Atlas Astrea Academy Trust
Pupil Premium
What is Pupil Premium?
The Pupil Premium is an allocation of additional funding from the government provided to schools to support specific groups of children who are vulnerable to possible underachievement or aspects of disadvantage or inequality between these pupils and their peers. This funding is based on the number of pupils who are entitled to free school meals; those looked after in care by the local authority and children of armed service personnel.
It is up to individual schools to decide how the Pupil Premium funding will be spent. At Atlas Academy, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged. We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We therefore made the decision to reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support pupils or groups of pupils the school has identified as being socially disadvantaged. We have considered outcomes from national research and best practice. We have looked at the Sutton Trust Research and Ofsted case studies and our school data and tracking analyses.
All schools are accountable for how they have used Pupil Premium funding and are required to publish, on their websites, what funding has been received and the impact of expenditure.
How is Pupil Premium spent?
In deciding how to spend our Pupil Premium allocation our key focus is to diminish the difference for pupils not on track to achieve age related expectations and progress in both English and maths but we also consider the wider issues within our school community that influence underachievement. Whilst we see the richness and diversity of our school community as a positive, the significant social and economic deprivation of the area it serves brings key challenges to achievement:
- Some pupils have Social and Emotional Mental Health Needs – low self-esteem and self-confidence is an issue for many pupils and can impact on academic progress.
- Low ability and poor communication difficulties on entry; pupils with limited English literacy skills as a high proportion of pupils with English as an Additional Language
- Situations at home can impact on the social, emotional and mental health of pupils. Pupils can lack access to enrichment activities that promote engagement and readiness for learning.
- Attendance that is lower for disadvantaged pupils than non-disadvantaged pupils.
When spending Pupil Premium, we take into consideration outcomes from current research from EEF, Sutton Research, Ofsted case studies and our own knowledge of our families/community which show the most successful ways to raise achievement.
Is my child eligible for Pupil Premium funding?
Your child is eligible for Pupil Premium if you or your partner, or the child, is receiving one of the benefits below:
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Income Based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA(IB)) – Not JSA(Contribution based)
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Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA(IR) support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
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Child Tax Credit, provided you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) that does not exceed £16,190.
- Asylum Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Working Tax Credit ‘run on’ (this is the payment someone may receive for a further four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)Families who receive any level of Working Tax Credit are not entitled to free school meals.
How we plan to address these barriers through the use of Pupil Premium
Whilst we receive a significant allocation of funding compared to most schools the money is not limitless and we have therefore prioritised spending against the following areas:
- Improve attendance further so that pupils are less likely to fall behind their peers and develop as confident, capable and sociable members of our community.
- Improve access to learning for all pupils, particularly those with social and emotional needs so that pupils have the right physical and emotional conditions for learning.
- Increase % of children working at age related expectations in reading, writing and maths so that our pupils achieve in line with their peers nationally.
- Close the educational and attendance gaps between pupil premium pupils and non-pupil premium pupils because we want all pupils to achieve their potential regardless of social background or culture.
At Atlas Academy, we recognise that there are also aspects unique to individuals and these are taken into account when planning expenditure. They may not be detailed explicitly in our allocation overviews so as to not identify individual pupils.
How do we measure impact of expenditure at our school?
At Atlas Academy we are all accountable for the progress and achievement of our pupils. Class teachers are responsible for ensuring they know who their pupils eligible for pupil premium are and that they access appropriate curriculum and pastoral support and track their progress regularly. Senior leaders regularly review progress of all pupils and compare achievement between pupil premium and non-pupil premium pupils. Strategies and interventions may therefore be reviewed in response to need where underachievement, or risk of, is identified. Pupils accessing pastoral support are monitored to measure the impact of programmes used.
The Transition Management Board of Atlas Academy will regularly review the school’s strategy for pupil premium spending.
Click on the links below to view funding received and how we have spent this.
Our pupil Premium funding for 2024-25 is £259,000 Atlas Pupil Premium Strategy 2024 -25
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2023-24 was £175,895 with £21,000 Recovery Premium Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2023 2024
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2022-23 was £175,895 with £21,000 Recovery Premium Pupil Premium Strategy 2022 2023
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2021-22 was £165,435 with £21,000 Recovery Premium Pupil Premium Strategy 2021-22
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2020-21 was £145,260 2020-2021 PP Spending
Additional statement for 2020-2021 PP Statement
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2019-2020 was £128,040 2019-2020 PP Spending
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2018-2019 was £132,000 2018-2019 PP Spending
Our Pupil Premium funding for 2017-18 was £182,860.00 2017-2018 PP Spending