Pupil Premium Strategy
Our main focus with all PP children will remain primarily with their pastoral support needed during their return to school.
Academic assessments, as with all children will take place during the next few weeks/months and the class teacher will continue to update parents/carers as and when appropriate.
Each year PP info is updated and we will review in the light of Covid changes and the changes needed for any specific children.
At St Andrew’s Church of England Junior School, we believe that all our children have an equal entitlement, and should have an equal opportunity to:
• Develop imagination and creativity
• Acquire skills and abilities
• Have a love of learning
The school receives funding from the Government to support it in trying to meet this aspiration. This is known as the Pupil Premium.
Pupil premium is additional funding, from the government, provided to schools for supporting more pupils from low income families to ensure they benefit from the same opportunities as all other children. There are three categories of children that qualify for pupil premium:
- Children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM)
- Looked after children
- Armed forces children
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 for whom they are responsible.
The Pupil Premium is allocated to schools with pupils on roll in January 2014 that are known to have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at a time in the last six years. Each of these pupils will attract £1300. Schools have the freedom to spend the Premium, which is additional to the underlying schools budget, in a way they think will best support the raising attainment for the most vulnerable pupils.
At St Andrew’s Church of England Junior School, around 25% of our children are eligible for pupil premium.
All our staff and governors accept responsibility for socially disadvantaged pupils and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs within a caring environment. The targeted and strategic use of pupil premium will support us in achieving our vision.
Principles:
- We seek to ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils.
- We seek to ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed.
- In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.
- We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being in need of intervention and support.
- Pupil premium funding will be allocated following a needs analysis which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals.
Provision:
- The range of provision the staff and Governors consider making for this group include:
- Reducing class sizes thus improving opportunities for effective teaching and accelerating progress;
- Providing 1-1 and small group work with an experienced teacher/HLTA focused on overcoming gaps in learning.
- Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided through learning mentors, trained TAs or external agencies.
- The majority of our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress moving children to at least age related expectations. Initially this will be in English and maths.
- In addition, the school recognises that the wider curriculum supports and enriches children's development in communication, English and maths, and therefore funding will also be allocated to enable children to participate fully and actively in wider and extra-curricular activities.
- Pupil premium resources may also be used to target able children on Free School Meals to achieve a secure understanding of the age related curriculum for their year group.
Reporting:
- It will be the responsibility of the Headteacher, or a delegated member of staff, to report to the Governors on:
- The progress made towards narrowing the gap, for socially disadvantaged pupils.
- An outline of the provision that was made since the last meeting.
- An evaluation of the cost effectiveness and impact of the provision in terms - of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular provision.
- Parents will receive information as to the progress of pupils through termly parent meetings and target plans as well as in the final end of year report.
- The Governors of the school will ensure that there is an annual statement to parents on how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of narrowing the gap', for socially disadvantaged pupils. This task will be carried out within the requirements published by the Department for Education and will appear on our school website
- and will be updated annually.
Monitoring:
As a school we are committed to providing the best education for all our pupils and will develop the process of how we use PP funding over the years once we can evaluate what has had the most impact on children's learning. There will be annual reports published and this policy will be reviewed each year.
What is free school meals pupil premium?
- According to the Department for Education: "The pupil premium is additional funding given to publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers. Pupil premium is a designated amount of money that the government allocates to each school, based upon a number of factors which are linked to the perceived deprivation of certain pupils in school. This money is meant to be spent directly or indirectly on those pupils who are considered vulnerable because they are not meeting National Expectations in terms of attainment. Within our school the money is spent on children entitled to free school meals, children with special educational needs and those children that are looked after children. Within our school however, all children regardless of the aforementioned groups have pupil premium money directed towards them directly or
indirectly if for any reason they become vulnerable due to their attainment levels.
Who can apply?
Who knows if my child is entitled to the pupil premium?
- The school staff need to know to ensure that the needs of the children are met. However, this information is not shared with other children/parents and remains confidential. The Governors need to track the progress of this group of pupils but they do not know who the pupils are.
What do you get?
- The school receives additional funding to support the learning of the pupil premium children. We have a pupil premium pledge which will involve the following at no cost to the parents:
- A place at Sunrise Breakfast Club on a regular basis throughout the year.
- A new item of school uniform clothing at the start of each academic year
- All curriculum school visits/trips (excluding enrichment activities) plus 75% of the Y6 residential.
- Swimming lessons organised by the school if needed
In addition during the school day:
- Involvement in small group intervention work when appropriate
- Use of class Chromebooks and the opportunity to use this after school if needed
- Priority access to all extra curricula activities
Why don't all the children get this?
- We will always do our best for all children. But this initiative has come directly from the Government and therefore we need to put something in place.
What about armed forces pupil premium children?
- A place at Sunrise Club on a regular basis throughout the year.
- Additional intervention programmes/social support needed throughout the year
Where can I find out more?
For further information please refer to our pupil premium policy and to the annual pupil premium reports which are published on our website
Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.