St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School

Growing Together in Faith, Love and Learning

Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium at St. Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School

We have high aspirations and ambitions for our children and we believe that no child should be left behind. We strongly believe that it is not about where you come from but your passion and thirst for knowledge, and your dedication and commitment to learning that make the difference.  We are determined to ensure that our children are given every chance to realise their full potential.

 

Background to Pupil Premium Funding

The pupil premium is a  government initiative that targets extra money at pupils from deprived backgrounds. Research shows that pupils from deprived backgrounds underachieve compared to their non-deprived peers. The premium is provided to enable these pupils to be supported to reach their potential. 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 pupil based on the number of pupils registered for FSM over a rolling six year period.  We will be using the indicator of those eligible for FSM as well as identified vulnerable groups as our target children to ‘close the gap’ regarding attainment.

 

 

Universal free school meals are an automatic entitlement for all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.   If your child is in Year 3 or above, your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the qualifying benefits. If your financial circumstances have changed and you think you may be eligible, please visit the link to check eligibility and apply.

Our Approach

We have planned our spending carefully to ensure that it has been spent to maximum effect. This has meant making informed decisions about our spending such as:

  • Ensuring that spending is directly linked to gaps in attainment;
  • Making use of our own data to expand existing interventions;
  • Making sure there is at least good teaching in a day to day basis;
  • Making use of research when evaluating interventions and considering the implementation of new interventions.

All staff are aware of areas for development in the school in terms of subjects, year groups and they know which children are focus children.

We have tight assessment and monitoring systems to support improvement in the quality of teaching and interventions in order to maximise impact.

Parents should note that the funding is not ring-fenced and is not for individual children.  Therefore it is for the school to decide how to spend the money and they are not obliged to spend a specific amount on a particular eligible child.  Some schools will choose to spend this on individual children to meet particular needs and difficulties, other schools will pool money together to develop projects or gain training.

Please see the link below for our Pupil Premium Strategy.

Please note: Our three-year pupil premium strategy is reviewed and updated annually. The ‘December 2023’ document is the most recent pupil premium strategy statement – this includes a review of the impact of the strategy during the 2022/23 academic year.