WHAT IS PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING? 

The Pupil Premium provides extra funding to schools to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children in England and Wales. 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. 

School leaders are best placed to assess their pupils’ needs and use the funding to improve attainment, drawing on evidence of effective practice. It is up to school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium.

Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when schools use a tiered approach, targeting spending across 3 areas, with a particular focus on teaching. The funding can also be used on targeted academic support and wider approaches such as counselling, social and emotional challenges.

At Heron Way we focus on the priorities that will make the biggest difference and link this with our School Development Plan. The approaches that we adopt are based on strong external evidence and we consider a broad array of external evidence to inform our decision making process. The strategy itself is embedded within a broader implementation cycle and is integral to our development planning.  Research has found that disadvantaged pupils have been worst affected by the impact of the pandemic. It is therefore more important than ever that school strategies focus on support for disadvantaged pupils.