The pupil premium grant is funding provided to schools to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Schools receive an amount of money for each pupil of compulsory school age who fits the eligibility criteria.  There are five categories of eligible pupil.  Each category attracts a different amount of funding.

The following categories of 'disadvantaged pupils' are eligible for funding:

In addition to disadvantaged pupils, the pupil premium is also used to support pupils with parents in the regular armed forces. In 2021-22, funding of £320 per pupil was allocated to pupils recorded as 'ever 6 service' children, or in receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence.

The grant is allocated in line with the financial year, which begins in April. Each year’s allocations are based on data from the previous January’s census. If an eligible pupil joins after the January census, the school will not receive pupil premium funding for him/her until the following year.  Maintained schools receive the pupil premium through their local authority (LA), whereas the Education Funding Agency allocates the funding directly to academies and free schools. Both academies and maintained schools receive the grant in quarterly instalments.

However, pupil premium funding for looked-after children (LAC) is not allocated to schools but to the virtual school head in the LA, who will work with the school to decide how it will be spent. Next year (2022-23) the virtual head in Herefordshire may retain £600 of the LAC funding, reducing our allocation per child.

Spending the grant

The grant can be spent as each school sees fit, as long as it is used to demonstrably improve the attainment of eligible pupils. Schools do not need to spend an equal amount on each pupil, or use the money for interventions that benefit only eligible pupils. However, the grant should not be used to fund free school meals, as schools already receive funding for this through the dedicated schools grant.

Publishing information about pupil premium spending

Schools must publish information on their websites about the amount of pupil premium funding they have received, how it will be used and the effect of this expenditure on the attainment of eligible pupils.

Pupil Premium Statement 

Research from the Sutton Trust informs us that "Funding is not always targeted on those who need it, or on interventions with a track record of successfully raising achievement"  At Madley we used the Sutton Trust toolkit to help us  consider a wide range of common approaches and strategies to raising achievement.  The toolkit analyses them based on a range of evidence in order to identify the high impact approaches alongside the implications.

For 2021-22, Madley Primary School received £44,610 in Pupil Premium Grant.  This was broken down as follows:

Our Pupil Premium statement is based upon some of the higher impact strategies indentified by the Sutton Trust and the Ofsted document ‘The Pupil Premium - How schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement’ so that we can be confident that we are using interventions and approaches with a track record of success.

Whilst we received £44,610 in Pupil Premium Grant allocation, we spent considerable more on ensuring the children received the appropriate resources to meet their often complicated needs.    Some of the children who are in receipt of Pupil Premium funding are also on the SEND register. Consequently, our overall spend on additional provision for Pupil Premium children was £65,266