Pupil Premium 2023-2024

What is the Pupil Premium Grant?

The Department for Education provides additional funding to schools for pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals; pupils who are cared for and pupils with parents in the Armed Forces.

The Pupil Premium Grant is currently £1,455 at Primary level for each pupil eligible for free school meals. The PPG id £1,035 at Secondary level. Armed Forces £335. The funding is intended to ‘diminish the difference’ between the attainment of pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium funding and those who are not.

Mrs Jenna Greenfield is our Pupil Premium Champion alongside our Learning Mentor Mrs Kerry Sinnett.

If you think your child might be eligible for free school meals, please contact the school office for further information.

How Do I Know If My Child Can Receive Pupil Premium Funding?

Free School Meals
The most common reason a pupil receives Pupil Premium funding at our school is because a parent is registered as receiving a benefit that entitles them to free school meals. This is not the same as receiving a free school meal as your child is in KS1.

Free school meal / pupil premium funding now works as: All pupils in KS1 (Class 1 pupils) will receive a free school meal under the UIFSM (Universal Infant Free School Meals) Scheme. However, if you receive certain benefits your child can still receive pupil premium funding, but you MUST fill in all the details on the free school meal form available upon request from the office.

KS2 (Yr3, Yr4, Yr5 & Yr6) All pupils will need to apply for free school meals and pupil premium in the same way as before.

Service Children
Children of armed service personnel are also eligible. Service children are children and young people from families where one or more parents is currently in the British armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria:

• one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces
• one of their parents served in the regular armed forces in the last 3 years
• one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil is in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)

How much Pupil Premium funding is allocated for 2023/2024?

St Nicholas Middle School currently receives a Pupil Premium Grant of £39,980 and Pinvin CofE First School £37,045. This is based on pupils, on roll and eligible for Pupil Premium funding, at the time of the January 2022 census.

What are the main barriers to educational achievement faced by eligible pupils at our school?

• Emotional well-being, particularly lack of resilience and independence skills
• Low academic baseline – Many of our Pupil Premium pupils have identified additional needs or require some form of specific provision.
• Support from home and limited experiences of the wider curriculum and community.

How the grant is used to address those barriers and the reasons for that approach?

• How we spend the funding is a whole school decision. We select the best ways to improve pupils’ academic progress, emotional well-being and ensure inclusion in all the school has to offerWe are currently have a Learning Mentor with QTS who supports many of the children across both school.
• Funding skilled teaching assistant support enables us to offer targeted support in class and a range of interventions, either 1:1 or in small groups, to ‘diminish the gap’ between Pupil Premium pupils and their peers. Specific resources, specialist advice and staff training is also provided.
• We host regular events for parents to advise them on changes to the curriculum, how we teach Maths, how to prepare their child for starting school etc.
• To enable all pupils to participate in out of school activities, we fund school trips, after school clubs, residential visits, swimming and the opportunity to play a musical instrument.

How we measure the impact of the Pupil Premium Grant?

• All teaching staff are aware of who is eligible for Pupil Premium and this informs their planning. Regular assessments allow them to give pupils effective feedback. 
• Pre and post assessment data from reading tests, spelling tests and Maths assessments etc. are used to provide a base-line to track the impact of interventions. These are monitored every 6 weeks with input from pupils, the lead adult and the SENCO.
• Pupil voice questionnaires and ‘feelings sheets’ are used to give an indication of pupils’ sense of well-being.
• Pupil Premium pupils have an action plan, a tracking and/or profile sheet with advice on Quality First Teaching strategies, interventions/support provided, medical needs, outside agencies involvement and desired outcomes. Progress is monitored each term, at a designated staff meeting.                                                                                         

The Pupil Premium strategy is reviewed termly and will be updated by December 23.