Virtual School funding

In this section

Virtual School funding

Summary of available sources of funding.

Open each section below to find more information and apply for funding:

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

EYPP is automatically allocated to early years settings who have 2, 3 and 4 year old Children Looked After in their care.

You do not need to apply for EYPP. It is delivered termly with the Nursery Education Fund payment. It is to be used to support the child's learning and development whilst at the setting and will be discussed as part of the Personal Education Plan meeting. It cannot be used to pay for extra hours of attendance.

Further information on EYPP can be found here:

Pupil premium grant

The pupil premium grant is funding to:

improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England
support for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces, referred to as Service Pupil Premium (SPP)

This has been combined into pupil premium payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending. Pupils that the SPP intends to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of:

pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals, or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM)
children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria.

It can be used:

to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer
for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils

Apply

Further information can be found at:

Pupil premium plus (PP+)

Virtual school heads (VSHs) are responsible for:

promoting the educational achievement of all the children looked after by the local authority they work for
managingfunding for the children they look after and for allocating it to schools and alternative provision (AP) settings (these are places that provide education for children who can’t go to a mainstream school)
managing the
giving the premium to the early years providers that educate looked-after children (children in local-authority care) who are taking up the

Early years providers are any organisation that offers education for children aged under 5, including nurseries and childminders.

You can find more information in our:

These guides explain which children who are or have been in local-authority care attract the pupil premium and the EYPP.

Policy

View the policy here:

WVS Pupil Premium Plus Policy 2025 to 2026 (PDF)

30 hours funding for 2, 3 and 4 year olds

Children in foster care may be eligible for an additional 15 hours funded childcare making a total of 30 hours of childcare if it is consistent with their care plan and foster carers are in paid work outside of their role as a foster parent.

Social Workers and the Early Years Area Learning Advocate from ��Ƶ Virtual School must agree that it is beneficial for the child to attend for 30 hours.

Foster Carers can then complete the application form available from the Virtual School EY Learning Advocate.

��Ƶ Virtual School will liaise with the Early Years Funding Team to re-validate the funding eligibility code when necessary (typically every 3 months).