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The Willink

Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium Allocation

The pupil premium

The pupil premium grant is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England. It’s a school-level grant that gives schools extra resources to help them meet challenges, including those arising from deprivation.

The Pupil Premium is allocated for schools to:

  • improve the academic outcomes of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities
  • close the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers across the country

Eligibility

The Pupil Premium is allocated to schools to work with pupils:

  • who are currently eligible, or have been eligible, for free school meals at any point in the last six years.
  • who have been in local authority care for 1 day or more and who have left local authority care as a result of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order.

Free School Meals

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 have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
  • 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 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (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:

Please visit the website https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals to find out if your child is entitled to Free School Meals.

Using the pupil premium effectively

School leaders are best placed to decide how to use the pupil premium to improve disadvantaged pupils’ academic attainment. There is a growing body of evidence on how schools can best help disadvantaged pupils make progress. The needs of all pupils should be assessed and the grant used to make maximum impact in the school. Pupil needs will differ and will cost differing amounts to address.

There is no expectation that schools should spend the grant only on eligible pupils, or on a per eligible pupil basis.

Some of the most effective spending will be on whole school strategies, including improving the quality of teaching, which have the potential to impact positively on all pupils.

Common ways in which schools spend their pupil premium fund include:

  • Extra one-to-one or small-group support for children within the classroom.
  • Employing extra teaching assistants to work with classes.
  • Running catch-up sessions before or after school, for example for children who need extra help with maths or literacy.
  • Running a school breakfast club to improve attendance.
  • Providing music lessons for children whose families would be unable to pay for them.
  • Funding educational trips and visits.
  • Paying for additional help such as speech and language therapy or family therapy.
  • Investing in resources that boost children’s learning, such as laptops or tablets.

The Service Premium

The service premium is not part of the pupil premium as the rules to attract the service premium are different.

This funding is to help with pastoral support.

 

You will find more details on how the Pupil Premium Money is spent at The Willink in the following documents:

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement

Pupil Premium Policy