Pupil Premium
Pupil Premium Strategy
Pupil Premium at Babington Academy: Our Values & Ethos
Closing the gap is central to everything we do at Babington. We have a moral commitment to ensure that our students from disadvantaged backgrounds have the support to accelerate their progress to achieve their full potential.
Leaders and staff are ambitious for all, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have prioritised high expectations and equal opportunities for all. - Ofsted report (2023)
There is a clear policy and strategy for pupil premium - solution focused - demonstrating a deep understanding of what it means to be disadvantaged. It follows DfE direction and meets Ofsted requirements fully.
Disadvantaged able students are championed. They are set ambitious attainment targets and taught with demanding academic challenge. They are supported exceptionally well to understand their potential, to be aspirant with purpose and signposted access to the experiences and contacts those from more advantaged homes would have. Emotional and social support is also prioritised. - DFE Advisor for Pupil Premium, Dr Carter Wall (Jan, 2021).
Purpose
The pupil premium grant is funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.
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
Funding rates for financial year 2023-24
This table shows how the pupil premium grant is allocated to schools and local authorities in financial year 2023-24, based on per pupil rates.
|
Pupil eligibility criteria |
Amount of funding for each primary-aged pupil per year |
Amount of funding for each secondary-aged pupil per year |
Funding is paid to |
|
Pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible in the past 6 years |
£1,455 |
£1,035 |
School |
|
Pupils previously looked after by a local authority or other state care |
£2,530 |
£2,530 |
School |
|
Children who are looked after by the local authority |
£2,530 |
£2,530 |
Local authority |
The government has permanently extended free school meal (FSM) eligibility to include children in all households with NRPF. These pupils should now be recorded as FSM eligible in the school census and their pupil premium eligibility will follow on from that automatically.
From 1 April 2023, pupil premium eligibility for pupils who have been adopted from care or have left care will include children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales.
Funding for looked-after children will be paid to the local authority and should be managed by the virtual school head in consultation with the child’s school.
Service pupil premium
Service pupil premium is additional funding for schools with pupils who have parents serving in the armed forces. It has been combined into pupil premium payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending.
Pupils in state-funded schools in England attract the service pupil premium grant, at the rate of £335 per eligible pupil in financial year 2023-24, if they meet one or more of the following criteria:
- one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces, including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service - this includes pupils with a parent who is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England
- registered as a ‘service child’ on any school census in the past 6 years
- one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme
This funding is primarily to enable schools to offer pastoral support and help mitigate the negative impact of family mobility or parental deployment. It can also be used to help improve the academic progress of eligible pupils if the school deems this to be a priority.
Funding paid to schools
To ensure that pupil premium is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils, schools must use their pupil premium in line with the ‘menu of approaches’ set by the Department for Education.
The menu has been developed in line with the EEF’s 3-tiered approach to help school allocate spending across the following 3 areas:
- supporting the high-quality teaching, such as staff professional development
- providing targeted academic support, such as tutoring, including through the National Tutoring Programme
- tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties in attendance, behaviour and social and emotional wellbeing
Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits eligible pupils.
Accountability
Schools must show how they are using their pupil premium effectively:
- by publishing a statement on their website which presents an overview of their pupil premium strategy, and demonstrates that their use of the funding meets the requirements of the conditions of grant
- through inspections by Ofsted - inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their pupil premium
- through scrutiny of pupil premium plans by governors and trustees
Schools are also held to account for the outcomes achieved by their disadvantaged pupils through published performance tables.
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