St Peter’s Catholic Primary Pupil Premium
 

Overarching Principles

The Government's introduction of the Pupil Premium is in complete accord with the school's ethos to promote the development of every pupil and re-inforces the Catholic Church's social teaching which implores us always to pursue the "preferential option for the poor" in practical ways. Consequently, all members of staff and governors accept responsibility for those pupils recognised as 'disadvantaged’ and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs.
 

Every child who is considered to be ‘disadvantaged’ is valued, respected and entitled to develop to his/her full potential, irrespective of disadvantage.
 

Background to the Pupil Premium

Introduced in April 2011, the Pupil Premium is a Government initiative that provides additional funding aimed at pupils from deprived backgrounds. Research shows that pupils from deprived backgrounds underachieve compared to their non‐deprived peers. The Pupil Premium is provided in order to support these pupils in reaching their potential by accelerating their progress.

The Government has used pupils entitled to Free School Meals and those who are looked after as an indicator for deprivation. They have given a fixed amount of money to schools per pupil, based on the number of pupils registered for Free School Meals and who are looked after by the local authority. A premium has also been introduced for children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces. This service premium is designed to address the emotional and social well-being of these pupils.

Overall Objectives:
•Our school will ensure that the Pupil Premium funding reaches the groups of pupils for whom it was intended and that it makes a significant impact on their education and lives. 
•The Pupil Premium will be used to provide additional educational support to improve the progress and raise the achievement for these pupils. 
•The funding will be used to narrow and close the gap between the achievement of these pupils and their peers.
•The school will use the additional funding to address any underlying inequalities between children eligible for Pupils Premium and others.
 

Principles  

• We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all the pupils
• We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately addressed
•  In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive Free school meals will be socially disadvantaged
• We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for Free School Meals.  We reserve the right to allocate Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils that the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged
•  Pupil Premium funding will be allocated following a needs analysis which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals.  Limited funding and resources means that not all children receiving Free School Meals will be in receipt of Pupil Premium interventions at one time
   

Provision

The range of provision the Governors may consider making for this group could include:

 Supporting pupils and their families to enable pupils to more effectively access their learning e.g. social and emotional support, family learning, support to improve pupil attendance

 Reducing the size of teaching groups thus improving opportunities for effective assessment and accelerating progress

  Providing small group work with experienced staff focussed on overcoming gaps in learning

•   1-to-1 support
•   Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided through trained Teaching Assistants, or external   agencies.

All our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress, moving children to at least age related expectations. Initially this will be in Communication, Literacy and Maths.

Pupil premium resources may also be used to target able children on FSM to achieve Level 3 or level 5/6.

Provision will not be aimed at children with a statement or those on SA+.
 

Reporting 

It will be the responsibility of the Head teacher, or a delegated member of staff, to produce regular reports for the Governors’ Curriculum, Staffing, Parents and Community Committee on :

•     The progress made towards narrowing the gap, by year groups, for socially disadvantaged pupils
•     An outline of the provision that was made since the last meeting
•     An evaluation of the cost effectiveness, in terms of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular     provision, when compared with other forms of support

It will be the responsibility of the chairperson of the Curriculum, Staffing, Parents and Community to ensure this information is known to the Full Governing Body.

The governors of the school will ensure that there is an annual statement to parents, published on the school’s website,  on how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issues of ‘narrowing the gap’, for socially disadvantaged pupils. This task will be carried out within the requirements published by the Department for Education.
 

Appeal

Any appeals against this policy will be through the governors’ complaints procedure.
 

Review This policy will be reviewed annually