Pupil Premium
Lead member of staff: Ms L Greenshields, Assistant Headteacher
Lead Governor: Mr Tim Inman
Pupil premium funding is provided for the support of children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings, and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months. From 2012 this now also includes pupils eligible for FSM at any point in the last six years (known as the Ever 6 measure). Pupils from service families are also eligible for another strand of Pupil Premium funding.
Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However, we will be held accountable for how we have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. Some of this funding may be used to replace funding for activities where finance has been cut. We are required to publish online information about how we have used Pupil Premium. This is to ensure that parents and others are made aware of the attainment of pupils covered by the Premium and the extra support they receive.
Our School
In the school year Sept 2021 – Sept 2022 Bell Farm Primary School received £178,635 for Pupil Premium based on 146 pupils. We are monitoring how this money is spent and the attainment of the pupils who were eligible for the Pupil Premium Grant in order to review the impact of this targeted funding.
Overview of PP review for 2021-2022
The performance of disadvantaged pupils for the 2021-2022 academic year, on the whole, was higher than the previous year, as shown in our internal assessments. Interventions provided in school to pupil premium children had a positive impact on progress and attainment. 85% of PP pupils in after school tuition made expected or better progress in the targeted subject.
In 2021-2022, the absence among disadvantaged pupils was 4% higher than their peers. This is a 1% increase on the previous academic year. There were no forced periods of closure during the 2021-2022 academic year. However, we did have an extremely high number of Covid cases in Spring 2022, resulting in the isolation of over 80 children in one week. We are continuing to analyse our persistent absence children and working closely with disadvantaged families to improve the attendance of pupils.
Our pastoral support officer and wider team worked with pupils and families to ensure that the most appropriate support and resources were put in place to address mental health and wellbeing needs. The sessions offered by the Mental Health in Schools Team, which supported some of our disadvantage pupils and their families and the work with PAWS (Dog Therapy with a trained counsellor) had a positive impact on the pupils involved. Lunch club was well attended for children who needed pastoral support during the lunch break and had a good rate of children being reintegrated to the playground with their peers.
Targeted financial support, such as, payment towards residentials, foodbank vouchers, support from school sourced charities and cooking parcels, had a positive impact on the pupils and families.