Pupil Premium is funding allocated to schools for the purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low income families. It is intended to enable schools to provide targeted support to help children reach their full potential.
Funding is allocated for children who are looked after by the Local Authority (CLA) and for every child who is registered for Free School Meals.
Purpose of Pupil Premium (from the DfE Website)
- 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 wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.
- In most cases the Pupil Premium is allocated to schools and is clearly identifiable. It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
- Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However, they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by Pupil Premium.
Pupil Eligibility
The following groups are eligible for pupil premium:
- pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals, or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years, including eligible children of families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
- children looked after by local authorities, referred to as looked-after children
- children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, referred to as previously looked-after children
All schools are required to report on the amount of funding received, how this is being used, and the impact of any work done.