What is Pupil Premium?

Introduced in 2011, the pupil premium is a sum of money given to schools each year by the Government to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children. This is based on research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers. Often, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, less family support, lack of confidence and issues with attendance and punctuality. The pupil premium is intended to directly benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them and their classmates. Pupil Premium funding can be spent on additional staffing, interventions to accelerate progress, physical resources, contribute towards the cost of trips and extra curricular clubs, and social and emotional support to boost self esteem.

How to claim your child’s pupil premium

Your child may be eligible for free school meals – and accordingly pupil premium – if you receive any of the following benefits since May 2011:

• Income support
• Income-based jobseekers’ allowance
• Income-related employment and support allowance
• Support under Part IV of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guaranteed element of state pension credit
• Child tax credit, provided that you are not also entitled to working tax credit and have an annual gross income of £16,190 or less
• Universal credit
• If your child is a Looked After child or provided with accommodation by an English local authority.
• Children adopted from care or who have left care - 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.
• Children recorded as a 'service' child

To register your child as eligible you need to see the school office staff, who can organise a check for eligibility.

From September 2014, all children in Reception and Years 1 and 2 qualify for free school meals, regardless of their family income, but only the children who would have qualified for free meals under the above income-based criteria will receive the pupil premium.

If your child qualifies for free school meals, it’s important that we know – even if they take a packed lunch – as this enables us to claim pupil premium.

Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.