What is Pupil Premium?

• The Pupil Premium is an amount of money received by the school, which is allocated to support children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for Free School Meals in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months.
• The level of the premium for 2015-16 is £1,300 per eligible child.
• The school receives ‘Pupil Premium’ for pupils who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years.

How is the funding used?

In 2015/16, the school is receiving £75,480 in Pupil Premium funding. We are continuing to provide both 1-1 and small group interventions (see below), according to what we found effective last year in raising standards, as well as:

• homework support - for pupils and parents
• aspirational trips, visits and workshops to encourage pupils to aim high

For 2014/15, the school received £83,200. This funding was used to provide targeted support for individuals and groups, which included:

• 1:1 tuition programmes (delivered by teachers and tutors) including Reading Recovery
• Small group support (delivered by both teachers and Teaching Assistants) for specific areas of need
• Support for families and pupils from our Learning Mentor, eg to help with attendance issues, 1-1 support with completing homework, providing access to computers
• Anna Freud family support

As well as offering wider support through:

• Subsidising school journey and breakfast club where necessary
• Additional clubs, such as Music tuition

St Mary’s has had a Pupil Premium review, conducted by an Ofsted inspector. As a result, we now have a specific provision map to track each individual pupil premium child carefully and ensure that the additional provision they are receiving meets their particular areas of need. This is reviewed termly to check its effectiveness. To do this we are looking at pupils’ progress data, observations of pupils in class, surveys of pupils and parents, and looking at children’s individual work.

We keep very detailed statistics about how well Pupil Premium children are achieving compared to their peers in the school, which we share with the school governors every half-term.

Here is a report which shows the impact of the money we spent: Pupil Premium 14-15

Here is our analysis of the attainment of both Pupil Premium children and non-Pupil Premium children, showing that the gaps in attainment are closing in most subjects in most classes:

Attainment 13-14 to 14-15 Reading

Attainment 13-14 to 14-15 Writing

Attainment 13-14 to 14-15 Maths

In 2013-14, the school received £64,800 in pupil premium funding. This was spent on teachers providing some 1-1 tuition for pupils (including Reading Recovery), additional support in class and extra group work; breakfast and after school clubs; and Art therapy.

We are working hard to make sure that Pupil Premium children are achieving as well as their peers in every single year group. Since our Ofsted, we have been closing the gaps in the majority of classes and subjects, and are keeping a close eye on the others to make sure they close too.

You can find some more information about our overall test outcomes here: SATS results 2015.

Our aim is to ensure that all children, regardless of their background or circumstances, reach the highest possible levels for their stage of schooling, make the best possible progress through the school, have access to a wide range of curriculum opportunities and develop their self confidence. We are fully committed to ensuring that this is the case for all children who receive (or have received) Free School Meals, and that our use of the Pupil Premium is achieving this.