The government believes that it is unacceptable for children’s success to be determined by their social circumstances and intends to raise levels of achievement for all disadvantaged pupils and to close the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
The Pupil Premium is allocated to schools and is clearly identifiable. Schools can decide how it is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for individual pupils within their responsibility.
The Pupil Premium and Service Premium was introduced by the government in April 2011. This gave schools £625 million of extra funding to close the attainment gaps for disadvantaged pupils and to assist with the pastoral needs of children with parents in the armed forces. This funding has now increased to £2.5bn in 2014-15.
When commenting on how successful schools use the Pupil Premium to narrow the attainment gap, the Department of Education said:
‘Evidence shows that the most effective schools achieve this through a combination of high quality teaching, strong leadership, a relevant and coherent curriculum, a culture of high expectations and targeted catch-up and enrichment activities.’
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
In 2020/2021 schools were allocated £1455 per pupil for children from low-income families who were eligible for free school meals, and £2345 per pupil for ‘looked-after’ children.
Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.