Pupil Premium Plus: How to Use It Well in Foster Placements

When a child enters care, school outcomes can change overnight. New routines, unfamiliar adults, disrupted friendships and the shadow of trauma can make learning feel unsafe. Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) exists to counter that disruption. Used well, it funds practical, evidence-informed support that helps children in care feel secure, catch up academically and rebuild a love of learning. At Silver Lining Fostering Agency—a trusted Fostering Agency in Hounslow—we coach carers and schools to translate PP+ into real, measurable gains that show up in a child’s daily life, not just in their data.

What Pupil Premium Plus Is—and Why It Matters

Purpose and scope

PP+ is additional funding attached to eligible children in care and previously looked-after children, directed through the Virtual School Head and the child’s school to close attainment gaps. It recognises that adversity can disrupt education and that extra, ring-fenced resources are needed to rebuild progress. In practical terms, PP+ should underwrite the extras that a child in care needs to access learning on equal terms with their peers.

Principles that make PP+ work

The funding is most effective when the school and carer team agree one simple principle: PP+ follows the child’s needs, not adult preferences. It should be planned in the Personal Education Plan (PEP), delivered promptly, and reviewed against clear outcomes. With those guardrails, the money becomes a lever for stability, confidence and steady academic growth.

Who Decides How PP+ Is Spent?

Roles and responsibilities

The Virtual School Head oversees strategy and ensures spending aligns with need. The Designated Teacher coordinates support in school. The foster carer brings daily insight about what actually works at home. The social worker ensures the plan sits within the care plan. PP+ decisions are best made in PEP meetings where everyone is present, timelines are agreed, and success measures are plain English rather than jargon.

The Hounslow picture

In Hounslow and neighbouring West London boroughs, schools are accustomed to working with mobile populations and diverse needs. Silver Lining Fostering Agency helps our carers prepare for PEP meetings with concise observations, examples of what calms or triggers the child, and practical suggestions that fit local services. This shared preparation ensures PP+ requests are realistic, targeted and deliverable in local schools.

Turning PP+ Into Visible Support

Regulated tutoring that respects the timetable

Targeted tutoring works when it’s frequent, short and attached to a specific gap. Rather than generic “extra lessons,” we encourage schools to plan twelve-week tutoring blocks that begin with a baseline, teach one or two defined skills, and end with a re-check. Sessions need to avoid the same lesson slot each week so the child does not repeatedly miss a favourite subject, which can breed resentment and sabotage attendance.

Speech, language and communication as a foundation

Many children in care have unmet speech, language or communication needs that underlie reading, behaviour and social conflict. PP+ can purchase speech and language therapy assessments, the creation of a practical programme for school and home, and staff coaching so strategies are used consistently. Gains here ripple across every subject and reduce behaviour incidents by improving understanding and expressive ability.

Social, emotional and mental health supports

SEMH interventions only work if they happen before crisis, not during exclusion. With PP+, schools can fund ELSA-style mentoring, trauma-informed nurture groups, or time-limited counselling. We guide carers to report patterns we see at home—sleep disruption, avoidance before school, sensory triggers—so the SEMH plan matches the child’s real world. The aim is to build regulation skills and a safe adult network, not to reward misbehaviour or isolate the child from peers.

Reading recovery that goes beyond levels

If reading has stalled, PP+ should pay for diagnostic assessment, decodable texts at the right stage, daily reading routines and short phonics refreshers. Carers can use PP+ to secure e-books or audio-books for bedtime, replacing late-night scrolling with calm listening that subtly expands vocabulary and comprehension. The measure of success is not just a reading score but the child taking a book out without being prompted.

Attendance, punctuality and the morning bridge

Some children struggle most between waking and the classroom door. PP+ can fund breakfast club, a meet-and-greet with a trusted adult at the gate, or a short check-in/check-out routine that sets goals at 9am and celebrates effort at 3pm. Small adjustments at the start of the day prevent the domino run of lateness, missed learning and behaviour incidents.

Access to the curriculum: devices, software and quiet space

Learning is harder without the right tools. PP+ may fund a Chromebook, noise-reducing headphones, or subject-specific software. Equally important is a quiet homework routine at home. We help carers design a consistent half-hour study slot, with a timer, a drink and one adult nearby to coach rather than correct. When home routines and school expectations sync up, the child feels competent rather than policed.

Clubs, trips and the currency of belonging

PP+ is perfectly suited to enrichment—trips, clubs, sports kits, musical tuition—that build identity and peer relationships. We ask one simple question: “What would this child talk about on Monday?” Funding the school play, after-school football or science club is not an optional extra; it’s an investment in motivation, attendance and a sense that school is “for me”.

Planning and Recording PP+ in the PEP

From shopping list to strategy

A good PEP converts needs into actions. Instead of vague lines like “extra support for maths,” write “three twenty-minute numeracy sessions weekly, focusing on multiplication facts through manipulatives, starting the week of 14 October, with a baseline of 27/60. Review on 16 December.” This level of detail makes it easy to see what happened, what worked and what to change.

Evidence without bureaucracy

Schools worry about paperwork; carers worry about time. We simplify the loop with short updates: two sentences on attendance, one sentence on homework completion, one example of progress or difficulty. Over six weeks these notes form a clear picture. At Silver Lining Fostering Agency, we provide a one-page PEP companion sheet carers can complete on a phone in three minutes, ensuring the child’s voice and home observations are never lost.

