Pupil Premium

Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School seeks to provide a broad and balanced education encompassing the values of the catholic church, for all children by addressing their academic, social, moral and spiritual needs within a caring, positive and stimulating environment.

At St Joseph’s we have a positive ethos where there is mutual respect between pupils, staff, other adults and visitors to the school where everyone is valued and encouraged to have high self-esteem. All members of Staff and Governors accept responsibility for all pupils and recognise that at different times during their primary school experience children may need additional support and intervention. Some of these children are eligible for Free School Meals. As a school community we are committed to meeting every child’s pastoral, social and academic needs in a nurturing environment. As with every child in our care, a child who is entitled to Free School Meals, and the Pupil Premium Grant, is valued, respected and entitled to develop to his/her full potential, irrespective of disadvantage.

Background

The pupil premium is allocated to children who are looked after by the Local Authority, those who have been eligible for Free School Meal (FSM) at any point in the last six years (also known as Ever 6 FSM) and for children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces. Schools have the freedom to spend the Premium, which is additional to the underlying schools budget, in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils.

Rationale

The Pupil Premium funding provides support to a targeted group of children and enables a variety of strategies and activities that are most likely to impact on children’s achievements and enable these children to overcome barriers to learning.

Principles

The funding is ring fenced and this ensures that it goes directly to help the achievement and attainment of children who have been identified regardless of attainment. Consideration is given to each individual to ensure that the strategies put in place meet the needs of the children and impact on attainment.

Strategies

There is a named member of the Senior Leadership Team, Mrs P MacDougall,  and a named Governor (TBC), who have a clear overview of where the Premium is being spent and the impact it is having on individual’s attainment.

There is a whole School approach which ensure that individuals barriers to learning, specific needs and circumstances are taken into account when allocating provision and monitoring its impact and success. All staff are aware of those pupils that are eligible for Pupil Premium and there is a shared ownership of the impact and progress made by these children. In addition there are a number of specific strategies and interventions employed to support Pupil Premium children.

Spend

We  continue to spend our Pupil Premium in a variety of ways to ensure that we have removed children’s barriers to learning. At St Joseph’s, whilst we support a range of interventions, we believe that the key to all children’s progress and achievement is Quality First Teaching. We have used some of the Pupil Premium funding to support staff development to ensure that pupils are receiving quality teaching. We have also used the funding to develop our Pupil Premium children’s talents and interests to raise self esteem and develop positive approaches to learning. We have been lucky enough to take part in a variety of sporting and dance and drama events that have enabled the children feel a sense of achievement. We have also used Pupil Premium to support talented artists.

We continue to use the Pupil Premium to support the role of Learning Mentor, who provides an excellent link between home and school; working with all our families but with a specific agenda to support our Pupil Premium children. Pupil Premium is also used to  support on targeted school trips which includes the schools bi-annual residential visit to Tower Wood.

Reporting

It is the responsibility of the Acting Headteacher Mrs. P. MacDougall to report to Governors on a termly basis about the provision and progress of children in receipt of the Pupil Premium funding.

The report will include:

• The provision made for Pupil Premium children.
• The progress, attendance and behaviour made by Pupil Premium Children.
• The interventions and support being made for those children who are not making
• progress.
• An evaluation of impact and effectiveness of the interventions and strategies