Pupil Premium and Meridian Trust Pupil Premium Charter

The Pupil Premium Champion at Sawtry Village Academy is Cora Davies who may be contacted via email CDavies@sawtryva.org

SAWTRY VILLAGE ACADEMY Pupil Premium 2020-24

The Government believes that Pupil Premium (PP) funding , which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the underlying inequalities between children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), or who have been eligible in the last 6 years, and their peers.

The use of the term ‘Pupil Premium’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. Meridian Trust also includes within its Pupil Premium Charter those pupil identified as Young Carers (YC), either through parental identification or through use of the Multi Dimensional Assessment of Caring Activities (MACA) tool.

For the academic year 2022-23 the government is also adding a ‘Recovery Premium’  to help schools meet the demands of ensuring all pupils catch up after the Covid pandemic.  The Recovery Premium provides additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2022 to 2023 period and, through building on the Pupil Premium, this funding will help schools to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting disadvantaged pupils, but it is not solely to be used on disadvantaged pupils.

The Recovery Premium is calculated on a per pupil basis and all mainstream schools will get £276 for each eligible pupil in mainstream education . Very much like the pupil premium, schools can:

  • spend the Recovery Premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who attract the funding
  • direct Recovery Premium spending where they think the need is greatest

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and for those pupils who are the children of either currently serving member of HM forces, or who have retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence.  This ‘Service Premium’ is not classed as Pupil Premium but is allocated to help with pastoral support. 

The Pupil Premium (PP) and Service Premium currently stands at:

  • £985  for every secondary age pupil who claims free school meals or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6 years.
  • £2,530 for every pupil who are within local authority care.
  • £2,530 for every pupil who has left local authority care through adoption, a special guardianship order or child arrangements order.
  • £320 for every child of either a serving member of HM forces or retired on a pension from the MOD.

The PP funding is used to help fund a range of educational benefits for pupils across the school such as targeted small group interventions, additional pastoral support, or inclusion in school activities such as extra-curricular clubs, school trips and music lessons. 

It is a requirement for the academic year 2022-23 that the school publishes both how the money was spent in 2021-22 and how it is going to be spent in the years 2022-23/24.  The coronavirus has, for the past , interrupted a significant number of planned activities for pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium funding but there has still been considerable efforts made to ensure that those in receipt of PP funding have received additional support

The strategy document can be found here.

There are a number of activities outlined in ‘The strategy document’ which have been taken from the ‘Meridian Trust Pupil Premium Charter’.  This Charter closely follows the principles outlined in the ‘Meridian Trust Statement of Principles’

The Charter focuses on closing the gap in attainment, attendance, parental engagement, CEIAG (Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance) and pupil experiences. 

There is much evidence to suggest that those in receipt of Pupil Premium funding do not always experience a rich set of activities and opportunities which broaden their outlook and perspective.  Therefore, a significant strand of the Charter focuses on giving pupils a set of experiences and memories they will never forget.  We encourage all pupils, but especially those in receipt of Pupil Premium Funding, to Extend the Boundaries of Learning and take part in school trips, visits and to live a broad range of childhood experiences offered in Meridian Trust schools.   

The impact of activities outlined in the Charter and in the strategy document above, are reviewed throughout the academic year both internally by the school, as well as through quality assurance visits coordinated by the Trust. 


Coronavirus Catch Up Premium 2020-21  

The government, due to the Coronavirus has allocated catch up premium funding for each school.  The funding is based on £80 per pupil for all pupils in years from reception through to year 11.  This catch up premium includes the Literacy and Numeracy Catch up funding, as described above, that was previously a separate and distinct funding stream. The government have advised that schools should use this funding for specific activities to support pupils to catch up on lost learning during the year 2019-20 and also 2020-21.  ‘Schools have the flexibility to spend their funding in the best way for their cohort and circumstances’ and this includes ensuring that each school is able to deliver remote learning be that virtually or through paper resources. 

CMAT supports schools to make the best use of this funding by focusing on evidence based approaches as exemplified in the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) report coronavirus (COVID-19) support guide for schools. CMAT schools use this document to help them target this additional funding in the most effective way.

At Sawtry Village Academy we have outlined a costed programme, which is adaptable should the circumstances of the academy change due to covid, for 2020-21.  These include:

  • small group or one-to-one tuition some of which is through the National Tutoring Programme but we also have tutoring being delivered by school staff. 
  • Technology and online resources to help students access learning remotely.
  • Ensuring the provision of remote online learning by purchasing more laptops. 

Click here for current Catch up StrategyDownload

**Please note that this is an evolving document and may change as the academic year develops dependent upon circumstances. 

16-19 Tuition funding can be found: www.sawtryva.org/sixth-form/16-19-tuition-fund/

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