Avoiding Common PP+ Pitfalls

Delayed spending and underspend

The most damaging mistake is treating PP+ as a year-end balancing figure. Interventions need to start early in the term, not after spring. If a service has a waiting list, secure a start date and add an interim strategy so the child receives support now rather than merely a promise.

Scattergun purchases

Buying tech without a plan leads to unused devices. Every purchase should be linked to a routine. If PP+ buys headphones, agree when they will be used, who supervises, and how to teach the child to request them. If funding a laptop, set a weekly homework slot, safeguarding rules, and digital literacy coaching.

One-person dependency

If an intervention relies on a single staff member, absence halts progress. Every PP+ plan needs a named primary and backup adult. Consistency is a safeguarding principle as much as a learning one.

Exclusion via intervention

Removing a child from the same curriculum slot every week can unintentionally increase gaps. Rotate intervention times and protect practical subjects the child enjoys. Motivation is a resource; don’t spend it casually.

Matching PP+ With Wider Support

Aligning with EHCPs and SEN Support

Where a child has an EHCP or is on SEN Support, PP+ should complement—not duplicate—what is already funded. If the EHCP funds in-class support, PP+ can add specialist input, training for staff or a precision-teaching programme at home. The PEP meeting is the place to spot overlap and ensure funding streams work together.

Training for carers and staff

PP+ can legitimately fund training when it is directly tied to the child’s needs. Trauma-informed strategies, de-escalation skills or reading-for-pleasure workshops give adults the confidence to act consistently. As your Fostering Agency in Hounslow, we curate short, high-impact modules and coach carers to translate theory into daily habits.

Preparing for transitions

School moves and key stage transitions are danger points. PP+ should fund an enhanced transition plan: extra visits to the new school, a passport of strategies that work, and a named adult who meets the child on the first day. A small spend here prevents a large loss in attendance and confidence later.

Measuring What Matters

Choosing the right markers

Attendance and attainment are essential, but they are lag indicators. We pair them with lead indicators such as homework completion, number of regulation incidents, and reading minutes per week. These can shift within a fortnight and give the team feedback fast enough to change course.

The review rhythm

A six-week review is ideal: long enough for change, short enough to pivot. In Hounslow schools, this aligns neatly with half-term cycles. Each review should ask three questions: what changed in the child’s day, what moved in the data, and what should we stop, start or continue?

The Child’s Voice at the Centre

Listening changes the plan

Children in care often tell us interventions feel like things done to them. We ask what would make school easier tomorrow. The answers are practical: a quiet seat near a friend, five minutes to settle after lunch, someone to check homework before it’s handed in. PP+ should buy solutions that make sense to the child, not just to the adults in the meeting.

Celebrating effort

Progress for a child in care is rarely linear. We teach schools to notice effort as well as outcomes and to celebrate small wins in public ways that don’t reveal care status. A postcard home from the headteacher or a star role in assembly can build momentum better than another worksheet.

A Hounslow Case Approach (Composite Illustration)

Starting point

A Year 6 pupil newly placed with a Silver Lining Fostering Agency carer in Hounslow arrives with low reading confidence, frequent lateness and lunchtime blow-ups. The PEP sets three aims: improve punctuality, rebuild reading fluency and reduce post-lunch incidents.

PP+ plan

The school uses PP+ to fund a breakfast club slot and a meet-and-greet at the gate, a twelve-week reading-fluency programme with decodable texts plus three weekly short sessions, and an ELSA check-in immediately after lunch. We coordinate a fifteen-minute evening reading routine with audio-books for nights when the child is too tired to read aloud.

Review outcome

After six weeks, lateness drops by two thirds, reading accuracy rises on the targeted set, and lunchtime incidents reduce from four a week to one. The plan advances to comprehension strategies and gradually fades the lunchtime check-in while keeping the breakfast club place through the transition to Year 7.

How Silver Lining Fostering Agency Helps You Use PP+ Well

Preparation and advocacy

We brief carers before PEPs, translate jargon into plain English, and draft suggested PP+ lines with timeframes and outcomes. Because we work with Hounslow schools regularly, we know what is feasible and who to contact to unblock a plan.

Daily routines that make funding work

We don’t stop at the meeting. Our supervising social workers help carers build micro-routines—reading warm-ups, homework prompts, morning checklists—so PP+ purchases get used and benefits are felt in the kitchen, not just on spreadsheets.

Evidence and reviews without overwhelm

We provide simple templates for fortnightly notes that capture progress and keep the whole team aligned. When the review arrives, everyone can see what changed and why.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

PP+ is most powerful when it funds timely, targeted support that the child understands and values. Keep the plan small and specific. Start early in the term. Review quickly and pivot without defensiveness. Above all, make sure the spending builds connection and confidence, because no intervention beats a relationship with a trusted adult.

If you’re a carer or school leader in West London and want practical help turning PP+ into daily progress, Silver Lining Fostering Agency is here to support you. As a specialist Fostering Agency in Hounslow, we work alongside local schools, Virtual Schools and families to plan, deliver and review PP+ so that children not only catch up, they flourish.

Ready to make PP+ count this term? Get in touch with Silver Lining Fostering Agency and let’s build a plan that works in real life—for the child, for the classroom and for your home.