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Pupil Premium & Service Premium Funding

Background information

The challenge set by the Department for Education (DfE) is for every educational establishment to ‘diminish the difference’ that exists between our disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged young people. In April 2011 the DfE introduced Pupil Premium funding to help schools support students who have may be disadvantaged by their context. This funding contributes towards the strategies we implement at The John of Gaunt School in an attempt to provide equity of support and opportunity for all our students.

Our aspirations for the life-chances of the disadvantaged child

We are determined to provide all of our students the opportunities to be involved in a broad range of experiences, to access all possible learning activities and resources and be able to achieve the results required to study at university or have a career in a highly skilled occupation. Our aim is to have no attainment or progress gap between Pupil Premium students and their peers.

An overview of the approaches taken by The John of Gaunt School

We plan the allocation of the additional funding in an attempt to maximise the impact on all our disadvantaged students dependent on their needs and desires. We use evidenced-based research from leading educationalists and educational groups such as John Hattie, Sir John Dunford, Ofsted, the Sutton Trust, and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) toolkit to inform our decision-making. We also take into consideration the views of the students and the families that we serve.

Our strategies vary from individual support to whole-school initiatives that may have a positive effect on closing the attainment gap, including those disadvantaged students who are deemed to be more able. We understand that fundamentally, the most effective action the school can take is to provide high quality Teaching and Learning. Considerable effort by all staff is placed on ensuring the experience and guidance students receive in the classroom is highly effective and this includes positive discrimination in planning, delivery of lessons and feedback provided to our disadvantaged students who may not be able to access the same amount of support and provision outside of school compared to their peers. Training is provided to increase the awareness of the support these disadvantaged students require and how these pedagogical strategies can be implemented.

The funds allocated for this group are distributed in a way that each child has the equipment and resources required to access the curriculum, to feel and believe they are on an equal standing with their peers and they are as aspirational as their peers about their future pathways. The school has a Pupil Premium spending plan clearly lays out how the additional funds are used, the aims of the strategies, the impact made and the next steps the school needs to make to either ensure positive outcomes or enhance the progress made to that point.

Service Pupil Premium Funding (SPP)

The Department for Education (DfE) introduced the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) in April 2011 in recognition of the specific challenges children from service families face and as part of the commitment to delivering the armed forces covenant. It is designed to assist the school in providing additional pastoral support to help lessen the negative impact on service children when their parents or carers have been deployed to a new location. It is not the same as Pupil Premium funding that is provided to raise attainment and accelerate progress of disadvantaged groups.

The John of Gaunt School has a small number of service children in its cohort, however, our students within this category are supported in a flexible and personalised way where appropriate. This funding is ring-fenced for SSP specific support.

Support can be provided in various forms including transition work, additional pastoral-team time for additional liaison between The John of Gaunt School and the responsible adults of the service child, a counselling programme, a mentoring programme and any other child-centred pastoral needs.