Pupil Premium

What is Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium is funding allocated to schools for the specific purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low-income families. Funding is based on children who have registered for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years, children that are in care or adopted or children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces.

Why was it introduced?

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. Whilst schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit we are required to publish online information about how we have used the Premium and the impact it is having.

For the financial year 2021-22 we have been allocated £59,490. The percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals is currently 34.6%.

How we intend to use pupil Premium Funding in 2025 – 2027

Our aim is to use Pupil premium funding to help us improve and sustain high attainment for disadvantaged children at our school that is comparable with non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. During the period of this plan we will focus on the key challenges that are preventing our disadvantaged children from attaining well: age related expectations, attendance, oral language and emotional well-being.
Our expectation at Waterthorpe is that, irrespective of background or the challenges they face, all children develop a core knowledge and set of skills that ensures fast pace progression across and between each year group.

The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help children to achieve well. To ensure they are effective we will:

● Have a whole school approach to attainment for all
● Clear responsive leadership at all levels
● To monitor and intervene early