Pupil Premium
WHAT IS PUPIL PREMIUM?
The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals (FSM). Schools also receive funding for children who are looked after continuously for more than six months (Children in Care) and children of Armed Service Personnel.
This additional funding is given to schools, so that they can support disadvantaged pupils, and close the attainment gap between them and their peers. The government believes that the Pupil Premium (which is in addition to main school funding) is the best way to address current underlying inequalities by ensuring that this funding reaches the pupils who need it most.
FUNDING 2024/25
In the 2024 to 2025 financial year, schools will receive the following funding for each pupil registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years:
- £1,480 for pupils in reception to Year 6 (funding is paid to school)
Schools will receive £2,570 for any pupil:
- having left local authority care as a result of:
- adoption
- a special guardianship order
- a child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order)
- who has been in local authority care for 1 day or more
- recorded as both eligible for FSM in the last 6 years and as being looked after (or as having left local authority care)
Schools will receive £340 for each service child.
ELIGIBILITY FOR FREE SCHOOL MEALS AND PUPIL PREMIUM
You may qualify if you are a parent, guardian or carer and receive one of the following:
- Income Support (IS) or you are a pupil receiving the benefit in your own right
- Income Based Jobseekers Allowance (IBJSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; or
- Child Tax Credit (but not Working Tax Credit) and have an annual income (as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) that does not exceed £16,190
- The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
- Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit
- Children who get any of the above benefits in their own right (ie they get benefits payments directly, instead of through a parent or guardian) can also get free school meals.
YOU CAN CHECK IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE ONLINE:
https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/education-and-learning/school-meals.aspx
OR GET IN TOUCH WITH BENEFITS INFORMATION
- Email: Benefits@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
- Telephone: 0300 123 7021, Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm
- By post: Revenues and Benefits Department, PO Box 187, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH34 9DB
If your child may be eligible because of your family’s income level, please register them; even if you do not wish them to have the meals, this would mean our school could still claim Pupil Premium Funding that can be used to help your child’s education.
HOW DO WE SPEND THE PUPIL PREMIUM GRANT?
Schools have the freedom to spend the Pupil Premium in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils. Schools are required to report to parents how they have spent the money allocated, and this report can be found on the school website. It is important to remember that not all children who are allocated Pupil Premium funding will receive support at the same time. We recognise that not all pupils who receive Free School Meals are socially disadvantaged; we also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered for or qualify for Free School Meals. We allocate the Pupil Premium Grant to support any pupils who are eligible along with those that the school has identified as being socially disadvantaged.
WHAT ARE OUR PUPILS' MAIN BARRIERS TO EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT?
- Some of our children have had events in their lives which mean that they are not always ready to focus on learning. These can occur over time or in some cases may have been a historic incident which has had a significant impact.
- Support at home is not always available due to parents not having the skills and/ or confidence to help their child to learn.
- A number of pupils display specific learning difficulties so they struggle to: record their learning, remember things and organise themselves.
- WellComm assessments carried out upon entry into school indicate that some of our children struggle to communicate effectively due to speech and language needs. Many of our children are not raised in a language rich environment.
- Due to their cultural capital, some of our children have not had a variety of rich experiences from which they can draw upon when learning.
- The impact of lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic has been felt sharply by pupils, with school closures hitting hard.
HOW IS PUPIL PREMIUM USED TO SUPPORT PUPILS AT WOODLANDS PRIMARY SCHOOL?
The Pupil Premium Grant has enabled us to continue to develop and provide additional levels of support for pupils. We have used the grant in a variety of ways over the years including:
- A full time Learning Mentor supports children and families
- Two ELSA's support children
- Additional .5 teacher to support interventions in KS2
- Subsidising residential visits, clubs, curriculum trips and visitors to enrich our children’s lives
- TAs to support teaching and learning and for specific interventions
- Continued CPD for staff with a focus on English and Maths; high quality strategic training for all leaders
- Moderation and advice from consultants in English and maths
- Investing additional resources to enable us to deliver high quality teaching and learning
- Wide ranging interventions to support mental health
ACCOUNTABILITY
The government believes that Head Teachers and School Leaders should decide how to use the Pupil Premium. Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit to `close the gap` between children from disadvantaged circumstances and those above the low-income threshold. It is not linked to a specific child but is used for overall impact. However, we are held accountable for how we have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families.
At Woodlands we are committed to `closing the gap` and the additional funding is making a big difference in improving the life chances of our children. The impact of Pupil Premium is measured in a variety of ways. This includes looking at pupil outcomes (including performance data at the end of key stages); pupil & parent voice; attendance; impact of safeguarding and welfare interventions. The Pupil Premium Strategy documents at the bottom of the page provide further details.
Our Pupil Premium Leader, along with the Governors, will publish information annually on how the Pupil Premium Grant has been spent to ensure that all our children can be the best they can be. The link Governor for Pupil Premium reviews the strategy during termly meetings with the pupil premium lead. Our Pupil Premium startegy is reviewed annually. Our next review will be December 2025.
As with pupil premium, funding for looked-after children should be managed by the local authority virtual school head. They should work with schools, including the designated teacher, to decide how to use the funding effectively to support looked-after children.
REPORTING & ACCOUNTABILITY
We will show how we used our recovery premium effectively by:
- reporting on the use of recovery premium as part of our annual pupil premium strategy statement
- through inspections by Ofsted - as part of these inspections, inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their recovery premium funding
