/ Schools Forum / Item 5 /
/ 9 July 2014 /
/ Pupil Premium – changes from April 2014 /
/ Report of the Director of Children’s Services /
Contact: Derek Myers 01962-835227
1 Summary
1.1 This report details the changes to the way in which the looked after child element of the pupil premium grant will be managed from April 2014 now that responsibility sits with the Virtual School Head.
1.2 Schools forum are being asked to the support the proposed approach.
2 Background
2.1 The pupil premium grant was introduced in 2011/12. The grant is made up of 3 elements; deprivation (FSM), service children and looked after children.
2.2 The purpose of the Pupil Premium Grant for LAC is to improve the educational outcomes for LAC. They key indicators of this are the proportion of LAC who attain 5 GCSEs A-C including English and mathematics in Year 11, Level 4+ in English and mathematics in Year 6 and Level 2+ in reading, writing and mathematics in Year 2.
2.3 Pre 2014/15 the looked after child element funding was based on children who had been in care for 6 months or more as recorded on the Children Looked after Data Return (SSDA903).
2.4 Previously it was compulsory for Local authorities to make a payment to a mainstream school or Academy for each of their eligible looked after children who are on the roll of that school. It was however up to local authorities to determine how to distribute this and Hampshire (with agreement from schools forum) decided to allocate on a termly basis to ensure funding followed the child.
3 Changes from April 2014
3.1 The Children & Families Act received Royal ascent on 13 March 2014 making the role of the Virtual School Head statutory.
3.2 On 20 February 2014 the Conditions of Grant for the Pupil Premium 2014 to 2015 were published. As of 1 April 2014 the pupil premium for LAC does not have to be directly passported to schools and is to be managed by the virtual school head.
3.3 The amount per LAC is increasing from £900 to £1,900. This is based on the number of children looked after for one day as recorded in the March 2014 Children Looked after Data Return (SSDA903) and aged 4 to 15 as at 31 August 2013.
3.4 The Virtual School Head is responsible for ensuring the grant is allocated and used for the benefit of the looked after child’s educational needs as described in their Personal Education Plan (PEP). The Virtual School Head must ensure there are arrangements in place to discuss with the child’s education setting, usually with the designated teacher, how the child will benefit from any pupil premium funding.
3.5 The Virtual School is permitted to hold funds centrally, however, any grant held centrally that has not been spent by 31 March 2015 will have to be repaid to the DfE.
3.6 The Pupil Premium Grant will now also include an element for ‘post-LAC’. This includes pupils recorded on the January 2014 school census who were looked were looked after immediately before being adopted on or after 30 December 2005, or were placed on a Special Guardianship or Residence Order immediately after being looked after. A child should be recorded on the January census following information from the parent or guardian. The amount per child is £1,900 and must be paid annually.
3.7 The ‘post-LAC’ element is outside of the remit of the Virtual School Head but included in this paper for information purposes.
4 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
4.1 The DfE have also published “Pupil Premium and the role of the Virtual School Head 2014 -15: frequently asked questions” (March 2014) which provides additional detail and clarification. The following excerpts are pertinent;
· The conditions of grant state that virtual school heads should manage pupil premium funding. It is therefore for the Virtual School Head to decide how the pupil premium for looked after children is managed. That is an important part of how the Virtual School Head complies with the duty under the Children Act 1989 to promote the educational achievement of the children looked after by the authority.
· There is, however, a strong expectation that virtual school heads will pass on pupil premium funding onto a child’s education setting to be used to meet additional needs set out in his or her Personal Education Plan. That can be passed to the school on a termly or annual basis.
· It is for the Virtual School Head to decide whether to provide £1900 to a school for a looked after child or a higher or lower amount.
· It may be appropriate to pool some pupil premium for activities to benefit the authority’s looked after children more holistically. For example, it might be appropriate to use this funding to provide training for a group of designated teachers across the authority. Equally, a virtual school head might negotiate with a school regarding pooling pupil premium funding for looked after children with the school’s pupil premium to provide an enhanced and more intensive package of support for disadvantaged children generally.
· Pupil premium is additional funding provided to raise the achievement of looked after pupils and close the achievement gap. It is not intended to fund posts that should be the responsibility of local authorities as a corporate parent.
· There may be instances where some pupil premium funding can be used to support the work of a person where it can be very clearly demonstrated that their role has a significant contribution to promoting the educational achievement of the children looked after by the authority. That role could, for example, involve working with schools to raise the quality of learning targets in a child’s Personal Education Plan.
· Pupil premium should not be used to fund central services that would reasonably be expected to be funded by local authorities, to comply with their duty to promote the educational achievement of the children they look after… virtual school heads are responsible for managing the efficient use of pupil premium funding for the purpose it has been provided. They will therefore need to demonstrate a direct link between spending and raising standards of achievement for the children looked after by their authority, wherever they are placed.
4.2 The FAQs also address the question of accountability for the use and impact of the pupil premium on achievement of looked after children stating that virtual school heads are responsible for making sure there are effective arrangements in place for allocating pupil premium funding to benefit children looked after by their authority. That means:
· making sure that pupil premium funding for looked after children is spent effectively and fully and any under spend needs to be returned to the Department at the end of the financial year;
· being able to demonstrate how pupil premium funding managed by the virtual school head is linked to raising achievement for looked after children and closing the gap between their achievement and that of their peers; and
· having arrangements in place to engage with the looked after child’s school (usually with the designated teacher) about how pupil premium funding allocated to the school is contributing to meet the needs identified in his/her Personal Education Plan.
