Pupil Premium Strategy

Pupil Premium Grant Strategy

At Old Basing Infant School we believe that all our children have an equal entitlement, and should have an equal opportunity to:

• Develop imagination and creativity

• Acquire skills and abilities

• Have a love of learning

• Make progress

• Attain as much as they can

The school receives funding from the Government to support it in trying to meet this aspiration. This is known as the Pupil Premium Grant. Pupil Premium is additional funding, from the government, provided to schools for supporting pupils from certain vulnerable groups to ensure they benefit from the same opportunities as all other children.

There are four categories of children who qualify for pupil premium:

• Children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), or have been in the last 6 years, because of economic disadvantage

• Children Looked After by the local authority

• Children with certain legal status: e.g. Residential Order or Special Guardianship Order

• Children who have been adopted from care

It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium Grant is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils for whom they are responsible. The Pupil Premium Grant is allocated to schools with pupils on roll in January that are known to have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time in the last six years. Schools have the freedom to spend the Premium, which is additional to the underlying schools budget, in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils.

A smaller pupil premium grant is also available for children who are eligible because one or both parents are service personnel. This grant is to help schools to provide pastoral support for these children when needs arise.

We are committed to meeting the pastoral, social and academic needs of all our children within a caring environment. The targeted and strategic use of pupil premium will support us in achieving this.

Principles

• We seek to ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils

• We seek to ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who are identified as being in a group that could be vulnerable to underachievement

• In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged

• We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals

• We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being in need of intervention and support

Provision

The range of provision the staff and Governors consider making for this group include:

• Providing 1-1 and small group work with an experienced teacher focused on overcoming gaps in learning

• Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided through trained TAs or external agencies

• The majority of our work through the pupil premium will be aimed at accelerating progress moving children to at least age related expectations. Initially this will be in English and maths

• In addition, the school recognises that the wider curriculum supports and enriches learning and therefore funding will also be allocated to enable children to participate fully and actively in wider and extra-curricular activities

• Pupil Premium Grant resources may also be used to target able children on Free School Meals to achieve appropriate standards if not on track to make progress from prior attainment

If you believe your child has eligibility for Pupil Premium under any of the criteria listed, please contact the school office and we will assist you in confirming this and ensuring the funding is made available to the school.