Eligibility and funding amounts
The pupil premium grant is funding provided to schools to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. A school will receive an amount of money for each pupil of compulsory school age who fits the eligibility criteria. There are five categories of eligible pupil. Each category attracts a different amount of funding.

Allocation
The grant is allocated in line with the financial year, which begins in April. Each year’s allocations are based on data from the previous January’s census. If an eligible pupil joins after the January census, the school will not receive pupil premium funding for his/her until the following year. Maintained schools receive the pupil premium through their local authority (LA), whereas the Education Funding Agency allocates the funding directly to academies and free schools. Both academies and maintained schools receive the grant in quarterly instalments. However, pupil premium funding for looked-after children (LAC) is not allocated to schools but to the virtual school head in the LA, who will work with the school to decide how it will be spent.

Spending the grant
The grant can be spent as each school sees fit, as long as it is used to demonstrably improve the attainment of eligible pupils. Schools do not need to spend an equal amount on each pupil, or use the money for interventions that benefit only eligible pupils. However the grant should not be used to fund free school meals, as schools already receive funding for this through the dedicated schools grant.

Publishing information about pupil premium spending Schools must publish information on their websites about the amount of pupil premium funding they have received, how it will be used, how the previous year’s allocation was spent, and the effect of this expenditure on the attainment of eligible pupils.

Early years pupil premium
In April 2015, an Early Years pupil premium (EYPP) was introduced for disadvantaged children aged three and four years old. All Early Years providers eligible to receive early education funding are also eligible to receive the EYPP.

Principles:

– We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all the pupils.

– We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed.

– In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.

– We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.

– Pupil premium funding will be allocated following a needs analysis which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals. Limited funding and resources means that not all children receiving free school meals will be in receipt of pupil premium interventions at one time.

Provision:

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

– Providing small group work with an experienced teacher focussed on overcoming gaps in learning.

– 1 on 1 support.

– Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided by trained TAs or external agencies.

– All our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress, moving children at least to at least age related expectations. Initially this will be in communication, English and maths.

– Pupil premium resources may also be used to target able children on Free School Meals to achieve age related expectations for their year group.

– Provision will not be aimed at statemented children as funding for their needs is already in place.

Reporting:

– It will be the responsibility of the head teacher, or a delegated member of staff, to produce regular reports for the Governing Body.

– The progress made towards narrowing the gap, by year group, for socially disadvantaged pupils.

– An outline of the provision that was made since the last meeting.

– An evaluation of the cost effectiveness, in terms of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular provision, when compared with other forms of support.

– The Governors of the school will ensure that there is an annual statement to parents on how the pupil premium funding has been used to address the issue of ‘narrowing the gap’, for socially disadvantaged pupils. This task will be carried out within the requirements published by the Department for Education and will appear on our school website.

Any appeals against this policy will be through the Governor’s complaints procedure.