The Government provides schools and academies with a 'pupil premium' which is additional to main school funding.  This funding is provided to raise attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers.

What is Pupil Premium?

Once a year we provide the department for education with information that we hold about our pupils in a census return. Allocations are made based on the school which the eligible pupil attends at the time of the January school census. This information is used to determine the amount of additional funding we receive for specific pupils, and we then ensure the money is spent on those same pupils over the course of the school year. The Pupil Premium is additional funding given to schools so that we can support our disadvantaged pupils and close the attainment gap between them and their peers.

Where Can I Find More Information on Pupil Premium Funding?

For more information on Pupil Premium please click here to visit the Department for Education’s website.

How Do I Know If My Child Can Receive Pupil Premium Funding?

Free School Meals - The most common reason a pupil receives Pupil Premium funding at our school is because a parent is registered as receiving a benefit that entitles them to free school meals. This is not the same as receiving a free school meal if your child is in KS1.

Free school meal / pupil premium funding now works as:

All pupils in KS1 (YR, Y1 & Y2) will receive a free school meal under the UIFSM (Universal Infant Free School Meals) Scheme. However, if you receive certain benefits your child can still receive pupil premium funding, but you MUST fill in all the details on the free school meal form available upon request from the office.

KS2 (Y3, Y4, Y5 & Y6) - All pupils will need to apply for free school meals and pupil premium in the same way as before.

Free School Meals Eligibility Criteria

A child is eligible for Free School Meals if their parent/carer (or the child themselves in their own right) receives any of the following benefits:

• Income Support (IS)

• Job Seekers' Allowance (Income-Based) and equal based Job Seekers Allowance

• Income Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA-IR) and equal based Employment and Support Allowance

• Child Tax Credit (CTC) with an annual income of less than £16,190

• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

• Guarantee Element of Pension Credit (GPC)

• Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (IAA) Support

• Universal Credit - Your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get) as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods

If you are claiming the benefits listed below you are NOT eligible for free school meals, regardless of what other benefits/credits are being claimed

• Working Tax Credit

• Contribution-Based Job Seeker's Allowance and/or Contribution-Based Employment and Support Allowance

However, you will be temporarily eligible to claim free school meals if you receive a Working Tax Credit run-on, which is the payment you may receive for a further four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit.

Click here to apply for free school meals and Pupil Premium

Service Children

Children of armed service personnel are also eligible. Service children are children and young people from families where one or more parents is currently in the British Armed Forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria:

• One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces

• One of their parents served in the regular armed forces in the last three years

• One of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil is in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS).

 

Schools will also receive additional funding for each pupil who has left local-authority care because of one of the following:

• Adoption

• A special guardianship order

• A child arrangements order

• A residence order

If a pupil has been registered as eligible for free school meals and has also left local authority care for any of the reasons above, they will attract the funding. Children who have been in local authority care for 1 day or more also attract pupil premium funding.
Funding for these pupils doesn’t go to their school; it goes to the virtual school head (VSH) in the local authority that looks after the child.
VSHs are responsible for managing pupil premium funding for looked after children.

IF YOU ARE IN ANY DOUBT IF YOUR CHILD MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING PLEASE ASK US!

At Launceston Primary School, pupil premium funding helps our most disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils to flourish.