Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’). The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. Whilst schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit, they are required to publish online information about how they have used the Premium and the impact it is having.
Who receives the Pupil Premium?
Pupil Premium is allocated to pupils in school from Reception to Year 11 from low-income families who are registered for FSM, or who have been registered for FSM at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6’), together with children that have been in care continuously for six months or more. Early Years Premium funding is also allocated to Nursery and Reception children. Funding is available for pupils for whom one or both parents work in the armed forces.
Pupil Premium Impact at Westfield Infant School
Annually we update our Pupil Premium strategy. This strategy outlines plans and spending allocations drawing upon EEF Research principles, examples of strong practice (from within and outside Learners’ Trust), data trends and information from within the school, as well as what we know about our children at Westfield Infant School.
Within the Pupil Premium strategy documentation we have carefully spent the Premium in a variety of ways to enable pupils to access a wide variety of life experiences that might otherwise be inaccessible. Furthermore individual staff have been deployed in a focused and targeted manner to ensure that all children eligible for the Pupil Premium receive high quality teaching and learning experiences, thus enabling them to achieve their full potential.
Our Pupil Premium ambitions
We aim for every child to be a happy, successful and confident individual with an enthusiasm for life-long learning.
And in line with the Learners’ Trust mission…
‘Our mission is to create choices and enrich lives by enabling the best learning experiences possible, provided through the best possible teaching’
and our own school vision…
‘Blossoming together through nurture and challenge’
Regardless of their prior attainment and ability, all children eligible for the Pupil Premium will receive academic support to enable them to achieve their potential. Additional support staff are funded so that support is in place for selected groups of pupils. At Westfield Infant School we provide targeted individual or group, in class support, dependent on the needs of the child/ren. We ensure all ‘provisions’ are thoroughly evaluated though our scheduled pupil progress meetings to improve outcomes for children eligible for the Pupil Premium.
Beyond the academic, we aspire to support the development of the ‘whole child’ through our Pupil Premium work. We know that some of our Pupil Premium children need additional social and emotional support, therefore we offer one to one and group Nurture support. This is a tailor made program to suit the needs of the child. Priority is given to our Pupil Premium children for afterschool clubs and extra-curricular activities. A minimum of one enrichment club per year is funded by school to remove the financial barrier of participation. We are an active Forest School. All Pupil Premium eligible children have 12 additional Forest School sessions over the course of a year, to ensure that we are meeting Pupil Premium children’s social and emotional needs.
In addition, we have a Family Support Worker (FSW) who actively works with children and families on specific areas of support. The school’s FSW has access to a wide range of training and resources and works closely with all staff to provide the support needed. We work closely with families and their children to provide good or better attendance for all pupils. The daily monitoring by the Family Support Worker and our nominated TAs help us to monitor the attendance and punctuality of Pupil Premium children. The resultant liaison with families helps to facilitate strong partnerships between school and home, as well as enabling all children to gain their statutory entitlement of full-time schooling. A range of reward systems underpin and help reinforce these monitoring strategies.
We work carefully to ensure that all children feel part of the school community. We have an open door policy to discuss all challenges and barriers that families are facing and endeavour to be proactive in providing support.
Could my child be eligible for free school meals/pupil premium?
Derbyshire County Council – Free School Meals Eligibility & Application
Pupil Premium Documents
