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 research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers.

Often, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, 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 classmates.

The Governors, Headteacher and senior leadership team make decisions around how the Pupil Premium is best spent. Often, all of the children in a class will reap some benefit from how we spend our pupil premium: for example, if the money is used to fund an additional teaching assistant who works across the whole class, rather than providing one-to-one support. But research shows that the fund does help to narrow gaps between disadvantaged children and their peers, particularly in English and maths.

We have to demonstrate that we are using our pupil premium fund appropriately. This is measured through Ofsted inspections and annual performance tables.

• Improve the progress and raise attainment for our vulnerable pupils at every Key Stage – EYFS, KS1 and KS2, by providing additional educational support when necessary;
• Diminish the difference between the achievement of vulnerable pupils and their peers and ensure, when appropriate that pupils are identified as ‘most able’;
• Address any underlying inequalities between vulnerable pupils and their peers;
• Raise the aspirations of our vulnerable pupils by inspiring them to become self-motivated and active participants in their own learning, embedding these values to ensure they can become lifelong learners;
• Improve attendance rates for our vulnerable pupils
• To engage parents of disadvantaged pupils in their children’s learning.
• Extend opportunities and experiences available to our vulnerable pupils;
• Ensure that the additional funding reaches vulnerable pupils so that it makes a significant impact on their education and lives.

The government believes that head teachers and school leaders should decide how to use the pupil premium. They are held accountable for the decisions they make through:

• the performance tables which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers
• the Ofsted inspection framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, and in particular those who attract the pupil premium
• the reports for parents that schools have to publish online

Click here to download our Pupil Premium Strategy Statement.