The Pupil Premium is the amount of extra funding that a school receives based on the number of children at the school that are eligible, or have been eligible in the previous six years, for Free School Meals at a given point in the year.

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they are held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. 

From September 2012, schools have been required to publish online information about how the Premium has been used. This has ensured that parents and others are made fully aware of the attainment of pupils covered by the Premium.

The impact of the pupil premium has been evaluated and found:

• Improvements in the progress of children (better progress than expected).
• Improved attainment of children (children reaching higher standards compared to their predictions).
• Children reaching their expected standard of attainment, when a year before they were not on track to meet this standard.

There is more information about the Pupil Premium on the Department for Education website.

Definition of Disadvantaged pupils at Leechpool                                           

Some of our pupils may have experienced one of more of the following in their lives, which could possibly put them at a disadvantage to their peers and impact on them socio-economically.

The ‘disadvantage gap’ can include:

• Pre-birth factors
• Material deprivation
• Family functioning and child upbringing/parenting strategies
• Home environment disruption
• Community disadvantage
• Inequalities in school readiness (access to high quality early years education)
• School provision, practice and experience

In addition to this, at Leechpool, we also feel that every child has been disadvantaged in some way over the past 3 years due to COVID and at all times we are addressing  this.

Common barriers to learning for disadvantaged children can include less support at home, weaker language and communication skills, attendance and punctuality issues. There may be complex family situations that prevent children from flourishing. The challenges are varied and there is no ‘one size fits all’.

Leechpool Disadvantaged Pupils Definition

At Leechpool, we identify disadvantaged pupils by using Pyramids of Vulnerability as well as using our Pupil Premium register. We take into account changes of circumstances during our regular monitoring through involvement with external agencies and in school records.  

In order to advantage our disadvantaged pupils, we have an inclusive culture at Leechpool, where we ensure that we:

• Building strong relationships
• Knowing our children
• Being ambitious for all children
• Ensuring equality of opportunity
• Having an awareness of stigma and reducing this
• Identifying appropriate areas of focus
• High quality teaching and learning

The above will be reviewed regularly.