Pupil premium - what have your schools used it for?

[Iceflower]

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 wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/premium/b0076063/pp

"Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium. From September 2012, we will also require schools to publish online information about how they have used the Premium. This will ensure that parents and others are made fully aware of the attainment of pupils covered by the Premium."

Would anyone mind sharing examples of what the pupil premium has been used for in their schools? I know of a child locally who had their private piano lessons paid for.

I am asking for selfish reasons as ds qualifies. He has SEN and I have applied for a statement, so am thinking of things that wouldn't come with a statement, eg an ipad, educational cdroms/programming etc.

Thank you.

i think ( not sure) we have employed a person to liaise with staff about underperforming kids, pop into lessons, run motivation sessions and speak to outside agencies

dont know if that pays for them - i didnt realise it supposed to be handed to kids

Pupil premium has nothing to do with SEN children. PP is paid as a lump sum with the school's budget - £600 per child on FSM and £250 for a child with parents in the armed forces.

Are you getting mixed up with the proposal that, from 2014, parents will have control of funding the support their child needs?

Agree with alcofrolic. It's about children from low income backgrounds, not children with SEN. It comes as part of the whole school budget, and, in the past, this sort of funding will often be used to employ additional staff - maybe a few hours of a learning mentor, or a parent liaison person. It means the school has some funding it can use if they feel all children will benefit from an Educational visit, but not all can pay, etc.,

We state on our web site what we are using the PP for, as follows:

"In 2012/13 the School received £125,000 in the budget for Pupil Premium.

The money will be spent on contributing to the costs of:

1. Achievement for All

Focusing on target groups

1. Tuition:

Every Child Counts teacher (0.5) Every Child a Reader teacher (0.5) KS2 1-1 tuition (0.5) New Arrivals (0.5)

1. Advice and Assessment

Support for Learning Service Literacy specialist teacher (0.4)

1. Reducing Class size

Additional Year 2 and 6 teacher(0.5)

1. Parental Engagement

Parental Engagement TA (0.3) running Strengthening Families Strengthening Communities and Parent Sessions

1. Philosophy for Children

1. Targeted funding for enrichment and curriculum trips/ residentials

1. Development of buddy systems

Training

9.Educational Psychologist Early Intervention work
Targeted interventions

10. Extended Schools Social Worker Targeted interventions"

We also state which actions were undertaken in the previous year and what the impact of these actions were, ie, starting point at the beginning of the year and what they achieved by the end of the year. We have a high number of children receiving FSMs as we are an inner city school in an area of high deprivation... our pupils start way below the baseline with 99% EAL but they leave us ahead of LA and national expectations in Yr 6.

Finally, as alcofrolic has said there is no link between SEN and PP.

Thank you for your replies

MaureenCognito" and Lattelady* that's very useful

I agree that there is not intended to be a link between SEN and PP, but quite often there is, hence I mentioned it in case I'm accused of dripfeeding later on.

I am aware of the proposed changes to SEN from 2012, and for my sins am a parent rep on my local pathfinder.

Lattelady it sounds like your school has been quick off the mark, complying with the requirements from Sep 2012 to publish details online - many schools haven't done so yet!

It will be interesting to see what other schools have done with their allocation.

The way the paperwork for PP is going schools will be using it for a team of accountants.

New guidelines state that schools must publish how they're using their pupil premium online.

We are due an Ofsted shortly hence our readiness... as Ofsted appear to have an agenda in our LA we have been crossing i's and dotting t's with abandon. We are even looking at a sample pupil from each year and looking at the split... Mr is right, it is a nightmare and not, imho such a great use of time or effort.

My ds's school had a subject specific inspection the other day which was a Pupil Premiuim inspection . I know they were bollocked for not having this on their website.

