At James Cambell Primary School, we believe that all children are entitled to an education which allows every child to achieve their potential regardless of their starting point in life or personal circumstances. The government believes that the additional funding provided for Pupil Premium children is the best way to tackle those inequalities to enable children to have the best outcomes.
Pupil Premium funds are additional monies allocated to schools by the government to help them address the barriers to learning and close the gap in attainment for disadvantaged pupils.
Pupil Premium funding is allocated to schools based on the number of pupils on roll who are:
Which pupils are entitled to Pupil Premium?
Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is provided to all schools to support pupils within the following categories:
- Pupils who are currently registered for Free School Meals.
- Pupils who have been registered for Free School Meals at any point during the last six years;
- Pupils in the care of a Local Authority;
- Pupils who have been adopted but have been looked after for one day or more, or were adopted from care on or after 30th December 2005 and left care under:
- A Special Guardianship Order on or after 30th December 2005
- A Residence Order on or after 14th October 1991
- Pupils whose parents are serving with the UK Armed Forces
For each eligible pupil in 2020/21 the school expects to receive £1320. Students in care receive a higher amount and this is managed by local authorities.
What is Pupil Premium spent on?
The decision about how the individual schools use their Pupil Premium is left to each school with the expectation that they will close the gap in attainment and progress between those eligible and other children nationally. “It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium is spent since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.” (DfE). Therefore, schools are free to spend the PPG as they see fit. However, they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support these pupils. Measures are included in the performance tables which capture the achievement of those disadvantaged pupils covered by the grant.
How is funding used at James Cambell Primary School?
At James Cambell, we use funding in a range of ways to support all pupils including those who qualify for Pupil Premium. Each year we put together a comprehensive plan of how we will do our best to allow our pupils to meet their full potential. Class teachers and teaching assistants know which children are identified as pupil premium and in termly pupil progress reviews they are a specific focus group. At the end of the academic year we then analyse the impact of any additional support, interventions and strategies used to ensure they provide best value and that progress has been made.
We have developed an action plan (a Pupil Premium Funding Strategy) in order to continue to improve provision and raise achievement for all children in receipt of pupil premium funding. This document can be downloaded below.