Pupil Premium

In October 2013 the Government announced changes to the pupil premium. Below we have put together a guide to the pupil premium, what it is and some ideas on how it can be used.

 

What is the pupil premium?

What are the eligibility criteria?

Currently eligible children in years Reception to Year 11, who are in maintained schools, non-maintained special schools and general hospital schools will attract the Pupil Premium.

Service Child premium

 Children of parents serving in the armed forces

 

Pupil Premium

 Children who have been eligible for free school means at any time during the last 6 months

 

Pupil Premium Plus

 Children in care

 Children that left care under a Residence Order on or after 14 October 1991 (under the Children Act 1989)

 Children that left care under a Special Guardianship Order on or after 30 December 2005 (under the Children Act 1989)

 Children who were adopted from care on or after 30 December 2005 (under the Adoption and Children Act 2002);

 

Why are these groups of children getting a Pupil Premium?

The groups of children who attract the pupil premium have been deemed to be at a disadvantage to their peers. For example, children who's parents are in the armed forces may need additional help to settle after moving from abroad, whereas looked after or adopted children will have experienced grief and loss and will often have had traumatic experiences in their early lives. Whereas not all children in these groups will need additional support, many of them will. The pupil premium is a way to ensure that these children are helped to make progress emotionally, socially and educationally

 

Do schools have to spend the additional funding they are getting on the individual child?

This is additional funding given to schools to improve the educational and personal outcomes for pupils who have been identified as eligible for the pupil premium. It is not intended that the additional funding should be used to back-fill the general school budget nor is it the policy intention that the funding should be used to support other groups of pupils, such as those with special educational needs or who are low attaining.

However, the funding is not ring-fenced and is not for individual children. Therefore the school does not have to spend the exact amount on the particular eligible child. Instead schools may decide to use the money on things such as staff training, or whole class intentions. Please see below for our list of ideas on how to spend the pupil premium.

From September 2015 Watermill School intraoduced a policy where by any member of staff could request Pupil or Sports premium via a simple request form approved by the SLT. This allows us to further target individual needs. These can be seen on request.

What is the role of parents or carers?

Whereas most groups of children will be automatically eligible for the pupil premium, those children who have left care under a Residence Order, Special Guardianship Order or Adoption Order will not. It will be up to the parents of these children to self-declare their child's status and provide supporting evidence to the school.

It is also hoped that schools would liaise with parents or carers on how to best spend the pupil premium. School staff may be unfamiliar with the detail of any barriers to learning that child may be facing as a result of their experiences.

 

How can the money be spent?

It is up to schools to decide how to best spend this money. Some will choose to spend this on individual children to meet particular needs and difficulties, others will pool money together to develop projects or gain training. Below are some ideas on how you could spend the pupil premium:

For individual children

 Additional Teaching assistant hours

 Child mentoring

 Individual staff training in attachment difficulties and developmental trauma

 Specialist educational consultations

 Therapy support (eg: additional speech and language therapy)

 Educational trips

 Before/after school activities

 Music lessons

 Equipment (eg: laptop, tablet, sensory toys etc..)

For groups of children

 Additional Teaching assistant hours

 Professional story tellers

 Safety awareness assemblies

 Visiting theatre groups

 Whole school staff training in attachment difficulties and developmental trauma

 Set up or development of a school based nurture group

 Set up, or development of school based programmes eg: peer massage, social groups, forest school, circle of friends groups, food dudes etc..

Sports Premium Funding for 2014 to 2015

Schools with 16 or fewer eligible pupils receive £500 per pupil.

Schools with 17 or more eligible pupils receive £8,000 and an additional payment of £5 per pupil

Schools must spend the funding to improve the quality of the PE and sport activities they offer their pupils, but they are free to choose the best way of using the money.

For example, you can use your funding to:

• hire specialist PE teachers
• hire qualified sports coaches to work with teachers
• provide existing staff with teaching resources to help them teach PE and sport
• support and involve the least active children by running or extending school sports clubs, holiday clubs and Change4Life clubs
• run sport competitions or increase pupils’ participation in the School Games
• run sports activities with other schools.

 

To view data about Pupil Premium (2012) please click here

To view data about Pupil Premium (2013) please click here

To view data about Pupil Premium 2014 to 2015 please click here

Pupil and Sports premium activity and outcomes 2015 to 2016

Summary of Plan for 2016 to 2017  -  87 students identified in Sept 2016

Focus Area and In School Barriers	Summary of Strategy	Cost
Literacy To secure improvements in English for pupils eligible for Pupil Premium Grant within all year groups. Ensure the gap is closing between Non PP and PP students. Generally lower socio economic backgrounds for PP students.	Purchase Books for Library RM Books Individual Student IT Equipment Mentoring Reading Support White Water Writers, Most Able project	£1k £500   £2k  £6.5k 3 staff £10k 3 staff £800
Numeracy To secure improvements in Mathematics for pupils eligible for Pupil Premium Grant within all year groups. Ensure the gap is closing between Non PP and PP students.	Numeracy 1 to 1 Support Very Special Maths course	£500   £1k
Behaviour Ensure targeted pupils with behavioural difficulties are motivated to learn.	Vivo Award System After school club Tuesday	£2k £5
School Trips looking at wider community and democracy/ British Values Students form low income backgrounds often do not experience a range of British cultural opportunities. Ensure targeted students are exposed to wider aspects of British culture.	Subsidy for families in need Stoke Town Hall Council Chamber Visit. London Trip and Houses of Parliament	£2k   £50   £400
Alternative Provision Meet the needs of individual students where the Watermill School environment is not appropriate.	1 Student	£18K
For Looked After Children Enhance provision for Children that are looked after with a particular approach to Attachment issues	Yellow House Clinical Psychological Services and Educational Psychology  (Central Service top sliced) All LAC to access trips free of Charge Pupil Counselling provided by School Staff	£1k      £500 £500
College  Experience Y 10 /11 Targeted students find difficulty in transition to other provision at post 16	Students accessing local colleges 1 day per week	£12k
Improving family engagement – Weekly Isolation of families with children on the autistic spectrum.	Parents with Autistic Students Support Group	£3k
Reducing exclusions Targeted students from families that have traditionally had challenging relationships with school and low aspirations.	Vivo Award System Mindfulness Paws.B programme	£2k See mental Well Being below
Good destination data Poor aspirations that lead to intergenerational withdrawal from mainstream colleges and the wider world of work.	Transition worker school holiday and additional hours	£10k 1 staff Transition Time
Mental Health Well Being Extended periods for waiting lists to see CAMHS.	CAMHS worker Qualified counsellor for targeted students (As Above for LAC students)	£16k £500
General Well Being Poor start to the day due to pupils being hungry.	Free Breakfast Club   Gardening activity	£5k   £500
Individual requests to support learning  Identified pupils are disadvantaged through communication difficulties.	ICT communication aids	£4k
Sports Premium
Bikeability	Employ cycling coaches   New bicycles	£350     £2k
Widening Participation Planned Autumn 2016	Employment of Dance Coach	£2k
Out of school opportunities	Thursday After School Sports Club Tuesday After School Youth Club	£1K Staffing £2K staffing £4k Youth Club contribution
Enhanced level of resources for PE	Extensive range of equipment purchased	£1k
Rebound Therapy	Recognised woven badges and certificates   Rebound trainers qualification	£200       £500
Sail-ability Sessions	Rudyard Lake	£480