Pupil Premium

National Guidance

The government allocates additional funding to schools in the form of the Pupil Premium.  The amount of funding a school receives per child depends upon the reasons for their eligibility.  The school currently receives £340 for a child of an armed forces personnel, £2570 for a Looked After or Post-Looked After Child and £1050 for any other eligible children. 

Eligibility

Pupil Premium funding is available for students who meet certain criteria, including: 

• Children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)
• Children who have claimed FSM in the past 6 years
• Children of current Regular Armed Services Personnel
• Children designated as ‘Looked After’ 

Looked After Children are children in the care of the Council, through a Care Order made by a court or voluntary agreement with their parent(s) to accommodate them. They may be looked after in a children’s home, by foster carers, or other family members. All unaccompanied asylum seeking children are also Looked After Children.  

Rationale

The Pupil Premium is available to help schools diminish the differences between historically lower levels of attainment for key groups of students compared to their peers. The aims of the Pupil Premium grant are to:

• Address inequalities
• Tackle disadvantage
• Reach those pupils who need it most
• Target pupils from Reception class to Year 11
• Reduce the attainment gap and enable more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to get to top universities

Our Key Priorities

We continually seek to address inequalities and tackle disadvantage by focusing on targeted additional support strategies resulting in every student, however financially disadvantaged, being able to:

• Improve their levels of attainment and progress
• Close attainment gaps relative to school averages
• Have full access to our curriculum
• Have full access to our extra-curricular provision

The school regularly monitors and evaluates the impact on each Pupil Premium student. Evaluation does not only focus on academic gains but also on how students’ self-confidence and engagement has developed.

Nature of the Support

The Pupil Premium has been spent in creative and practical ways to support students. These items include:

• Additional curriculum support including targeted revision sessions, purchase of revision guides and extra resources
• Targeted equality of opportunity and extra-curricular activities:
  • Removal of barriers to learning through the provision of funds to support, for example: foreign visits/purchase of equipment/uniform/PE kit/assistance with resources
  • The provision of intervention booklets for homework, deadlines and punctuality
• Support with enrichment and extra-curricular activities which enhance attainment and self-esteem such as:
  • 1-1 sessions with pastoral staff as a one-off or on a regular basis
  • Financial assistance with exam retakes
  • Regular liaison with parents
  • Support from a Student Development Officer
• Mentoring provision such as:
  • The provision of specific '1:1' subject (teacher) mentors
  • Examination revision sessions
• Additional pastoral support:
  • Use of the school Counselling Service
  • One to one and small group work with an experienced teacher focussed on overcoming gaps in learning