Pupil Premium

What is the Pupil Premium?

Pupil Premium is an additional amount of funding allocated to schools by the government to support the learning and progress of disadvantaged children.

The government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM), looked after children & service children and other pupils.  Three categories of pupils are eligible:

• Pupils recorded as ‘ever 6 FSM’ (pupils who are or have been eligible for FSM at any point during their 6 years of Primary school education)
• Looked after children and those children who have been adopted from care
• Children of Service personnel

Pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium need to be aged 4 and over, in year groups to year 11 in a maintained school. The proportion of children eligible at Aldbury CE Primary is currently 9%. 

It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium is spent and they will be held accountable for how this additional funding is impacting on those for whom the money is allocated. The government thinks that schools are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for individual pupils within their responsibility. However all schools will be held accountable for how they have used additional funding to support pupils from low-income families and in care. The schools must report and publicise annually how the money has been spent and what the impact has been made on the achievements of the pupils.

Statement of intent

“If we can respond to the massive challenge to use the Pupil Premium funding to close the gap, we will have gone a long way to fulfil the purpose of education for the young people who need it most. We will have accepted the notion that no young person, by virtue of their birth, should necessarily achieve less than others.” (Sir John Dunford, National Pupil Premium Champion 2013-2015)

At Aldbury CE Primary School, our intent is that all pupils, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across our curriculum. The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal, including progress for those who are already high attainers.

We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have a social worker and young carers.

High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. We nurture and support all pupils to take pride in their individual achievements, encouraging them to contribute to lessons and wider school life.We aim to improve the outcomes for our vulnerable and disadvantaged children in all areas of the curriculum.