Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium Grant

The Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is allocated to schools from the Department for Education (DfE) to help vulnerable pupils achieve their potential. These include, pupils who are entitled to free school meals (FSM); those looked after by the Local Authority, children previously in-care who have been adopted and children of armed service personnel.

 Using the pupil premium effectively

Introduced in April 2011, the PPG provides additional funding for publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers.

School leaders are best placed to decide how to use the pupil premium to improve disadvantaged pupils' academic attainment. There is a growing body of evidence on how schools can best help disadvantaged pupils make progress. The needs of all pupils should be assessed and the grant used to make maximum impact in the school. Pupil needs will differ and will cost differing amounts to address.

There is no expectation that schools should spend the grant only on eligible pupils, or on a per eligible pupil basis. When taking decisions on how to spend the grant, schools are encouraged to consider evidence on what will have the most impact on the pupils. Some of the most effective spending will be on whole school strategies, including improving the quality of teaching, which have the potential to impact positively on all pupils.

Our priorities

Setting priorities is key to maximising the use of the PPG and our priorities are as follows:

• Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers
• Providing targeted academic support for pupils who are not making the expected progress
• Removing personal, social and emotional barriers to learning, which may affect the academic progress of disadvantaged pupils
• Support disadvantaged pupils that have experienced early trauma which impacts their ability to reach their potential
• Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance and behaviour
• Ensuring that the PPG reaches the pupils who need it most
• Improving attendance and punctuality

We address these barriers to future attainment through the following key strategies:

1. Quality first teaching for all children - ensures that the most disadvantaged in our school make the best possible progress. We have achieved this through effective training for teaching and learning strategies.
2. Our curriculum is ambitious and aspirational for all our children, including our disadvantaged.
3. We do not limit children’s potential achievement by having lower expectations based on children’s background or prior experiences.
4. Mixed-ability, inclusive classes mean that all children have the same opportunity to achieve highly. However, we may apply discrimination positively for our most disadvantaged pupils.
5. Teachers ensure that they know disadvantaged children very well and what they can do to support them: effective feedback, personal target setting/expectations for outcomes – eg. getting to greater depth learning - and embedding these habits into teacher behaviour.
6. Identifying social and emotional barriers early - leading to additional support for well-being, mental health and achievement outcomes (Gold TAMHS School). Classroom staff are trained and supported to deliver well-being programmes, leading to greater capacity to help more pupils.
7. Improving attendance for PP children – at Moulton, poor attendance is the most significant barrier to achievement of disadvantaged children. A targeted strategy combining removing social and emotional barriers, incentives and rewards, parent support and accountability, has had a high impact on the attendance of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. In one year, PP attendance has risen from 92.8% to 96% (in-line with other pupils).
8. Supporting attitudes to learning - whole school strategy (Learning animals) is developing resilience, appetite for challenge and maintaining positive relationships to support learning and social behaviour.
9. Specific interventions, such as the 20 Day Challenge – this has had significant impact for pupils outcomes at Moulton.
10. Supporting parental engagement of disadvantaged pupils to increase involvement in children’s school life and learning (phone calls to invite to school events, reading/homework support, reminders about upcoming activities etc.)

 Currently, the PPG is calculated as follows:

• Children in Reception to Year 6 who are currently entitled to free school meals based on their family income: £1455 per pupil, per school year
• Children in Reception to Year 6 who were previously entitled to benefits-based free school meals, even if they're no longer eligible: £1455 per pupil, per school year, for six years after they stopped qualifying for free school meals
• Children in care: £2530 per pupil, per school year
• Children previously in care who have been adopted, or who have a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order: £2530 per pupil, per school year
• Children recorded as being from service families: £335 per pupil, per school year

To find out if your child is eligible for Free School Meals or, if in Foundation Stage, Year 1 or Year 2 is eligible to apply for the Pupil Premium Grant, please click here:

https://www3.northamptonshire.gov.uk/councilservices/children-families-education/schools-and-education/Pages/free-school-meals.aspx

Adopted children:  The school is not necessarily aware that a child has been adopted and therefore encourage parents and guardians to present this information to us.  As is the case for all sensitive information this will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

The pupil premium plus (PP+) for children in care is additional funding for schools to support and help raise their educational attainment and progress. The funding is provided by the Department for Education and given to schools and education providers by the Virtual School. All children in care to Northamptonshire County Council enrolled at a school from Reception to Year 11 are eligible to receive the pupil premium plus.

Service child pupil premium

This is additional funding available for children of armed services personnel. Every service child is entitled to service child pupil premium while their parent is serving, and up to six years after the parent has left the armed forces (as long as it was claimed for 6 months prior to discharge).

Further information on the Pupil Premium Grant can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings

If you have any further questions please contact the school office.

Moulton Primary PPG Statement 2021 2024