Pupil Premium Funding

The pupil premium grant is funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.  The amount received by the school depends on the number of children whose parents register for Free School Meals.  In addition to this, Pupil Premium funding also covers any forces and/or looked after children.

The government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is received by the school in addition to other funding, is the best way to address some of the inequalities in the educational results achieved by different groups of pupils.

All children who currently qualify for free school meals based on their family circumstances are entitled to pupil premium. This applies if you receive any of the following benefits:

• Universal credit (provided you have a net income of £7400 or less)
• Income support
• Income-based jobseekers’ allowance
• Income-related employment and support allowance
• Support under Part IV of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guaranteed element of state pension credit
• Child tax credit, provided that you are not also entitled to working tax credit and have an annual gross income of £16,190 or less

If your child qualifies for free school meals or has at any point in the past six years, it’s important that you tell us – even if they're in Reception or KS1 and receive universal school meals for infant pupils, or are in KS2 and take a packed lunch – as this enables us to claim pupil premium. If you are unsure if your child qualifies, you can check by contacting North Tyneside Free School Meals.

Schools choose how to spend their pupil premium money, as they are best placed to identify what would be of most benefit to the children who are eligible.

Pupil Premium Plus

Pupil premium plus is funding to help improve the attainment of looked-after children and previously looked-after children. As with pupil premium, it is not a personal budget for individual children.

Children who are looked after by the local authority

For looked-after children, pupil premium plus is managed by each local authority’s Virtual School Head for the purpose of supporting their educational attainment.

Your designated teacher should work with Virtual School Heads to ensure that pupil premium plus for looked after children in your school is used to meet the needs identified in their personal education plans.

Local authorities are expected to release these payments as soon as possible to schools, but they may choose to retain a portion of it to fund activities that will benefit a group, or all, of the authority’s looked-after children.

Pupils who were previously looked after by the local authority

Pupil premium plus for previously looked-after children is managed by the child’s school, alongside their pupil premium funding. The designated teacher has a key role in ensuring the specific needs of previously looked-after children are reflected in how the school uses its funding to support these children.