What Is Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium Grant provides funding for the purpose of improving the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. Schools must use their Pupil Premium Grant to accelerate disadvantaged pupils’ progress, in order to raise their attainment. This will contribute to closing the national attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
Evidence shows that children from disadvantaged backgrounds:
generally face extra challenges in reaching their potential at school
often do not perform as well as their peers
Pupil Premium was introduced by the government in 2011-2012 as an additional contribution to main school funding. The main reason for this was for schools to,
'Address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most’ DfE April 2012
Who is entitled to Pupil Premium Grant?
The Pupil Premium Grant is allocated to children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months. A premium is also allocated to children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces. Pupil Premium funding was extended in 2012-2013 to include funding for children who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years (Ever6).
Funding Per Pupil:
Our budget statement in states that our Pupil Premium allocation is:
£1,515 for every pupil entitled to FSM Ever 6
£2,630 for looked-after children (LAC)
£2,630 for previously looked-after children (PLAC)
£350 for every pupil with a parent who is serving in the armed forces or is retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence.
Spending of the Pupil Premium Grant
The DfE states that to ensure the Pupil Premium Grant is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational outcomes of eligible pupils, settings must spend their Pupil Premium Grant on evidence-informed activities in line with the ‘menu of approaches’ set by DfE.
When considering the balance of spending within the 3-tiered model, schools should bear in mind that the ‘Education Endowment Foundation’ recommends that approaches which support and promote high-quality teaching in schools should be a top priority for Pupil Premium spending. However, the exact balance of spending between categories will vary depending on the specific needs of pupils and the relative size of the school’s Pupil Premium cohort.
Schools are not required to allocate Pupil Premium Grant to every approach on the menu, but any activity funded by the Pupil Premium Grant must fall under one of the approaches listed.
You can see how we spend the grant in our Pupil Premium Statement.
What impact does Pupil Premium funding have?
As a school, we have a responsibility to quantify, justify and measure the impact of the way we spend our Pupil Premium Grant. This ensures that this additional funding is being used to support the pupils for whom it is intended. Detailed outcomes of the impact of pupil premium are held by our school. An overview of this is kept in a full report which is created by the SLT and shared with the governing body. At Willows, we feel that we are transparent about how we spend our Pupil Premium Grant.