Pupil Premium
What is Pupil Premium?
Introduced in 2011, the pupil premium is additional funding to help schools close the attainment gap between children from low-income and other disadvantaged families and their peers. It was introduced in April 2011 to raise the attainment of 1.8 million disadvantaged pupils.
This is based on research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers. Often, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, lack of confidence and issues with attendance and punctuality. The pupil premium is intended to directly benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them and their classmates.
Is Your Child Eligible?
Schools are given a pupil premium for:
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Children who have qualified for free school meals at any point in the past six years. The school receives £1320 for each of these children.
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Children who are or have been looked after under local authority care for more than one day. These children are awarded a premium of £2300.
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Children from service families who receive a child pension from the Ministry of Defence. They are awarded £300.
In March 2018 the Government announced that free school meals would only be available to children in KS2 whose families have a net income of £7400 or under, effective from 1 April 2018. If your child was previously entitled to free school meals but is no longer, they will still receive pupil premium based on the 'Ever 6' qualification (a pupil who has ever had free school meals in the past six years).
Measuring The Impact Of Pupil Premium Funding
Student outcomes in school are monitored and tracked through a variety of audit tools including data systems to assess the impact of the strategies that PP students are involved in. A clear and focused audit of the strategies within departments and across school is carried out and the impact of these linked to the data analysis undertaken at assessment windows and as a result of internal departmental monitoring. Student and staff voice is also monitored via questionnaires and surveys to assess the impact of strategies.
The outcomes of these surveys and questionnaires enables staff to evolve their strategic planning to take into account and factors identified so that the highest of outcomes can be achieved. Senior leaders monitor the data collected so that staff are supported with the required developments.