Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium

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Purpose

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Publicly-funded schools in England get extra funding from the government to help them improve the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils.

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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

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The pupil premium grant is designed to allow schools to help disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the exam results they achieve.

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Eligibility and Funding

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Schools get pupil premium funding based on the number of pupils they have in January each year from the following groups. 

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Free school meals

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Schools get £1,455 for every primary age pupil, or £1035 for every secondary age pupil, who claims free school meals, or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6 years.

 

Looked-after and previously looked-after children

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Schools get £2,530 for every pupil who has left local authority care through adoption, a special guardianship order or child arrangements order. Local authorities get the same amount for each child they are looking after; they must work with the school to decide how the money is used to support the child’s Personal Education Plan.

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Academically able pupils

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The pupil premium is not based on ability. Research shows that the most academically able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are most at risk of under-performing. Schools should focus on these pupils just as much as pupils with low results.

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Use of the pupil premium

 

It’s up to school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium. This is because school leaders are best-placed to assess their pupils’ needs and use funding to improve attainment.

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Tiered approach

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Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when schools use a tiered approach, targeting spending across the following 3 areas below but focusing on teaching quality - investing in learning and development for teachers.

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Teaching

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Schools arrange training and professional development for all the their staff to improve the impact of teaching and learning for pupils.

 

Academic support

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Schools should decide on the main issues stopping their pupils from succeeding at school and use the pupil premium to buy extra help.

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Wider approaches

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This may include non-academic use of the pupil premium such as:

• school breakfast clubs

• music lessons for disadvantaged pupils

• help with the cost of educational trips or visits speech and language therapy

 

Schools may find using the pupil premium in this way helps to:

• increase pupils’ confidence and resilience

• encourage pupils to be more aspirational

• benefit non-eligible pupils