What Is Pupil Premium
The pupil premium grant is designed to allow publicly funded schools in England to help disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the results they achieve.
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:
£1,480 for every pupil entitled to FSM Ever 6
£2,570 for looked-after children (LAC)
£2,570 for previously looked-after children (PLAC)
£340 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 it is up to school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium grant. This is because school leaders are best-placed to assess their pupils’ needs and use funding to improve attainment.
You can see how we spend the grant in the pupil premium report.
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.