Pupil Premium

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011. It was allocated to children from low-income families who were known to be eligible for free school meals, and children who had been looked after continuously for more than six months. Eligibility for the Pupil Premium was extended to pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as the Ever6 Free School Meals measure). Schools also receive funding of a smaller amount for the children of service personnel.

Schools are accountable for how they use Pupil Premium funding to support low-income families and other target groups. Measures have been included in the performance tables that show achievement of students who are eligible the Pupil Premium.

Who is eligible?

Students who currently receive the Free School Meal allowance (FSM)
Students who have received the FSM allowance in the last six years
Students whose parents currently serve in the military
Students who are currently in Local Authority Care

BLS Pupil Premium Context

32% of students currently on-roll at Beaumont Leys School are eligible for Pupil Premium funding. The school received £360,000 Pupil Premium Funding for the year 2021-2022 and £350,000 for 2022-2023. Funding for the year 2023-24 is £330,000. These funds are spent to narrow the achievement gap between Pupil Premium students and the rest of the school cohort. This is done by enhancing provision, providing support and ensuring that Pupil Premium students have full access to the curriculum and any barriers to their achievement are removed.

For the academic year 2023-2024 the following students are entitled to access Pupil Premium funding:

Year Group	Access to Pupil Premium
7	32%
8	36%
9	31%
10	32%
11	30%

Beaumont Leys School has an above national average percentage of students who are eligible for Free School Meals. The additional funding has enabled us to build on the excellent student welfare, support, academic guidance and high quality teaching that all of our students enjoy and target more intensive support to those students in the above groups whose attainment and progress is weakest.

At Beaumont Leys School our strategy for supporting Pupil Premium students follows the recommendations in the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) report. Beaumont Leys School is proud of the diverse nature of our student body. Economically and socially, the student profile reflects the school’s complex urban environment. Our strategy for use of pupil funding responds to a range of multiple risk factors and puts quality teaching first to raise achievement. Our experience tells us that in order to secure positive outcomes for disadvantaged students we need to adopt a multi-stranded approach. The EEF report recommends schools take a tiered approach to Pupil Premium spending, which we follow:

1. Quality teaching is the top priority. This includes professional development, training and support for early career teachers and recruitment and retention. This also includes providing pastoral support and developing specific learning pathways to best meet the needs of our students.

2. Targeted support for pupils who are struggling should also be a key component of an effective Pupil Premium strategy. This includes providing tutors for core subjects, to work with students in small groups and a range of other targeted interventions, such as lunchtime revision clubs.

3. Strategies that relate to non-academic factors are also important. These include improving attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support. For us, this also includes providing a range of opportunities for our students to develop their cultural capital as well as a strong focus on careers and the development of employability skills.