Pupil Premium

What is Pupil Premium?

Pupil Premium is an amount of money allocated to disadvantaged children in order to close the achievement gap.

The government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM), looked after children & service children and other pupils.  Three categories of pupils are eligible:

• Pupils recorded as ‘ever 6 FSM’ (pupils who are or have been eligible for FSM at any point during their 6 years of Primary school education)
• Looked after children and those children who have been adopted from care
• Children of Service personnel

Pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium need to be aged 4 and over, in year groups to year 11 in a maintained school.

Pupil Premium is allocated straight to our school and it is clearly identifiable. Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they feel is appropriate. The government thinks that schools are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for individual pupils within their responsibility. However all schools will be held accountable for how they have used additional funding to support pupils from low-income families and in care. The schools must report and publicise annually how the money has been spent and what the impact has been made on the achievements of the pupils.

OVERVIEW AND PRINCIPLES

It is our responsibility to ensure that all children in school achieve their potential and, in order to do so, we seek to meet the individual needs of every child.

• We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all pupils.
• We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups.  This includes assessing and addressing the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils and of children with high mobility.

OBJECTIVES FOR PUPIL PREMIUM

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months, and children of service personnel.

• The pupil premium will be used to provide additional education support to improve the progress and to raise the standards of achievement for these pupils.
• The funding will be used to narrow and close the gap between the achievement of these pupils and their peers.
• As far as its powers allow, the school will use the additional funding to address any underlying inequalities between children eligible for pupil premium and their other peers within school.
• We will ensure that the additional funding reaches the pupils who need it most and that it makes a significant impact on their education and their lives.
• All our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress, moving pupils to at least age-related expectations as a minimum.

PROVISION

At St. Johns Church of England Infant School, we currently allocate the funding in the following ways:

• Extra support through intervention programmes across the school, additional support from Teaching Assistants, English, Maths and Reading support as well as catch-up programmes.
• Small focused teaching opportunities for pupils needing additional support in developing their core and basic skills, one-to-one work, self-esteem group work and social skills groups.
• Providing extra resources and staff to ensure adequate provision for children receiving pupil premium, in-school support to children and families, children's well-being and confidence, one-to-one counselling and parenting groups.

MEASURING IMPACT

We collect data and monitor all pupils' attainment and progress.  This data is used to inform the needs of pupils, support and the appropriate intervention of our pupils including pupil premium.  The process includes:

• Pupil progress meetings held with SLT and class teachers on a regular basis.
• Published assessment materials and past SATs papers are used on a regular basis to support with assessments.
• End of Year Standardised tests are completed for Year 2  as well as phonics screening for Year 1 and (where necessary) Year 2.
• Targeted interventions have entry and exit data to measure impact.

STRATEGY REVIEW MEETINGS FOR PUPIL PREMIUM

Review meetings take place at least three times a year following pupil progress meetings.  Impact of any action is reviewed and then the funding is allocated for the next phase.  The school reviews all pupils across the school - there are some pupils who are not eligible for pupil premium who will fit into this group and benefit from the interventions.

Pupil premium funding and the impact of this is a regular item in Governor Meetings.