Deprivation and the Pupil Premium - what you need to know. After prior attainment, poverty is the strongest predictor of a child’s future life-chances

Deprivation – key facts  After prior attainment, poverty is the single most important factor in predicting a child’s future life chances.  Attainment gaps between pupils from low income families and their more affluent peers persist through all stages of education, including entry into Higher Education. The facts speak for themselves.  The highest early achievers from deprived backgrounds are overtaken by lower achieving children from advantaged backgrounds by age seven. By the end of Key Stage 1 (age seven), the odds of a pupil eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) achieving level 2 in reading, writing and maths are one third those of a non-FSM pupil.  The gap widens further during secondary education and persists into Higher Education. The odds of an FSM pupil achieving five or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and mathematics are less than one third those of a non FSM pupil.  A pupil from a non-deprived background is more than twice as likely to go on to study at university as their deprived peers.

KS2 and KS4 percentage point attainment gap – gaps have reduced but at a very slow rate.

At KS2, the widest FSM attainment gap is in English and maths combined, whilst the narrowest is in mathematics 4

At KS4, FSM gaps have narrowed for both indicators, albeit very slowly for 5+A*-C inc. English and mathematics 3

The widest FSM attainment gap is for 5+A*-C inc. English and mathematics 4

Pupil Premium - purpose  Figures show that pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) underachieve considerably compared with their non-FSM peers at every key stage.  The Government therefore believes it is right that additional funds are available to give the poorest children who achieve less well a better start in life.  The Pupil Premium, using additional resources from outside the Schools Budget, is intended to address the current inequalities by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

Pupil Premium - Key facts  The Pupil Premium is additional funding.  The Pupil Premium will be allocated to deprived children who are currently known to be eligible for Free School Meals, children looked after for more than 6 months and FSM pupils in non-mainstream settings.  The level of the Premium in will be £430 per pupil.  A premium will also be applied to children whose parents serve in the armed forces – this will be £200 in  Total funding for the Pupil Premium will be £625m in , and will rise to £2.5 billion a year by

Targeted at pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals; children who have been looked after for more than 6 months; and FSM pupils in non-maintained schools LAs are responsible for LACs in care to them and will make payments to schools and academies where an eligible child is on roll All schools with deprived children will benefit from the Pupil Premium, and the Premium itself will not cause any school to receive a cash cut in its budget. The Pupil Premium will be paid to local authorities by means of a specific grant based on January 2011 school census figures for pupils in years from Reception to Year 11. The funding is for the financial year starting in April Total funding for the Pupil Premium will be £625m in , and will rise to £2.5 billion a year by Pupil Premium in key facts The Pupil Premium will also be paid to academies via the Young Peoples’ Learning Agency at the rate determined for the local authority area in which the academy is situated. A premium will also be applied to children whose parents serve in the armed forces – this will be £200 in Option 2 The level of the Premium in will be £430 per FSM and LAC pupil.

Pupil Premium from  The Government intends to consult on the future distribution of the Pupil Premium by June  The aim will be to extend the coverage of the Premium from to pupils who have previously been known to be eligible for Free School Meals.  Another important objective of the Coalition Government is to reform the underlying funding system to ensure that, over time, deprived children in lower funded areas receive the same level of support as other deprived children.

Use of the Premium  The Pupil Premium is not ring-fenced.  For most pupils, the Pupil Premium will be allocated directly to schools and will be clearly identifiable. It will be for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium is spent since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.  For some looked after children that are not in mainstream provision the local authority will use the Premium to support them in line with each child’s personal education plan.  It will be for schools to decide how the Premium is spent since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.  The Government intends to make available to schools the evidence we have about interventions that can improve the progress and attainment of pupils from low income backgrounds.

Schools will be asked to report to parents annually from September 2012 about how they have used the Pupil Premium. Accountability and transparency It is important that there is transparency about how the Pupil Premium has been used to improve the achievement of pupils from poorer backgrounds. New measures in this year’s performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium. Together, these will ensure that parents and others are made fully aware of the attainment of pupils covered by the Premium and that it is spent on improving the life chances of the poorest children.