Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium is a payment made to schools by the Government that targets extra money at pupils from deprived backgrounds. It makes up part of the school’s funding, is received into our budget and is made available for use throughout the whole school. Schools are free to decide how to allocate this funding to best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils who, as shown by research, are vulnerable to possible underachievement. The intended effect of this funding is to accelerate progress and raise attainment.

The Pupil Premium funding is provided to enable these pupils to be supported to reach their potential.

The Government has used pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM), looked after children and service children as indicators of deprivation, and has provided a fixed amount of money for schools per pupil based on the number of pupils registered for FSM over a rolling six-year period.

At Grove Road Community Primary, we will be using the indicator of those eligible for FSM, as well as identified vulnerable groups, as our target children to ‘close the gap’ regarding progress and attainment. The amount of Pupil Premium funding a school receives is calculated according to the number of pupils who meet the eligibility criteria set by the government. At Grove Road, this is approximately 21% of the children (70/331). The school is accountable for using this funding to raise the achievement of the less advantaged children in its community.

Strategy

At Grove Road, we believe we can raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils:

Through a resolute, unwavering commitment to improving the quality of teaching;
By providing resources and interventions that are tailored for individual needs and focused upon teaching and learning;
Providing access to enrichments and activities (that some children may otherwise not experience) that develop pupils’ cultural capital;

Ensuring that all understand the barriers and well researched, comprehensive personalised plans are in place.

The measure of our school’s successes should be based upon how our disadvantaged pupils perform, particularly when compared to our non-disadvantaged cohort.

All elements of our pupil premium strategy have been carefully tailored to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of our children. There has been a considerable focus on evidence-based recommendations from the work of the Education Endowment Foundation - click here for more details - in order to raise attainment and develop essential life skills.

Provision

The range of provision the Governors consider making for this group could include:

Reducing class sizes thus improving opportunities for effective teaching and accelerating progress
Providing small group work with an experienced teacher/teaching assistant focussed on overcoming gaps in learning
1-1 support
Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided through trained TAs or external agencies
All our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress, moving children to at least age-related expectations

Pupil premium resources may also be used to target able children on Free School Meals to achieve Age Related Expectations
Transition from primary to secondary
Additional learning support
Pay for all activities, educational visits and residentials. Ensuring children have first-hand experiences to use in their learning in the classroom
Support the funding of specialist learning software