Pupil Premium
The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current inequalities by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage pupils reaches the pupils who need it most.
The DfE has given schools the freedom to use the Pupil Premium as they see fit:
“It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.”
The Pupil Premium funding settlement received by St Paul’s School is calculated based on the number of children on roll who:
are known to have been eligible for free school meals at any time within the last six years
are Looked After children
are the children of armed service personnel
are adopted from care (funding allocated from April 2014)
Rationale
The aim of our Pupil Premium funding at St Paul’s School is to ensure there is no inequality between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in our care. We aim to achieve this in a tiered approach as researched in the Education Endowment Fund:
- Effective daily teaching offering challenge and support.
- Targeted academic support with structured interventions.
- Wider strategies dependent on individual needs; provision for social and emotional support, access to extra-curricular activities or support around improving attendance and punctuality.
We consider the success of previous strategies and use an evidence-based approach when considering the most appropriate support for each pupil. We also recognise that other children can and should benefit from the additional strategies offered to Pupil Premium children.
St Paul’s School has identified the following as barriers for some of the children currently in receipt of Pupil Premium funding:
- Lack of home reading impacting on development of early reading, and fluency and comprehension in KS2. Reading reluctancy instead of a love of reading.
- Social and emotional wellbeing. The need to develop resilience and self-esteem by developing positive relationships with adults and peers.
- Limited extra-curricular opportunities and inadequate physical activity.
- Poor attendance and late arrival.
We are committed to using a range of measures to evaluate the impact of the investment and this is monitored throughout the academic year. These include:
- Monitoring and reviewing the progress being made by each Pupil Premium funded child with a Support Plan using the Assess, Plan, Do, Review model.
- Promoting the idea across the school that it is a collective responsibility to close the gap for disadvantaged pupils through high quality first teaching.
- Gaining the viewpoint of the child through the completion of ‘Your view counts’ on a termly basis.
- Engaging the parents/carers of our pupils ensuring they fully support our aims for their child.
If you think you may be eligible please click on the following link which outlines more information.