Pupil Premium

DfE Guidance on Pupil Premium Funding  

The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011. Schools can make decisions about how to spend the Pupil Premium funding to ensure that there is a narrowing of the attainment gap.  

The Pupil Premium provides funding for pupils:  

• pupils who qualify for free school meals, or have done at any time in the past six years (£1345 per child)  
• pupils who have a parent serving in the armed forces (£310 per child)  
• pupils who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by an English local authority (LA) (Children Looked After, CLA) (£2,345 per child)  
• pupils who were looked after by an English or Welsh local authority before being adopted, or who left care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (Post CLA ) (£2,345 per child)  Schools are held accountable for the spending of these monies, and performance tables will capture the achievement of disadvantaged students covered by the Pupil Premium.  

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement

This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils. It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.

School Overview

Funding Overview

Detail	Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year	£34,460
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable)	£0
Total budget for this academic year If your school is an academy in a trust that pools this funding, state the amount available to your school this academic year	£34,460

Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan

Statement of Intent

In developing our Pupil Premium strategy, we have carefully considered the unique context of our school and the specific challenges faced by our disadvantaged pupils. Our approach is to ensure that the strategies we implement are both effective and offer good value for money. We recognise that the barriers experienced by disadvantaged pupils are varied and complex. Therefore, we adopt a tailored approach rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.   Our key aims are to: – Narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils. – Ensure all disadvantaged pupils make at least expected progress, with many exceeding national expectations. – Promote positive mental health and wellbeing, enabling pupils to fully engage with their learning. To achieve these aims, we will: – Provide high-quality teaching and learning tailored to meet the diverse needs of all pupils. – Offer targeted support based on thorough assessment of need, including academic and pastoral interventions. – Recognise that eligibility for free school meals does not always reflect disadvantage, and we will allocate Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil identified as disadvantaged by the school. Our priorities include: – Consistently delivering teaching that is good or better across all year groups. – Using Teaching Assistants to deliver focused small-group interventions to close learning gaps. – Providing additional academic and pastoral support to overcome individual barriers. – Enriching learning through subsidised extracurricular activities, educational visits, and cultural experiences. – Implementing strategies to improve behaviour, attitudes, and readiness to learn. – Supporting families to remove financial or practical obstacles to attendance and engagement. Through this strategic and inclusive approach, we are committed to ensuring that all disadvantaged pupils receive the support they need to achieve their full potential.

Challenges

This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Challenge number	Detail of challenge
1	A significant proportion of pupils eligible for Pupil Premium funding demonstrate barriers to learning linked to attendance and punctuality. Current data indicates that 9.5% of Pupil Premium pupils are classified as persistent absentees, and 28% have repeated instances of lateness. These patterns negatively impact access to high-quality teaching and continuity of learning, contributing to gaps in attainment and progress.
2	A significant number of pupils eligible for Pupil Premium funding are not actively participating in after-school clubs, leadership roles, or enrichment activities. This limited engagement restricts their access to experiences that develop cultural capital, strengthen social skills, and foster personal growth.
3	The attainment gap between pupils eligible for Pupil Premium funding and their non-Pupil Premium peers remains significant, particularly in writing. Current data shows that only 33% of Pupil Premium pupils are on track to meet age-related expectations in writing, compared to a much higher proportion of non-Pupil Premium pupils. This gap limits future academic success and progression.
4	Although only a small proportion of Pupil Premium pupils have additional needs, these pupils are currently working significantly below age-related expectations compared to their peers. Without targeted intervention, they risk falling further behind, limiting their academic progress and future opportunities.

Intended Outcomes

This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.

Intended outcome	Success criteria
To Improve attendance and punctuality for disadvantaged pupils as it is essential to closing the attainment gap and ensuring equitable access to the curriculum.	The percentage of Pupil Premium pupils who are persistent absentees will reduce from 9.5% to below 5% by the end of the academic year. Repeated lateness among Pupil Premium pupils will reduce from 28% to below 10% by the end of the academic year. 95%+ attendance for the majority of Pupil Premium pupils through proactive monitoring and intervention.
Increase engagement of Pupil Premium pupils in a broad range of after-school clubs, leadership roles and enrichment activities to promote inclusion, raise aspirations, and develop confidence and resilience, contributing to improved academic and personal outcomes.	At least 50% of Pupil Premium pupils regularly attend one or more after-school clubs, enrichment activities, or hold a pupil leadership role by the end of the academic year. Participation rates for Pupil Premium pupils in clubs, enrichment, and leadership roles are comparable to non-Pupil Premium peers by the end of the year. Pupil voice surveys indicate improved enjoyment, confidence, sense of belonging, and leadership development linked to enrichment and leadership participation.
To accelerate progress in reading, mathematics, and particularly writing for pupils eligible for Pupil Premium funding, reducing the attainment gap with their peers and ensuring fair access to the full curriculum. This will lead to improved academic achievement and readiness for the next stage of education across all key stages.	Increase the percentage of Pupil Premium pupils on track in writing from 33% to at least 70% by the end of the academic year. Narrow the attainment gap in writing between Pupil Premium and non-Pupil Premium pupils to less than 10 percentage. Termly assessment data shows accelerated progress for Pupil Premium pupils in writing compared to previous years. Evidence of improved writing outcomes through book scrutiny, moderation, and pupil voice.
Provide targeted, high-quality support for Pupil Premium pupils with additional needs to ensure they make good or better progress from their starting points, enabling them to close gaps in attainment and access the curriculum effectively.	All identified Pupil Premium pupils with additional needs make at least expected progress, with the majority making accelerated progress by the end of the academic year. Support plans or provision maps show clear evidence of impact from targeted interventions. Termly assessment data demonstrates reduction in attainment gaps for these pupils in core subjects. Pupil voice and teacher feedback indicate improved confidence, engagement, and independence in learning.

