Pupil Premium

The “Pupil Premium” is a National Government initiative that was introduced in April 2011. It is additional funding given to schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Department for Education cites the following as the key issue behind the introduction of the policy; “Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are far less likely to get good GCSE results. Attainment statistics published in January 2014 show that in 2013 37.9% of pupils who qualified for free school meals got 5 GCSEs, including English and mathematics at A* to C, compared with 64.6% of pupils who do not qualify. We believe it is unacceptable for children’s success to be determined by their social circumstances. We intend to raise levels of achievement for all disadvantaged pupils and to close the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.”

It is the ambition of the Cantell School to completely eradicate this gap, and for disadvantaged students to achieve, and be as successful as their non-disadvantaged peers.

How must this funding be used?

Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. There is no requirement for this money to be spent on individual students simply because they fall into this category; however, it is expected that the funding will be used to support, as necessary, students in this group so that they have every opportunity to make the same progress as their peers.

It is important to note that it should not be assumed that all disadvantaged students need some or all of this support. There are a number of disadvantaged students in this school and elsewhere who are making excellent progress already, and who will need minimal support as a result.

How will the school measure success?

The school tracks the progress of all students, including students in this particular group. Success will be evidence that shows that students in this group are making better progress than their national peers and also evidence that the attainment gap is closing. We will compare their progress against their peers in the school and nationally, so that we can judge the impact of our work in this broader context.

Pupil Premium Strategies

The document below shows what effect last year’s pupil premium spending had within our school and how we plan to spend this additional funding during this academic year towards our three year goals.