Pupil Premium Policy
What is Pupil Premium?
Pupil Premium is funding allocated to schools for the purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low income families. It is intended to enable schools to provide targeted support to help children reach their full potential.
Funding is allocated for children who are Looked After by the Local Authority (CLA) and for every child who is registered for Free School Meals.
Principles
Every child with his/her individual needs and gifts is a unique gift from God.
All members of staff, governors and teaching assistants accept responsibility for ‘socially disadvantaged’ pupils and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs within a caring Catholic environment. This is an essential, integral part of the spiritual development of the whole school community.
As with every child in our care, a child who is considered to be ‘socially disadvantaged’ is valued, respected and entitled to develop to his/her fullpotential, irrespective of need.
Background
The pupil premium is a Government initiative that targets extra money at pupils from deprived backgrounds, which research shows underachieve compared to their non-deprived peers. The premium is provided in order to support these pupils in reaching their potential.
The Government have used pupils entitled to Free School meals as an indicator for deprivation, and have deployed a fixed amount of money to schools per pupil, based on the number of pupils registered for Free School meals. At Holy Name School we will be using the indicator of those eligible for Free School meals as our target children to ‘narrow the gap’ regarding attainment.
The Government are not dictating how schools should spend this money, but are clear that schools will need to employ the strategies that they know will support their pupils to increase their attainment, and ‘narrow the gap’. Schools will be accountable for narrowing the gap, and there is a planned reform to the school performance tables to include new measures that show the attainment of pupils who receive the pupil premium compared with their peers.
Provision
In order to meet the above requirements, the Governing Body will ensure that provision is made which secures the teaching and learning opportunities that meet the needs of all pupils.
As part of the additional provision made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups, the Governors of the school will ensure that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed through termly pupil progress meetings.
In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, the Governors of the school recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.
The Governors also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. The Governors reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil of groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.
The range of provision
- Facilitating pupils’ access to education
- Facilitating pupils access to the curriculum
- Additional teaching and learning opportunities
- Alternative support and intervention, arranged through a pupil’s parents, where funds are available after securing the school’s own programme
The SLT, in conjunction with the Executive Headteacher, will maintain an ongoing programme of support for socially disadvantaged pupils, which will be subject to the oversight of the Governors’ Curriculum Committee.
Reporting
It will be the responsibility of the Executive Headteacher to produce a termly report for the Governor’s Curriculum Committee on:
- The progress made towards narrowing the gap, by year group, for socially disadvantaged pupils.
- An outline of the provision that was made during the term since the last meeting.
- An evaluation of the cost effectiveness, in terms of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular provision, when compared with other forms of support.
It will be the responsibility of the main Governing body to ensure an outline of the school’s progress towards ‘narrowing the gap’ for socially disadvantaged pupils is given to the school’s Governors on a termly basis.
The governing body will consider the information provided from the Curriculum Committee in the light of the data relating to the progress of the school’s socially disadvantaged pupils in conjunction with the revised schools’ league tables.
The Governors will ensure that there is an annual statement to the parents on how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of ‘narrowing the gap’, for socially disadvantaged pupils. This task will be carried out within the requirements published by the Department for Education.
Success Criteria
The evaluation of this policy is based on how quickly the school can ‘narrow the gap’ between socially disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Targets will be identified and evaluated annually and included in the School Development Plan.
The success criteria for the Pupil Premium Policy are:
- Early intervention and support for socially disadvantaged children
- The vast majority of socially disadvantaged children will meet their individual targets.
- Effective parental pupil school support.
- Having an effective system for identifying, assessing and monitoring pupils.
- Having a whole-school approach.
- Create a positive school atmosphere in which pupils’ differences are recognised and valued as full members of the school community; developing confident and independent learners.
How will schools spend their pupil premium?
Schools have the freedom to spend the Premium in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils. Schools will be required to report of parents how they have spent the money allocated.
It is important to remember that not all children who are allocated Pupil Premium will receive support at the same time.
Free School Meals
Who is eligible for free school meals?
Children can have Free School Meals if their parents receive any of the following:
• Income Support
• Income Based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Support under part VI of the Immigrations and Asylum Act 1999
• Child Tax Credit provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income that doesn’t exceed £16,190
• The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Therefore, it is really important to make sure all children who qualify are registered for Free School Meals even if you choose to send a packed lunch for them.
Please ask us if you think you may be entitled!
How can you register for free school meals?
To register for Free School Meals you need to complete an Education Benefit form. You can access this by:
• Asking for a form at the school office
•Downloading a form at http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/840/claim_fo…
• Asking for a form at the job centre