Purpose and Use of Pupil Premium Funding

The Government believes that 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. See below for links which outline how we have spent our Pupil Premium for the past two years. There is also an explanation of what we will receive in PE and Sports Premium and how we propose to use this funding for the physical well-being of our pupils. There is also a Strategy Statement  for Pupil Premium posted at the bottom of this page.

Overview of the school

In 2021-2022, 62% of pupils at St James’ are classified as Ever 6 compared to the national average of 19.7%. It is vital that the attainment and progress of Pupil Premium pupils at the school is no different to that of non-Pupil Premium children at the school and that all children, Pupil Premium or non-Pupil Premium, are achieving at expected or above expected levels nationally.

This is a breakdown of how the school uses its Pupil Premium funding from its school budget. This is funding allocated to the school and is based on the number of pupils who have been eligible for Free School Meals in the last six years (Ever6). Funding is allocated separately in the nursery (EYPP).

‘In recent years the attainment gaps between the disadvantaged pupils and their classmates at the end of Year 6 have been small in mathematics, reading and writing, with the widest gap in writing at just above three months. These gaps are closing quickly and disadvantaged pupils are making faster progress in English and mathematics than similar pupils nationally’ (2014, Ofsted Report).

The table beneath shows the numbers of children eligible for pupil premium and the documents at the bottom of this page outline how this money is spent by the school.