Pupil Premium Funding
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.
Eligibility
Ever 6 free school meals children
For mainstream and special schools, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since January 2015, as well as those first recorded as eligible at October 2020.
For pupil referral units, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since May 2015, as well as those first recorded as eligible at January 2021.
For the purposes of these grant conditions, these pupils are collectively referred to as Ever 6 FSM.
Children with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
For 2021 to 2022, pupil premium eligibility is being extended to pupils eligible for free school meals under the temporary extension set out in the coronavirus (covid-19): temporary extension of free school meals eligibility to NRPF groups guidance. As these pupils are not registered as eligible in the school census, eligible schools will need to make a claim for additional pupil premium funding for these pupils. Further details on the claims process for these pupils will be published in due course.
Children adopted from care or who have left care
For mainstream and special schools, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census, who were looked after by an English or Welsh local authority immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order). These are collectively referred to as post-LAC in these conditions of grant.
For pupil referral units, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include post-LAC pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census.
Ever 6 service children
For mainstream and special schools, the service premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census who have been eligible for the service child premium at any point since the January 2015 census as well as those recorded as a service child for the first time in the October 2020 school census.
For pupil referral units, the service premium for 2021 to 2022 will include these pupils, as well as those recorded as a service child for the first time in the January 2021 school.
For the purposes of these grant conditions, these pupils are collectively referred to as Ever 6 service children. Service children are not regarded as disadvantaged; their premium is allocated for pastoral support purposes.
Disadvantaged pupils | Pupil Premium per pupil |
Pupils in Year Groups R to 6 recorded as Ever 6 FSM | £1,345 |
Pupils in Year Groups 7 to 11 recorded as Ever 6 FSM | £955 |
Looked After Children (LAC) | £2,345 |
Children adopted from care under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and children who have left care under a Special Guardianship or Residence Order |
£2,345 |
Service children | Service premium per pupil |
Pupils in year groups reception to year 11 recorded as Ever 6 service child or in receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence | £310 |
Terms on which PPG is allocated to schools
The grant may be spent in the following ways:
for the purposes of the school; that is, for the educational benefit of pupils registered at that school
for the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools or academies
on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of pupils at the school
The grant does not have to be completely spent by schools in the financial year beginning 1 April 2021; some or all of it may be carried forward to future financial years. Any funding that is carried forward must be spent according to the conditions in this document.
Use of evidence
From academic year 2021 to 2022, schools must demonstrate how their spending decisions are informed by research evidence, making reference to a range of sources including the Education Endowment Foundation’s toolkit. In line with the EEF’s pupil premium guide, activities should include those that:
support the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development;
provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring; and
tackle non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support.
Accountability
To comply with School Information regulations, maintained schools are required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy annually. All schools must use the templates available on GOV.UK to publish their 2021 to 2022 pupil premium strategy, by the end of December 2021. The Department for Education will undertake monitoring checks on a sample of schools’ published reports.
Given their role in ensuring schools spend funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, governors and trustees should scrutinise schools’ plans, including their plans for and use of their pupil premium funding. Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and this will be no exception.
All schools are required to report on the amount of funding received, how this is being used, and the impact of any work done.