Pupil Premium
Pupil Premium Background
The Pupil Premium was introduced April 2011 to provide additional support for looked after children and those from low income families. The extra funding is made available to schools to help them narrow the national attainment gap that still exists between pupils from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds.
We aim to narrow the nationally seen attainment gap which exists between pupils from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds through our approach which is:
- To carefully ring-fence the funding so that it is always spent on the target group of pupils
- To never confuse eligibility for the Pupil Premium with low ability, and focus on supporting our disadvantaged pupils to achieve the highest levels
- By thoroughly analysing which pupils are underachieving, particularly in English and mathematics, and the reasons why
- By drawing on research evidence (such as the Sutton Trust) and evidence from our own and others’ experience to allocate the funding to the activities that are most likely to have an impact on improving achievement
- Allocating our best teachers/teaching assistants to teach intervention groups to improve mathematics and English and/or employing new teachers who have a good track record in raising attainment in those subjects
- Using achievement data frequently to check whether interventions or techniques are working and make adjustments accordingly, rather than just using the data retrospectively to see if something has worked
- Making sure that support staff, particularly teaching assistants, are highly trained and understand their role in helping pupils to achieve
- Systematically focusing on giving pupils clear, useful feedback about their work, and ways that they could improve it
- Ensuring that a designated senior leader has a clear overview of how the funding is being allocated and the difference it is making to the outcomes for pupils
- Ensuring that class and subject teachers know which pupils are eligible for the Pupil Premium so that they can take responsibility for accelerating their progress
