The pupil premium is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers.
Pupil premium funding is available to:
- schools maintained by the local authority, including:
- special schools, for children with special educational needs or disabilities
- pupil referral units (PRUs), for children who can’t go to a mainstream school
- academies and free schools, including:
- special academies, for children with special educational needs or disabilities
- alternative provision (AP) academies, for children who can’t go to a mainstream school
- voluntary-sector AP, with local authority agreement
- non-maintained special schools (NMSS), for children with special educational needs as approved by the Secretary of State for Education under section 342 of the Education Act 1992
Current funding
In the 2016 to 2017 financial year, schools received the following funding for each pupil registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years:
- £1,320 for pupils in reception to year 6
- £935 for pupils in year 7 to year 11
Schools will receive £1,900 for any pupil:
- identified in the January 2016 school census or the alternative provision census as having left local-authority care as a result of one of the following:
- adoption
- a special guardianship order
- a child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order)
- who has been in local-authority care for 1 day or more
- recorded as both eligible for FSM in the last 6 years and as being looked after (or as having left local-authority care)
For the pupils who attract the £1,900 rate, Slough Children First’s Virtual school head will manage the funding.
For more details, visit the gov.uk website’s Pupil Premium page
