Purpose

The pupil premium grant provides funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

The grant also provides support for children and young people of service families, referred to as service pupil premium (SPP). This has been combined into pupil premium payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending. Pupils that the SPP intends to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

We want to support all schools to use the wealth of evidence of ‘what works’, evaluated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), to use this funding effectively to drive high and rising standards for disadvantaged pupils.

Funding criteria

Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of:

• pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals, or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM)
• children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. It can be used:

• to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer
• for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils

Pupil premium funding is allocated to local authorities based on the number of:

• looked-after children, supported by the local authority
• pupils who meet any of the eligibility criteria and who attend an independent setting, where the local authority pays full tuition fees

To register your child to see if you are eligible, please click on the Dorset Council link near the bottom of this page.

How the funding it used at Radipole

The money is spent on providing appropriate help and interventions to improve the attainment of these pupils. We also ensure that you receive financial help during their time at Radipole.

In return, for each child, you will get:

• a grant (£35) from the school (for your child's first year) to help pay for school uniform (purchased from Schoolwear or DEP), if requested
• subsidised school trips and residential trips, if requested
• free school meals until your child leaves the school

Come and talk to us at school if you are not sure. Please be assured that registering will not affect any benefits that you are claiming and that your registration will be kept in the strictest confidence.

The Pupil Premium Strategy explains how we spend the grant and the impact that it has had.