Pupil Premium

The pupil premium is additional funding available to schools maintained by the local authority, to raise the attainment of disadvantaged students of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers.

It is allocated to schools for children who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and those who are in Local Authority care – ‘Looked After Children’ (LAC).

Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support students from low income families.

Main barriers to educational achievement faced by eligible students:

The main barrier to educational achievement for all of the children at Walton Leigh, including those eligible for pupil premium, comes from their severe and complex learning difficulties.

There is a focus on supporting progress for those students eligible for pupil premium funding, however ‘non-eligible’ students also benefit from the interventions introduced.

How we intend to use Pupil Premium to address those barriers:

We provide a personalised learning programme for all students to help them achieve their maximum potential.

To do this we enrich the curriculum with additional activities and provide a wide variety of opportunities for development.  The pupil premium allocation will be put towards funding the Home School Link Workers, providing specialist teaching support and additional input from therapy professionals. A broad range of children benefit from this provision, including those students with disadvantaged circumstances.

Amount received

For the 2020-21 financial year, Walton Leigh has been allocated £12,415 for FSM students. 

Summary of planned provision 2020-21

How we’ll measure the impact of Pupil Premium.

The school develops ways to measure the impact of such additional interventions on attainment and we are able to evidence the impact through students’ Individual Learning Plans, Progress Files, Annual Reviews and P Level progress.

Pupil Premium is allocated at the beginning of each Financial Year, so is always slightly out of step with academic year data, although the group does not tend to change much year to year.

The impact of Pupil Premium is reviewed annually in the summer term and strategies are amended to ensure Pupil Premium students continue to show progress at the same rate as their peers.

Walton Leigh School Pupil Premium 2019-2020

Money allocated | £10,648

This money was spent on:

• Home School Link Worker £10,648

Home-School Link Worker

The Home-School Link Worker is available to support all families. The HSLW either works directly or has contact with all the families on the identified list of ‘disadvantaged’ students.

Examples of impact:

• Parents have been able to arrange activities for their children as a result of the information sent out by the HSLW about Short Breaks, Playschemes, clubs in their area
• Parents have successfully applied for allowances as the HSLW has helped them to complete forms and provided supplementary information and letters
• There has been improved engagement with Social Care and other agencies for some families as the HSLW has attended meetings to support them
• Supporting vulnerable families to enable them to access provisions and services they are entitled to. During lockdown this included keeping in regular contact with families who were not able to access other services and distributing vouchers for meals. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, progress data is unreliable from 2019-20. Two Pupil Premium students made below expected progress for the year, but both missed approximately half a year’s schooling. In both cases, the way that progress is calculated was changed and if progress in English and Maths is used, both made expected progress.

Click here to see a case study which illustrates the direct outcomes of the HSLW during 2019-20.