Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium Grant was introduced by the government in April 2011. It is allocated funding for schools to support pupils from low income families who have been eligible for free school meals during the last six years.
More recently, funding has been extended to children who have previously been ‘looked after’ by the Local Authority and the children of service personnel families. The overarching purpose of this funding is to support children who are considered to be vulnerable to possible underachievement. Spending should be targeted at ‘closing the gap’ in achievement of these children when compared to all children nationally.
All schools are required to report on the amount of funding received, how this is being used and the impact this is having on those pupils. With the cost of living crisis, we have noticed an increase in families in receipt of free school meals. At St Giles our Pupil Premium Grant allocation for the past three years has been:
2023-24 Pupil Premium & Recovery Premium Allocation - £12,880
2022-23 Pupil Premium & Recovery Premium Allocation - £13,705
2021-22 Pupil Premium & Recovery Premium Allocation - £11,070
Pupil Premium funding is used in a wide range of ways including:
- individual and small group interventions for identified pupils inc. social and emotional support, reading, mathematics, speech and language, and play therapy;
- facilitating mentoring for pupils with social and/ or emotional difficulties recognised as a possible barrier to learning;
- targeted support to improve attendance and/ or parental engagement;
- supporting curriculum enrichment inc. residential trips and educational visits;
- enabling children to attend after school clubs and extra-curricular activities; and
- providing resources inc. online resources to ensure children have full access to the curriculum.
The impact of this spending is monitored and reviewed regularly. Following the start of the pandemic in 2020 and further closure in Spring 2021, many pupils eligible for pupil premium did not attend school and as a direct result, did not experience the school-based targeted support and strategies as detailed in our school strategy. Targeted support during these times included: regular communication such as telephone calls, video conferencing, emails and socially distanced home visits; delivery of learning resources alongside food boxes; free school meal vouchers; and the provision of IT support where required.
To find out more about the use and impact of our recent Pupil Premium funding at St Giles, please read the attached strategy statement.
Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2023-24