Pupil Premium
PUPIL PREMIUM OVERVIEW
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 and often do not perform as well as their peers
The pupil premium grant (PPG) 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 increase in line with inflation for the financial year 2020 to 2021 in April 2020. Schools get pupil premium (PP) funding based on the number of pupils they have in January each year from the following groups:
Free school meals (FSM)
Primary Schools get £1,320 for every pupil who claims free school meals or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6 years. From April 2020 the new rates will be £1,345 per primary-aged pupil
Looked-after and previously looked-after children (LAC and post-LAC)
Schools get £2,300 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. From April 2020, the new rate will be £2,345 per eligible pupil.
Service premium
The service premium is not part of the pupil premium as the rules to attract the service premium are different. This funding is to help with pastoral support. Schools get £300 for every pupil with a parent who is serving in HM Forces or has retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence. From April 2020 the new service premium rate will be £310 per head.
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.
Use of the pupil premium
It is up to school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium. This is because school leaders are best-placed to assess their pupils’ needs and use funding to improve attainment.
Tiered approach
Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when schools use a tiered approach, targeting spending across the following 3 areas below but focusing on teaching quality - investing in learning and development for teachers. At Broadstone Hall, we have organised our PP Strategy Statement into these three areas in order to explain how the PP Grant has been allocated.
Teaching
Schools arrange training and professional development for all their staff to improve the impact of teaching and learning for pupils.
Academic support
Schools should decide on the main issues stopping their pupils from succeeding at school and use the pupil premium to buy extra help.
Wider approaches
This may include non-academic use of the pupil premium such as: school breakfast clubs, music lessons for disadvantaged pupils, help with the cost of educational trips or visits, speech and language therapy.