Whitechapel Church of England Primary

Pupil Premium is an allocation of additional funding provided to schools to support specific groups of children who are deemed to be vulnerable to possible underachievement. These include pupils who are entitled to free school meals; those looked after by the local authority and children of armed service personnel. 

The government introduced a fund of £625 million in April 2011 to give schools £400 per year for children who:

• were registered as eligible for free school meals
• had been looked after for 6 months or longer

From April 2012, they extended pupil premium funding to children eligible for free school meals at any point in the past 6 years.

Schools will receive:

• £1,345 per pupil of primary-school age
• £2,345 per pupil who:
  • has been looked after for 1 day or more
  • has been adopted from care
  • has left care under a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order

The pupil premium is paid to schools as they are best placed to assess what additional provision their pupils need.

Ofsted inspections report on how schools’ use of the funding affects the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils.

The government also hold schools to account through performance tables, which include data on:

• the attainment of the pupils who attract the funding
• the progress made by these pupils
• the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers

At Whitechapel Primary all members of staff and governors accept responsibility for 'socially disadvantaged' pupils and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs within the school environment. Whitechapel is committed to 'Narrowing the Gap' between vulnerable pupils and the Pupil Premium plays a vital part of that process. The governors reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupils or groups of pupils the school has identified as being socially disadvantaged. 

At Whitechapel Primary, we have an increasing number of vulnerable children and families as evident in the amount of Pupil Premium funding that school receives showing an upward trend year on year. If you feel your child may be eligible to receive the pupil premium funding, there is an online form to complete and we can help any parents/carers who need support with this. 

Our Pupil Premium Strategy is reviewed annually. This information is available to read on the links below.