Pupil Premium
Purpose: The government provides academies and schools with additional funding to help reduce the inequalities and gaps in attainment between those students who are on free school meals (or have been in in the last 6 years) and their peers. This funding is called the Pupil Premium.
Every academy and school can select how they choose to use their Pupil Premium allocation, as they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for students. Pupil premium funding was first introduced in April 2011. It is allocated to pupils who are currently known to be eligible for free school meal or have received free school meals in the last six years.
Use of the Pupil Premium at Batchwood School
At Batchwood School we are dedicated to improving outcomes for all young people regardless of socio-economic background or level of need. Our aim is for every young person to have equal opportunities and access to outstanding Teaching and Learning. The young person is at the heart of what we offer and a priority is the emotional and social well-being of all our young people.
Since April 2011, central government has allocated funding to schools called ‘Pupil Premium Grant’ (PPG). The funding has been introduced to help close the gap in attainment and improve the quality of teaching and learning for vulnerable groups of children.
The groups identified by the Government for PPG are:
- Children of parents in the services
- Those accessing Free School Meals now and, those who have in the past 6 years.
- A higher amount called ‘Pupil Premium Grant Plus’ is awarded to ‘Looked After Pupils’ (referred to as pupils in receipt of Child Arrangement Orders or CAO), although the Local Authority in which the pupil resides maintains this fund and allocate according to their own arrangements.
For Hertfordshire Schools the Pupil Premium Grant Plus (PPG Plus) money awarded to the school to boost the provision for:
- Children Looked After
- Post-Looked After Children (adopted children)
PE & Sports Grant
Schools receive PE and sport premium funding based on the number of pupils in years 1 to 6. In cases where schools don’t follow year groups (for example, in some special schools), pupils aged 5 to 10 attract the funding. In most cases the government determines how many pupils in the school attract the funding using data from the January census.
The documents below detail how this money was spent and its impact as well as plans for spending this academic years allocation of funds.
All these figures are subject to slight variation, admissions change, family circumstances change and pupils become eligible for pupil premium during the academic year.
Measuring the impact
Batchwood School measures the impact of the spend through the careful and constant analysis of data including attendance, examination outcomes, personal social and emotional development and successful onward transition. The school will review the PP spend in February of that year following scrutiny of the December mock examination results in order to provide timely, bespoke interventions.
Our vision goes well beyond simply narrowing the gap between those who are economically advantaged and those who are not. We are determined to ensure that all students, irrelevant of background or prior attainment, have the qualifications, emotional resilience and attributes necessary to be successful and to thrive in society beyond school age.
Rationale for using the PP grant based on research
Behind every decision we make as a school, there has to be an intelligent rationale. What does the best research tell us and how can we use this research, and its findings, to identify the right strategies to best support all our students for maximum impact for medium cost.
The Sutton Trust is an educational charity in the United Kingdom which aims to improve social mobility and address educational disadvantage.[1] The charity was set up by educational philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl in 1997 and since then has undertaken over 150 research studies[2] and funded a wide range of practical programmes to support young people in early years, primary and secondary school, and in accessing higher education and the professions.
[1] https://www.suttontrust.com/
[2] https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research
The Sutton Trust have researched the most effective strategies used throughout all schools in raising attainment for disadvantaged students. Below is a summary of their findings:
Pupil Premium Strategy 2021-2022
Catch Up Funding For Year 7 Students 2019
