Pupil Premium is additional school funding from the government to address educational inequalities between pupils from low income families and their more affluent peers through all stages of education. This ensures funding to combat disadvantage reaches the pupils that need it most.
As a school, we are committed to ensuring that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all pupils, in particular those of vulnerable pupils so that any gaps in attainment with that of other pupils is narrowed, and ultimately, closed. We believe good educational opportunities are the key to improving life chances.
The DfE states that it is for 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.
The pupil premium is allocated for children who are currently registered as eligible for Free School meals (FSM) or have received FSM in one or more of the previous six years, Looked After Children (LAC) and children of service families. At Edison we have also identified a PP+ category, where families do not have recourse to public funding and deprivation is a factor not identified under the Pupil Premium Grant.
If a family is entitled, it is very important that they apply for free school meals so that the school receives the funding that will benefit all Pupil Premium pupils. The application form is available from the school office or can be downloaded from the Forms page of the website.
The spending of Pupil Premium funding is reviewed and scrutinised carefully by our governing body. They are required to make sure that money is spent on support that demonstrably improves the educational attainment and progress of the Pupil Premium children, proportionate to the amount of money spent on particular initiatives. The governing body is also required to review the effectiveness of all interventions we use to ensure that they deliver appropriate educational benefits.
Purpose
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.
Eligibility
All schools that are eligible for pupil premium are eligible for recovery premium. This includes the following types of schools:
We will provide funding to local authorities for eligible pupils they have placed in independent special schools, where the local authority pays full tuition fees, as recorded on their alternative provision census (January 2021 census for the first 3 payments and January 2022 census for the fourth).
Pupil Eligibility
The recovery premium will be allocated using the same data as the pupil premium. This means the following pupils will attract recovery premium funding to schools:
Using Recovery Premium Funding
Schools should spend this premium on evidence-based approaches to support pupils. In line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s pupil premium guide, 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.