Funding

Pupil Premium

Is your child eligible for an extra £1,320 worth of funding at school?

There is much evidence that shows children from lower-income families achieve less well in school. To help combat this, the government gives schools an extra £1,320 per year for each pupil from a low-income family. Schools can spend that money on extra resources and staff as well as to help you pay for school trips, breakfast or after-school care, and extra-curricular activities.

Our school is currently receiving approximately £15,000 for this and is spending it on:

• Contributing toward residential visits, school trips, and clubs.
• 1-to-1 and small group support.
• Resources to support emotional needs.
• Extra TA hours to meet with the class teacher each morning to discuss focused support for the day ahead.

How do you know if your child is eligible?

If you are in receipt of one of the following benefits, you can register with the local authority:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Support from NASS (National Asylum Support Service) under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (with no Working Tax Credit) with an Annual Income of no more than £16,190
• Working Tax Credit run-on
• Universal Credit

If eligible, you child will also be entitled to a warm and nutritious free school meal (provided without any awareness from other children that this is a free meal), saving you time and money in preparing a packed lunch and perhaps even saving you the need to make a cooked meal in the evening.

To find out if you are eligible to claim free school meals, and for the direct link to applying online, please click here.

On February 27th, we had a pupil premium review carried out by an external agency. This was instructed by Ofsted after the previous full inspection. You can see a copy of the report here – Pupil Premium Review.

Our achievements and hard work are recognised in many positive comments throughout the report, but here is just one of them:

“The school has made very significant progress in all the areas outlined in the initial review. In the wider school context, the head teacher has been robust and focused on school improvement and has been successful in recruiting high-quality staff to replace the previous workforce. The energy and passion of the new team was evident, and they have a very clear and determined commitment to ensure that the pupils have high-quality teaching and learning opportunities and that the gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding are closing. They have made very good progress with this in the six months since the previous visit, and it is exciting that parental confidence is growing and pupil numbers are increasing.”

Sports Provision and Funding

St George’s C of E Primary School provides two hours of sports provision a week, as part of the curriculum. St George’s prides itself on the value it places on sport and physical education. It boosts self-esteem and confidence, reinforces team work, provides an outlet for built-up energy, and improves health and fitness — all of which can only have a positive impact on the children’s general education.

We enter a range of local competitive events, tournaments, and leagues, covering football, cross country, swimming, and athletics. Our large hall, playground, and field provide ample space for a variety of physical activities throughout the day.

The Curriculum

Our PE curriculum covers knowledge, skills, and understanding within the areas of games, gymnastics, dance, athletics (KS1 and 2), swimming, and outdoor/ adventurous activities (KS2 only). These lessons are delivered in two one-hour sessions each week over the course of a year. As well as the class teacher delivering PE lessons, we also use sports coaches to provide specialist teaching.

Extracurricular

St George’s Primary School has offered a range of physical-based extracurricular activities over the previous year, including judo, football, and street dance classes.

Covid-19 Catch-Up Premium

Catch-up funding allocations are calculated on a per pupil basis providing each school with £80 per child from Reception to Y11. The funding is designed to mitigate the effects of the unique and disruptive effects of the global pandemic.The planned expenditure of the catch-up funding is linked to the recommendations in the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) COVID-19 Support Guide for schools. Supporting great teaching and small group tuition are the priority strategies for all primary schools in The White Horse Federation.

‘Great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for their pupils’

‘There is extensive evidence supporting the impact of high quality one to one and small group tuition as a catch-up strategy’, (EEF COVID-19 Support Guide for schools 2020)

The White Horse Federation has worked with the school to ensure the funding:

• Allows pupils to access technology in the event of remote learning and facilitating access to support in school.
• Provides professional development opportunities for middle and senior leaders to support leading and planning of the curriculum.
• Provides teachers with training and support through the system leader networks to improve the quality of teaching.