The Pupil Premium: Using it to make a difference at St Peter’s Catholic Academy

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium is additional funding to help schools close the attainment gap between children from low-income and other disadvantaged families and their peers. If a child has been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point over the past 6 years or has been looked after for at least 1 day (LAC) the school receives an amount per head within their budget. A provision is also made for children who have a parent in the armed services

St Peter’s Catholic Academy is committed to ensuring maximum progress for all groups of children and strives to close any gaps.

We have a clear, strategic approach to the use of specific Pupil Premium funding and plans are integrated into wider school support and improvement systems. These are monitored and evaluated regularly and in depth data analysis ensures that the correct support and strategies are identified to maximise progress.

Strong leadership systems ensure that Pupil Premium funding has the necessary impact. This includes identified governors having responsibility for Pupil Premium. All matters relating to the Pupil Premium are reported back to the Governors, ensuring that the school is held to account for the impact of spending.

Pupil Premium Policy

Rationale

At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we take seriously our responsibility to use the Pupil Premium to improve the outcomes for children identified as socially disadvantaged. At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we are committed to meeting their academic, pastoral, social and academic needs in a nurturing and caring environment. The Pupil Premium will be used strategically for every entitled child to develop their true potential, irrespective of need.

Aims

• The Head teacher and lead for Pupil Premium will be responsible for Pupil Premium provision, with specific delegated responsibilities taken by members of the Senior Leadership Team or wider school staff (eg English and maths provision, welfare and inclusion support)
• At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we will aim to be fair and transparent in our use and distribution of the Pupil Premium funding.
• At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we will ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils and in particular those identified as being socially disadvantaged.
• At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we will ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who are identified as belonging to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed
• At St Peter’s Catholic Academy in making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.
• We recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered, or have been registered, for Free School Meals (FSM), so we will ensure that entitled parents and carers are supported sensitively in applying for the meals, but also therefore the additional funding

• Pupil premium funding will be allocated to those pupils who are eligible, including proportional funding of strategies accessed by Pupil Premium and non-Pupil Premium students alike
• The majority of our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress, moving students to at least age related expectations (ARE) especially in English and maths, but even further where they have the potential to achieve beyond ARE
• We will also use Pupil Premium in areas where eligible pupils show a particular aptitude, but where their parents’ financial circumstances prevent them from accessing specialist coaching or instruction
• The Pupil Premium funding will be allocated to a series of interventions grouped progressively, the ultimate outcome of which will be that pupils will achieve their academic and personal potential (see detail below)
• Funded interventions will include pastoral support where appropriate eg attendance support, family liaison, development of social skills (see detail below)
• Additional provision for SEN pupils will be funded through a combination of any SEN funding and their Pupil Premium allocation where applicable
• We will constantly monitor the effectiveness of strategies used and review provision in the light of tracking data and other evidence (eg Data Sweeps, Termly Progress Reports)
• We will inform parents, carers and students about their eligibility for Pupil premium, and where possible we will account to them for its use and impact
• We will involve the widest possible group of appropriate stakeholders, especially members of the staff team, the Governing Body, pupils and their families, in making suggestions about Pupil Premium strategies and evaluating their outcomes

Priorities for Use of Pupil Premium

 At St Peter’s Catholic Academy our priorities for using the Pupil Premium are as follows;

• Pupil Performance – To narrow the gap for those pupils not on track to achieve national standards at the end of key stage 2 through the use of targeted and strategic support and to narrow the gap for Pupil premium children achieving above national standards.

• Enrichment – Provide experiences for pupils eligible for FSM for example additional after school clubs and offsite visits.

• Social and Emotional Support – Provide additional adult support to help facilitate social and emotional development for identified children.

Provision at St Peter’s Catholic Academy

The Senior Leadership Team and the Link Academy Committee member and Directors of the Collegiate will consider evidence from a variety of sources, including: school’s own data, external evaluative material such as the Education Endowment Foundation Teaching and Learning Toolkit, Ofsted Case Studies and visits to other settings, when choosing which of the following QFT approaches or interventions will be appropriate for a particular group of Pupil Premium students, or an individual student:

Group	Examples
1 Family Engagement	Family Support Worker (FSW)
2 Attendance	Attendance Officers Reward certificates
3 Engagement in Learning and widening experiences	Educational visits, including a residential trip (or pro rata contribution to the overall cost) Motivational speakers Lifestyle initiatives Lunchtime initiatives and equipment Staffing of before and after-school clubs Transition support Work skills courses
4 Accelerated Progress	Providing small group work with an experienced teacher focused on overcoming gaps in learning 1-1 tuition from a qualified teacher Additional staffing in specific targeted year groups Additional group teaching and learning opportunities provided by trained TAs or external agencies Additional curriculum resources (fully or partly funded through Pupil Premium) for school and home use Staff CPD for outstanding teaching and high-impact interventions (eg feedback, questioning, conferencing, metacognitive activities)

At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we understand that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals and therefore could be disadvantaged by stringent criteria for the distribution of the Pupil Premium Grant. At St Peter’s Catholic Academy we reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of children the school has identified as being socially disadvantaged.

At St Peter’s Catholic Academy Pupil Premium funding will be allocated following a thorough needs analysis which will identify priority children.

Reporting Effectiveness of Pupil Premium Grant

At St Peter’s Catholic Academy the Headteacher will produce a report each term to the appropriate academy committee on the use and effectiveness of the PPG.

The report will include the following information;

• A detailed analysis of the progress made by children and identified groups in terms of narrowing the achievement gap(Pupil Premium against non-Pupil Premium students).
• Provision for identified children and groups across the school.
• An analysis and evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the allocated PPG in terms of the progress made by the students receiving a particular provision.

The Academy Committee and its committees will share responsibility with the Senior Leadership Team for evaluating and improving the interventions used to close the achievement gap through Pupil Premium funding.

Members of the Academy Committee will ensure that a pupil premium strategy is published on how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of ‘closing the gap’, for socially disadvantaged students, and what the impact has been. Publication will include posting the statement on the school website.

Disability Equality Impact Assessment

This policy has been written with reference to and in consideration of the school’s Disability Equality Scheme.  Assessment will include consideration of issues identified by the involvement of disabled children, staff and parents and any information the school holds on disabled children, staff and parents.

Review This policy will be reviewed annually in the light of any statutory or advisory changes (eg Ofsted Reports)