Activity in this academic year

This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.

Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)

Budgeted cost: £13,212

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Implement regular professional development workshops focused on evidence-based strategies for supporting Pupil Premium pupils as well as high quality teaching – e.g., precision teaching, feedback cycles, scaffolding writing.  – £2500	The EEF’s guidance on Effective Professional Development highlights that well-designed CPD – featuring mechanisms such as revisiting prior learning, goal-setting, feedback, and action planning – can significantly improve teaching quality, especially in narrowing disadvantage-related achievement gaps.	3 & 4
Introduce assisted technology and tools (e.g., Clicker 8, reading support apps, word prediction software) integrated into lessons and independent work, to support pupils in accessing and producing written content. – £2935	The EEF’s ‘Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning’ report notes that EdTech can boost pupil outcomes when grounded in pedagogical processes – especially when used to supplement targeted instruction and enhance practice opportunities.	3 & 4
Purchase and adopt the Kinetic Letters handwriting programme, training staff in its four core components (body strength, correct pencil grip, letter movement fluency, flow) through staff CPD to build transcription fluency and stamina – £2127	Kinetic Letters is an evidence-informed approach designed to develop handwriting as an automatic, durable skill by embedding core physical and cognitive components. It includes structured sequencing of body strengthening, precise pencil handling, and letter movement fluency, releasing cognitive space for writing content, creativity, and expression.	3 & 4
Deliver comprehensive CPD for all staff on the effective teaching of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing), ensuring progression and coherence from early years to upper key stages. –  £650	EEF’s Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1 and 2 guidance recommends explicit teaching of writing strategies, modelling, and scaffolding to develop pupils’ ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate their writing. Structured approaches to teaching the writing process have been shown to improve writing quality and independence, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.	3 & 4
Allocate termly professional development mornings for staff to engage in research-informed practice. Staff select an element of their teaching they wish to develop (e.g., feedback strategies, modelling, questioning techniques) and use the time for: Reviewing current research and evidence Observing colleagues’ practice Reflecting and planning improvements £4000	EEF’s Effective Professional Development guidance emphasises that sustained, iterative CPD – where teachers actively engage in research, observation, and reflection – has a greater impact on pupil outcomes than one-off sessions. Peer observation and collaborative inquiry are proven mechanisms for improving teaching quality and embedding change.	3
Implement a daily 10-minute ERIC session where all pupils read silently in class to foster a culture of reading. Identify specific Pupil Premium pupils as priority readers for 1:1 reading with an adult during or outside ERIC time to accelerate fluency and comprehension. – £1000	EEF’s Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 guidance recommends increasing opportunities for independent reading and providing structured support for struggling readers. Regular, sustained reading practice combined with targeted adult support can significantly improve reading fluency and comprehension, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.	3 & 4

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)

