Pupil Premium
What is Pupil Premium? – The National Picture
The Pupil Premium was introduced by the Government in April 2011. It is designed to give additional money to support schools in raising the attainment of children who receive free school meals, children whose parents serve in the Armed Forces and those children living in local authority care. These groups of children have been identified nationally as achieving at a lower level than children from less disadvantaged backgrounds. For example, national figures show that 11 year olds who are eligible for Free School Meals are around twice as likely not to achieve age expected outcomes in Maths and English as other 11 year olds.
Where does the money come from?
Pupil Premium is allocated to schools based on the number of children who are currently known to be eligible for Free School Meals, whose parents serve in the Armed Forces and children who have been looked after in local authority care continuously for more than six months.
The purpose of the Pupil Premium is to help schools to provide targeted support for vulnerable children, not necessarily just children who qualify for FSM.
“It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools…. is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.” DfE
The funding is, therefore, given to schools to spend as they think best, although there is a requirement to publish online how this money is spent.
For more details on the Pupil Premium please click here.
Pupil Premium at Bethersden Primary School
At Bethersden Primary School, we are committed to ensuring all our children make the best possible progress. We track the achievement of every child on a regular basis and do all we can to make sure each child achieves their potential. We also have a duty to ensure that no group of children is disadvantaged due to their gender, ethnic origin or family income or background.
We are well staffed at Bethersden Primary School and children in all year groups learn in classes where the staff team includes a teacher and at least one member of the support staff team. Children are familiar with working in groups of different sizes, at different times of the day, with different adults. Children of all abilities have the opportunity to work on a 1:1 basis or in a small group with an adult. Within this type of organisation, we do give children extra support when they need it.
The Pupil Premium funding has allowed us to continue and extend what we already do – to monitor children’s progress and to give additional support when required. Families in these circumstances are always treated with the utmost discretion.
More information is available on the Department for Education website: www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/premium
Please download and read the document below to find out how we spend our Pupil Premium Grant.