Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium was introduced by the government in April 2011 and is a payment given to schools, from the Local Authority, to help support children from families on lower incomes - those who have ever been eligible to free school meals since their children started school. At St Michaels we believe that all pupils should be taught to a good standard, according to their individual needs. In order to accelerate progress and narrow achievement gaps where necessary we use a number of additional strategies. Pupil Premium is partly used to fund these interventions. The monies are designed to narrow the gaps in academic achievement between these children and their peers if necessary. Targeted small group and individual tuition are used daily to help children that need extra support. The use of teachers and teaching assistants who are highly trained also helps to address under-achievement. We also attend Forest School on a regular basis to enable pupils to get the most out of 'outside learning'.

More generally we are aiming to accelerate progress by investing time in a range of intervention processes such as 1:1 reading, numbers count and small group work. We also aim to provide Play Therapy from a qualified councillor for those children in need. In addition we are investing in quality digital learning resources such as Ipads and software to aid the progress of the less able or the disadvantaged. We will also invest some of these monies into providing broader extended opportunities for these children such as access to after school clubs or to educational trips they might otherwise miss out on.