Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium was introduced by the Coalition Government in April 2011 to provide schools with additional funding to support looked after children and those from low income families.
‘The extra funding is made available to schools to help the narrow the attainment gap that still exists between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and more affluent backgrounds’ (The Pupil Premium, Ofsted, September 2012)
The government has used pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM), looked after children and service children as indicators of deprivation, and have provided a fixed amount of money for schools per pupils based on the number of pupils registered for FSM over a six year period.
Families who receive certain benefits may be eligible for free school meals. Your child is eligible for free school meals if you’re in receipt of one of the following benefits:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guarantee element of Pension Credit
- Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for the four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
- Child Tax Credit (with no Working Tax Credit) with an annual income of no more than £16,190
- Universal Credit with an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400
It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
If you think your child/children may be eligible for this school based funding, please CLICK HERE.