Pupil Premium Funding at The Dean Academy

What is Pupil Premium Funding?

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main Academy funding, 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.

The Pupil Premium is allocated to children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for FSM in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months.

The Government decided that eligibility for the Pupil Premium in 2012-13 would be extended to pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years. As a group nationally, children who have been eligible for FSM at any point in time have consistently lower educational attainment than those who have never been eligible for FSM.

A premium has also been introduced for children whose parents are currently serving in the Armed Forces.

The Dean Academy staff and leaders are totally committed to ensuring that provision secures the teaching and learning opportunities that meet the needs of all pupils so that they make maximum progress and reach their potential.

Our school welcomes and shares the government’s aim of tackling all forms of disadvantage and works tirelessly to ensure inclusion and equal access for all learners.

We recognise that the pupil premium funding is allocated to children in receipt of free school meals and is a means of addressing some of the issues associated with social disadvantage and in particular, in narrowing and hopefully eventually closing, any gap in attainment. In making appropriate provision for this we also acknowledge that not all pupils in receipt of free school meals are socially disadvantaged.

We also recognise that that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals and so the academy reserves the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as needing additional support to achieve improved outcomes in learning and/or well-being.

Pupil Premium is spent within the context of the overall funding agreement between the school and The Athelstan Trust.

The leadership team will maintain an on-going programme of support and monitoring for children and young people eligible for Pupil Premium support. This programme will be subject to oversight from the Local Governing Body and the Trust Board. All staff have a responsibility in providing the best possible provision for young people. In doing so they have a responsibility to monitor progress and adapt planning and teaching to ensure these students maximize their progress. It should be noted that there is no substitute for high quality classroom teaching. The Sutton Trust research, and other research, clearly indicated the importance of in class provision and support. This research would indicate that disadvantages pupils benefit greatly from the highest standards of teaching: equally they are disproportionally affected by poor quality teaching.