The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 to provide additional funding to support children who are looked after and those from low income families, including those eligible for Free School Meals.
St Michael’s CE Academy is a school of opportunity and success for all pupils, including, and especially, those who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium. Pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium are initially identified from the following groups:
Pupils who have been on Free School Meals at any time during the last six years (Ever 6)
- Children Looked After who have been so for at least six months as of 1 April the previous year
- Children with a parent in the armed forces.
The needs analysis for the Pupil Premium is an on-going process throughout a pupil’s career at St Michael’s CE Academy.
St Michael’s CE Academy is accountable for our use of the additional funding to support pupils from low income families and the other target groups stated above. We believe that the measure of successful spending should be raising standards, the narrowing of the achievement gap and the broadening of opportunities for the most disadvantaged pupils.
Our priorities
At St Michael’s we will ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils, and that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups. This includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed. We will provide a number of resources, additional support and interventions for those pupils highlighted as needing it most. Our key priorities are:
- Narrowing the gap between attainment outcomes – in Reading, Writing and Mathematics – for all children entitled to Pupil Premium support compared to those not receiving such support within our academy.
- Narrowing the gap between attainment outcomes – in Reading, Writing and Mathematics – for all children entitled to Pupil Premium support compared to national averages between KS1 and KS2.
- Ensure that children entitled to Pupil Premium support access the full curriculum.
- Ensure that children entitled to Pupil Premium support access additional and extra-curricular provision.
- Narrow the gap in attendance for all children entitled to Pupil Premium support compared to national average.
- Ensure that the pastoral needs of our most vulnerable pupils are met to the best of our ability.
At St Michael’s CE Academy, we believe that social disadvantage is identified through the lack of opportunities that children and their families have when compared to pupils who are generally regarded as not disadvantaged. Opportunities can include such things as: not having access to new technology or not experiencing enough trips out to venues that will extend the children’s knowledge and understanding of the world.
We firmly believe that it is the lack of such opportunities that results in our most disadvantaged pupils academically attaining lower than their peers. Therefore, we will use a large amount of our pupil premium funding to establish a curriculum that is rich in heavily subsidised educational visits and gives all of our children opportunities that enhance learning. We also seek to redress the imbalance with generous use of pupil premium funding to ensure that all of our children have access to a good selection of new technology – including iPads and laptops.
Furthermore, at St Michael’s, we accept that social disadvantage extends beyond the child’s experience at school. The families of some of our vulnerable children may suffer from issues that lead to poor attendance, ill health etc. This can be a significant reason for low attainment. We will provide comprehensive pastoral support for families of pupils experiencing significant difficulties. This can be done by our team of pastoral mentors who can identify needs through discussion with parents – consequently seeking to support families facilitating school based provision (e.g. breakfast club/after school clubs) or directing them towards professional agencies that are relevant.
Within this context, we are a church school that is keenly aware of the need to bring our school community together in celebration of our core Christian Values. We believe that it is healthy for all of our children and their families, disadvantaged or not, to engage with each other under the banner of our Faith. Many of the principles that we have established for the use of our pupil premium funding is rooted firmly within these values. Thus, we will also use this funding to facilitate events and activities that will give our community a unique sense of identity.
Who is responsible?
The governing body approves the overall strategy for deploying pupil premium funding.
All staff are expected to have an in-depth knowledge of all pupils they teach and support, especially pupils with disabilities and special needs and those who qualify for additional funding through the pupil premium grant.
The governing body will hold the headteacher to account for implementing the school’s strategy and for evaluating its impact on the achievement of targeted pupils.
The headteacher, supported by the senior leadership team, have overall responsibility for leading the pupil premium strategy.