Pupil Premium
Article 26:
Governments must provide extra money for the children of families in need.
What is Pupil Premium (PP) funding?
Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of:
- pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals, or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM)
- children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales
Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. It can be used:
- to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer
for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils
At Abbey Farm, we are fully committed to ensuring that all children have equal access to the highest quality teaching and learning through an exciting and balanced curriculum and targeted individual or group support based on their needs or abilities.
We will publish an annual report on spending, along with our plans based on
- developing high-quality teaching, for example through professional development and recruitment and retention
- providing targeted academic support, such as one-to-one or small group tuition
- tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour and social and emotional wellbeing
To find out more about Pupil premium please click here.
Who is Eligible?
Your child may be able to get pupil premium if you receive any of the following:
-
Income Support
-
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
-
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
-
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
-
Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
-
Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
-
Universal Credit with take home pay/net earnings below £7,400
-
Children of parents serving in the armed forces
-
Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit
How to Apply
If you think you are eligible to qualify for Pupil Premium funding please follow the link below and complete the application process. This link will take you to our FSM checking service partner, Entrust. Please see their privacy policy here: Entrust Privacy Policy
Link for new applications is here: Online FSM Application
How is it used?
The money received for PP children is used to address barriers to learning for children which may include:
-
Language access
-
Attendance
-
Literacy attainment
-
Maths attainment
-
Access to enrichment activities
How will we monitor the impact of PP funding?
To monitor progress on attainment, new measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of students covered by the Pupil Premium funding. The usual cycle of data collection and the monitoring and tracking of the cohort’s attainment, will be used to inform student progress and enable the early identification of need, support and appropriate intervention. The strategy is reviewed regularly to ensure maximum impact with a full review in July each academic year. This is shared with our Local Board of Governors and Trustees.
Service pupil premium is additional funding for schools with children and young people of service families.
Pupils in state-funded schools in England attract the service pupil premium grant, at the rate of:
£350 per eligible pupil in the 2025 to 2026 financial year
£360 per eligible pupil in the 2026 to 2027 financial year
Pupils are eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:
- One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces (including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service) or is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England and they have been registered as a ‘service child’ in the most recent autumn DfE school census
- They do not currently have ‘service child’ status but they have been registered as a ‘service child’ on any DfE school census in the past 6 years
one of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme - This funding is primarily to enable schools to offer pastoral support and help mitigate the negative impact of family mobility or parental deployment. It can also be used to help improve the academic progress of eligible pupils if the school deems this to be a priority.
Young Carer
Who are young carers?
A young carer is a person under 18 who looks after someone in their family or a friend who is ill, disabled, or has a mental health problem or an addiction. As many as one in five pupils in the UK could be a young carer. The caring role they carry out means they have unique experiences and demands that impact on their capacity to enjoy and achieve at school.
To enable us to help identify any children within our setting who could benefit from additional support we have created a short form that parents can complete to start the journey.
For more information and support, click here for Carers Trust support, Youngminds, Swindon Young Carers, SBC Young Carers Charter
