What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium was introduced by the Government in April 2011. It was designed to give additional money to support schools in raising the attainment of children who receive free school meals and those in local authority care. These groups had been identified nationally as achieving lower outcomes on leaving school and the DfE have recognised that good education is the key to improving young people's life chances. For example, national figures showed that 11 year olds who are eligible for Free School Meals were around twice as likely not to achieve the equivalent of age-related expectations in maths and English as other 11 year olds and are far less likely to leave school with good GCSE results than other children. 

 

Which children are eligible for pupil premium funding today?

Today, Pupil Premium is allocated to schools based on the number of children whose circumstances fall within the following categories:

 

A). Key Stage 2 Children who have been eligible for Free School Meals at any point in time over the last 6 years. 

 This means if your child was previously entitled to free school meals but is no longer, they will still receive pupil premium based on the 'Ever 6' qualification (a pupil who has ever had free school meals in the past six years).

 

B). Any children whose parents are currently entitled to certain forms of financial support.

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and depending on your annual gross income)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 depending on your household income after tax and not including any benefits you get.

 

Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

 

Your child may also get free school meals if you get any of these benefits and your child is both:

• younger than the compulsory age for starting school.
• in full-time education

 

Since September 2014, all children in Reception and Years 1 and 2 have qualified for free school meals regardless of their family income, but only the children who would qualify for free meals under the above income-based criteria will receive the pupil premium.

 

If your child qualifies for free school meals, it's important that you tell us at school - even if they take a packed lunch -  as this enables the school to claim pupil premium. We will handle this information sensitively and keep it confidential.

 

C). ‘Looked after’ children:

These are children who have been ‘looked after’ for one day or more, including children who have been adopted from care or have left care under a special guardianship or residence order.

 

D).‘Service Children’:

These are children who have one or more parents currently in the armed forces, children whose parents have died/ been injured  in service and are in receipt of pensions under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme & the War Pensions Scheme and children whose parents have recently left the armed services or are divorced.

Eligibility for the service premium extends to those families in which a parent has served in the armed forces in the last three years. This service premium is designed to address the emotional and social well-being of these pupils.

 

How is the money allocated?

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 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.” Source - DfE website  

The funding is therefore given to schools to spend in ways which they believe will have the greatest impact for their particular pupils. There is a requirement to publish online how this money is spent.

The attached PDF outlines how these funds were used to enhance both the quality of learning and rates of progress made by those pupils eligible for this additional support.

 

The Pupil Premium at Medstead C of E Primary School - Principles

At Medstead Primary School, we are committed to ensuring all our children make the best possible progress, with teaching and learning opportunities meeting the needs of all of the pupils.

We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups so that no group of children are disadvantaged due to their gender, ethnic origin, family income or background. We recognise that common barriers for these groups of vulnerable children can be less support at home, language and communication skills, confidence, behaviour and attendance. There may also be complex family situations that prevent children from flourishing. The challenges are varied and there is no “one size fits all”.

Our key objective in using the Pupil Premium Grant is to narrow the gap between pupil groups. As a school we are committed to ensuring all pupils make good progress, since historically levels of attainment have been lower for Pupil Premium children – this is also a national trend. Through targeted interventions we are working to build resilience and reduce barriers to learning and progress.

At Medstead School we analyse our pupil progress data thoroughly on a half-termly basis. Pupil Premium funding is allocated following a needs analysis which identifies priority classes, groups or individuals.    

 

Provision at Medstead School:

At Medstead School we make use of a range of research in order to inform our decision making when allocating Pupil Premium and Catch-up funds.

The effectiveness of previous interventions is evaluated,  emerging needs are identified to inform spending priorities for the following academic year.

 

How do I Apply?

If you think your child may possibly be eligible for Pupil Premium funding, please fill in a claim form. These online forms are available at:

https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/hants

 

To complete a check for eligibility you will need the following information:

• Name, home address and email address

• National Insurance Number or National Asylum Support Service reference number

• Child or student’s name, date of birth and school

 

Alternatively, you can contact Katie Brench, in confidence, at the school office who will be very happy to help you register.