Pupil Premium & PE Funding

Pupil Premium

The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is additional funding that the government gives to schools for each pupil on roll where they are deemed to be disadvantaged. The money must be spent on that pupil to support their education, but it is for the school to determine how it is spent. The Department of Education website is a good source of additional information:

Why is the Government providing the Pupil Premium?

Poverty or low income is the single most important factor in predicting a child’s future life chances, with many pupils having low attainment by the time they leave school at age 16. The Government believes that the Pupil Premium is the best way to address these underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

Who receives the Pupil Premium?

Pupil Premium is allocated to pupils in school year groups from Reception to Year 11 from low income families who are registered for FSM, or who have been registered for FSM at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6’), together with children that have been in care continuously for 6 months or more.

What is the Service Premium?

The Service Premium grant is for pupils who have a parent serving in the armed services. Unlike the Pupil Premium, this grant is not solely for raising attainment but for providing additional (mainly pastoral) support.

Who receives the Service Premium?

Pupils with a parent currently serving in the armed services and supporting their family, pupils who have a parent who died in action and those whose parents have left the service since April 2011 for other reasons, including injury. To be eligible, the parent must be supporting their family, so where they are separated or divorced a pupil will not be eligible

How do parents register their child’s entitlement for Pupil Premium?

Parents must apply for free school meals via the County Council or their child’ school, this is a quick and simple process. Telephone with your National Insurance Number, date of birth, name and child’s details and an eligibility check can be carried out using the Department for Education’s Eligibility Checking System, this will confirm if details have been matched or not. It will not tell us what benefits you are in receipt of, dates when a benefit was awarded or say how much you receive. Confirmation will be sent to you and the school within 5-10 working days. Pupils do not have to take up their entitlement to a free meal but Local Authorities and schools recommend that they do. The government is made aware of each pupil claiming FSMs each term via the school census so they have up-to-date information on those eligible.

How much are the Pupil Premium Grants worth?

The Pupil Premium for the financial year 2020-2021 is £1,300. The Service Premium is £300 This is significant additional money for schools to spend on supporting disadvantaged pupils and schools are very keen to ensure that all eligible pupils are ‘signed up’. Grants are based on those pupils included in the January schools’ census. For the financial year 2019/20 for Danemill Primary School received £91,640 for Pupil Premium and Service Pupil Premium. As a school we understand that it is not only pupils who qualify for Pupil Premium who may need the support from the school as detailed below; every child is assessed for extra support on an individual basis according to their need.

What obligations are placed on the school?

Schools will need to monitor the impact of their selected approaches to improve provision for pupils entitled to the Pupil or Service Premium. The Pupil and Service Premium is not ring-fenced and schools are free to spend it as they wish to improve pupils’ attainment. Parents should be aware that school staff are bound by ‘confidentiality rules’ on all matters pertinent to pupils’ educational needs, their care and health needs and their wellbeing.

The Ofsted Inspection Framework ensures that their inspectors focus on the attainment of vulnerable pupils and in particular those who attract the Pupil and Service Premium. They have published a series of reports about how the pupil premium can be spent, these can be found on their website at:

 Ofsted – Inspection Framework

The Department for Education’s performance tables detail the achievement of those pupils entitled to FSM and the Pupil Premium Grant(s). Individual pupils will never be identified through published information, this will only relate to groups of pupils, and in small schools numbers may not be published. Individual school information can be found on the Department for Education’s website at:

 DoE- School Performance

Who should parents contact for further information?

Contact the school administrator if you would like to find out more about registering your child for free school meals. This information will be held confidentially by the school. The administrator should also be able to direct you to any reports the school has produced relating to the use of the pupil premium. The head teacher or the Chair of the governing body on behalf of the governors can offer further information to those parents enquiring about the use of the Pupil Premium.

How the Pupil Premium is used at Danemill Primary School?

We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all pupils. Appropriate provision is made for pupils that belong to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed. Pupil Premium funding will be allocated following a needs analysis which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals. This will be through whole school monitoring of data, assessments and discussions with the class teacher. We recognise that not all pupils that receive Pupil Premium funding will be socially disadvantaged. The funding is used in several ways at Danemill Primary School. The majority of funding is used to provide additional support for children to ensure they make accelerated progress in core curriculum areas. This support is delivered and monitored by a teacher and also delivered by trained support assistants. An enrichment fund is also available for pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium Funding, which provides assistance with costs associated with enrichment. This includes support with the costs of school trips, before and after school care.

Measuring the impact of the use of Pupil Premium

As a school we will endeavour to judge the impact of the use of the Pupil Premium Grant by:

1. Tracking Pupil Premium children throughout the year to monitor their academic and social progress. Regular data analysis is used to measure the impact of the variety of interventions that have taken place. Pupil progress meetings take place termly to ensure that pupils are on track to achieve their potential.

2. Carefully monitoring pupils with emotional support, these are carefully tracked to determine if the counselling and behaviour support provided is having an impact. Attendance and behaviour logs are kept to support the impact of these interventions. Pupils are also monitored for their participation in after school clubs to support their wellbeing and social interaction.

3. Using pupil feedback (interviews and shared time in class)

4. Details of the impact of spending, interventions and progress are monitored by our advisory board.

Eligibility for Free-School Meals

A parent may wish to check their child’s eligibility for Pupil Premium or continued free school meals (from KS2). You can find the application form here

Eligibility Criteria

Parents/guardians in England do not have to pay for school meals if they receive any of the following:

  • Income Support
  • Income-Based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Income related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190)
  • Working Tax Credit ‘run-on’ – the payment someone may receive for a further four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
  • Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

Pupil Premium is an important payment for schools and a really good opportunity for eligible parents to get even more support for their children in schools

For more information about free meals in Leicestershire, please contact School Food Support Service on 0116 3055770.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about Pupil Premium funding and how it is being used to benefit your child, please speak to the Deputy Headteacher.

If you think your child may possibly be eligible for free school meals, even if you don’t want your child to eat the school meals, please call into the office to collect a claim form. Every child who is eligible generates valuable income for the school.

Additional Information

PE Funding

The school believes that physical education plays a vital role in contributing to a child’s physical and emotional development and well-being.

We aim to provide as many sporting opportunities as we can for all our pupils within the curriculum, extra-curricular activities and competitions. Presently we offer thirteen different sports clubs within the school which include – netball, football, rugby, basketball, multi- skills, fun and fitness, cross country, cricket, athletics, rounders, baseball.

This funding will enable the school to build on the quality of PE and sports provision throughout the school. Also it will enable us to provide additional sporting opportunities for the children both in the curriculum and in extra-curricular activities and competitions.

For a break down of the Grants awarded and how they have been spent, please download the following PDF.

 Sports PE Funding Action Plan 2018-2019

 Sports PE Funding Action Plan 2019-2020

 Sports PE Funding Action Plan 2020-2021

Sports PE Funding Action Plan 2021-2022

Sports PE Funding Action Plan 2022-2023

Sports PE Funding Action Plan 2023-2024

For evidence showing the impact of PE Funding in previous years, please download the following PDF.

 Sports PE Funding 2017-2018

 Sports PE Funding 2018-2019

Sports PE Funding 2019 -2020

Sports PE Funding 2020-2021

Sports PE Funding 2021-2022