Pupil Premium

Each school is given an amount of money to spend above their allocated budget, called Pupil Premium. 

The Pupil Premium is extra money that schools receive to meet the needs of pupils who are socially disadvantaged and at risk of underachievement. It is provided to support these pupils in reaching their potential. 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.

Who decides how the funding is used?

Schools decide how the funding should be used and are trusted to ensure that it is used for the purposes intended. Schools are held accountable for how they use the funding and the performance tables capture the achievement of those pupils covered by the Pupil Premium.  Pupil Premium 3 Year Strategy Report 2021-22 to 2024-25 and Impact 2020-21  -

Pupil Premium in a Nutshell  

 Pupil Premium Letter to families November 2023

Background

Introduced in 2011, the Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is a sum of money given to schools each year by the Government to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children.

This is based on research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers. Often, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, lack of confidence and issues with attendance and punctuality. The pupil premium is intended to directly benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them and their classmates. benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them.

Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is additional funding to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. It is based on the number of pupils:

• registered as eligible for free school meals at any point
• registered as a child of a parent serving in the UK’s Armed Forces in the past 6 years
• in local authority care for 1 day or more
• has left local authority care because of one of the following:

 - adoption

 - a special guardianship order

 - a child arrangements order

We receive a certain amount of money per child to help us in our whole-school aims of providing an outstanding education that includes the right opportunities for children to flourish.

We are required to produce a report every year saying how we are spending the money and what impact it has had, this is called the Pupil Premium Strategy report. Our ultimate aim is to 'close the gap' between the least and most advantaged children as well as making sure that self-esteem and well-being remain high.

If you would like to find out more please speak with Mrs. Chumnansin, our Headteacher, who is our Closing the Gap Champion.

Principles

Woodingdean Primary School is committed to diminishing the difference between the attainment of socially disadvantaged pupils and their peers and the PPG funding forms a vital part of achieving this.

• All members of staff and governors accept responsibility for socially disadvantaged pupils and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs within the school environment.
• We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed.
• We recognise that not all pupils who have ever received free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.
• We recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals.
• The Governors reserve the right to allocate the pupil premium funding to support any pupils or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged or underperforming.

The use of Pupil Premium in ‘Closing the Gap’ for Socially Disadvantaged Pupils at Woodingdean

The range of provision the Governors may consider making for this group could include:

• Facilitating pupils’ access to education and school life
• Facilitating pupils’ access to the curriculum and the wider curriculum
• Support for the provision made in the classroom
• Additional teaching and learning opportunities

Such arrangements should complement the school’s own work with a pupil, and, in the first instance, will be at the discretion of the Headteacher. Any appeal in connection with the use of the pupil premium will be dealt with through the Governors’ appeals panel.

Class teachers will employ a range of additional strategies to boost self-esteem and educational attainment including but not restricted to:

• Spending additional time marking the work of Pupil Premium children and providing effective ‘closing the gap’ feedback
• Displaying the work of Pupil Premium children in learning environments
• Ensuring priority access to extra-curricular activities

The Headteacher, in conjunction with the Senior Leadership Team, will maintain an ongoing programme of support for socially disadvantaged pupils, which will be subject to the oversight of the Governors’ Teaching, Learning and Wellbeing sub Committee.

The school will provide a daily free healthy snack to those children in KS2 in receipt of the Pupil Premium falling in line with arrangements already in place for KS1.

At the beginning of each year parents of children in receipt of Pupil Premium can make uniform requests for a fleece and PE t-shirt. These requests should be make direct to the school office.

Each child in receipt of pupil premium funding will have a Pupil Premium Profile that details their context, attainment, progress and targets. The profiles will be updated termly to ensure these children receive specific, timely and targeted support –  see below

Monitoring & Evaluation

The school’s evaluation of its own performance is rigorous. Tracking of progress over time for each pupil is thorough and facilitates timely and appropriate intervention.

To guarantee that the Pupil Premium Grant funding is used effectively, we ensure that:

• A wide range of data is used – achievement data, pupils’ work, observations, learning walks and staff, parent and pupil voice.
• Assessment data is collected every half term.
• Half termly pupil progress meetings between teaching staff and senior leaders enable quick identification of any challenges or barriers to progress and allows the school to develop sensible strategies and interventions to promote improvement for all children - not just the children who are in receipt of PPG.
• Regular feedback about performance is given to children.
• Interventions are adapted or changed if they are not working.
• A designated member of the SLT maintains an overview of pupil premium spending.
• The Assessment Lead collates all performance data, analysing and evaluating the effectiveness and value for money of the PPG.
• A governor is given responsibility for pupil premium grant funding.
• Quantitative data sources used include ASP, the local authority’s School Information Packs as well as our own rigorous internal data system.