Pupil Premium

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium is additional funding given to schools to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and narrow the attainment gap between them and their non-disadvantaged peers. The funding is allocated to schools based on the number of:

  • Students in receipt of free school meals at any point in the last 6 years (Ever 6 FSM)
  • Looked After Children (LAC), adopted or special guardianship
  • Students who have left care through adoption or another formal route such as a Special Guardianship Order or Child Arrangement Order
  • Service children

This money is used to help disadvantaged pupils overcome any barriers to their learning and to ensure they reach their full potential.

What are the barriers to learning?

As a school, we avoid stereotyping our pupils who qualify for pupil premium funding and recognise that they are a diverse group who face different barriers or even none at all. However, some of our disadvantaged pupils experience:

  • Lower attainment than their non-disadvantaged peers at Key Stage 1 and 2
  • Less than expected progress in some subjects in Years 8, 9 and 10
  • Lower attendance rates in the primary sector
  • Lack of family finances, resulting in an inability to support the individual’s talents and skills
  • Low aspirations
  • Less support at home for self-study
  • No quiet places at home to study
  • Less developed oracy skills, particularly in formal situations
  • A lack of revision material for Year 10 and Year 11 pupils
  • Limited access to books, ICT and resources to support out of school learning

At The Sittingbourne School, we regularly track pupils’ data to identify any evidence of underachievement (not just in low attaining students), and respond to pupils’ individual needs rapidly.  We aim to make creative, evidence-based decisions that are adapted throughout the academic year, and which include a wide range of interventions.

How we will spend the money?

Based on the barriers we have identified above, the funding we have received this year will be used to pay for a wide range of interventions that contribute to closing this attainment gap. These strategies include:

  • Quality First Teaching - Delivering strategies for use in the classroom that support student learning, and the production of class profile plans to ensure that all teaching staff know their Pupil Premium students and can effectively plan strategies for their attainment. This strategic approach ensures that the needs of each learner are being met within the classroom rather than relying solely on additional interventions.
  • Tracking of pupil progress at department and whole school level
  • Targeted interventions in English, mathematics and science
  • Purchasing individual workbooks to support additional sessions in English and mathematics.
  • SLT mentors for underachieving Year 11 students
  • Supplying revision materials and study guides to GCSE students.
  • Providing key stationery items and additional resources to students to support their learning in school and at home.
  • Providing IT equipment to support learning at home, e.g. Chromebooks.
  • Provide food ingredients and materials for DT
  • Provision of intervention programmes to support the emotional resilience of students
  • Provide a free healthy breakfast in the morning 
  • Funding where needed for educational visits designed to develop student cultural capital
  • University trips to encourage and help raise student aspirations.
  • Encourage good attendance by giving prizes and holding celebration events
  • Promoting home/school liaison by offering informal ‘drop in’ sessions for parents/carers.

Are you claiming your entitlement to free school meals?

As parents you need to know that registering for free school meals is important for two reasons. First, you will be reassured that your child has access to a healthy lunchtime meal, and second, they will receive additional funding to support interventions targeted to raise their achievement and aspirations.

To apply for free school meals, parents must have one or more children aged four or over attending a local authority maintained school in Kent and be in receipt of any of the following benefits:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Income-related Employment Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • Child Tax Credit, provided you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income, as assessed by HM Revenue and Customs, that does not exceed £16,190
  • Guarantee element of State Pension Credit.

If you think you are eligible, please register on the KCC website at www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/free-school-meals

If you do not have access to the internet or you would like to know more, please contact me – Mrs Parker. email: babs.oxbyparker@swlae.at

Number of pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium Grant 2019/2020

Current Year

Cohort Number

No. PP students

 PP % 

Year 7 

268

98

36.6

Year 8

270

121

44.8

Year 9 

269

116

44.6

Year 10 

235

94

40.4

Year 11 

207

86

42.0