St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Swindon

The Government allocates an amount of money to schools to support the most vulnerable children. This is known as Pupil Premium funding. The Government states ‘additional funding is given to publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers.’ At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that all children have the right to a quality education which includes a range of experiences.  We aim to close the disadvantage gap by addrressing inequalities and raising the attainment of those students in low-income families.

Schools are able to choose how to spend the Pupil Premium Funding.  "...It is not a personal budget for individual children and schools must spend their funding in line with the 'menu of approaches'."  For further information, click here.  Schools also have a legal responsibility to report on the impact this additional funding is having on diminishing the difference in attainment between those receiving the funding and those who are not. The impact of expenditure can be measured in many different ways.

The review of the pupil premium strategy is updated and reported in Term 2 each year.

Pupil Premium funding is extra money given to the school to support your child’s education. There are several reasons children can be eligible:

If a family receives any of the following, you can apply for Free School Meals. (You still need to do this even though children are currently entitled to Free School Meals throughout Reception and Key Stage 1 – they only get the Pupil Premium Funding if your Free School Meals application is successful.)

https://www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20032/schools_and_education/408/free_school_meals

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Your child may also be entitled to Pupil Premium Funding if they:

• are currently looked after in the care of an English local authority.
• have been adopted from a local authority in England or Wales.
• have a parent in the armed force.