Premiums

Pupil Premium

 

Pupil Premium is additional funding for schools in order to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the attainment gap for ‘vulnerable groups’.

 

Pupil premium funding is allocated to:

  • Pupils in year groups Reception to Year 11 who have qualified for free school meals during the last six years (Ever 6 FSM).
  • Children in Care (CiC or LAC) defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority.
  • Children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order.
  • Pupils in year groups Reception to Year 11 recorded as Ever 5 Service Children or in receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence. (This service premium is designed to address the emotional and social well-being of these pupils).

 

Pupil Premium is used to provide additional educational support to improve the progress and to raise the standard of achievement for these pupils. The funding is used to narrow and close the gap between the achievement of these pupils and their peers.

 

As far as its powers allow, the school will use the additional funding to address any underlying inequalities between children eligible for Pupil Premium and others.

 

The school will ensure that the additional funding reaches the pupils who need it most and that it makes a significant impact on their education and lives.

 

 

Primary PE and Sport Premium Funding

 

Physical activity has numerous benefits for children and young people’s physical health, as well as their mental wellbeing (increasing self-esteem and emotional wellbeing and lowering anxiety and depression), and children who are physically active are happier, more resilient and more trusting of their peers. Ensuring that pupils have access to sufficient daily activity can also have wider benefits for pupils and schools, improving behaviour as well as enhancing academic achievement.

 

The school sport and activity action plan sets out the government’s commitment to ensuring that children and young people have access to at least 60 minutes of sport and physical activity per day. It recommends 30 minutes of this is delivered during the school day (in line with the Chief Medical Officers guidelines which recommend an average of at least 60 minutes per day across the week).

 

The PE and sport premium can help primary schools to achieve this commitment, providing primary schools with £320 million of government funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport offered through their core budgets. It is allocated directly to schools, so they have the flexibility to use it in the way that works best for their pupils.

 

Schools must use the funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport they provide. This includes any carried forward funding.

 

This means that you must use the PE and sport premium to:

  • develop or add to the PE, physical activity and sport that your school provides.
  • build capacity and capability within the school to ensure that improvements made now are sustainable and will benefit pupils joining the school in future years.

 

 

COVID Catch Up Funding

 

In June 2020 the government announced £1 billion of funding to support children and young people to catch up on missed learning caused by coronavirus (COVID19). In particular, this funding was to be used for vulnerable pupils who were disproportionally affected by the disruption to their education.

Foreland Fields School used the funding in line with the Department for Education guidance:

  • To provide specific activities to help pupils to catch up on missed learning.
  • To focus on vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils.

 

 

Recovery Premium Funding

 

In February 2021, the government announced a one-off recovery premium as part of its package of funding to support education recovery.

 

The recovery premium provides additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. Building on the pupil premium, this funding will help schools to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting disadvantaged pupils.

 

Schools should spend this premium on evidence-based approaches to support pupils. Activities should include those that:

  • support the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development
  • provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring
  • deal with non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

 

Like the pupil premium, schools can:

  • spend the recovery premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who attract the funding.
  • direct recovery premium spending where they think the need is greatest.