Key Information

“The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.”

The Pupil Premium is allocated to the following groups of children:

  • Disadvantaged children – the indicator used will be those children on the January census who have been eligible for Free School Meals in the last six years.
  • Children who have been looked after continuously for one day or more, were adopted from care on or after the 30th December 2005, or left care under: a special guardianship order or a residence order.
  • Children of parents in the armed forces or in receipt of pensions under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme.

Eligibility

  • If you get any of the following support payments your child may be entitled to receive free school meals:
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • 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 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit

Pupil Premium is an additional funding and should not be confused with the universal free school meals offered to all infant aged pupils. If you register, your child does not have to eat a school meal at lunchtime but your child’s school will receive the Pupil Premium funding.

The pupil premium is not ring-fenced and schools can choose what to spend it on.

If you have any questions regarding Pupil Premium eligibility, please contact Mrs Elliott (Office Manager) 0191 536 7292

Pupil Premium at East Boldon Infant School

At East Boldon Infant School we believe in providing the best possible education for children from all backgrounds and all abilities. We are proud of our fully inclusive approach, offering a wide range of activities and resources to all of our pupils. We aim to provide opportunities for all of our children to develop confidence and a sense of pride through access to a wide selection of activities and resources to engage pupils in their learning, through one to one support, learning outside the classroom and educational visits. The pupil premium allocation which the school receives is very small, however, it has allowed us to subsidise particular areas in and out of school allowing our more disadvantaged children to extend their learning in new and innovative ways. Although the pupil premium allows us to support our more disadvantaged children, it also allows us to enrich our provision across school, enabling all children the opportunity to access a variety of activities and make good progress in learning.

In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive school meals will be socially disadvantaged. Similarly, we recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.

All our work through Pupil Premium will be aimed at increasing progress and moving children to achieving at least age related expectations in English and Mathematics. 

Main Barriers to Educational Achievement:

Children in receipt of the Pupil Premium may face a range of barriers to learning, including emotional, behavioural and relationship difficulties, low self esteem and aspirations.

They are just as likely as other children to have general learning difficulties. If any child is identified as having a specific need, then they may require different levels of intervention and support.

Support from home may often be difficult due to family circumstances.

Measuring the Effect of the Funding:

All children’s progress and attainment will be tracked to ensure progress towards individual targets are being closed. We aim for all of our children to make at least good or better progress from their starting points at the beginning of the year. We do recognise that for some of our Pupil Premium children who may have specific SEND that their progress/attainment may be more reflective of their individual targets.

For our current Pupil Premium Statement 2024-2025 please click here

For our previous Pupil Premium Statement 2023-2024 please click here