Budgeted cost: £9,420

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Booster Writing Interventions: Short, structured small-group programmes focused on sentence structure 3× per week – £1500	EEF guidance recommends teaching writing composition strategies with modelling and supported practice and developing transcription skills through extensive practice; targeted, high-quality literacy interventions for strugglers are endorsed	3 & 4
Nessy Reading & Spelling: Targeted 15–20 min sessions (in intervention slot) + 2× week – £1220	Nessy follows structured literacy/OG principles, with multiple practitioner and university evaluations reporting gains for struggling and dyslexic learners; recent independent appraisals rate Nessy highly for evidence-aligned phonics content.	3 & 4
Mastering Number (EYFS–KS1) – Number Sense Fluency: Implement NCETM Mastering Number: 4 short sessions/week building subitising, composition/decomposition, and fact fluency (plus small-group keep-up) – £1000	Programme is fully funded nationally via Maths Hubs; currently in EEF-funded trials with NFER; NCETM materials specify 4×/week fluency sessions and provide rekenreks and teacher PD.	3 & 4
Colourful Semantics: Targeted small groups using colour-coded roles (who/doing what/what/where) to build oral sentence structure, then map to writing – £1700	Evaluations and pilot studies indicate gains in expressive language and wh‑question responses; widely used by SaLTs.	3 & 4
Fine Motor: Targeted fine‑motor sessions (grip strength, bilateral coordination, finger isolation) linked to mark‑making and letter formation – £1000	Early fine‑motor development links to later writing success; EEF Early Years Evidence Store highlights teaching skills for movement/mark‑making; sector guidance emphasises gross-to-fine progressions and purposeful practice for readiness.	3 & 4
Early Birds – 1:1 TA Coaching: Invite PP pupils for before‑school 1:1 sessions 3× per week (10–15 mins) targeting an individual goal – £3000	EEF reports moderate gains when trained TAs deliver structured 1:1/small‑group interventions closely tied to classroom learning; breakfast/early sessions can also improve readiness.	1, 3 & 4

Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

Budgeted cost: £11,828

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Subsidised After-School Enrichment Clubs: Offer free places for Pupil Premium pupils in school-led after-school clubs – £3000	The Nuffield Foundation found that low-cost, easily accessible after-school activities improve access for disadvantaged families, fostering self-esteem, confidence, and social inclusion – key drivers of engagement.	2
50% Subsidy for School and Residential Trips: Halve costs for Pupil Premium pupils attending in-school and residential trips – £3600	Poverty-proofing reviews confirm that subsidies and flexible payment plans mitigate financial exclusion, making educational trips more accessible to disadvantaged children.	2
ELSA Sessions: Use trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistants for targeted 1:1 support with pupils who have low attendance, providing emotional and behavioural support – £2500	ELSA intervention helps improve emotional literacy, self-regulation, and school positivity – correlating with better attendance.	1
Lunchtime Inclusion Clubs: Provide structured lunchtime clubs (e.g., board games, arts, quiet groups) to support social interaction and inclusion – £1500	Lunchtime clubs reduce social isolation and support wellbeing among pupils with social/emotional needs.	1 & 2
Inclusion Sports Group (Weekly, with Coach): Weekly inclusive sports session led by a qualified coach for Pupil Premium pupils, promoting physical activity and social cohesion – £1225	Physical activity programmes can improve academic attainment (~+2 months) and boost attendance and engagement when delivered as part of structured enrichment.	1 & 2

Total budgeted cost: £34,460

Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year

Pupil premium strategy outcomes

This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils’ attainment in the 2024 to 2025 academic year. The tables below display the % of children (All, PP and Non- PP) at ARE (Age Related Expectations).  

2024 -2025 Outcomes
End of KS2	PP	Non PP	ALL
% of Cohort	22%	78%
Y6 RWM	14%	80%	66%
Y6 Reading	43%	92%	81%
Y6 Writing	57%	84%	78%
Y6 Maths	14%	80%	66%
Y6 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling	29%	80%	78%
End of Reception	PP	Non PP	ALL
% of cohort	11%	89%
Early Years Good Level of Development	100%	71%	74%
Year 1	PP	Non PP	ALL
% of cohort	15%	85%
Y1 Phonics	100%	75%	78%

Disadvantaged pupils perform strongly in the early stages of school, achieving equal to or above their non‑disadvantaged peers in both the Early Years Foundation Stage (100% PP vs 71% non‑PP GLD) and the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check (100% PP vs 75% non‑PP), indicating highly effective early reading provision and phonics teaching (Little Wandle). However, by the end of Key Stage 2 significant attainment gaps emerge, particularly in combined Reading, Writing and Maths (14% PP vs 80% non‑PP) and in Maths specifically (14% vs 80%), equating to a 66‑percentage‑point gap. While Reading shows the smallest gap (49pp), outcomes for PP pupils remain considerably lower, with Writing identified as a relative strength (57% PP). These disparities appear to be cohort‑specific rather than reflective of whole‑school trends but highlight the need for targeted support in upper KS2, especially in Maths and combined RWM outcomes. Close monitoring of upcoming cohorts has identified that Writing is now a key area for development, while Maths is emerging as a strength, allowing future interventions to be tailored accordingly.

Externally provided programmes

Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you purchased in the previous academic year. This will help the Department for Education identify which ones are popular in England

Programme	Provider
N/A	N/A

Service pupil premium funding (optional)

For schools that receive this funding, you may wish to provide the following information:

Measure	Details
How did you spend your service pupil premium allocation last academic year?	N/A
What was the impact of that spending on service pupil premium eligible pupils?	N/A

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