Background to the Pupil Premium

The Pupil Premium is a valuable allocation of £1,035 per pupil, intended to provide additional support for those pupils who receive free school meals under the Ever6 measure. This allocation is planned at the beginning of each academic year and is reported on at the end of the year. In the 2023/24 academic year, we anticipate that 53% of our pupils are eligible for Pupil Premium.

In addition to the standard Pupil Premium, an enhanced Pupil Premium Plus was introduced in April 2014, catering specifically to children in care, those adopted from care, and children of service personnel. The objective is to bridge the attainment gap and ensure that all disadvantaged children achieve and attain in line with their peers.

Our Commitment

At The St Marylebone CE Bridge School, we hold high aspirations for all our pupils, who all have Special Educational Needs, specifically Developmental Language Disorder. We are dedicated to ensuring that no child is left behind, and we take pride in maintaining high expectations for all our pupils. Our commitment is to eliminate any significant gap in progress between those eligible for the Pupil Premium and other pupils.This is aligned with the CE ethos of the School, where each child is nurtured, valued and enabled to overcome barriers to thrive and succeed.

Our Rationale

Our rationale is informed by ongoing evaluative practices, primarily based on Key Stage 3 data and careful monitoring of progress from this starting point. Research and our experience tells us that socially and economically-disadvantaged children benefit from enhanced access to problem-solving opportunities, personalised feedback, small class sizes and early interventions. These are practices we use daily along with therapeutic approaches, informed by SaLT and OT to enhance learning and achievement.  The successful combination therapeutic and academia benefit PP pupils and their non-PP peers, improving their overall positive experience of learning and inclusion. 

Barriers to Learning

At The St. Marylebone CE Bridge School pupils who receive Pupil Premium (PP) can face a wide range of difficulties. These barriers to learning are not typical of every pupil who receives payment, and are also not limited to those pupils who receive PP. A pupil who receives PP may experience:

• Less financial support within the home.

• Less access to basic needs.

• Less support for school work/emotional support.

• Less opportunities for independence.

These barriers could affect the progress of a pupil who attends St Marylebone Bridge CE School in significant ways, including;

• Low aspirations.

• Low engagement in school life.

• Low prior attainment.

• Slower progress.

• Increased behaviour difficulties.

• Low attendance and punctuality.

• Low reading/writing/numeracy ages.

• Increased difficulty accessing the curriculum.

Use of Pupil Premium

The Department for Education (DfE) advises that Pupil Premium funding should be used to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap with their peers. While our data shows negligible gaps in attainment, with no recurring patterns year to year, we are not complacent and have identified strategies that improve progress, including appropriately supplying additional adults in the classroom, intervention sessions, and Miskin ReadWrite Inc Topup training for staff to support early literacy and phonics skills. 

At The St Marylebone Bridge, we categorise the use of the Pupil Premium Grant under these headings: