The Virtual School: Pupil Premium Plus

Pupil Premium Plus (abbreviated to PPP) refers to additional funding that we receive and use to support the education of Children in Care. Part of the duty of our Virtual School Headteacher is to ensure this grant funding is used effectively to support the educational outcomes for our children. For the 2024 to 25 financial year, this amounts to £2,570 per child.

The Virtual School's use of Pupil Premium Plus

In West Berkshire, our Virtual School uses Pupil Premium Plus funding in two ways:

• retained funding is used to provide centralised support such as educational psychology services, the Emotional Health Academy and Attendance support - this is done at a council-level and our Virtual School team can support schools in referring into our retained services
• core funding is allocated to schools for specific academic interventions on a needs-led basis - our commitment to schools is that each child may receive £500 per term (£1,500 per academic year) to support their needs

Conditions of expenditure for schools

Pupil Premium Plus must be used to meet the specific needs listed in a child's Personal Education Plan (PEP). It is also important that PPP is used to fund short-term needs. Where a child has longer-term needs, these should be addressed through an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) application.

Although we will aim to approve most requested for funding, requests need to adhere to the below criteria.

Pupil Premium Plus may be used to fund:

• 1 to 1 tuition
• 1 to 1 teaching assistant support
• ELSA (emotional literacy) support
• literacy and numeracy Interventions
• revision guides
• books to encourage reading or that build on the work done in the classroom
• Settling to Learn Interventions (for example: 'Draw and Talk')
• music lessons through Berkshire Maestros, or an independent provider who has undergone appropriate safeguarding checks
• mentoring for learning or behaviour
• a laptop and relevant software, including web-safety
• alternative provision as a means of reducing the risk of exclusion (where the costs would not be covered by an EHCP)
• alternative settings to provide access to examinations (for example: after a sudden change in home placements)

Pupil Premium Plus may not ordinarily be used to fund:

• transport costs
• school uniform
• school equipment
• 1 to 1 teaching assistants used by the whole class
• school trips which are funded through the foster carer allowance
• extracurricular activities which are funded through the foster carer allowance (for example: cubs, scouts, girl guides, youth club, theatre club, football club)
• therapy (for example: art therapy, play therapy, psychotherapy) - these need to go through Children's Services to ensure the right person is appointed and the intervention is monitored through a care plan
• school interventions that could be accessed anyway (for example: homework club, revision classes)
• provision that should be covered by an EHCP, where a child has one

Our full Pupil Premium Plus policy can be found below.