Pupil Premium
The government believes that the pupil premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.
The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’).
Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months, and children of service personnel.
Accountability
The government believes that head teachers and school leaders should decide how to use the pupil premium. They are held accountable for the decisions they make through:
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The performance tables which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers
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The Ofsted inspection framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, and in particular those who attract the pupil premium
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The reports for parents that schools have to publish online
How schools present the information in their online statement is a matter for each school. There is certain information that must be in the report: the school’s pupil premium allocation in respect of the current academic year; details of how it is intended that the allocation will be spent; details of how the previous academic year’s allocation was spent, and the impact of this expenditure on the educational attainment of those pupils at the school, in respect of whom grant funding was allocated.