The pupil premium is additional funding for schools to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers. The funding is based on whether a child is eligible for free school meals.

The Department of Education will allocate the following amounts for 2021/22:

• £1,345 per pupil who have been recorded as being entitled to free school meals at any time from reception to Year 6 (Ever 6 FSM),
• £2,345 per pupil for Looked after children (LAC) defined in Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, a local authority,
• £2,345 per pupil for children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order.

Service Premium Funding

There is also additional funding for supporting children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces. This is an allocation to offer mainly pastoral support during challenging times and to help mitigate the negative impact on service children of family mobility or parental deployment.

Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria:

• one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces,
• they have been registered as a ‘service child’ in the school census at any point since 2011,
• one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) or the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)

Schools will receive £310 for each eligible pupil and this funding is intertwined within our Pupil Premium strategy.

At Merton Junior School we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to succeed, and therefore the Pupil Premium funding is spent on various opportunities for all pupils across the school. When there is a child who needs targeted support, this funding is allocated to them. We monitor closely the progress and attainment of all pupils, including Pupil Premium children, to ensure that we are offering our pupils all that we can in order for them to achieve their potential. 

Our school motto is: Be wise, together we succeed. Our motto is strengthened by our school values. We encourage everyone to be Motivated, Enthusiastic, Respectful, Tenacious, Optimistic and Nurturing. These values and school motto are emulated within our Pupil Premium Strategy.

Through these we aim to:

• Develop outstanding future citizens who are confident, thoughtful, independent lifelong learners.
• Develop outstanding teaching and an exciting curriculum, which provides irresistible learning opportunities and a love of learning.
• Ensure all of our children are provided with the skills they need to succeed in life including those to lead happy and fulfilled lives.
• Develop strong positive partnerships with parents and the local community.     

Our building blocks for tackling educational disadvantage:

Whole-school ethos of attainment for all

• There is a culture of high expectations for all.
• There is a belief that all disadvantaged pupils are capable of overcoming their personal barriers to succeed.
• Disadvantaged pupils and their families are held in high regard.
• Leaders, teachers and other adults understand their role within the school’s strategy.

Addressing behaviour and attendance

• A strong emphasis is placed on developing positive behaviours for learning.
• The school responds rapidly to ensure behaviour management strategies are effective for pupils that need support.
• Attendance is monitored closely. Strategies, where applicable, are implemented to improve absence or lateness to maximise opportunities for learning in school.
• Persistent absence is rigorously challenged and proactive strategies to positively engage families are pursued.

High quality teaching for all

• The school places a strong emphasis on ensuring all disadvantaged pupils receive high quality teaching; responsive on- going formative assessment is essential to ensure disadvantaged pupils make strong progress.
• Teachers are committed to successfully engage with the disadvantaged pupils who are less successful learners.
• Professional development is focused on securing strong subject knowledge, questioning, feedback, ‘talk for learning’, metacognition and self- regulation.
• Interventions are additional to the entitlement to high quality teaching; class teachers retain accountability for pupil achievement.

Meeting individual learning needs

• There is a strong understanding of the barriers to learning and how these barriers present in school.
• Personalised profiles are used to ensure barriers are overcome so that disadvantaged pupils can benefit from enrichment, emotional well -being support and interventions that enable them to succeed in their learning across a wide range of subjects.
• Learning gaps and misconceptions are identified and addressed so that pupils can secure learning domains that will enable them to catch up to meet age related expectations or increasingly work at greater depth.
• Transition processes for disadvantaged pupils are carefully planned and implemented.

Data-driven

• The progress of disadvantaged pupils is discussed at all pupil progress meetings and at key assessment milestones. Actions are identified, implemented and regularly reviewed within each assessment phase.
• Accelerated progress must lead to higher attainment within an academic year and key stages.

Clear, responsive leadership

• A Strategy Group, that includes leadership and a governor, review the effectiveness of strategies at the end of each assessment phase. Self-evaluation is rigorous and honest.
• The effectiveness of the strategy is reviewed termly and is based on internal analysis, research and best practice. Leaders apply robust quality assurance processes and clear success criteria.

Deploying staff effectively

• Both teachers and support staff are deployed flexibly in response to the changing learning needs of disadvantaged pupils. Resources are targeted at pupils at risk of underachievement in terms of low and high attainment.