Pupil premium funding is an additional funding stream that aims to narrow the gap in achievement and attainment between children entitled to free school meals (FSM) and their non FSM peers. The Government has extended its reach to cover any child that has been registered for FSM or a Child Looked After (CLA) within the past six years.

According to the DfE, schools have the freedom to spend the funding as they see fit based upon their knowledge of pupil need; ‘It is for the schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what educational provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility’ (DfE website).

For further details please see our pupil premium expenditure.