This grant is an amount of money allocated to schools based on the number of the ‘most disadvantaged’ children a school has.
Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium Grant as they feel is appropriate. Schools must report and publicise annually how the money has been spent and what the impact has been made on the achievements of the pupils.
Funding for 2023-24 is £1455 per ‘disadvantaged children’ and £2530 per child who is looked after or adopted from care.
The government believes that the Pupil Premium Grant, which is additional to the main school funding, is the best way to address the inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM), looked after children & service children and other pupils. Pupils for who schools must spend the grant on are the ‘most disadvantaged’. This is a government definition; it includes children who have may have been disadvantaged at any point in their life and includes children who:
- have had free school meals, due to low income at any point in the school life
- are ‘looked after’ by the local authority
- adopted from care
- are children of Service families
Although not included in the calculation of funds (and therefore do not qualify for our personalised budget) this also includes pupils who:
- have ever had a social worker
- have special educational needs and /or disabilities
Schools must spend their PPG on evidence-informed activities such as:
Teaching
Schools arrange training and professional development for all their staff to improve the impact of teaching and learning for pupils.
Academic support
Schools should decide on the main issues stopping their pupils from succeeding at school and use the pupil premium to buy extra help.
Wider approaches
This may include non-academic use of the pupil premium such as:
- school breakfast clubs
- music lessons for disadvantaged pupils
- help with the cost of educational trips or visits
Schools may find using the pupil premium in this way helps to:
- increase pupils’ confidence and resilience
- encourage pupils to be more aspirational
- benefit non-eligible pupils
Accountability
Schools must be transparent about how they spend your pupil premium so:
parents, guardians can understand the pupil premium strategy, this is done through the annual strategy document and ‘impact statement’
governing bodies can see evidence-based practice so they can consider the rationale behind all pupil premium-related decisions.