Pupil Premium

The pupil premium is additional funding provided to English schools to enable them to raise the attainment of ‘disadvantaged’ children. Students are eligible for Pupil Premium if they have claimed free school meals at any time in the last six years, are in the care of the Local Authority, have been adopted from care since 2006 or come from a ‘services’ background. Schools are encouraged to use this funding creatively and imaginatively but responsibly and effectively in order to deliver improved outcomes for these young people.

The benefits enjoyed by Pupil Premium students at Alde Valley Academy in 2017/2018 include:

• Reading books, Revision guides and workbooks

• Items of uniform and equipment and materials to support learning

• Extra tuition outside the normal school day

• Subsidised educational trips and visits at home and abroad

• Musical instrument lessons and sport tuition

• Prioritised academic mentoring

• Extra support within lessons

• Regular information, advice and guidance

Our spending plans have been carefully designed to stimulate engagement, broaden horizons, develop skills, improve performance, facilitate participation, raise aspirations and maximise participation in order to close the attainment gap between our Pupil Premium students and their peers. We keep our offer under continuous review and expect to add further benefits during the course of the current Academic Year.

There is a significant national gap between the attainment of Year 11 students who are eligible for the Pupil Premium and those who are not. Our latest set of GCSE results demonstrate the positive impact of our package of interventions and our healthy position compared to national outcomes but we know there is more work to do. Eliminating inequality of opportunity continues to be an extremely important priority for our school.