Pupil Premium Funding
Purpose
Pupil premium is funding to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England. Evidence shows that disadvantaged children generally face additional challenges in reaching their potential at school and often do not perform as well as other pupils.
Funding paid to schools
School leaders are best placed to assess their pupils’ needs and use the funding to improve attainment, drawing on evidence of effective practice. Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils and schools are not required to spend all of the allocated grant on eligible pupils.
It is for school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium, within the requirements of the conditions of grant.
Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when used across 3 areas.
- High-quality teaching, such as staff professional development.
- Targeted academic support, such as tutoring.
- Wider strategies to address non-academic barriers to success in schools, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recommend that schools particularly focus their pupil premium on supporting high-quality teaching.
Accountability
Schools must show how they’re using their pupil premium funding:
- by publishing a statement on their website about how they use their funding and the impact it has on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils
- through inspections by Ofsted
- through published performance tables
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium
Recovery premium funding
Purpose
The recovery premium grant is part of the government’s package of funding to support pupils whose education has been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19).
It is a time-limited grant providing over £300m of additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year and £1bn across the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 academic years.
It is focused on pupil premium eligible pupils and pupils in specialist settings such as special schools, special units and pupil referral units (PRUs). This is because of the additional impact of the pandemic on these students.
However, schools can use it to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting any pupil based on an assessment of individual need.
Using recovery premium funding
Like the pupil premium, schools can:
- spend the recovery premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who are eligible for the funding
- direct recovery premium spending where they think the need is greatest
Funding for looked-after children should be managed by the local authority virtual school head. They should work with schools, including the designated teacher, to decide how to use the funding effectively to support looked-after children.
Reporting and accountability
Schools must show they are using their recovery premium effectively:
- by reporting on their use of recovery premium as part of their pupil premium strategy statement
- through inspections by Ofsted – inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their recovery premium funding
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recovery-premium-funding/