Pupil Premium Strategy
What is the pupil premium?
Introduced in 2011, the pupil premium is a sum of money given to schools each year by the government to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children.
This is based on the research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers. Sometimes, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, less family support, lack of confidence and issues with attendance and punctuality. The pupil premium is intended to directly benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them and their peers.
Who is eligible?
- Children who have qualified for free school meals at any point in the past six years
- Children who have been looked after under local authority care for more than a day
How to claim for pupil premium
Your child may be eligible for free school meals - and accordingly pupil premium - if you receive any of the following benefits:
- Income support
- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under part VI for the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you're not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on-paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit
Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.
Your child might also get free school meals if you get any benefits and your child is both:
- younger than the compulsory age for starting schools
- in full time education
Since September 2014, all children in Reception and Years 1 and 2 will qualify for universal infant free school meals, regardless of their family income, but only the children who qualify for free school meals under the above income-based criteria will receive the pupil premium.
How is it spent?
Schools can choose how to spend their pupil premium money as they are best placed to identify what would be of most benefit to the children who are eligible.
Common ways in which schools spend their pupil premium fund include:
- Extra 1:1 or small group tuition within the class or external to the class
- Employing extra TA's to work with classes
- Running catch-up sessions before or after school, for example children who may need extra support with numeracy or literacy (especially in support of transition to year 7)
- Funding educational trips, residentials and any internal visitors
- Paying for additional help such as speech and language therapy or family therapy and training that goes into this
- Investing in resources that boost children's learning such as laptops or tablets