PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING

A good education is the key to improving life chances

The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 to tackle ‘educational inequality’ by raising achievement and improving outcomes for children from low-income families who are eligible for free school meals; also pupils in care and those from families with parents in the Armed Forces. The additional funding is made available to schools to help them narrow the attainment gap that still exists between pupils from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds.

Our Aims and Philosophy

As a school is it our aim for all pupils to achieve well and reach their true potential regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion and race. We endeavour to ensure that Pupil Premium funding is used effectively to support those children eligible to enable them to make good progress and achieve well.

Intent

To ensure that our Pupil Premium funding is spent in the most effective ways we aim to:

• Target the funding well from the outset, being responsive and flexible to individual needs.
• Use progress tracking procedures effectively to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual pupils and groups, in particular those children underachieving and eligible for Pupil Premium, and target intervention and support to accelerate their progress.
• Use effective intervention classes and individual tuition to improve achievements in English and maths.
• Ensure that well-trained Teaching Assistants help to raise standards.
• Minimise the barriers to learning and achievement.
• Actively involve the governors in our decision making processes.
• Effectively monitor and evaluate the impact of spending.

Implementation

To help achieve the aims outlined above, Governors and Senior Leaders have agreed the following principles:

• Funding will be ring fenced so that it is always spent on target groups of pupils.
• Eligibility for the Pupil Premium will never be confused with low ability; it will focus on supporting our disadvantaged pupils to achieve the highest levels.
• Proper analysis will be undertaken to identify where pupils are underachieving and why.
• The use of research evidence, including the Education Endowment Foundation, will inform spending decisions.
• Teaching Assistants will be highly trained and understand their accountability for pupil achievement.
• We will have a clear policy on spending the Pupil Premium, agreed by governors and publicised on the school website.
• Careful monitoring and evaluation will be undertaken to demonstrate the impact of each aspect of spending on the outcomes for pupils.
• Our focus will be on high quality first teaching, rather than relying on intervention to compensate.
• Frequent use of achievement data to check effectiveness of interventions; continuously adjusting techniques to meet the needs of pupils.
• Effective use of Summative Data to make adjustments to teaching during the lesson and planning for the next lesson.
• Systematic focus on clear pupil feedback and advice for improving their work.
• Targets for pupils in Reading, Writing and Mathematics which accurately relate to needs.
• Designated Senior Leaders will have an overview of funding allocations.
• All class-based staff will be aware of the Pupil Premium children in their classes so that they can take responsibility for their progress.
• Strategies are available for improving attendance, behaviour or family links if there is an issue.
• Performance Management of staff will include discussions about Pupil Premium children.
• Governors will be actively involved in the decision-making and evaluation processes.