Publicly-funded schools in England get extra funding from the government to help them improve the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils.

Evidence shows that children from disadvantaged backgrounds:

· Generally face extra challenges in reaching their potential at school

· Often do not perform as well as their peers

The pupil premium grant is designed to allow schools to help disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the exam results they achieve.

The government has announced that pupil premium spending and service pupil premium will increase in the financial year 2023-24.

Pupil premium grant is allocated to schools and local authorities in financial year 2023-24, based on per pupil rates

Schools get pupil premium funding based on the number of pupils they have from the following groups.

Schools get £1,455 for every primary age pupil, or £1,035 for every secondary age pupil, who claims free school meals, or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6 years.

Schools get £2,530 for every pupil who has left local authority care through adoption, a special guardianship order or child arrangements order.

Local authorities get the same amount for each child they are looking after; they must work with the school to decide how the money is used to support the child’s personal education plan.

Service pupil premium is additional funding for schools with pupils who have parents serving in the armed forces. It has been combined into pupil premium payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending. Pupils in state-funded schools in England attract the service pupil premium grant, at the rate of £335 per eligible pupil in financial year 2023-24.

Schools get £335 for every pupil with a parent who:

· One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces.

· They have been registered as a ‘Service child’ on a school census in the past six years, see note on the DfE’s ever 6 Service child measure

· One of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme

· One of their parents is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England.

This funding is to help with additional needs that the child may need.

The pupil premium is not based on ability.

Research shows that the most academically able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are most at risk of under-performing. Schools should focus on these pupils just as much as pupils with low results

The school uses the premium to support the following strategies:

One-to-one and small group tuition

Supporting the cost of school trips

Access to a range of additional support including family support and speech and language support

Resourcing curriculum needs.

Development of outdoor play and learning

Additional Forest School provision

Staff CPD including TPP and DA school awareness programme.