Pupil Premium Funding for Disadvantaged Pupils

At Newminster Middle School, and within Cheviot Learning Trust, we view the needs of all students as important and strive to create the best opportunities and experiences for everyone.

Nationally, statistics show a gap between the attainment and progress of some groups of pupils and their peers. The Pupil Premium Grant is a sum of money that the school receives to support an identified cohort of students and to help diminish this difference in order that students achieve in line with their peers nationally. This targeted group of students includes any child:

  • recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (FSM Ever 6)
  • previously looked after (PLAC): pupils who were looked after by a local authority or other state care immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority or other state care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order). This includes children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

PP grant is also allocated to local authorities based on the number of:

  • looked-after children (LAC) supported by the authority. LAC are defined in the Children Act 1989 as those who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority. It is for the local authority to decide how much of this funding to pass on to the child’s school. If LAC PP funding is retained by the local authority it must still be spent to improve the attainment of eligible pupils and in accordance with the menu of approaches

The portion of PP grant for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces is referred to as service pupil premium (SPP). It has been combined into PP payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending, but the group of pupils that SPP is intended to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

The funding allocated to schools is based on the number of students who fall under any of the identified categories above and is designed to be spent to strengthen provision such that increased rates of attainment and progress can be made for this cohort.

The grant can be spent:

  • for the benefit of eligible pupils registered at the school who meet the funding criteria
  • for the benefit of pupils who meet the funding criteria and are registered at other state funded schools – for example, when hosting summer schools which welcome pupils from other schools
  • on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of eligible pupils at the school – for example, where virtual school heads (responsible for LAC PP grant) deem it beneficial to do so, such as art therapy outside of the classroom, or training of local authority staff to raise awareness of LAC

Schools do not have to spend PP so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. PP can be used to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer. It can also be used for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils.

The following outlines how and where the money is spent at Newminster and what impact it has had on student outcomes:

Pupil Premium Strategy for 2024/27

Our aim is to “Foster academic and personal development in a caring and challenging environment so that each individual can achieve his or her potential”.

The long term goal is therefore that any child who has been identified as eligible for the PP Grant is fully supported to ensure that they:

  1. have the confidence and self-esteem to fully ACCESS the full range of experiences and opportunities on offer in school
  2. ACHIEVE in line with their peers nationally
  3. have high ASPIRATIONS for themselves, both now and for the future

ACCESS, ACHIEVE and ASPIRE provides the underlying rationale for our PP strategy.

Newminster has carefully targeted the additional funding received in a variety of ways. The school has routinely and continuously reviewed the effect of these actions and to ensure that the funding used has maximal impact.  We have focussed on key teaching and learning strategies as well as strategies to raise the confidence and self-esteem of our students and in doing so have also made use of the most effective and up to date research on accelerated learning for students from the Education Endowment Foundation. With the findings of this research the school has focussed particular attention on the quality of teaching in the classroom, including the quality of feedback that is given to students in order to accelerate their learning and progress.

The school has also had a focus on strengthening relationships with parents of Pupil Premium students so that they can be guided on how to support their child’s learning. To further support this, 1:1 meetings take place with parents / carers at the start of the year and each PP child is allocated a mentor who they meet with on a regular basis.

The principles underlying the use of the funding for Pupil Premium at Newminster is summarised as follows:

1) Outstanding curriculum and teaching:

We believe that the greatest impact on pupil achievement, for all children, is outstanding teaching in the classroom, with an emphasis on effective differentiation and teacher led intervention that allows all students to progress.

As a result, a considerable amount of the funding has been spent on:

  • Developing high quality teaching and learning through CPD, peer coaching, collaborative planning and sharing of best practice
  • CPD around awareness, targeting and effective strategies to develop the pupil premium group
  • Keeping pupil premium as a key element in the Learning Trust Strategic Plan, School Development Plan and Curriculum Area Development Plans
  • Our Deputy Head taking the lead for developing our work around Pupil Premium
  • Developing an appraisal system which has a strong emphasis towards the needs of the Pupil Premium group, including a focus on high quality feedback
  • Developing data tracking so that the performance of our Pupil Premium students can be clearly mapped and findings from this used to inform future teaching and targeted intervention
  • Ensuring ongoing review of the Curriculum in order that it is engaging and stimulating

2) Targeted support and intervention:

The accurate identification of student need and the subsequent interventions that are put in place are crucial to ensuring that students make rapid and sustained progress. Both Learning Support Assistants and Teaching staff are crucial in this process, as is the effective use of data tracking and analysis to inform this. A wide range of interventions are in place and the impact of this on outcomes is routinely monitored. In addition, all PP students have a named mentor who will meet regularly to review progress and identify what is needed to continue to move forward.

Interventions used include:

  • Read Write Inc
  • Lexia
  • Reading Plus
  • Fine motor skills including handwriting
  • Paired & Group reading – peer and TA led
  • Friendship/Social Skills groups
  • Speech & Language activities
  • Fine and Gross Motor Skills
  • Nurture Group
  • Attendance workshops and initiatives
  • 1:1 support
  • Targeted maths and English interventions 

3) Equality of Access:  

The school recognises that there are other factors and barriers to learning which influence the achievement of the pupil premium group which are harder to robustly measure but are an important part of a child’s overall school experience. This includes the barriers to accessing a fully rounded education due to the financial disadvantage of belonging to a low income family. Consequently, the school has made a commitment to allocate a £100 fund to support PP students fully accessing the wider school curriculum. This fund may be used for:

  • Offering financial support for uniform, music lessons, technology resources and trips and visits where a parental contribution is requested
  • Funding IT access at home through provision of chrome books
  • Providing a daily ICT and homework club for pupils to access the internet and adult support for completion of work  – these take place both at lunchtime and after school
  • Supporting access to art and cultural projects
  • Providing strong sport, culture and outdoor education elements to the curriculum
  • Daily Breakfast Club
  • Targeted subject development activities such as the The Big Bang Club, Arts Award etc
  • Offering a subsidised cost for visits, trips and residential visits

Pupil Premium Strategy for 2024/27:

Click here to view the Pupil Premium Strategy Plan for 2024/27

Updated: November 2024