Pupil premium plus funding

The purpose of pupil premium, for looked after children or previously looked after children (children that have been adopted or on a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) or Child Arrangement Order (CAO), is to offer ‘over and above’ what any other child might expect to receive at home and school in order to narrow the attainment gap between looked after children or previously looked after children and their peers. 

The current annual amount per child for school aged looked after children and previously looked after children is £2,345 per child (£302 for 3 and 4 year olds).

Local authorities may not carry forward funding held centrally into the financial year 2022 to 2023. Centrally-held pupil premium that has not been spent, or allocated to the child’s education setting, by 31 March will be recovered.

Previously looked after children pupil premium

Funding for previously looked after children will go directly to schools and education providers, as long as carers or parents have declared the previously looked after status to the school before the school completes their census.

Looked after children pupil premium

Each local authority’s Virtual School Head receives the allocated pupil premium for looked after children and this must be used for the benefit of a looked after child’s educational needs, as described in their personal education plan (PEP).

The Virtual School Head should ensure there are arrangements in place to discuss how the child will benefit from pupil premium funding with the designated teacher, or another member of staff in the child’s education setting who best understands their needs. Processes for allocating funds to a child’s education setting should be as simple as possible to avoid delay.

At Trafford Virtual School we use some of the pupil premium for centralised resources as well as allocating a notional amount to directly fund children and young people. 

Accessing pupil premium

If a resource is required in order to meet identified outcomes within the PEP these can be requested through the Virtual School Resource Panel which takes place on the first Wednesday of each month.