Pupil premium is funding to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England. Evidence shows that disadvantaged children generally face additional challenges in reaching their potential at school and often do not perform as well as other pupils. DFE, 2021
Our Pupil Premium strategy statement can be found in the attachment below.
What is Pupil Premium?
In April 2011 the Government identified the need to boost the attainment and progression of students they classed as disadvantaged. The Pupil Premium funding allocation is calculated according to the number of students in Year 7 to 11 who either receive free school meals or have received free school meals in the last 6 years, the number of students who have been looked after by their local authority and the number of students whose parent/s are permanent serving armed services personnel.
The pupil premium is paid directly to schools as they are best placed to assess what additional provision their students need and it is at the discretion of the school as to how the funds are used.
The Government works closely with the Education Endowment Foundation; they are a charity with a stated “moral imperative – to support teachers a senior leaders to raise attainment and close the disadvantage gap – which roots its response to this educational challenge in the best available evidence.“
Pupil Premium at Watling
Students are highlighted on the school’s database as being eligible for Pupil Premium support. This information is clearly accessible by each teacher and support members of staff. Staff will write a personalised profile for each ‘Pupil Premium’ student that will offer specific strategies that will enable students to reach the potential of which they are capable.
The Education Endowment Fund has created a Teaching and Learning Toolkit which lists methods of support ranked against cost and impact measured in months which, when used alongside the school’s leadership teams professional judgement and expertise, will help them to select the most effective and efficient use of the Pupil Premium Grant.
The EEF’s Pupil Premium Guide recommends that the school adopts a balanced structure to help map out their approach and adopts a tiered model which focuses on:
- high-quality teaching
- targeted academic support
- wider strategies
We follow this advice ensuring that high-quality classroom-based teaching is at the heart of everything we do for all of our students.