4.3 The FAQs are clear that schools are accountable for the educational attainment and progress of all disadvantaged pupils who attract pupil premium on their roll, through Ofsted inspections and KS2/KS4 school performance tables. Virtual school heads and others involved in Personal Education Plans will want a constructive dialogue with schools about how best to support looked after children using the pupil premium.
4.4 In terms of the virtual school the FAQs refer to the Ofsted framework for the inspection of children looked after services which states that, as part of the performance information required, the inspector will ask for the annual report of the virtual school head. Consequently the DfE expect that to include information about how the pupil premium has been managed and the impact it has made.
5 The Hampshire Issue
5.1 Feedback from our recent Ofsted inspection indicates that whilst the provision the LA makes to promote the educational achievement of looked after children is good the proportion of young people attaining 5 GCSEs A-C including English and mathematics remains too low.
5.2 Despite improvements in attainment and progress at Key Stage 1 & 2 and improvements in progress in English and mathematics between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 the attainment of LAC in terms of 5 GCSEs A-C including English and mathematics remains below the national average and below our expectations.
6 Proposal
6.1 The proposal for Hampshire is to top slice the pupil premium to fund the strategies outlined below to improve education outcomes of LAC.
6.2 Improving education planning in order to secure good education outcomes.
a) Commission additional inspectors/officers to work with schools and social workers, in PEP meetings, to improve the quality of personal education planning in order to secure improved school attendance, progress and attainment. They will do this by challenging and supporting schools and social workers in the PEP meeting, to have high expectations of the child and themselves, to improve their needs identification, the quality of their assessment of the child, the learning targets they set and the interventions and support they provide. In so doing they will also assure that the pupil premium is used effectively and sign it off on behalf of the Virtual School.
b) The Virtual School inspectors/officers will also review remotely all PEP reviews and provide, where necessary, feedback to schools and social workers to ensure further improvements. The positions will focus on improving personal education planning in order to improve education outcomes.
c) Create a position of Deputy Head of Virtual School Service/Pupil Premium Manager who will work with schools and social workers in PEPs and will provide training to school staff and social workers. The proportion of the costs of this role related to this activity will be funded from the Pupil Premium Grant.
6.3 The pupil premium gives us the opportunity to continue with centrally organised interventions that we know benefit our looked after children more holistically such as the Transition Project and the Paired Reading and Phonographix Projects.
6.4 We will use the Pupil Premium Grant to provide Paired Reading and Phonographix support to primary age LAC and support to Year 6 LAC on their transition to secondary school.
6.5 In addition the Pupil Premium Grant will fund HEPs provision to support schools; such as bookable consultations.
6.6 The Senior Inspector Inclusion/Hampshire Virtual School Headteacher has consulted with Hampshire Primary Headteachers Executive, Hampshire Secondary Education Leaders Executive and with the chair and a representative of Hampshire Special Schools Headteacher Executive to brief them on the new arrangements for the LAC Pupil Premium and to ask them if there are any projects they would like to develop with the Virtual School. Consequently the Virtual School will work with special school colleagues to develop intervention targeted at special school pupils and to review PEP arrangements in light of the single Education health and Care Plan.
7 Financial implications
7.1 It is estimated based on the most recent data that Hampshire will receive £1.748m in pupil premium for LAC in 2014/15. This figure is based on 920 children and young people being in care for at least 1 day during the year. The return is submitted to the DfE in the summer however the final confirmation of our allocation from the DfE will not be until October 2014.
7.2 Schools will continue to receive £1983 per LAC in DSG funding included within their budget share. This total £1.235m for all LAC educated in Hampshire schools.
7.3 Schools will receive £1,500 pupil premium per Hampshire LAC, an increase of £600 compared to 2013/2014. Hampshire will retain £400 pupil premium which would provide a resource of £368,000 to provide the support and intervention set out in the table below.
7.4
/£000
Training/Toolkit/other activity
/30
Paired Reading
/35
Transitition programme
/15
Other activity
/33
2 PEP officers
/120
HIAS Inspectors/School workforce
/120
Work relating to pupil premium manager
/15
Total
/368
7.5 Schools will continue to be funded on a termly basis. In 2014/15 this is £600 for the summer, £500 for the autumn and £400 for the Spring. Initial termly payments will be made to schools based on those in care at the beginning of term and then a further payment will also be made at the end of the term in order to fund any children who have since been taken into care.
7.6 Regardless of when the child is taken into care a full term’s funding will be allocated. The arrangements for re-distributing funding, should a child leave part way through the term and join another school, is still a local decision between the schools involved.
7.7 Each virtual school will make their own arrangements for the pupil premium grant for LAC and we will ensure that Hampshire schools are aware of this. It is obvious from discussions with virtual school heads around the country that arrangements vary widely, for example, some virtual schools are passporting £1,900 per LAC to schools where as some are holding back more than £1,000 of the premium. Similarly, some virtual schools are considering not providing pupil premium for LAC attending special schools because the statementing process and the related funding allocation ensure that special schools receive all the funding necessary to ensure that they educate the child, meet their needs and ensure they attain good education outcomes. Hampshire is not currently considering this.