Pupil Premium

"Leaders make effective use of the pupil premium funding to improve the progress of disadvantaged pupils."
Ofsted, 2016

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium provides additional funding on top of the main funding that a school receives. It is targeted at students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to ensure they benefit from the same opportunities as students from less deprived families. The premium is worth £935 and goes to students who, at any point in the past 6 years, have been in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM). £1,900 goes to any student who has been continuously looked after for the past six months, or who has been adopted from care under the Adoption and Children Act 2002, or who has left care under a Special Guardianship or Residence Order. Finally £300 goes to students whose parent/parents are currently serving in the armed forces or are in receipt of a pension from the MoD.

How the Pupil Premium is spent is monitored closely, with all schools accountable for the impact of the money spent.

If your child already receives Free School Meals and you wish to discuss further support, then please contact his or her Head of Year in the first instance. It is worth remembering that your son or daughter does not have to take free school meals in order to qualify for Pupil Premium.

Remember too that our Cashless Cafeteria guarantees anonymity for any student receiving Free School Meals.

You may apply for Free School Meals if you receive:

Income support;
Income-based jobseekers allowance;
Employment Support allowance;
Child Tax Credit and you are not entitled to receive Working Tax Credit, and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190.;
The Guarantee Element of the State Pension Credit; or
Support under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act.1999.

If you feel that your child should be entitled to a free school meal, you can obtain a free school meal application form from the school office or download here.

Last Year's Pupil Premium Expenditure

In September 2017 there were 145 students in school who fell qualified for Pupil Premium (Year 7 - 28, Year 8 - 36, Year 9 - 26, Year 10 - 22, Year 11 - 33). This represents around 17% of the entire school population. This cohort changes regularly as each family’s financial circumstances change.

In addition, we receive a further one-off payment of £500 per year for any new Year 7 student who achieved below level 4 in the Key Stage 2 Reading and/or Maths test.

The Department for Education makes it clear that the total Pupil Premium funding received by the school should be used to support the academic achievement of Pupil Premium students as a whole. At St Benedict’s our overriding aim is to ensure that all students reach their potential both academically and socially. To this end, Pupil Premium funds are used to support the curriculum and curriculum enrichment opportunities, so as to ensure that the utmost is done to help engage students in school life, and to raise overall attainment.

Funds are used in a variety of ways to provide additional support, intervention and opportunities for all students, but with a special focus on those receiving free school meals.

Some examples of support and intervention that have taken place include:

Revsion resources for GCSE subjects;
Online tutoring;
Additional Student Support Worker and LSA posts;
Programmes that support collaboration between home and school;
Reduced or free access to school trips; and
Supporting transport or uniform costs.

Pupil Premium Impact

2019 GCSE Results
	English & Maths 9-4	English & Maths 9-5	Attainment 8	Progress 8
All students	71.1%	53.7%	5.2	0.30
Non PP	72.8%	56.3%	5.3	0.44
PP	61.1%	38.9%	4.3	-0.38
In school gap	-11.7%	-17.4%	-1.0	-0.82
National Other (Non PP)
Gap between PP students at St Benedict’s and non PP students nationally

2018 GCSE Results
	English & Maths 9-4	English & Maths 9-5	Attainment 8	Progress 8
All students	67%	36%	4.60	0.08
Non PP	70%	39%	4.82	0.23
PP	58%	27%	3.92	-0.41
In school gap	-12%	-12%	-0.90	-0.64
National Other (Non PP)
Gap between PP students at St Benedict’s and non PP students nationally

2017 GCSE Results
	English & Maths 9-4	English & Maths 9-5	Attainment 8	Progress 8
All students	74%	49%	49.37	0.49
Non PP	79%	56%	53.94	0.70
PP	55%	23%	35.27	-0.4
National Other (Non PP)	71%	49%	49	0.1
Gap between PP students at St Benedict’s and non PP students nationally	-16%	-26%	-14	-0.5

2016 GCSE Results
	English & Maths A*-C	Attainment 8	Progress 8
All students	74%	49%	49.37
Non PP	79%	56%	53.94
PP	55%	23%	35.27
National Other (Non PP)	71%	49%	49
Gap between PP students at St Benedict’s and non PP students nationally	-16%	-26%	-14

Pupil Premium students in 2016 scored over half a grade higher in their GCSE’s than they would have done if they had gone to an average school.

The progress of Pupil Premium at GCSE over time

Percentage of students achieving A*-C/9-4 in English and Maths
	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017- 18
All students	53%	69%	64%	74%	74%	67%
Non PP students	55%	74%	68%	75%	79%	70%
PP students	41%	44%	41%	41%	55%	58%
St Benedict’s Gap between Non PP and PP (In school gap)	-14%	-30%	-27%	-6%	-24%	-12%
National Other (Non PP)	67%	62%	63%	70%	71%
Gap between PP students at St Benedict’s and non PP students nationally	-26%	-18%	-22%	-1%	-16%
National Gap between Non PP and PP	-27%	-26%	-27%	-27%

In the academic year 2017-2018, the gap between PP and non-PP students in achieving a 9-4 grade in both English and Maths was -12%, which compares favourably to previous years. The national gap between PP and non-PP students is no longer published, but our in school gap is well below the historic average. We are awaiting the release of this year’s statistics to see how our PP students fared in comparison to the national, non-PP cohort.

Table Heading	Non PP	PP	Gap
Year 7	69%	62%	-7%
Year 8	65%	67%	+2%
Year 9	84%	76%	-8%
Year 10 (Forecast)	67%	52%	-16%

The gap in other groups is also well below national average when using the GCSE

outcomes measure.

Attendance figures: In school attendance gap (2016 - 17)
Year Group	Gap
Year 7	-5%
Year 8	-2.4%
Year 9	-2.4%
Year 10	-4.9%
Year 11	-5.2%
Overall	-2.9%

Pupil Premium Principles

Improve progress and attainment

This is the key principle of Pupil Premium. We want every student to have the opportunity to make excellent progress and realise their full their considerable potential. Our aim is to remove any barriers to learning and offer targeted support and advice to improve the knowledge, skills and understanding of the curriculum.

Enrich students’ lives through new opportunities and a creative curriculum

We want every student to have opportunities outside ‘classroom’ learning and to develop a variety of life skills that will help them to be socially aware and develop confidence. We want studentsto have high aspirations and learn to be comfortable in a range of environments and circumstances.

Encourage excellence

We want to offer behavioural and social support and reward consistent excellence and sustained improvement to create safe and supportive learning environments for all students.

Ensure there is no hardship that hinders learning

We want all students to have all of the equipment, uniform, resources and technology they need to succeed in education. We want pupils to feel safe on the journey to and from school at school, as well as at school and have excellent attendance and punctuality.