Pupil Premium

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 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 Level 4 in maths and English as other 11 year olds. Every child in receipt of free school meals (over the previous six years) and/or children of armed service personnel (over the previous three years) receives an allocation of funds and the school then decides how the monies are used to support children’s education.

 

All schools are required to report on the amount of funding received, how this is being used and the effect this has on the attainment of the pupils who attract the funding.

 

School accountability for the pupil premium

The pupil premium is paid to schools as they are best placed to assess what additional provision their pupils need.

Ofsted inspections report on how schools’ use of the funding affects the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils.

 

We also hold schools to account through performance tables, which include data on:

• the attainment of the pupils who attract the funding
• the progress made by these pupils
• the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers

 

Service premium

The service premium gives schools extra funding to support children and young people with parents in the armed forces. Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria:

 

• one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces
• one of their parents served in the regular armed forces in the last 3 years
• one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil is in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)

 

The service premium is paid to schools as they are best placed to identify eligible pupils and assess what additional provision they need. Schools are responsible for using the service premium funding effectively.