The government has chosen to channel some of the funding it provides for education through the approach they call the Pupil Premium. This is funding that is directly targeted at meeting the needs of children from families in more difficult financial circumstances or with other specific needs.
We are required to account for the Pupil Premium money we receive.
Harewood historically has received a small amount of Pupil Premium funding compared with the vast majority of schools as we have very low numbers of children who qualify for free school meals.
We take a creative approach to the application of this money to ensure that children’s individual needs are met. All support is discrete and children are unaware of their Pupil Premium status. Our practice in school is to work with families to identify areas of need, be that before school club, after school clubs, 1-1 booster provision, subsidy of residential visits or additional tuition. In this way we ensure that children are given the best chance to compete equally with their peers.
A significant portion of funding used to supplement the Teaching Assistant hours to provide support across the school, giving us the flexibility to respond to any specific needs of the targeted children if they occur.
It is also used to address any access issues that may occur for the targeted children, for example the cost of trips etc. This ensures that they are able to access the full curriculum at the same level as any other child.
We are aware that, at Harewood, there is not necessarily a direct link between qualifying for Pupil Premium and educational difficulty. Our spend is therefore targeted to ensure that children have the best preparation to achieve their personal aims. For some, this may mean a wider range of out of school opportunities to allow them to be competitive in their secondary school applications. For others it may mean targeted intervention to improve skill in a certain area of the curriculum.
All spending is tracked and reviewed regularly by our Pupil Premium Governor.
We are thrilled that through our provision this year all children have made progress in line with or above their peers. Most importantly all children receiving 1-1 booster provision made significant progress, allowing them to reach their potential and attain the best they could in external Key Stage Assessments.