Pupil Premium

Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.

The Pupil Premium is a funding stream introduced by the government in 2011 to address the gap in attainment between those children who are felt to be financially disadvantaged and other children who tend to achieve higher results. This funding, which is additional to main school funding, is seen to be the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for the traditional free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. If children then return to non FSM, they will still be entitled to the Pupil Premium for 6 years after. This is referred to as Ever 6. 

It should be noted that the FSM referred to here is not the same as the new Universal Infant Free School Meals (UiFSM)which was introduced in September 2014 to provide all infant school children with a free school meal.

• In most cases the Pupil Premium is allocated to schools and is clearly identifiable. It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
• Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium.

Here at St James' C of E Infant and Nursery School, we are committed to ensuring all of our pupils have equal chances to succeed in their education.  To this end, we plan our expenditure of the allocated Pupil Premium funding to maximise the potential of those pupils who could be perceived as being at a disadvantage. 

As well as academic success, we also look at the "whole child" and try to ensure that our pupils gain the confidence and self esteem to lead their own learning and have the will to succeed.  We encourage parents to become involved in their child's learning as it is a proven fact that children who have the support of their parents, progress better at school.

Our plans for expenditure are individualised to the needs of each particular child qualifying for the Pupil Premium.  We work in partnership with parents to ensure that what we spend will have the optimum effect on each pupils' progress.  We are intending to use this money for a variety of schemes to increase the opportunities available for children eligible for free school meals which will help to raise their attainment.  Extra resources will be made available to these children and training be provided for staff within the school so that each child has access to schemes aimed at developing literacy and numeracy.  This will impact upon children on Free School Meals having in-depth group and individual work aimed at developing their skills as well as stretching work for the more able children. 

Current Academic Year 2023 - 24

Our school’s pupil premium grant allocation amount:  £22, 368 (23 pupils) + £2030 recovery funding

We currently have 12 pupils (9.8%) eligible for free school meals.

We currently have 23 (18%) pupils eligible for pupil premium funding.

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2022-2023 (third year)

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2021-2022 (second year) plus review

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2020-2021 review (first year of three year plan)

You can find out more about the Government's criteria for Pupil premium by visiting the website below.