Plus.
In a recent survey of adoptive parents (Adoption UK, July 2019), 65% of respondents felt that their child's school was not being transparent in the way that it uses this fund and 59% did not feel that the funds were being used appropriately. As a school, you will be held accountable by Ofsted for decisions made about funding. Schools must demonstrate that the social, emotional and educational needs of each eligible child are being met through the fund. Your school should also publish details of how the Pupil Premium Plus funding is spent on your school website.
The designated teacher and other senior members of staff, often in consultation with the school’s Educational Psychologist, are involved in decisions about how to use the funding. Adoption UK advise that since parents are the experts on their children, they should also be involved in this partnership with educational professionals to bring their expertise to bear so that children get the best and most appropriate support available in school.
The adoption agency PAC-UK provides a useful list of suggestions for how the Pupil Premium Plus grant might be spent to provide nurture; scaffold children's social skills and peer relationships; support emotional literacy and emotion regulation; support children with transitions and change; develop children’s executive functioning skills and address barriers to information sharing and joint working in schools.