Pupil Premium Funding

With the help of the Governors at Mendip Green Primary School, we decide how to use the Pupil Premium allocation. This is money given to us by the Government to support certain eligible children, including:

• Those eligible for Free School Meals
• Those whose parent(s) are in the armed forces
• Those who are looked after
• Any child who has met any of the criteria above at any point in the past 6 years (Ever6).

This is a statement from the Department of Education website:

It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per Free School Meal pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.

Click here for more information from the Education & Skills Funding Agency (EFSA).

Our school 

Mendip Green Primary School is a three form entry school which provides education for children from 4 to 11 years old. Currently 24% of our school community access pupil premium funding (January 2022). 

The school aims to raise children’s aspirations and enable them to achieve their highest potential by providing:

• A stimulating environment in which to play and learn
• A welcoming, caring community which supports pupils from all backgrounds, and of all abilities.
• An open and honest partnership between school and parents which enables us to work together to support all children
• A happy atmosphere that makes each day a pleasure
• An ethos that encourages hard work and striving to achieve the best
• Provision which meets the needs of all learners and inspires a love of learning.

The focus for our pupil premium funding is to ensure that:

• attendance remains high
• pupils and families have a support and advice network which they can use and access freely
• children in receipt of pupil premium have access to a free hot meal, fruit or vegetable snack and milk during the school day
• speech and language needs of children are identified and programmes are put in place
• all children develop a rich, wide and varied vocabulary which spans the whole curriculum
• support for the acquisition of maths, reading and writing skills, including phonics is provided
• children with SEND who are in receipt of Pupil Premium funding make good progress towards their goals through differentiated teaching and nurture provision
• all children access enrichment activities, sport events, swimming, off site learning opportunities, after school activities and music experiences

When planning Pupil Premium spending the school aims to ensure it closely matches the needs of our pupil premium children. These needs are varied and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach so the school considers the range of needs and plans to address these. Regular reviews of impact ensure that provision changes to meet the needs of eligible children across the school.

Recovery Premium

The recovery premium grant is part of the government’s package of funding to support pupils whose education has been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19).

It is a time-limited grant providing over £300m of additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year and £1bn across the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 academic years.

It is focused on pupil premium eligible pupils and pupils in specialist settings such as special schools, special units and pupil referral units (PRUs). This is because of the additional impact of the pandemic on these students.

However, schools can use it to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting any pupil based on an assessment of individual need.

Like the pupil premium, schools can:

• spend the recovery premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who are eligible for the funding
• direct recovery premium spending where they think the need is greatest