Information for parents and carers of children who have previously been in care and are now adopted or living with you under a special guardianship order or child arrangement order.
Annual School Census
Dear Parents and Guardians,
In January we will be completing our annual school census. The Pupil Premium Plus will be paid directly to schools for those pupils on roll who have left the care of a local authority in England or Wales immediately prior to being adopted, through a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) or a Child Arrangement Order (CAO – formerly known as a Residence Order). If your child has previously been in care and is now adopted or living with you under a special guardianship order or child arrangement order, the school is able to claim £2,345 each year to support the social, emotional and academic needs of this group of previously looked after children.
The process for the school to claim the Pupil Premium Plus is through self-declaration in early January. If you would like us to claim, you must declare your child/children’s status to the school before then.
The Department for Education requires you to provide evidence of your child’s status by sharing your adoption/special guardianship/child arrangement order or showing a letter from the local authority confirming that they placed your child with you. Please be reassured that this information will be treated in the strictest confidence and that names and details are not part of the census.
Please contact Miss Morgan at the infants or Mrs Evans at the Juniors should you wish to declare your child’s previously looked after status. Please be aware that you must declare your child’s status each time they move to a new school. If you have previously declared their status to us, you do not need to do so again.
How will funding be used?
It is important to understand that the funding is not attached directly to the child that attracts it. This gives the schools flexibility in determining how the Pupil Premium Plus can best support this group of children. For instance, examples of approved spending are that it might be used for whole staff training on attachment or other areas, additional support at unstructured times of the day, interventions such as ELSA or other group work, the use of additional teachers in classes to give more quality first teaching, to provide nurturing opportunities during the school day, or additional support after school at homework club. These are just a few examples of how this can be used. The Federation makes the decision based on the needs of the children overall. We are transparent about how we spend our Pupil Premium Plus funding and this can be viewed in our annual Pupil Premium report on our website.
The information you provide us will only be used for Pupil Premium Plus purposes only. If you would like school staff to know about your child’s previously looked after status so they are better able to understand and support them please contact Mrs Coy. She is our Designated Teacher for previously looked after children and will be happy to discuss how to support your child within school. Alternatively, if you would prefer, you can contact a member of the senior leadership team or the school office. Please email the school office or call in if your child has previously been in care and is now adopted or living with you under a special guardianship order or child arrangement order.
Yours sincerely
Joanna Pedlow