Pupil Premium / Recovery Funding

Pupil Premium Funding

Purpose

Pupil premium is additional funding for schools, granted by the government, designed to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England. Evidence shows that disadvantaged children generally face additional challenges in reaching their potential at school and often do not perform as well as other pupils.

Funding rates

The amount of pupil premium funding schools and local authorities receive for each eligible child is:

  • £1480 for pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible in the past 6 years
  • £2570 for pupils who have been adopted from care of have left care
  • £2570 for children who are looked after by the local authority (please note – this is managed by the Virtual School Head)
  • £340 for children who have a parent serving in HM Forces or who has retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence (to help with pastoral support)

Use of the pupil premium

It is up to school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium, drawing on evidence of effective practice. Schools do not have to spend pupil premium so it solely benefits eligible pupils.  They can use it wherever they identify the greatest needs.

Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when schools use a tiered approach, targeting spending across 3 areas, with a particular focus on teaching.

  1. Teaching

Investing in high-quality teaching, for example:

  • training and professional devlopment for teachers
  • recruitment and retention
  • support for teachers early in their careers

2.  Targeted academic support

Additional support for some pupils focussed on their specific needs, for example:

  • one to one group tuition
  • small group tuition
  • speech and langauge therapy

       3. Wider approaches

Support for non academic issues that impact success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional challenges.  For example:

  • school breakfast clubs
  • counselling to support emotional health and well-being
  • help with the cost of educational trips or visits

Accountability

Schools must show how they’re using their pupil premium funding:

  • by publishing an online statement about how they use pupil premium funding effectively
  • through inspections by Ofsted
  • through Virtual School Annual Reports (wrtten by Virtual School Heads)

Recovery Premium Funding

Purpose

In February 2021, the government announced a one-off recovery premium as part of its package of funding to support education recovery.

The recovery premium provides additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. Building on the pupil premium, this funding will help schools to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting disadvantaged pupils.

Eligibility

All schools that are eligible for pupil premium are eligible for recovery premium. This includes schools such as ours which is a mainstream, local authority-maintained school.

Pupil eligibility

The recovery premium will be allocated using the same data as the pupil premium. This means the following pupils will attract recovery premium funding to schools:

•    pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM)
•    pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years
•    children looked after by local authorities and referred to as looked-after children (LAC)
•    post looked-after children (post-LAC)

Funding allocations

£145 will be given for each eligible pupil in mainstream education.  A minimum payment will ensure that no school receives less than £2,000.

Using recovery premium funding

Schools can spend the premium on evidence-based approaches to support pupils. In line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s pupil premium guide, activities should include those that:

•    support the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development
•    provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring
•    deal with non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

Like the pupil premium, schools can:

•    spend the recovery premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who attract the funding
•    direct recovery premium spending where they think the need is greatest

As with pupil premium, funding for looked-after children should be managed by the local authority virtual school head. They should work with schools, including the designated teacher, to decide how to use the funding effectively to support looked-after children.

Reporting and accountability

Schools must show how they are using their recovery premium effectively:

•    by reporting on their use of recovery premium as part of their pupil premium strategy statement
•    through inspections by Ofsted – as part of these inspections, inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their recovery premium funding

Please click the link below to show how pupil premium & recovery funding is being used this academic year and the impact it is having/predicted to have on attainment of disadvantaged pupils.