Pupil Premium

Rationale

St Thomas CE (VC) Primary School recognises that all children regardless of background should have equal access to a curriculum which will enable them to reach their potential. The Pupil Premium is a Government initiative which targets extra money at pupils from challenging backgrounds, who research shows underachieve compared to their peers.

The Government have used pupils entitled to Statutory Free School Meals (SFSM) 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 SFSM. At St Thomas we will be using the indicator of those eligible for SFSM and those in Local Authority Care 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. As a school we are 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.

Aims

To ensure that provision is focussed on ‘narrowing the gap’ for those pupils deemed to be behind their own personal progress expectation.

Provision

In order to meet the above requirements, the Governing Body of St Thomas CE (VC) Primary School 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 any 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 Statutory Free School Meals will be socially disadvantaged.

The Governors also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for Statutory Free School Meals. The Governors reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil, or 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 Headteacher and the Senior Leaders, will maintain an ongoing programme of support for socially disadvantaged pupils, which will be subject to the oversight of the Governors’ Curriculum Committee.

Pupil Premium Intent

Pupil Premium funding is an allocation of additional funding provided to schools through the local authority to support specific groups of children who are vulnerable to possible underachievement. This includes pupils who are entitled to free school meals (FSM) at any one time in the last six years, children who are in care and those whose parents are in the armed forces. The premium is provided in order to support these pupils in reaching their potential. School has the freedom to spend the pupil premium money which is additional to the underlying schools budget, to effectively support the most vulnerable pupils. School is accountable for closing the gap and data will include the attainment of pupils who receive the pupil premium compared with their peers.

Pupil Premium Implementation

Here at St Thomas CE (VC) Primary School we aim to be a school of opportunity and success for all pupils, including, and especially, those who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium. Our school pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium are identified quickly so that we can support needs effectively. The needs analysis for the Pupil Premium is an on–going process through a pupil’s learning journey at the school. We strongly believe that the measures of successful spending should be raising standards, the narrowing of the achievement gap and the broadening of opportunities for the most disadvantaged pupils at St. Thomas’s School.

The school has created a team of staff that work across each cohort to identify and support any child that may not be making progress. This identification process is rooted in our assessment procedure which highlights any individual that many not be working at the level that they are expected to be. This allows the teacher to direct their learning mentor efficiently and effectively as well as discussing vulnerable children within the regular pupil performance meetings with the leadership team.

Curriculum Impact

Here at St Thomas CE (VC) Primary School, the achievement of pupil premium children is held in high regard. First and foremost, we provide good quality teaching to all. Teachers are aware of their pupil premium children and meet needs through various effective strategies. Termly Pupil Progress meetings are held to identify specific issues among pupil premium children and interventions are discussed and implemented. The Senior Leadership Team and Governors have a strategic view of pupil premium attainment and progress and uses this to challenge and evaluate practice.

Secondly, the school aims to promote the progress and attainment of pupil premium eligible children regardless of their background, ethnicity, socio-economic status or prior attainment. Here at St Thomas we recognise the importance of promoting personal development, welfare and behaviour as means to raising attainment, the school values parental engagement and has a range of strategies in place to get parents on board with promoting learning. The school understands that pupil premium children span the spectrum of abilities and a special regard is taken to monitoring the progress of higher ability children.