Pupil premium is additional funding provided by the Government to support the development of students who come from households on lower than average incomes.
The amount of funding is based on the number of students in the school who have been or are currently claiming, the Free School Meal allowance and those that are looked after by the state. This group is called FSM/CLA for the purpose of this report.
For the academic year 2011 – 12 the sum of £31,000 pupil premium funds were spent on teaching and educational support for targeted students, as well as programmes relating to pastoral support; attendance; external provision and additional targeted tuition.
Two key measures demonstrate the impact the spending had
• The average points score (best 8 subjects) for our FSM/CLA group was above the national average.
• For the FSM/CLA group studying mathematics a 13% improvement from 2011 results in the number of students achieving a Grade C was achieved.
In English the improvement was only 1% however given the national problems with the grading of English it was a pleasing result.
For the current financial year (2012/13) Heanor Gate is due to receive £173,000.
The school will use this money to support systems and processes which ensure the continued progress and academic achievement for those students in vulnerable groups.
It will be targeted at those students with the greatest need, defined by a number of factors including progress against targets, reading age and attendance.
Funding will be used in a number of ways including:
- Reduced group sizes
- Additional teaching assistant support
- Specific learning programmes and where appropriate alternative provision
- Additional tuition (notably in the core subjects of English and maths)
- Revision classes
- Controlled assessment support
- Functional literacy and numeracy support at Key Stage 2
- 1 to 1 tuition
- Attendance monitoring and support
- After school and holiday revision and catch up classes.
From our main school funding we will continue with programmes, projects and initiatives that support the engagement and involvement of all our students. The school has in place rigorous monitoring and support systems where the outcomes of the intervention can be demonstrated. The impact of our investment has been demonstrable, particularly in our Key Stage 4 results.