Intent

At Distington Community School we aspire to empower our children to be successful through academic and wider learning experiences; for all our pupils to make good progress throughout the curriculum, to develop skills in areas linked to their passions and hobbies and to have a good understanding of their own well-being and be aware of strategies and support they can access at times of need. Together we will celebrate success and discuss failures and how we can build on these.

The pupil premium is additional funding received by schools for each pupil from disadvantaged families or background. It is allocated to school based on the number of children who come from low-income families - this is defined as those who are currently known to be eligible for free school meals. It is important to know that a pupil does not need to have a school dinner, but parents/carers must have applied and be entitled if they wanted one. 

It also includes:

• pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the six years

• children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months

First introduced in April 2011, the level of the premium now stands at £1385 per pupil. This money is for schools to decide how to spend but should be spent in order to improve educational attainment of children from less privileged backgrounds.

This is one of the Government's key education policies. It is based on findings that show that, as a group, children who are eligible for free school meals at any point in time have consistently lower educational attainment than those who have never been eligible for FSM.

At Distington Community School we intend to use the pupil premium funding to close the gap between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils in academic and wider school life.

Funding will be allocated to provide small child: adult ratios (where able); ensure no child is excluded from activities due to a lack of resources, provide extra-curricular activities and experiences for all our pupils and to ensure all our children come to school ready and able to learn.

We will provide good quality teaching to all. Teachers are aware of their pupil premium children and meet needs through various effective strategies. Progress, attainment, and well-being are monitored by the SLT and PP lead ensuring all children receive swift and timely intervention as needed. The Senior Leadership Team and Governors have a strategic view of pupil premium attainment and progress and use this to challenge and evaluate practice.

In addition, the school aims to promote the progress and attainment of pupil premium eligible children regardless of their background, ethnicity, socio-economic status or prior attainment.  Here at DCS we recognise the importance of promoting personal development, welfare and behaviour as means to raising attainment, the school values parental engagement and holds school: parent relationships of high importance. The school understands that pupil premium children span the spectrum of abilities, and a special regard is taken to monitoring the progress of higher ability children and ensuring they also receive appropriate support and intervention to nurture, stretch and challenge their skills.