“With everyone working together I am confident we can make a difference and use this money to close the gap in life chances between disadvantaged children and the rest.”

Sir John Dunford National Pupil Premium Champion

What is the Pupil Premium?

The pupil premium grant is an allocation of funding provided to schools by the Government to support children who may be vulnerable to underachievement by improving their progress. The amount received is dependent on the number of children:

• who have been in receipt of free school meals (FSM) at any point in the past 6 years (£1.345 per primary aged child)
• who have been continuously looked after for the past six months (£ per child)
• who are adopted from care under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 1 or who have left care under a Special Guardianship or Residence Order (£2,345)
• for children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces, or whose parent /guardian is in receipt of a pension from the MoD (£310 per child)

The Early Years Pupil Premium, introduced in April 2015, is additional funding for 3 and 4 year olds who are receiving any number of hours of state-funded early education and:

• meet the benefit-related criteria for free school meals; or

• are currently looked after by a local authority in England or Wales; or

• have left care in England and Wales through adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order, or a residence order.

This funding is allocated directly to Early Years providers.

Why is there a Pupil Premium?
Evidence shows that children from disadvantaged backgrounds:

• generally face extra challenges in reaching their potential at school
• often do not perform as well as their peers

The pupil premium grant is designed to allow schools to help disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the exam results they achieve

Is there an issue with eligible pupils not applying for FSM?
It is vital that the application form is completed to allow additional funding to be released to the school, parents can check to see if they are eligible by checking on the Devon County Council website: Click here
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How will the impact of the spending of the Pupil Premium be measured?
In Bridgerule, Bradford and Black Torrington Primary Schools, regular data collection and the monitoring and tracking of the children’s attainment and progress will be  used to enable the early identification of need, support and appropriate intervention.   We also have a clear focus on pupil voice and regular conferencing about children’s experiences in and out of school.

We adopt a three tiered approach which focuses on high quality teaching and learning, identification of barriers to children’s learning and non-academic support such as after school provision, educational trips and motivational activities, including, for example, music tuition or Wild Tribe.

 
Additional information:

• The Department of Education : Support for children and young people
• ​Pupil Premium 2020/21 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2020-to-2021/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2020-to-2021
• Devon County Council Pupil Premium Grants: Information for Parents