PUPIL PREMIUM

Pupil premium is a grant allocated to schools to support socially disadvantaged pupils.

At Chennestone Primary School we are totally committed to ensuring that all children achieve well and become their own success stories. We have high expectations for learning and behaviour and we plan to meet the needs of all our children, and remove barriers to success wherever possible.  We recognise that our pupil premium children may face additional challenges in order to reach their full potential and if action is not taken they may not perform as well as their peers. We are therefore proactive in doing all we can to promote future success so all children are equipped with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to fully access the opportunities that are available to them.

We aim to work effectively with parents to support their children's learning, wellbeing and progress in a variety of ways and have listed some important information around this issue below.

Who qualifies for pupil premium?

The School receives pupil premium funding based on the number of children who are eligible for free school meals, even if they do not wish to take up the offer.  All Infant children automatically qualify for as free school meal, but we do not receive pupil premium funding for all of them.  The more pupils who are eligible for a free school meal for one of the reasons below the more funding Chennestone Primary School will receive.

Families in receipt of the following benefits, may be eligible for free school meals: 

• Income Support
• Income Based Job Seeker's Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• The Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Child Tax Credit (but not Working Tax Credit) and have an annual household income of less than £16,190

How do we identify the needs of our PPG children in and out of school?

Needs are identified through eligibility criteria based on if children have been in receipt of free school meals at any time during the last 6 years (forever6), if they are looked after children (LAC) and if they are children with parents in the armed forces (services children).

Sometimes we are aware of which children qualify for this funding through previous contact with the family, this might be if older siblings have attended our schools.  It may be as parents inform us on admission or if their circumstances change during the year.  We strongly encourage all to check to see if they are eligible, as this funding really does help us target support where it is needed.  Our Inclusion Leader, Mrs Govender, monitors progress of children in receipt of additional funding receive and supports teachers to ensure ambitious targets are met.  In addition, school leaders hold termly pupil progress meetings with Class Teachers where they have focussed discussions around each pupil.  Interventions and targeted support is then put in place, where needed, to accelerate progress.  Progress is tracked and performance outcomes are compared to their peers in the school, across the federation and with other pupils nationally.

How do we track the achievement of our pupil premium pupils?

Our pupil premium team includes Mrs Govender, who is the Inclusion lead, she works closely with the Attendance lead, Family Liaison Officer/ELSA and School Business Manager.  The team meet approximately every 6 weeks to track the attendance, punctuality, academic progress and wellbeing of each pupil premium child which is then discussed with the Executive Headteacher. Provision for the children and their families is planned and evaluated to ensure pupil premium children are accessing as much support and intervention as possible to make rapid and sustained progress in school. 

There is also a Governor for Inclusion who meets at least termly with The Inclusion Leader to discuss the impact the school is having on raising attainment and accelerating progress.  The Inclusion Governor reports back to the Full Governing Body who hold the school to account for the impact the additional funding is having on improving outcomes for pupils

How will we measure impact?

We evaluate our actions regularly and continue with those that have proven successful.  We regularly evaluate and purchase additional resources that evidence shows have high impact on improving outcomes.

Impact is measured by interrogating internal and external data, so we can benchmark and compare how effective we are against other schools both locally and nationally.  Our aim is that our children who qualify for the pupil premium grant perform at least as well as, if not better than their peers in school and nationally. 

How do we spend our pupil premium money?

Funding is allocated according to impact and need. This may include subsidising staffing costs, including the work of the Family Liaison Officer/ELSA, Learning/ Behaviour Mentors, intervention groups, booster groups and additional Teaching Assistant support.  It is also used to purchase learning resources to support specific groups of pupils academically, socially, emotionally and physically. It may also be used to enable children to attend extra-curricular clubs, or to offer financial assistance for families for educational visits and residential trips.

Funding may also be used to support families in practical ways e.g. financial assistance with school uniforms, providing family/parenting support and workshops.

Pupil Premium Strategy and Report