Pupil Premium

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

The pupil Premium is allocated to children who are registered for free school meals or who have received free school meals in the past six years. It also includes children who have been looked after in care continuously for the past six months. 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.

Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium. From September 2012, the Department for Education requires schools to publish online information about how they have used the Premium.

Pupil Premium work will be targeted at all eligible pupils to enable them to reach their potential.

Nature of support:

The range of provision that the school may consider includes:

  • Provision of teaching assistants for individual or small group work to increase targeted support in writing, reading and maths.
  • Help families who register of FSM to pay for trips, music lessons, events and residential learning opportunities.
  • Provision of support focusing on overcoming gaps in writing, reading and maths.
  • 1:1 (one to one)  / small group support in any necessary areas of learning to enable pupils to reach age related targets.
  • Additional teaching and learning opportunities
  • Resources for enhancing learning
  • Professional interventions to support understanding of any barriers to learning that children may experience, and develop strategies to overcome them.
  • Support for pupils and families emotional well-being.