Pupil Premium at our School

As a school we have a duty to ensure that every individual child is given the best possible chance of achieving their potential. The Department for Education (Dfe) provides additional funding for schools to support specific groups of pupils who may be disadvantaged.

This additional funding, called Pupil Premium, is given to schools so that we can support those who are identified as being disadvantaged economically and close the attainment gap between them and their peers. It is allocated to schools based on the number of pupils from low-income families who receive a free school meal.

The Department for Education has established that it is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium allocation is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their setting.

We currently have a number of children on roll who are eligible for Pupil Premium. This number is in decline and can vary throughout the year depending on the circumstances of our families. This is considerably lower than the average for a school of our size.

Because the number of pupils varies and a child may be in receipt of Free School Meals at various points throughout their time with us, we use our pupil premium money to support children who may have been in receipt of them in the past as well as other children who may be disadvantaged economically but not quite meet the threshold for free school meals.

What are the needs of our pupil premium children?

The needs of these children vary, but typically our pupil premium children do not make the same progress as their peers in reading, writing and mathematics.

Additionally a number of our pupil premium children have behavioural and emotional wellbeing difficulties.

How do we support our pupil premium children?

The support given usually involves additional support from an adult, however we do also provide these children with support towards school related financial costs e.g. trips, uniform and resources.

We deliver support in school through the use of our Learning Mentor, Learning Support Assistant and recently an additional teacher. This year we have also provided additional support through our Nurture Group which has been developed and piloted by our Forest Schools team.

Focus on pupil premium Video

Watch a short video that answers some of the most common pupil premium questions we receive from academies and free schools.