What is Pupil Premium funding?

Pupil Premium (PP) was introduced by the Government in April 2011. The aim of the Pupil Premium Grant is to raise achievement among disadvantaged pupils.

The Pupil Premium Grant Conditions state the Pupil Premium is allocated as follows:

• Children known to be eligible for free school meals in any of the previous six years - £1,550.
• Looked after children and those who have been looked after, defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority - £2,690.
• Children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order - £2,690.
• Families with parents in the armed forces in any of the previous five years - £360.

Schools have the freedom to spend the budget in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for these pupils. Our Pupil Premium Strategy is informed by the Department for Education's Pupil Premium: Allocations and Conditions of Grant and by evidence published by the Education Endowment Foundation, particularly Using Pupil Premium: Guidance for School Leaders, the Teaching and Learning Toolkit and A School's Guide to Implementation. The strategy is also informed by analysis of our own attainment, attendance, behaviour and pastoral data.

Our Principles

• We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils. The funding is used to ‘diminish the differences’ between the achievement of these pupils and their peers.
• We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed.  In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.
• We acknowledge that not all pupils who qualify for free school meals are at risk of underachieving academically: provision for such pupils may take the form of academic or cultural enrichment.
• We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals.
• We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.
• Limited funding and resources means that not all children receiving free school meals will be in receipt of Pupil Premium interventions at one time.
• We strive to identify the barriers to learning for disadvantaged children and then to decide how to overcome these barriers in order to achieve the desired outcomes:
  • Improving FSM attainment
  • Reducing gaps
  • Improving attendance
  • Accelerate progress
  • Reducing exclusions
  • Improving engagement with families
  • Developing skills and personal qualities in disadvantaged children
  • Extending opportunities
  • We ensure that all staff have an awareness of children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding and their barriers to learning.

Provision Research has shown that the most effective strategies for improving pupil performance do not lie in simply reducing class sizes or hiring more teaching assistants. There is a wide range of provision that Governors may consider making for this group of children. Some strategies would be employed on a daily basis within the classroom, and others would be identified as support appropriate for specific children:

• Feedback – information given to the children about their performance through marking, next steps/targets etc.
• Meta-cognition and self-regulation – how we learn and knowing which strategies to use to apply to a task to be successful in it.
• Behaviour interventions – improving attainment by reducing challenging behaviour.
• Collaborative learning – learning activities where children can work together in a group small enough for everyone to participate on a collective task, that has been clearly assigned so that everyone has a role.