The Pupil Premium is additional funding given to schools to support disadvantaged pupils and close the attainment gap between them and their peers.

The government believes that the pupil premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’).

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and children of service personnel.

Accountability

The government believes that head teachers and school leaders should decide how to use the pupil premium. They are held accountable for the decisions they make through:

• the performance tables which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers
• the Ofsted inspection framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, and in particular those who attract the pupil premium
• the reports for parents that schools have to publish online

Use of pupil premium funding at Hook Junior School

We explain how our Pupil Premium funding is being invested in our Pupil Premium Strategy Statement .

What will the impact be?

The overall aim of the use of the Pupil Premium fund is that standards of learning and achievement will be raised across the school and all children, regardless of their background, will reach their full potential.

Academic Impact

The Inclusion Leader in the school, alongside the Senior Leadership Team, closely monitors and evaluates the academic progress and attainment of each Pupil Premium child and the associated groups.

In addition to our normal assessment arrangements, each Pupil Premium child is assessed at the beginning of each term in order to establish any areas of academic needs in reading and writing. Pupils who display any behavioural or social difficulties are assessed through the use of the Boxall Profile. These assessments provide the school with a baseline ‘level’ from which individual targets for improvement can be based and any intervention put in place. At the start of each term, when the children are reassessed, this allows us to evaluate the impact of these interventions on learning.

Social and Emotional Impact

All Pupil Premium pupils receiving an intervention to address their social and/or emotional needs are given individual targets. Attainment will be reported through the percentage achieving their target.

Involvement

The use of the Pupil Premium money provides opportunities for all children to be involved in activities available in the school, including extra curricular clubs and residential visits.