Pupil Premium is allocated to schools of statutory school age from low income families who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), for children who are looked after by the Local authority (LAC) and to children whose parents are currently serving in the Armed Forces. Schools are able to spend the pupil premium as they see necessary to support the children who are in receipt of it. However, for accountability purposes, schools are required to show clearly how and where the money is spent.

Purpose:
Pupil Premium is given to schools to provide additional support for children from low income families, children who are looked after and children with parents who are in the Services. The main purpose of the extra funding is to narrow the attainment gap between pupils from disadvantaged and or disrupted backgrounds and other pupils.

Funding
In most cases Pupil Premium is paid direct to schools. Schools decide how to use the funding, as they are best placed to assess what additional provision their pupils need. At Holy Cross Church of England Primary School, funding is reviewed and targetted according to need annually. It may differ each year according to the level of the funding and needs of the children but the provision we offer includes:

• subsidising school visits and activities which we would be funded or partly funded from
  parental contributions
• breakfast club provision 
• additional support to help children who are not making as much progress as we would expect in maths and/or reading and writing
• Staff training and professional development
• support for children who may have specific social or emotional needs

Accountability
The Government believes that head teachers and school leaders should decide how best to use the Pupil Premium to ensure the best impact on pupils’ attainment and achievement. Schools leaders are held accountable for the impact of Pupil Premium spending through:

• the performance tables which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers
• the new Ofsted inspection framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, in particular those who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium
• the reports for parents that schools must publish online