Pupil Premium
BackELIGIBILITY FOR FREE SCHOOL MEALS AND OTHER SUPPORT
Many of our pupils currently receive free school meals but we believe that there may be many more pupils who are entitled to them, but who do not claim them. This may be for a variety of reasons.
In order to qualify for free school meals (FSM), parents need to be claiming one or more of the following benefits: Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, Income Based Employment Support Allowance or Child Tax Credit (but not working tax credit). Annual income must not be more than £16,190. As a school we make every effort to encourage parents to sign up to FSM. However, with universal free school meals for KS1 we need to make more effort with our new reception parents by asking all parents to complete an application.
PUPIL PREMIUM
The Government introduced the Pupil Premium in April 2011, as a way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and non-FSM children, by ensuring that funding reaches the pupils who need it most. The Pupil Premium is allocated to children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for FSM and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months.
The Government decided that it is up to schools to decide how the Pupil Premium is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
They are held accountable for the decisions which they make through:
- the performance tables which show the performance of disadvantaged children compared with their peers
- the new Ofsted framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment
- the new reports for parents that schools now have to publish online
We have looked closely at the needs of these pupils in an effort to provide the right kind of support for them. We aim to make the best use of the Pupil Premium by tailoring it to the needs of our pupils and looking closely at the effectiveness, impact and quality of all the support put into place as a result. Set out below are some examples of the strategies and interventions which are funded through the Pupil Premium at St Philip's Primary School in the past two years in order to improve the progress and attainment of pupils receiving Free School Meals or who are looked after.
For further detail, see Pupil Premium Report document below.
