Pupil Premium

The ‘pupil premium’ is additional funding to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers.

Financial year 2025 to 2026

In the 2025 to 2026 financial year, schools will receive the following funding for each child registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years:

  • £1,515 per pupil for each Ever 6 FSM FTE pupil aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 6, except where the pupil is allocated the LAC or post-LAC premium.
  • £2,630 per pupil for each post-LAC in year groups reception to year 6.
  • £350 for each pupil aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 6 who is either Ever 6 service child FTE or in receipt of pensions under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)

Eligibility

FSM

The pupil premium for 2025 to 2026 will include pupils recorded in the January 2024 school census who are known to have been eligible for FSM since May 2014, as well as those first known to be eligible at January 2025.

Children adopted from care or who have left care

The pupil premium for 2025 to 2026 will include pupils recorded in the January 2024 school census and alternative provision census, who were looked after by an English or Welsh local authority immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order). These are collectively referred to as post-LAC in these conditions of grant.

Can you influence how the pupil premium money is spent?

There is no obligation for your school to consult you about how they use the money they claim for your child. However, schools do have to show that they are using their pupil premium fund appropriately. This is measured through Ofsted inspections and annual performance tables showing the progress made by children who are eligible for pupil premium.

The intention of this targeted funding is to improve the educational chances of students who may find circumstances outside school challenging due to financial hardship or other issues.

The grant may be spent in the following ways:

• for the purposes of the school; that is, for the educational benefit of pupils registered at that school

• for the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools or academies

• on community facilities; for example, services whose provision furthers any charitable purpose for the benefit of pupils at the school or their families, or people who live or work in the locality in which the school is situated

Statement of intent

It is the intent of our school to dispel the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers.

Pupil Premium children at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School will make expected progress in reading, writing and maths, through quality first teaching and increased opportunities for reinforcement of learning at home. We aim for disadvantaged pupils to have access to a wide range of interventions in school to meet their needs.

It is the intent of our school to dispel the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers.

Pupil Premium children at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School will make expected progress in reading, writing and maths, through quality first teaching and increased opportunities for reinforcement of learning at home. We aim for disadvantaged pupils to have access to a wide range of interventions in school to meet their needs.

We also have a percentage of our Pupil Premium children who are high achievers and we aspire for them to exceed age related expectations, to raise their aspirations and open up greater opportunities for them.

Our aim is to provide first class education in order to develop and fulfil the potential of all students in our care. Our commitment is to ensure that the progress of all pupils is paramount especially those that are disadvantaged.

The Pupil Premium is additional funding which is allocated to schools based on the number of pupils who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point over the last six years. The percentage of our pupils eligible for pupil premium is just below the National Average at 22%. Currently 74% of our pupils come from the 20% most deprived groups of the country. The Pupil Premium also provides funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and the children of service personnel.

Our ultimate objectives are to:

  • Remove barriers to learning created by poverty, family circumstance and background
  • For all disadvantaged pupils in school to exceed nationally expected progress in order to reach Age Related Expectation at the end of Year 6 and thus achieve GCSEs in English and Maths.
  • To narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils nationally and also within internal school data.
  • Develop confidence in their ability to communicate effectively in a wide range of contexts
  • Enable pupils to look after their social and emotional wellbeing and to develop resilience.
  • Provide all teachers with high quality CPD to ensure that pupils access effective quality first teaching.
  • Provide targeted intervention and support to quickly address identified gaps in learning including the use of small group work, 1:1 intervention.
  • Target funding to ensure that all pupils have access to trips, residentials, and first-hand learning experiences.
  • Provide opportunities for all pupils to participate in enrichment activities including sport and music.
  • To work with families and children to improve school attendance to 97%.

Overcoming barriers to learning is at the heart of our Pupil Premium Grant use. We understand that needs and costs will differ depending on the barriers to learning being addressed. As such, we identify the barrier to be addressed and the adjustments required, whether in small groups, large groups, the whole school or as individuals, and allocate a budget accordingly.

Provision in school is carefully mapped to ensure we can accurately report our policy and spending, agencies contacted where needed; pastoral care organised; timely interventions catered for; extended school activities and school trips supported. The child and its family are at the centre of our planning for pupil premium. We never confuse eligibility for pupil premium with low ability. Pupil Premium is used to support our disadvantaged pupils to achieve their highest levels. We use achievement data and professional dialogue regularly to check whether interventions or strategies are working and amend where needed, and constantly and rigorously measure the impact to learning.

The school ensures all staff are aware of the pupils eligible for Pupil Premium. Termly, Mr Geaves or Miss Wright as Deputy Head Teacher meets with teachers to monitor targets for our Pupil premium so in conjunction with our intentions, teachers can take responsibility for their progress.

Please click on the links below to download our report. (Reviewed December 2025)