Purpose
Publicly-funded schools in England get extra funding from the government to help them improve the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils.
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
The pupil premium grant is designed to allow schools to help disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the exam results they achieve.
Eligibility and funding
The government has announced that pupil premium and service premium rates will remain unchanged for the financial year 2021 to 2022.
From April 2021, pupil premium allocations for mainstream and special schools will be calculated based on the number of eligible pupils recorded by schools in their census in October 2020.
Schools get pupil premium funding based on the number of pupils they have from the following groups.
Schools get £1,345 for every primary age pupil, or £955 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
Schools get £2,345 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.
Service premium
The service premium is not part of the pupil premium as the rules to attract the service premium are different.
Schools get £310 for every pupil with a parent who:
- is serving in HM Forces
- has retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence
This funding is to help with pastoral support.
Academically able pupils
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.
Previous year's funding allocation and the impact this had on pupil outcomes
This funding has been allocated in the following ways:
- To support attendance at after school clubs, residential visits, subsidised educational visits, uniform.
- To deliver targeted support to boost progress and attainment
- Additional interventions for both groups and individuals to accelerate progress and attainment
- One to one support and teaching in reading, writing or maths
- To support learning in the classroom by ensuring class sizes are as small as possible.
- To provide enrichment opportunities, for example, music tuition/hire of instruments
- To provide appropriate pastoral support including counselling and mentoring from the school’s learning mentor.
- To support the cost of employing a Parent Support Worker/ Learning Mentor
The Learning Mentor supports families around the child to improve consistency in achieving our aims.
What are the barriers to educational achievement that the pupils eligible for Pupil Premium face at Blakehill?
- Poor attendance %
- Multiple vulnerabilities
- Low income families with limited funds
- Poor pupil behaviour
- Limited speech and language skills
- Low parental engagement
- Low aspirations – fixed mindset
Our aim is to close any gaps in pupil attainment and progress between those children in receipt of pupil premium funding and those children who do not and improve the life opportunities for our disadvantaged pupils.
How will the impact of the Pupil Premium Funding be measured?
- Pupil progress and attainment is monitored at least termly. This allows leaders to compare pupil outcomes for all groups including the disadvantaged pupils and those in receipt of the pupil premium funding in all areas of the curriculum.
- Attendance is monitored weekly by our Attendance officer and procedures are followed to manage poor attendance
- Pupil engagement in extra curricular activities, school visits and residentials
- Pupil voice is used to elicit pupil views
The school's ethos is one of genuine concern and care for all to achieve their fullest potential. Great emphasis is placed on all staff members knowing and understanding every child well, treating children with the utmost respect and empowering them to become responsible, confident and resilient learners in our team. As such, we discuss, monitor and support children's wellbeing needs regularly which informs the cycle of provision.
A Pupil Premium Strategy Review is complete at the end of each term (December, April, July) by Senior Leaders and outcomes are reported to Governors annually.
Effectiveness of PP spending can be viewed below