Pupil Premium funding is intended to address the historic underachievement of children from poorer backgrounds in this country.  By giving schools additional money when they have families from poorer backgrounds, the Government is seeking to ‘close the gap’ in achievement, meaning that any student from any background should be able to achieve at a high level.  The money is intended to support schools to ensure this happens for students in their care.

Pupil Premium funding at All Saints’ is spent on a range of support and additional focus groups which ensures that every child succeeds (see the pupil premium strategy below).

Assessment procedures at All Saints’ are robust and we are relentless in monitoring and evaluating the progress of all children.  This is done in our ‘pupil progress’ meetings each term, where we identify any child who is not on track or has not made adequate progress, and then put in place targeted support for them.  Children eligible for Pupil Premium funding are identified through this process and support mapped on to the range of resources the school has to offer.

We always seek to understand every child and their family as individuals and understand that generalisations are not always helpful. However, some common challenges for eligible pupils include:

• Lack of a language rich environment, resulting in lower attainment on entry
• A narrower physical sphere or experience; they may have had less opportunity to travel outside of the immediate area or to access a wide range of opportunities and experiences
• They may have had less access to books, toys and other resources which support early learning and development
• Many of our families experience housing challenges and this can have very significant negative impact on them, including tiredness, personal hygiene, hunger, fear and anxiety
• Some children experience a poor diet
• Some children experience the effects of substance misuse or domestic violence
• Some children have parents in prison

These challenges mean that we support the pupils in 4 areas:

• Focus on academic support
• Focus on social, emotional and behaviour
• Focus on enrichment and widening opportunity
• Focus on attendance

Is your child still entitled to Free School Meals? Free school meals may be provided for your children if you are receiving any of the following benefits:  

• income support
• income-based job seeker's allowance
• income-related employment and support allowance
• the guarantee element of state pension credit
• support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• child tax credit (but not working tax credit) and have an annual income of less than £16,190
• working tax credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for working tax credit
• universal credit

  If you think you may be entitled to Free School meals apply online at Merton's website. It is important to apply for each of your children.