The pupil premium and you

The pupil premium was introduced in April with the aim of narrowing the attainment gap between poor pupils and their better-off counterparts. How have schools handled the funding so far, asks Dorothy Lepkowska.

An election manifesto promise from both the Conservative and Liberal Democrats, the pupil premium was distributed to schools from April of this year to help plug the gaps in attainment between the well off and socially deprived.

Currently worth £430, the pupil premium is paid to schools for each child on the roll who is eligible for free school meals, though this figure is set to rise in future years. In 2012-13 for example, the total funding will double to £1.25 billion and by the same proportion again the following year.

So what will schools be expected to do in return for this funding?

Although ministers want schools to have freedom over how they spend the money and there are no guidelines in place, there are accountability measures. From this year school performance tables will include information about how schools have contributed to narrowing achievement gaps, which will help demonstrate the impact of the pupil premium.

From next year the government will also require schools to publish on-line information about how the premium has been spent. This may encourage schools with a small proportion of pupils on free school meals, whose underachievement is concealed by good overall student results, to target some support their way. At the same time, the Department for Education will start to provide schools with details of interventions which have been proven to work.

“The pupil premium brings the focus on to one of the biggest challenges facing the education system,” says Denis Mongon, professor of education of London University and senior research fellow at the University of Manchester. “The risk is that some schools will not be confident about how to spend it.

“Great schools will spend it effectively but not all schools fit into this category and we know from the broad sweep of Ofsted inspections that there are issues of leadership in schools in areas where the large proportion of the premium will be targeted.

“There is a risk that in some schools the premium will simply evaporate because there is no basic infrastructure to deliver the quality of work that it demands.”

Terry Boatwright, executive headteacher of The Causeway School in Eastbourne, where almost a quarter of pupils are eligible for free school meals, currently receives about £70,000 a year through the pupil premium. He is sanguine about the prospect of having to account for the funding and the use of new performance indicators in league tables.

Three years ago the school restructured its curriculum to give a better balance between academic and vocational learning that would meet the needs of the pupils. He believes strategies designed to raise attainment in traditionally low-achieving groups need to be integrated academically as well as financially. It meant the school did not have to stop any of its activities when some funding streams stopped.

“When the government asks me how I am spending the pupil premium I will be able to show them exactly how it works,” he says. “It is not a case of throwing £70,000 at various schemes and initiatives but having a financial structure in place that covers everything that pupils need to succeed.

“For example, we have our own garage in Eastbourne where pupils can learn about car mechanics and this is housed in a building on which we have a lease costing £18,000 a year. If I am asked how this helps pupils on free school meals I will be able to tell them that it keeps pupils motivated, and encourages them to come to school and succeed in other areas.”

The Causeway also offers a successful programme of one to one provision in maths and English for some of the most vulnerable children. The pupil premium will also help to enhance the pay of a member of staff whose has the responsibility of tracking and supporting the progress of pupils. The school’s Free to Choose project for young people whose parents have no experience of university helps to raise aspirations and ensures young people are equipped with the appropriate information to make choices about their future.

As a result of the initiative, pupils on free school meals at The Causeway have seen the contextual value added rise from 990 to 1030 in three years.

Nicola Shipman, executive head of Foxhill and Monteney primary schools, in Sheffield, is also confident of being able to meet government requirements on demonstrating how the funding is spent, though attaining benchmark levels is a tough target for many of her pupils.

Each school attracts in the region of £44,000 in pupil premium, though Foxhill has significantly more eligible pupils, including a number of looked-after youngsters. The primary also has an integrated resource for children with complex learning difficulties. The reality is that the premium does not cover such a diverse range of challenges.

“Our provision for pupils who attract the pupil premium includes one to one interventions, group work, tactical teaching and support through the speech and language therapy team,” she says. “Both schools have also increased their teaching assistant teams so we can support particularly groups and the needs of all the children.

“Many of our children have statements of special needs and they are not necessarily going to achieve expected levels, but nevertheless they will make significant progress on their learning journeys. Showing how these children make progress will be difficult to do.”

As in many schools with a similar intake, it is not just a matter of targeting individual children. Wider issues around social mobility, parental unemployment and negative attitudes towards education also require the attention of schools.

“Pupils come to us from a range of families with varying needs and degrees of deprivation,” Shipman says. “We might consider using pupil premium money on support and preventative strategies involving families but currently the agenda remains about floor targets and achieving level 4.

“This is the dilemma for headteachers. Do you hot-house the pupils to get them to the desired levels or do you try to spend the money on something more fundamental to change lives and aspirations? It should not just be about throwing money at a problem, but changing mind-set and culture.”