The Government introduced the Pupil Premium in April 2011, as a 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.

The Pupil Premium is allocated to children from low-income families who are either currently eligible for FSM or have been eligible for FSM in the past six years. It is also allocated to children who have been looked after by a local authority (in care) continuously for more than six months.

The Government decided that it is up to 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. It is a statutory requirement  that schools publish summary information on how the Pupil Premium Grant has been utilised.

At St. Aldhelm’s Church Primary School, we have looked closely at the needs of the pupils who receive Pupil Premium, in an effort to provide the right kind of support. We aim to make the best use of the Pupil Premium by tailoring it to the needs of our pupils.

The main barriers to learning are: a lack of exposure to a range of opportunities, including language, arts and PE activities; a need for better home learning habits and parental engagement to support learning in school; attendance for some; a range of social and emotional matters that affect self-esteem and learning behaviours.

With planned expenditure, it is important to review and evaluate the impact that our chosen strategies have had on children's wellbeing, attainment and progress. Impact is measured in a range of ways, including analysis of entry and exit point data for specific programs and interventions (eg. spelling intervention, an entry and exit spelling age), pupil and staff conferencing for views and feedback on what works well, as well as further lesson/book monitoring and termly and end of year data analysis using our school assessment tracker system.

The progress and attainment of FSM/PP children is tracked, reported to and discussed at Full Governor Body Meetings each term.