“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

Matthew 25 v 35-36

For information about the use of Pupil Premium at Sacred Heart Secondary, please download our reports:

Pupil Premium Plus

Each local authority in England is required to appoint a Virtual School Head to promote the educational attainment of children in the care of their local authority. Virtual School Heads currently receive Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) funding of £2,570 per child in care, aged 4 to 15. This is used to provide both individual support that a child needs, as identified in their Personal Education Plan, and for the cohort as a whole. This funding ceases when the child reaches the age of 16, but Virtual School Head duties and the need for bespoke support continue for as long as the child is in care.

This funding will provide support to local authorities in England for expenditure lawfully incurred or to be incurred by them to extend support to looked-after children and care leavers at post-16. This will build an evidence base of best practice which will inform any future support for this cohort of young people.

Because pupil premium plus is designed to support children in care, or children who have previously been in care, who may have experienced early life trauma, it can be spent in a range of ways to benefit pupils. Normally carers and guardians are consulted, along with key agencies and stakeholders, in deciding how the funding is spent to support your child. As well as paying for direct support for academic needs, the funding can be invested in supporting children’s social and emotional needs.

Pupil premium plus can be spent on:

• practical adjustments to support children with attainment at school
• support for children’s academic, social and emotional needs
• training teaching and support staff

This additional funding is only eligible for students who:

• Left care under a Residential Order on or after 14 October 1991 (under the Children Act 1989)
• Left care under a Special Guardianship Order on or after 30 December 2005 (under the Children Act 1989)
• Were adopted from care on or after 30 December 2005 (under the Adoption and Children Act 2002)

If your child fits into any of the above categories and you are willing to let the School know that this is the case, please contact either your child’s Pupil Engagement Officer or e-mail [email protected] giving the name and form group of the student concerned as soon as possible. You will then be contacted and asked to provide supporting evidence, i.e. the Adoption (Court) Order. In order to claim the funding for the next financial year the School needs to include this information in the census return that they send to the DfE in January each year.

Pupil Premium Plus funding is not ring-fenced, and is not for individual children. It is designed to provide specific support to raise attainment and address the wider needs of children in this vulnerable group. Children who have spent time “in care” have usually experienced grief and loss, many have had traumatic experiences in their early lives caused by abuse or neglect and this can have a lasting impact even after many years of adoption in a loving home. National statistics show that children in care face unique challenges at school and often struggle to keep up with their peers. It is vital that they are given the targeted support they need and the education they deserve to help them get on in life.

There is no obligation for you to share this information with us, but doing so will help both your child and the School benefit from this substantial additional funding. If you would like a confidential conversation about how this information will be held in school, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Hartley.