Pupil Premium Policy
Our Principles
At West Park School, all members of staff and governors accept responsibility for those pupils recognised as 'disadvantaged' and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs.
Every child who is considered disadvantaged is respected, valued and entitled to develop to their own potential.
The Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 as a Government initiative that provides additional funding to pupils from deprived backgrounds. Research has shown that pupils from deprived backgrounds underachieve compared to their non-deprived peers. The Pupil Premium is provided in order to support these pupils in reaching their potential by accelerating their progress.
The Government has used pupils entitled to Free School Meals and those who are looked after as an indicator for deprivation. They have given a fixed amount of money to schools, per pupil, based on these numbers. A premium has also been introduced for children whose parents are serving or have served in the armed forced. The service premium is designed to address the emotional and social well-being of these pupils.
Overall Objectives
West Park will ensure that the Pupil Premium reaches the groups for whom it is intended and it will make a significant impact on their education and lives.
The Pupil Premium will be used to provide additional educational support to improve the progress and raise the achievement of these pupils.
The funding will be used to narrow the gap between the achievement of these pupils and their peers.
The school will use the additional funding to address any underlying inequalities between pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium and others.
How we will ensure effective use of the Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium will be clearly identifiable within the budget. The Head, in consultation with governors and staff will decide how the Pupil Premium is spent for the benefit of the entitled pupils. Funding will be allocated following a needs analysis which will identify priority groups or individuals. This will be shown on the Pupil Premium strategy. The governor responsible for Pupil Premium is Sheena Ratcliffe.
In making provision for disadvantaged pupils we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be disadvantaged or underachieving. We also recognise that not all pupils who are disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We therefore reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any groups the school has legitimately identified as being disadvantaged.
The school will assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils. The school will be accountable for how it has used the additional funding and we will track the impact of the strategies put into place through the funding to ensure that we can show the value that has been added to the education of the entitled children. We will also evaluate and review the impact of the funding.
Reporting Outcomes
Each year a report will be produced for the Governing body that will show the impact of the Pupil Premium funding and evaluate its cost effectiveness.
Each year the Pupil Premium Co-Ordinator will ensure that there is an annual statement on the school website outlining how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of closing the gap for disadvantaged pupils, what the impact has been and what the strategy is for the using the Pupil Premium funding for the coming year.