Allocation of Pupil Premium Funding at South Milford Primary School

WHAT IS IT? 

Pupil Premium is an allocation of funding from the government that is given separately to the main school budget.  The government believes that this money is the best way to address the current national underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers. The funding is to ensure that provision is in place for those disadvantaged children who need it most. 

The pupil premium scheme was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’).

Since the introduction of Free School Meals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, these children may miss out on this additional funding. We do encourage parents to complete a form if they think they may be eligible, even if they do not need to claim a free meal. 

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months, and children of service personnel. 

Barriers to learning in our school

Every child is different, and so are their circumstances, but some common barriers to learning for pupils who are Pupil Premium in our school include: 

• The amount of support that is available at home.
• Language and communication skills.
• A lack of confidence
• Behavioural difficulties/needs 
•  Complex family situations that affect how well a child flourishes. This can sometimes be for a short period of time but can also be long running and stressful for the child.
• Aspirations, including attendance.

HOW DO WE USE THE PUPIL PREMIUM? 

At South Milford Primary school, we have a number of initiatives we utilise to ensure that every child is given the best possible chance of achieving their potential. Careful monitoring of all our children, highlights areas where we may need to provide additional support. 

The Pupil Premium, therefore, is used to pay for, as appropriate: 

• Ensuring the highest quality first teaching 

• 1-to-1 tuition in English and Maths. 

• Small, focused group work. 

• Intervention programmes for academic support programmes, Maths, phonics, spelling, English. 

• Intervention programmes for social and emotional wellbeing

• Additional teaching assistant support in the classroom. 

• Enrichment beyond the Curriculum 

• All our work through pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress, advancing standards and attainment by moving children to at least age related expectations. Initially this will be in Reading, Writing, Phonics, GPS and Maths. 

• Pupil premium resources may also be used to target able children on FSM to achieve  

Accountability

The government believes that headteachers and school leaders should decide how to use the Pupil Premium.  They are held accountable for the decisions they make through:

• The performance Tables which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers.
• The Ofsted Inspection Framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, and in-particular those who attract the Pupil Premium.
• The reports for parents that schools have to publish online.