Eligibility and Funding Amounts
Pupil Premium and Pupil Premium + (PP+) is a grant given to schools to close the attainment gap between pupils, who may face barriers to learning, and their peers, and to support pupils with parents in the armed forces (this part of it is also known as the ‘service premium’). It is not linked to Special Educational Needs; support for this area is funded through a separate stream.
It encompasses five categories of eligibility, with different amounts of funding attached.
The early years pupil premium (EYPP) is for disadvantaged children aged 3 and 4 years old. All providers who are eligible to receive early education funding are also eligible to receive the EYPP.
The Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) is a Grant made by the Department of Education to raise the attainment of Looked-After and Previously Looked-After children and close the gap with their peers. Pupil Premium Plus for Looked-After Children is allocated to Virtual Schools and the school applies to the virtual school for funding on a case by case basis. More information regarding Shropshire Local Authority’s allocation and use of funding is attached at the end of this document.
Service Premium is grant for pupils with parents in the armed forces (this part of it is also known as the ‘service premium’). This budget can be used in a range of ways including pastoral support for both the pupils and their families, support with wrap around acre amongst a range of other sources of support.
Free School Meals is a grant which is made to eligible pupils.
Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following. Checking to see whether you are eligible is easy and we recommend you apply as soon as your child joins reception – even if you are unsure as to whether or not you are eligible. Applications can be made through the following link Free School Meals :
Universal Credit – if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
Allocation
The grant is allocated in line with the financial year, which begins in April, rather than the academic year. It’s based on the number of eligible pupils recorded at your school in the October census. Maintained schools receive the grant through their local authority (LA). All schools receive quarterly instalments.
Pupil premium funding for looked-after children is allocated to the LA’s virtual school head, rather than schools. The virtual school head will work with schools to decide how it will be spent.
Universal Credit – if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
Spending the grant
In this instance one size does most certainly not fit all! For some children their barriers to learning may be linked to socio -economic factors whilst in other instances barriers to learning may relate to other factors entirely. Schools must ensure that the funding is used in line with the pupil premium conditions of grant. This includes ensuring the grant is used to improve educational outcomes for all its Pupil Premium student and that the approaches they select are personalised and informed by evidence.
Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils. It is for schools to decide how to allocate the funding, after assessing the needs of their disadvantaged cohort and evidence about which approaches are likely to be effective in their context. One approach does not necessarily fit another and we pride our school on its highly personalised and targeted use of it Pupil Premium funding allocation.
It is also the case that schools can use pupil premium to support pupils who do not meet the eligibility criteria, but have other identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer. It can also be used to support pupils that schools believe to be economically disadvantaged but have not been identified as pupil premium eligible, and on whole class approaches that benefit all pupils, for example high-quality teaching.
To ensure pupil premium is focused on effective approaches that improve the educational outcomes of pupils, schools (including local authority virtual schools) must spend their pupil premium grant on evidence-informed activities in line with DfE’s ‘menu of approaches’, as set out below (See attached document).
Menu of approaches
In line with the conditions of grant, any activity that school funds using pupil premium must fall under an approach listed in the table within the ‘Using Pupil Premium Guidance Document’ . The menu has been developed in line with the EEF’s tiered approach, as set out in its guide to the pupil premium. The ‘menu of approaches’ can be seen via the attachment below. The EEF’s evidence brief for the menu of approaches signposts to evidence-informed resources related to each strand of the menu.
When selecting approaches from the menu, school has considered how we are using the funding to support:
- Effective identification of pupil needs, for example through diagnostic assessment
- Successful implementation of approaches
- Effective monitoring and evaluation of approaches in exceptional circumstances, and where this is necessary to overcome specific barriers
to pupil attainment, school may use this funding on items not included on the list.
Publishing pupil premium information
As a school receiving pupil premium funding, we must:
Publish a pupil premium strategy statement each year by 31 December which details
information as to how the school is spending the grant and its impact on our pupils. A copy of Moreton Say’s ‘Pupil Premium’ Strategy Statement can be downloaded here.
Click the link below to download information regarding our Pupil Premium Strategy