Pupil premium plus (PP+) funding is additional funding provided by the government to support the education of looked after children. The funding is managed by the Virtual School Head and the Virtual School Education Officers work with the school and the child's social worker to decide how it should be used to best support the child's learning.

In Herefordshire, £600 can be requested per child per school through the PEP document. This is discussed and agreed at the PEP meeting. Additional funding can be requested by the school where there is a particular need.

PP+ is provided to schools upon completion of a Good PEP document, which outlines how the funding will be spent and what impact it will have.

Schools have to show that their use of the funding will help to bridge any gaps in attainment and accelerate progress of the individual child. The aim is to make sure that 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 child realise their potential. The pupil premium plus should be used to go above and beyond the school's 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 challenges of the children in their care the best. However, there may be times when the Virtual School may not able to agree funding for a particular initiative if a school is unable to demonstrate how the initiative will have impact and how it will positively affect the 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 the group at the child's PEP meeting.

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

• To buy learning resources
• 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

Other requests can be considered, provided there is evidence of need and impact which can be directly linked to positive educational outcomes for a child.