Pupil Premium
Who is entitled to the Pupil Premium?
The Pupil Premium is a government initiative that targets money at pupils from deprived backgrounds who research shows, underachieve compared to their non deprived peers. The Government has used pupils entitled to Free School Meals as an indicator for deprivation and deployed a fixed amount of money to schools per pupil based on the number of pupils registered for Free School Meals or those who have been eligible over the last six years. The funding also includes a sum for those children who have been looked after for more than six months.
The funding is provided for the specific purpose of increasing the attainment and progress of these groups of pupils. An additional premium is provided based upon the number of pupils who have a parent working for the armed services. This service premium is designed to address the emotional needs and well-being of these pupils.
Children looked after by local authorities, referred to as looked-after children and also children previously looked after by a local authority referred to as previously looked-after children are also eligible for Pupil Premium plus funding to support their education. The Virtual School is responsible for managing the funding and they work with our school to ensure the funding is used to deliver the outcomes identified in the children's Personal Education Plans.
Recent Pupil Premium Allocations for St. Matthias CE Primary School
| 2023-2024 | £114,945 | 79 Pupils |
| 2022-2023 | £96,950 | 70 Pupils |
| 2021-2022 | £91,460 | 68 Pupils |
Our Key Objectives (Desired Outcomes) when spending the PPG
- For all disadvantaged pupils to make rapid progress towards achieving at Age Related Expectations (ARE).
- For all disadvantaged pupils to remain a priority for additional provision to meet their social, emotional, physical, and learning needs.
- For all disadvantaged pupils to receive a personal or bespoke provision to help address areas of inequality.
- For high quality communication and liaison between home and school to be the norm.
- For all disadvantaged children to be able to access a range of wider opportunities than might ordinarily be available to them.
- To maintain the focus on raising standards and narrowing the gap between highest achievers and more vulnerable groups of learners
Barriers to Educational Achievement at St. Matthias CE Primary among Pupil Premium Children
The main barriers to educational achievement that impact our vulnerable learners fall into seven main categories. These are;
1. Physical and material disadvantage, including in some instances poor housing and severe poverty
2. Limited aspiration and expectation which can manifest in a lack of parental engagement
3. Reduced social and cultural capital with children who are not exposed to rich and varied life experiences
4. Low value placed on school and learning resulting in low attendance and hard to reach families
5. Low levels of social and emotional well-being
6. Challenging Home Circumstances
7. Low levels of language and communication skills
Our Key PPG Strategy
St. Matthias CE Primary School has developed a carefully planned and comprehensive strategy to use the PPG funding in a number of ways to minimise and, in many cases, overcome these barriers and diminish the difference between children in receipt of the PPG and those who are disadvantaged, the rest of the school and the national cohort. We measure the effect of our Pupil Premium spend by analysing internal and external progress and achievement data for each of our vulnerable children.
The interventions and support put in place at St. Matthias CE Primary School have been carefully chosen, based on our research of successful strategies, our own previous experience or strategies shared by our partner schools as having been particularly effective.
Our Pupil Premium Strategy is reviewed annually during the Autumn term.
The following is a summary of the main strategies adopted
Physical and material disadvantage
- Ipads and IT equipment in schools
- Funding set aside to get more books into the home
- Support with the cost of school uniform
- Low cost / funded places at Before and After School Club
- Low cost / funded home learning books for Years 5 and 6 pupils
Limited aspiration and expectation
- Changes in school ethos and vision to include raised aspirations by staff
- Small group interventions in Literacy and Maths run by trained teachers
- Interventions programmes - Speech and Language, NTP
- School focus on SOLO taxonomy to support higher order thinking
- School funded Educational Psychologist
- Termly Pupil Progress Meetings between SLT and class teachers
- Additional time set aside during Parent Consultation Evenings for parents including pupils with SEND and PP
- Teacher accountabilities set during Appraisal interviews for pupil progress and attainment
- Assessment targets set for each child for end of year / key stage
Reduced social and cultural capital
- Funding for school trips / residential experiences
- School funded educational visitors – the History Man, the Animal man, theatre groups, Circus Skills Week (alternate years)
- Funding for additional enrichment activities such as music lessons, theatre visits, high interest days
- Curriculum designed to include a cultural focus within each key topic
- Comprehensive selection of after school clubs over the course of a year
Low value placed on school and learning
- Funding for attendance support including incentives
- Attendance Policy strictly enforced with parents informed immediately of any attendance concerns
- Rewards applied for good attendance
- Whole school drive to recognise, promote and reward good learning behaviours
- Regular communication with parents
- Specific ipad apps funded for use at home to support learning – Century, Timetable Rock Stars, Busy Things, Accelerated Reader
- Reading 5 times a week award
- Staff available to collect children in the morning as appropriate
Low levels of social and emotional wellbeing
- High emphasis placed on key Christian Values
- Well being project based on Trauma Informed Aproaches
- Positive Behaviour Policy and School choices
- Teaching Assistants trained to support social and emotional needs
- Time assigned to school Safeguarding lead to provide support for vulnerable families
- Direct and regular communication with outside agencies, including Children’s Services
- Thorough hand over meetings to support annual transitions through the school
- Good relationship with local High Schools to support smooth, worry free transition procedures
Challenging home circumstances
- Early Help Support Worker
- Early Help Strategies
- Parent workshops where appropriate
- Homework Clubs
- Close working relationship between school and Children’s Centres
- Attendance support through Wraparound care and morning breakfast clubs
- Uniform support
Low levels of language and communication skills
- School funded Speech and Language Therapist
- Key Teaching Assistants attend regular Speech and Language training
- Regular 1:1 / small group Speech and Language intervention sessions for specific children
Roles and Responsibilities
The Senior Leadership Team and Governors have a shared responsibility for the outcomes / reporting of the Pupil Premium Strategy.
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Governors |
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Headteacher |
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Headteacher & Deputy Headteacher |
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Senior Leaders |
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