Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium at Bowdon Church School

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people

Hebrews 6:10

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased

Hebrews 13:16

Pupil premium and free school meals

If your child is eligible for ‘free school meals’ and you register them for this, we’ll receive extra funding called ‘pupil premium’. We use this extra money to improve the educational provision and resources at the school.

What is pupil premium funding?

Pupil premium funding from the government is given to schools to help pupils reach their full potential, regardless of their background or financial situation. It’s provided for pupils who:

Are registered for free school meals
Have been registered for free school meals at any point in the past 6 years
Are, or have been, in care
Have parents in the armed forces

'Educational attainment is the best predictor that we have of a young person’s long-term outcomes' (EEF Guide to Pupil Premium)

Pupil eligibility and funding rates 2024 to 2025

This table shows how pupil premium funding is allocated to schools and local authorities.

Allocations are provided on a financial year basis, based on pupil eligibility rates in the previous October school census.

Since the COVID pandemic, schools have received additional funding for their Pupil Premium eligible children (Recovery Premium), to reflect the fact that the pandemic disproportionately impacted disadvantaged children. The most recent value of this additional funding was £145 per child.

Pupil eligibility criteria	Amount of funding for each primary-aged pupil per year	Funding is paid to
Pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible in the past 6 years (including eligible children of families with no recourse to public funds)	£1,480	School
Pupils who have been adopted from care or have left care	£2,570	School
Children who are looked after by the local authority	£2,570	Local authority

Service pupil premium (SPP)

Service pupil premium is additional funding for schools, but it is not based on disadvantage.

Pupils in state-funded schools in England attract SPP funding if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces
They have previously been registered as a ‘service child’ in any school census in the last 6 years
One of their parents died while serving in the armed forces, and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme

This funding is primarily to help with pastoral support. It can also be used to help improve the academic progress of eligible pupils if the school deems this to be a priority.

We do not currently have any SPP families at BCS.

Use of the pupil premium

School leaders can decide how to spend pupil premium and evidence suggests that the funding is most effective when used across 3 areas:

- high-quality teaching, including staff professional development

- targeted academic support, such as tutoring and academic or pastoral intervention groups

- wider strategies to address non-academic barriers to success in schools, such as attendance, behaviour, and social and emotional support

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recommends that schools particularly focus their pupil premium on supporting high-quality teaching.

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools are not required to spend all of their allocated grant on eligible pupils.

How we use Pupil Premium funding at Bowdon Church School

Ensuring an effective teacher is in front of every class, and that every teacher is supported to keep improving, is the key ingredient of a successful school and should rightly be a top priority for pupil premium spending.

EEF, 2023

Inclusive Quality First Teaching (IQFT)

We privilege the training and development of our staff, to ensure that we deliver the richest curriculum, using evidence-led pedagogy. This benefits all children, but especially those who are educationally disadvantaged.

Our Senior Leadership team is very closely involved in the progress and wellbeing of all children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding and those who are educationally disadvantaged.

Supporting Vulnerable Groups

We have a number of pupils who are disadvantaged as a result of family circumstances. One of the major barriers to learning for some is the emotional issues they may face and the impact this has on their attitude to and behaviour in school. We prioritise the use of our Pupil Premium funding to not only support pupils academically, but also emotionally. Our Pastoral Team provides a mentoring service, aimed at increasing self esteem and improving attitudes to learning.

We also work with external professionals and 1-2-1 support is provided by counsellors & therapists when needed, to address individual issues and to offer emotional and mental health support. The pastoral team in school supports children on a daily basis, in the form of 1:1 emotional support and group sessions, structured play activities and through emotional coaching, including self regulation.

Supporting Curricular and Extra-curricular activities, Attendance and Punctuality

We feel very strongly that our enrichment programme should be available to children whose families are unable to financially support these opportunities. Pupil Premium is used to provide equal opportunities by supporting attendance at school clubs, together with assisting with the financial pressure of funding uniforms and school trips.

The academic progress of all children in school is reviewed and discussed by the school leadership team termly, with a spotlight on children in receipt of Pupil Premium. We aim to ensure frictionless access to the curriculum and to facilitate accelerated progress within it, as well as be aware of and reducing barriers to wellbeing and attainment such as attendance and punctuality.

Please see below our Pupil Premium Strategy & Statement for 2024-25, as well as those from previous years.

Is your child eligible for Pupil Premium?

Please check using this link:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals