THE PUPIL PREMIUMAT LONGSTONE PRIMARY SCHOOL Pupil Premium is additional funding paid to schools in respect of their ‘disadvantaged’ pupils. These are children who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years. It also includes those children who have been looked after continuously by the Local Authority for more than six months or who then become ‘adopted from care’. Funding is also available for children of parents who are in the regular armed forces.
Why has it been introduced? The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. Whilst schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit, we are required to publish online information about how we have used the funding and the impact that it has.
Our Approach At our school we recognise that each child is unique and will have different needs which may well vary throughout their time at our school. We believe that children who may have barriers to learning need support to perform as well as, or better than, their peers so that they can be successful in the next stage of their education and in their future career. High expectations and bespoke support are key to help remove the attainment gaps that can often develop between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Some of our pupils for whom the Pupil Premium provides support are working below the level of their peers and the school needs to continuously identify and refine the most appropriate support within our Pupil Premium strategy. There are also some pupils who are attaining at the same level or above that of their peers. We recognise the need to provide additional support or fund opportunities for all such pupils to improve and enhance their life and educational experiences during their time at Curbar. Our Pupil Premium strategy aims to achieve this.
PUPIL PREMIUM NON-NEGOTIABLES 2022 – 2023
Know who the pupil premium children are.
Notice the children, engage them every day and make them feel valued. Make it a priority to talk to them about their lives and interests.
Praise them directly and specifically. Praise effort and attitude as well as outcome.
Set appropriate challenges and high expectations.
Give them a role to make them feel valued: book monitor, library monitor etc.
Plan and direct open questions to them every day and expect and encourage an answer.
Sit them in the best place for them to learn with encouraging peers.
Monitor their progress more often and intervene swiftly and directly if they start to fall behind.
Help them be ready to learn every day and take an extra interest: do they have a water bottle, their glasses, a PE kit, have they lost their reading books, haven’t brought their book bag, are late, have incomplete homework, forget its ‘non-uniform’ day?
Support and structure their break time and playtime activities and if necessary, ensure support from a buddy or additional adult.
Ensure weekly engagement with the families through either: a conversation with the parents, parent-mail or phone call home.
Provide after school support or lunchtime support such as homework club or extra reading support.
Be their advocate; their champion; be on their side!
Follow everything up and offer help!
How will the school measure the impact of Pupil Premium? Teachers formatively assess pupils on a daily basis during the lessons and use this information to plan for next steps in learning. We ‘summatively assess’ at termly intervals throughout the year to measure attainment in reading, writing, maths and SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar).
Teachers, the SENCo and Head Teacher are responsible for tracking the progress and attainment of all pupils including pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium funding. Pupil Progress Meetings at the end of each half term between teachers, the SENCo and Head Teacher monitor achievement, impact of strategies to support learning and well-being and allow any concerns to be addressed.
Attendance data is collected and monitored by the school on a termly basis.
Pupil Premium funding and the impact of the strategy is a regular item on the school governor meeting agendas.
The school also keeps up with educational research that supports creative approaches to supporting our ‘disadvantaged’ pupils such as the Education Endowment Fund (EEF).
