Tel: 01642 678212

Headteacher: Mrs J Eyre

School Contact: Mrs A Brown

E-Mail: whitehouse@whitehousepri.org.uk

Tel: 01642 678212

E-Mail: whitehouse@whitehousepri.org.uk

Aspirational Opportunities for All

Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium

Pupil premium is a Government initiative that targets extra money at pupils from deprived backgrounds, which research shows underachieve compared to their non-deprived peers. The premium is provided in order to support these pupils in reaching their potential.

The Government have used pupils entitled to Free School meals as an indicator for deprivation, and have deployed a fixed amount of money to schools per pupil, based on the number of pupils registered for Free School meals. At Whitehouse Primary school we will be using the indicator of those eligible for Free School meals as our target children to ‘narrow the gap’ regarding attainment.

At Whitehouse Primary School we recognise that a range of barriers may be faced by the children who receive pupil premium funding. This varies between cohorts as all children are unique. Some of our pupil premium children have multi barriers to overcome including their own specific individual difficulties (including physical and medical) and at Whitehouse Primary we believe that the development of the whole child is important. We therefore do not target this additional funding purely at academic performance directly as we feel that building self-esteem and confidence amongst young people is important for their personal development and is likely, in due course, to impact upon academic performance as personal skills and attributes increase. Some of the barriers we have identified are

  1. Lower starting points upon entry to school
  2. Lack of home reading, impacting on developing early reading skills and a love of books
  3. The opportunity to access life experiences
  4. Slower accelerated progress than their Whitehouse peers
  5. Attendance – this is lower for pupil premium pupils compared to other pupils
  6. A lack of readiness to learn and the necessary resilience needed
  7. Physical and medical difficulties unique to individual children

Raising Aspirations:

We believe in raising pupil’s aspirations through a varied programme of education which includes adopting a healthy lifestyle, sport, music and drama. Therefore, pupil premium is used to whole or part fund after school sports, peripatetic music teachers and to provides pupils with greater access to competitive sport, exercise, theatre and the chance to participate in local and regional events.

Pupil premium is also used to support specific children to access the curriculum and develop key skills, to pay for extra adults in class to enable pupils to develop independence and tenacity in their learning and to support small groups of children with specific targeted support. Each spring term all Year 6 pupils are given the opportunity of 12 hours extra English and Maths support as part of two after schools clubs.

Pupil premium also funds other areas of school such as music, drama and sport. At Whitehouse we believe in developing the whole child as we see this as a route to wider development and success. We having a singing tutor who works with all children on a weekly basis and the sessions are both uplifting and inspirational. Children also have the opportunity to access our hydrotherapy pool on a rota basis and again this is important in developing key skills and self-esteem. The school runs a varied and rich menu of after school clubs including arts, drama sport and academic opportunities.

At Whitehouse we strongly believe in educational visits and school visitors in order to stimulate children’s curiosity and aspirations. All children attend the trips and are supported when needed and this includes also includes our Y6 residential visit.

Developing Resilience in our Pupils:

We believe that resilience is the key skill our pupils need in order to enjoy all aspects of their education in the long term.

Many of our children who attract pupil premium funding encounter significant emotional problems or have difficulty in processing and dealing with everyday issues. Pupil premium money is used to fund the school’s Parent Support Advisor (PSA). The PSA liaises between the outside agencies and parents to engage and support families of disadvantaged children. The PSA monitors the punctuality and attendance of children and acts as the lead professional at various strategy meetings to maintain the social, emotional and physical well-being of the children.  Parents with any problems regarding the well-being of their children use the PSA as the first point of contact.

Our school embraces an ethos to encourage excellent behaviour and we have had significant success in the past with children who have had managed moves to the school. Pupil premium funding is sometimes used to support our successful behaviour system.

Please click here for Pupil Premium Strategy 2022 – 2025

Please click here for Pupil Premium Strategy 2021-2022

Please click here for Pupil Premium Strategy 2020-2021

Pupil Premium Evaluation of Impact 2020-2021