Pupil Premium funding: Making a difference to disadvantaged pupils

At St Joseph's Catholic Academy, our mission statement

"With God, all things are possible!" 

summarises our belief that each and every child is capable of achieving amazing things both now and in the future.  We equip our children with:

• Aspiration (determination to do their best in all that they do)
• Resilience (coping with challenges and bouncing back after problems)
• Compassion (taking action to help others who are in difficulty)
• Opportunity (making the most of every opportunity given, every day)

However, we also acknowledge that, in our modern world, there is much to hinder children's achievements.  The inequality between some children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and their peers can be a significant barrier for some pupils.  

The Pupil Premium is additional funding to help schools close the attainment gap between children from low-income and other disadvantaged families and their peers. If a child has been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point over the past 6 years or has been looked after in care for at least 1 day (LAC) the school receives an amount per head within their budget. A provision is also made for children who have a parent in the armed services.  St Joseph's also acknowledges the many families in our community whose children may not be eligible for, or registered to receive Free School Meals but may be disadvantaged in some way.  

St Joseph’s Catholic Academy is committed to ensuring maximum progress for all groups of children and strives to close any gaps. This includes pupils eligible for Pupil Premium whether they are working at, above or below the expectations for their age.

We have a clear, strategic approach to the use of specific Pupil Premium funding and plans are integrated into wider school support and improvement systems. These are monitored and evaluated regularly and in depth data analysis ensures that the correct support and strategies are identified to maximise progress.

Strong leadership systems ensure that Pupil Premium funding has the necessary impact. This includes a named Senior Leader (Mrs Buckley) and an identified link governor having responsibility for Pupil Premium. All matters relating to Pupil Premium are reported back to the Governors, ensuring that the school is held to account for the impact of spending

Our Pupil Premium funding is used to ensure that:

• all pupils, regardless of ability, receive the very best quality teaching, every day, in every subject
• all staff are trained to the highest standard in order to deliver the very best quality teaching 
• pupils who need additional support to keep up, receive it in a timely manner
• all pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum supplemented by a wide range of personal development opportunities to enable them to have high aspirations and the personal skills to achieve these high aspirations 
• pupils and families who need pastoral support receive timely and relevant support from a trained professional with expertise in the area required 

The documents below explain how much Pupil Premium money we receive, how this money is spent and the impact of this.

If you would like further details of the ways in which we support children eligible for Pupil Premium funding, please read our Pupil Premium Policy below or contact Mrs Hamilton or Mrs Buckley (Pupil Premium Lead) via the school office.