Pupil Premium at The Ridgeway Primary School

At The Ridgeway Primary School, we have high aspirations and ambitions for our children and we strongly believe that no child should be left behind, academically or socially.  Our school vision is for all pupils to succeed and to contribute to society, regardless of their socio-economic background.  We are determined that all children will be given every opportunity to achieve their potential and we use pupil premium funding, alongside allocations from the school budget, to ensure that pupils are supported to achieve.

Is my child eligible for pupil premium funding?

If your child is now or has ever been eligible for Free School Meals because your family were on a low income or in receipt of certain benefits, then your child will be eligible for pupil premium grant funding for a minimum of 6 years.  Although all pupils in Reception and Years 1 and 2 receive a free meal at school, this is not the same as Free School Meals which parents/carers must apply for.  If you believe that your family may be eligible for Free School Meals because you or your partner are on a low income or in receipt of certain benefits, please ask the school office for an application form.  

Pupils who have previously been 'looked after' by the Local Authority - in other words have been in foster care at all, even for a day - are also eligible for pupil premium grant funding, as are pupils who are now adopted or who are living with a family member or carer under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO).  

How much is the pupil premium grant?

This year (2021-2022) the pupil premium grant for each child eligible due to having had Free School Meals is £1,345 and the grant for each child eligible due to having ever been 'looked after' is £2,345.

Information to be published for parents

For the current academic year, we must publish:

• our school's pupil premium allocation
• a summary of the main barriers to educatoinal achievement faced by eligible pupils
• how the pupil premium allocation will be spent and why we have chosen to spend the money in this way
• how we will measure the impact of pupil premium spending
• when we will next review our pupil premium strategy

For the previous academic year, we must publish:

• details of how we spent our pupil premium allocation
• information about the impact this had on eligible and other pupils

Usually, information on how the grant has been spent over the academic year is published by April each year, but due to the impact on schools of the Covid pandemic, the Department for Education has issued guidance stating that schools should monitor and report on the grant's impact at the end of the 2020/2021 financial year, in April 2021.  However, schools must then produce a three-year strategy statement which includes plans for the spending the grant over the forthcoming three years.  The Pupil Premium Grant Strategy Plan for the current  year, from April 2020 to April 2021, can be found below and the three-year strategy plan will be published by 31st December 2021.

Pupil Premium Spending

As outlined in the report, the money the school receives for each child eligible for pupil premium grant funding is spent in a variety of ways, as outlined in the report.  Some of the ways in which the school spends its allocation of grant funding are:

• additional adult support for pupils in lessons
• small group and 1:1 tuition, delivered by a classteacher
• training and support for classroom staff to ensure the strategies they use are effective in securing successful outcomes for all pupils but particularly for disadvantaged pupils
• subsidised school uniform, trips and visits for eligible pupils
• subsidised extra-curricular opportunities, for example for pupils to access clubs for which payment is required, such as Rocksteady or Premier sports clubs

This is not a complete list - further information can be found in the strategy plan, above.

Catch-up and Recovery funding

Last academic year, due to the impact of the Covid pandemic on children's education, all schools received additional 'catch-up' funding with which they were expected to close gaps in pupil attainment and progress.  Our allocation for last academic year was approximately £30,000 and we used the money to fund an experienced teacher to deliver additional support and 'booster' lessons to pupils across the school every afternoon.  Pupils receiving support through this funding were carefully chosen and their progress closely monitored so that the impact of the provision could be evaluated and inform future spending.  We do have a small carry-forward of unspent funding to use this academic year.  The way in which we used our 'catch-up' funding is outlined in the report below:

For the academic year 2021 - 2022, the government have allocated a 'recovery premium' to schools and this has been based on the number of pupils on roll eligible for pupil premium grant funding.  At The Ridgeway, we are expecting in the region of £20,000 and we are hoping to subsidise this further by enrolling in the National Tutoring Programme, which subsidises tutoring in schools by 75%.  Details of how we intend to spend our recovery premium will be set out in the pupil premium strategy document, available by 31st December 2021.