The pupil premium is additional funding to help schools close the attainment gap between children of disadvantaged families and their peers.  If a child has been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point over the past 6 years or has been looked after for one day or more by the local authority (Child Looked After) the school receives an amount per child within their school pupil premium budget.  A provision is also made for school who have a parent in the armed services.

St Oswald’s Primary school is determined to ensure that all children achieve and are given the highest standards of teaching and learning through delivering Quality First Teaching (OFT).  Additionally, that focused support and pastoral care outside of QFT is given to children that require it so that they are achieving their full potential.

We believe the benefits provided by the extra funding should be available to all our children within school irrespective of whether they receive pupil premium funding.  There is no expectation that all pupil premium children will receive identical support; indeed the allocation of budget for each child feeds into the school budget for pupil premium, rather than being ring fenced for an individual child.  Some children will need more than others and each child is individual with individual circumstances.  The school considers how to allocate pupil premium money on an annual basis following rigorous data analysis and careful consideration of the needs of the children within this group.

The Action Plan for pupil premium spending focuses on whole-school strategies that impact all pupils, strategies that target under-performing pupils, and specific strategies targeting pupil premium pupils.  We have a clear, strategic approach to the use of pupil premium funding, and plans are integrated into wider school support and improvement systems.  

Strong leadership ensure that pupil premium funding has the necessary impact on achievement, attendance and pastoral care.  This includes an identified governor having responsibility for Pupil Premium, The Head teacher, Senco, Pupil Premium Lead leading the development plan, and a co-ordinated wider leadership approach to implementing plans.  All matters relating to the pupil premium are reported back to the team and the governor, ensuring that the school is held to account for the impact of spending.  

Ofsted June 2018

The pupil premium funding is used very well to support disadvantaged pupils. Leaders have high expectations of what disadvantaged pupils can achieve and, as a result, the progress made by these pupils matches closely the progress made by others from similar starting points