‘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 wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.’ (DFE 2012).
Schools are given additional funding for every student on their roll who is:
This additional funding has been allocated to every school due to national figures which show that this group does not achieve as well as their peers. The funding is therefore to support schools to address this issue.
Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. There is no requirement for this money to be spent on individual students simply because they fall into this category. It is expected, however, that the funding will be used to support, as necessary, students in this group and other lower-income families so that this group makes the same progress as their peers
Please see the report here for further information about the plans for spending and a review of last year and a more detailed plan can be found here.
Next Review
We will next review the effectiveness of our spending of pupil premium in December 2021.