Perhaps we work for the same LEA LatteLady ... we are also producing data for sample pupils ... cost effectiveness

Am not sure whether the OP's child is at primary or secondary school. Here is extract from dds secondary school website about how her secondary school is spending the pupils premium

? Breakfast club provision
? Small group tuition in English and Maths
? Support to enable students to participate in Music tuition
? Homework Club/coursework catch ups (Mon -Thurs)
? Specific homework club for Year 7 (2 lunchtimes per week)
? Numeracy/Literacy programmes
? Lunchtime support for vulnerable students
? Work with external agencies (e.g. on circle time/self esteem/identity)
? Parent/Carer workshops/programmes
? Individual Learning Mentors for vulnerable students
? Counselling service (2 days per week)
? Summer School programme for Year 6 students identified as vulnerable on transition
? Individual and coaching/mentoring for underachieving students in Year 11
? 12 group sessions on literacy and exam communication skills for C/D borderline students in Year 10 and 11
? Increased support on transition to Post 16 courses.

Seems to be more linked to activities that promote learning rather than specific learning resources.

Our school uses it for extra TA hours to work with small groups, so yes, mostly SEN linked.

And I spotted the new law about publishing on website just a few weeks ago - we're also due an OFSTED any minute, so hopefully the school have followed my advice!

Just come back this - thank you for your posts . Ds is in primary school, and I've done a quick trawl of local schools websites. It seems secondary schools are mostly on the ball, but I've yet to find a primary school locally which has put the info on the website.

My primary school website hasn't been updated for about two years, so that might have something to do with it

Maybe some of the primaries have no pupil premium? Surely they don't have to publish it then. I know of several schools who have no-one on FSM. Is that the only criteria?

several small schools

Extra tuition for those on fsm
Ofsted will want each teacher to be able to identify those on fsm. They will also want the data for attendance/achievement for those on fsm and if there's a difference to the rest ofsted will want to know what school is doing about it
Very narrow focus imo. I don't agree with our school giving tuition only to those on fsm regardless of ability/need etc but at least school is being held to account for attainment of some I suppose

Extra tuition for those on fsm
Ofsted will want each teacher to be able to identify those on fsm. They will also want the data for attendance/achievement for those on fsm and if there's a difference to the rest ofsted will want to know what school is doing about it
Very narrow focus imo. I don't agree with our school giving tuition only to those on fsm regardless of ability/need etc but at least school is being held to account for attainment of some I suppose

Our pupil premium is being used to fund 2 HLTAs (Higher Level Teaching Assistants), one for Numeracy and one for Literacy. Pupils who are on our Pupil Premium list will be given first priority in qualifying for help from those HLTAs but they will be in small groups rather than one to one.
I believe that there will be some money left after we have paid for the HLTAs but I'm not sure quite what it will be used for (I'm not sure that our SMT know what it will be used for either)

Pupil premium is given to any child who has received FSMs within the last six years, even if they are no longer eligible.

From 2012-2013, it is.

This is all very interesting - I have just logged on in order to start exactly the same thread.

My (primary) school also says that there is a disproportionate number of FSM children with SEN in the school, so although they are obviously not the same thing, it's worth bearing in mind. I wonder if there's any national info on any links between the two.

Anyone else know what their school spends the Pupil Premium on?

The school is due to receive £6052 for the financial year 2012/13
The school will use this money to support systems and processes which ensure continued progress and academic achievement for those in vulnerable groups. The school will also continue with programmes, projects and initiatives which support the engagement and involvement of disadvantaged students.
Pupil premium funds (£3928 in 2011/12) were spent on teaching and educational support for LAC and FSM students, as well as programmes relating to behaviour, pastoral support, additional classes to improve pupil progress, revision programmes, trips, activities and special projects.
The school has in place rigorous monitoring and support systems. The outcomes for these students, as demonstrated in attainment data, compare favourably with national benchmarking.

PP is ringfenced for Looked After Children, and theirs cannot be absorbed into school budgets/put towards staff/school initiatives.

Examples of use of PP for Looked After Children include:

-private tutor
-singing lessons
-non curricular trips (ski trips for example)
-specialist art equipment
-musical instruments
-summer school

However, unless your child is classified as Looked After (and this can include children who have respite care), then the money is not ringfenced and can be used by the school to target and improve outcomes for children on FSM as they see fit, although they are accountable for their decisions.