What is Pupil Premium?
Introduced in 2011, the pupil premium 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.
Is your child eligible?
Schools are given a pupil premium for:
- Children who have qualified for free school meals at any point in the past six years. The school receives £1320 for each of these children.
- Children who are or have been looked after under local authority care for more than one day. These children are awarded a premium of £2300.
- Children from service families who receive a child pension from the Ministry of Defence. They are awarded £300.
In March 2018 the Government announced that free school meals would only be available to children in KS2 whose families have a net income of £7400 or under, effective from 1 April 2018. 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).
At Woodlands Academy we aim to:
- work with parents/carers throughout the year to make sure that all eligible students have been identified.
- support our Pupil Premium students by meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs.
- improve the lives of our children, enabling them to unlock their creativity and enjoy their learning journey so that they can be the best that they can be.
- provide opportunities for all of our students to engage in their learning and to acquire the skills and knowledge they need for future success.
- use the Pupil Premium imaginatively and effectively to ensure that economic disadvantage for some students is not a barrier to success.
- create and maintain a high profile of Pupil Premium students amongst staff as a key accountability group.
- enable our Pupil Premium children to play an active part in our school community through events, trips and other community events.
- create an enabling environment to support and extend children’s development and learning; where students feel safe and secure to explore.
We will do this by:
- Focussing on the quality of classroom teaching at all times.
- Identifying any barriers to learning and planning accordingly to overcome these.
- Ensuring poor attendance is tracked and tackled with children and families.
- Providing opportunities for parents, as well as children, to have regular access to our Families And Communities Team (FACT) who can offer pastoral support.
- Making sure that interventions are put swiftly in place when needed, are monitored regularly for impact and adapted if necessary.
- Delivering an excitiing curriculum with opportunities for children to develop their independence.
We will know this by:
- Monitoring the quality of teaching, ensuring all children receive Quality First Teaching in the classroom and supporting our teachers to deliver this.
- Supporting our TA’s and providing opportunities for CPD development to make them ‘experts’.
- Rigorously monitoring progress and interventions through data, observations and pupil voice.
Department for Education – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings